Health & Safety Policy

Statement of intent

NetFM UK Limited accepts its responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and associated regulations. So far as is reasonably practicable, we will provide and maintain a working environment that is safe, without risks to health, and with adequate facilities and arrangements for the welfare of our people.

We employ fewer than five people and are therefore not required to record our health and safety policy in writing. We do so anyway, because our customers ask for it and because writing it down is how we make sure we have actually thought about it.

Scope

This policy applies to all NetFM employees, directors, contractors and apprentices, whether working at home, at a NetFM location, or on a customer site. Our work is predominantly software development carried out at display screen equipment, either at home or in shared office space. A smaller but important part of our work involves attending customer premises to install and maintain equipment — cameras, barriers, tablets, small networking devices and Raspberry Pi units — including work at height, in car parks, and in and around live vehicle traffic.

Responsibilities

The Directors hold overall responsibility for health and safety, for providing the resources needed to meet this policy, and for reviewing it annually. Directors and senior management hold current Health & Safety for Directors training.

The Director of Operations is responsible for day-to-day arrangements: risk assessments, induction, recording incidents, and keeping this policy current.

Everyone is responsible for taking reasonable care of their own health and safety and that of others affected by their work, for co-operating with the arrangements set out here, and for reporting hazards, near misses and incidents promptly. Nobody at NetFM will be disadvantaged for raising a health and safety concern or for stopping work they reasonably believe is unsafe.

Arrangements

Display screen equipment and homeworking

Most of our work is at a screen. We carry out a DSE assessment at induction and repeat it when someone's working arrangements change. We will fund the equipment needed to make a workstation safe — chair, monitor, riser, keyboard, lighting. We encourage regular breaks away from the screen and we do not expect anyone to work hours that make that impossible.

Work on customer sites

When working at a customer's premises we follow that site's health and safety rules, sign in as required, and comply with any site induction. Before installation work we assess the specific risks — working at height, electrical work, traffic movement, lone working — and agree controls with the site. Where a customer's site rules are more demanding than ours, theirs apply. If a task cannot be done safely, it does not get done that day.

Lone working and travel

Site visits are frequently carried out alone. Anyone attending a site alone tells a colleague where they are going and when they expect to be finished, and checks in on completion. Driving is the most dangerous thing most of us do for work: we do not expect or reward journeys that require driving while tired, and we do not contact anyone we know to be driving.

First aid, fire and accident reporting

At customer and shared-office locations we rely on the host's first aid and fire arrangements and familiarise ourselves with them on arrival. Accidents, injuries, near misses and dangerous occurrences must be reported to the Director of Operations as soon as practicable and are recorded centrally. We report to the HSE under RIDDOR where required.

Mental health and workload

Stress is a health and safety matter and we treat it as one. We keep on-call and out-of-hours expectations explicit rather than assumed, and we would always rather be told early that a deadline is unrealistic than discover it late. Anyone who is struggling should speak to the Director of Operations or any director; the conversation will be treated in confidence.

Electrical equipment and asbestos awareness

Portable electrical equipment we supply is visually inspected and tested at appropriate intervals. Directors hold asbestos awareness training, relevant because installation work occasionally involves older plant rooms, risers and ceiling voids. If asbestos-containing material is suspected, work stops and the site's duty holder is consulted before anything is disturbed.

Insurance

NetFM UK Limited maintains Employers Liability, Public & Product Liability and Professional Indemnity insurance. Current certificates are published on our policies and certificates page.

Review

This policy is reviewed at least annually, and additionally after any significant incident or material change in how or where we work.