Home / Health & Safety Policy
Last updated: Signed 12 June 2026 · Reviewed every 12 months
ATKINSONS Group is committed to providing and maintaining a safe and healthy working environment for every person affected by our work: our employees and apprentices, our customers and their families, residents and staff in occupied premises, members of the public, and anyone else who could be affected by our activities. Nothing we build, fix or maintain is more important than the people doing it and the people around it.
It is our policy, so far as is reasonably practicable, to:
Responsibility for health and safety starts with me and runs through every level of the business. Adequate resources, including time, money and competent advice, will always be made available to meet the commitments in this policy. Cutting a safety corner to hit a programme or a price is never acceptable at ATKINSONS, and no employee will ever face criticism for stopping a job on safety grounds.
This policy will be reviewed at least every 12 months, and additionally whenever there is a significant change to our activities, our organisation, or the law.
Dale Atkinson
Managing Director, ATKINSONS Group
Signed: 12 June 2026
Next review: June 2027
Managing Director. The Managing Director has overall responsibility for health and safety in the business: setting this policy, providing the resources to deliver it, appointing competent persons, reviewing performance, and ensuring that health and safety is a standing item in management decision-making. The Managing Director is the named person responsible for this policy under section 2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
Health and safety adviser. A NEBOSH-qualified adviser provides competent advice to the business under regulation 7 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The adviser supports risk assessment, monitors site standards, investigates accidents and near misses, keeps the business current with legal changes, and reports directly to the Managing Director.
Contracts Managers. Each project has a named Contracts Manager who is responsible for the day-to-day management of health and safety on their sites: ensuring risk assessments and method statements (RAMS) are in place and briefed before work starts, conducting site inspections during daily visits, controlling site access and signage, coordinating trades to avoid conflicting works, managing emergencies, and stopping work where standards are not met.
Supervisors and lead trades. Supervisors ensure that work under their control is carried out in accordance with the briefed RAMS, that equipment is inspected and used correctly, that housekeeping is maintained, and that new starters and apprentices are properly inducted and supervised.
All employees. Every employee has a legal duty to take reasonable care of their own health and safety and that of others affected by their work, to cooperate with the company on health and safety matters, to use equipment and PPE as trained and instructed, to report hazards, defects, accidents and near misses without delay, and never to interfere with anything provided for health and safety. Every employee has the authority, and the obligation, to stop work that is unsafe.
Specialist contractors. ATKINSONS delivers its work through directly employed tradespeople. In the limited circumstances where a specialist contractor is required, their engagement must be approved by the Managing Director, their competence, qualifications, insurance and RAMS vetted before appointment, and their work monitored to the same standards as our own.
Every job, from a single call-out to a full construction project, is risk assessed before work starts. Site-specific RAMS are prepared for construction, roofing, fit-out and other non-routine works, and briefed to every operative on the job before they begin. Generic assessments covering routine trade activities are maintained, reviewed annually, and adapted to site conditions. Significant findings are recorded, and assessments are revisited whenever the job changes or an incident indicates the controls are not working. Operatives sign on to the RAMS for their job, and have a duty to stop and refer back if the job on the ground does not match the assessment.
Where our projects fall within the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, we identify and discharge our duties as contractor and, where appointed, as principal contractor: planning, managing and monitoring construction work so it is carried out safely; preparing and maintaining a construction phase plan proportionate to the project; ensuring site inductions, welfare facilities and site security; coordinating with designers and other duty holders; and supporting the client with notification (F10) where a project meets the notification thresholds. Domestic client duties are handled in accordance with CDM 2015 where we act as principal contractor on domestic projects.
All work on gas fittings and appliances is carried out only by engineers who are Gas Safe registered for the class of work being undertaken, in accordance with the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. Arrangements include tightness testing and purging in accordance with current procedures; checks of flues, ventilation and combustion performance on commissioning; the issue of the appropriate records and certificates, including Landlord Gas Safety Records (CP12) for rented properties; and application of the current Gas Industry Unsafe Situations Procedure where unsafe installations are found, including making safe, notifying the responsible person in writing, and refusing to leave an immediately dangerous installation connected. Registration is verified annually and engineers maintain their ACS qualifications.
All electrical installation work is carried out in accordance with the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 and BS 7671 (IET Wiring Regulations) by qualified electricians, with notifiable work self-certified under our NICEIC and NAPIT registrations. Safe isolation procedures, including proving dead with approved voltage indicators and securing isolation with locks and tags, are mandatory before work on any circuit. Live working is not permitted except where it is unreasonable in all the circumstances for the work to be done dead, and then only with specific justification, precautions and authorisation. Inspection, testing and certification are completed for all relevant work, and certificates are issued to the customer at handover. Company-owned test instruments are calibrated and records maintained.
Work at height is planned, supervised and carried out in accordance with the Work at Height Regulations 2005, following the hierarchy: avoid work at height where possible; prevent falls using an existing safe place of work or properly designed access such as scaffolding with guardrails and toe boards; and mitigate the consequences where prevention is not possible. Scaffolding is erected, altered and dismantled only by competent scaffolders, inspected before first use, at intervals not exceeding seven days, and after adverse weather, with inspections recorded. Ladders and steps are used only for short-duration, low-risk tasks, are inspected and tagged, and are footed or secured. Fragile roof surfaces are identified before access, with crawl boards, coverings or barriers used and warning signage displayed; work near fragile materials and unprotected edges is specifically risk assessed. Mobile elevating work platforms are operated only by trained (IPAF or equivalent) operatives. Roof work is not carried out in high winds, ice or other conditions that make it unsafe, regardless of programme pressure. Tools and materials at height are secured against falling, and exclusion zones protect people below.
Before work begins on any building constructed before the year 2000, the presence of asbestos is considered: the client or duty holder is asked for the asbestos register or survey, and where refurbishment work could disturb the fabric of the building, a refurbishment and demolition survey is obtained before intrusive work starts. Our operatives receive asbestos awareness training. We do not carry out licensed asbestos work. If suspected asbestos-containing material is discovered during work, work stops immediately, the area is vacated and secured, and the discovery procedure is followed, including assessment by a competent surveyor before any further work in the affected area. Non-licensed work, where undertaken, is performed in accordance with the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, including notification where required.
Substances hazardous to health, including construction dusts, are assessed under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. Particular attention is given to respirable crystalline silica from cutting, drilling and chasing: dust is controlled at source using water suppression or on-tool extraction, with RPE (minimum FFP3, face-fit tested) as a supplementary control, never the only one. Cement and wet concrete contact, solvents, adhesives, fuels, and old lead paint are assessed and controlled, with safety data sheets held for products in use and operatives briefed on the controls that apply to their task.
Before breaking ground, underground services are identified using utility plans and cable avoidance tools, and safe digging practices are followed, including hand digging within the marked tolerance of located services. Excavations are assessed for stability and, where required, battered, stepped or supported; they are inspected before each shift and after events likely to affect stability; and they are protected with barriers and covers to prevent falls of people, materials and vehicles. Overhead services are also identified and controlled where plant or scaffolding will operate near them.
Work equipment is selected for the task, maintained, and inspected in accordance with the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, with statutory thorough examinations for lifting equipment under LOLER 1998. Defective equipment is taken out of use immediately and reported. Exposure to hand-arm vibration is managed under the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005 through tool selection, job rotation, trigger-time awareness and health surveillance where exposure warrants it. Noise is assessed and controlled under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, with hearing protection zones established where required.
Manual handling is avoided where reasonably practicable through job design, deliveries to point of use, and mechanical aids. Where it cannot be avoided, tasks are assessed and operatives trained in safe techniques, with team lifts and aids specified in RAMS for heavy or awkward loads such as boilers, cylinders, sheet materials and bathroom suites.
PPE appropriate to the task is provided free of charge, including as standard: safety footwear, hi-visibility clothing, gloves, and eye and hearing protection, with task-specific PPE such as FFP3 RPE, helmets and harnesses provided where the risk assessment requires it. PPE is the last line of defence after other controls, never a substitute for them. Operatives are trained in its use, storage and the reporting of defects, and face-fit testing is carried out for tight-fitting RPE.
Fire risks on site are assessed and controlled: combustible materials are managed, escape routes kept clear, and appropriate extinguishers provided. Hot works, including soldering, brazing, grinding and torch-applied roofing, are controlled under a hot works permit system, with combustibles removed or protected, fire watching during and for the appropriate period after the work, and extinguishing media at the point of work. In occupied premises, existing fire precautions and alarm systems are maintained or temporarily covered only under controlled and reinstated arrangements agreed with the responsible person.
Much of our work takes place in occupied homes, businesses, care settings and public buildings. Site areas are segregated from occupants using barriers, screens and signage; tools, materials and vehicles are managed so they do not create hazards for residents, staff, children or visitors; and dust, noise and disruption are controlled and communicated. In care settings and premises with vulnerable occupants, work is planned with the responsible person to maintain safe access, fire precautions and infection control requirements, and our operatives carry identification at all times. Ladders, excavations and scaffolding are secured against unauthorised access, particularly by children, outside working hours.
Our 24/7 emergency service means operatives can attend premises alone and outside normal hours. Lone working is risk assessed: operatives attending emergency call-outs check in with our manned phone line on arrival and completion, dynamic risk assessment is applied on arrival with the authority to withdraw and escalate where a situation is unsafe, and two-person attendance is specified for tasks or environments identified as higher risk. Out-of-hours work follows the same technical standards as daytime work, with no dilution of isolation, testing or certification requirements.
Company vehicles are maintained, inspected and insured, with drivers responsible for daily walk-round checks and the reporting of defects. Driving licences are checked on recruitment and periodically thereafter. Journey planning, realistic scheduling and a strict prohibition on handheld phone use while driving form part of our arrangements; mobile phones are used only when safely parked or via compliant hands-free where lawful and safe.
Competence is the foundation of safe work. Arrangements include: verification of trade qualifications and registrations on recruitment and at renewal (including Gas Safe, NICEIC, NAPIT and CSCS where applicable); site inductions for every operative on every project; toolbox talks delivered regularly and after any relevant incident; task-specific training for higher-risk activities such as work at height, abrasive wheels, asbestos awareness and safe isolation; and structured supervision for apprentices and young workers, whose tasks are specifically risk assessed taking account of their age and experience. Training records are maintained centrally and reviewed as part of the annual policy review.
Suitable welfare facilities, including toilets, washing facilities, drinking water and somewhere to rest and eat, are provided or arranged on every project in proportion to its size and duration. First-aid needs are assessed for each site; trained first aiders and stocked first-aid kits are available, kits are carried in company vehicles for mobile work, and arrangements are communicated at induction.
Health is treated with the same seriousness as safety. Health surveillance is provided where risk assessment identifies the need, including in relation to vibration, noise and respiratory risk. The company operates a drugs and alcohol policy: being unfit for work through drink or drugs is a disciplinary matter and operatives are removed from safety-critical work immediately where impairment is suspected. Mental health matters: workloads are managed realistically, conversations about wellbeing are encouraged, and signposting to support is available to all staff.
All accidents, incidents, near misses and cases of work-related ill health are reported internally and recorded. Reportable events are notified to the HSE in accordance with the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 within the statutory timescales. Incidents are investigated proportionately to identify root causes, with findings briefed to the workforce and controls revised where needed. Near-miss reporting is actively encouraged and is never met with blame.
We consult our workforce on health and safety matters in accordance with the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996: through inductions, toolbox talks, daily contact with Contracts Managers, and direct access to the Managing Director, who works in and around the business rather than behind a desk. The law poster is displayed at our premises and this policy is available to every employee and, through our website, to our customers and clients.
The company maintains employer's liability insurance of £10 million and public liability insurance of £10 million. Certificates are displayed as required and are available to customers and clients with every quotation, on request.
Health and safety performance is monitored actively, through site inspections by Contracts Managers and the health and safety adviser, and reactively, through accident, incident and near-miss data. Findings are reviewed by the Managing Director. This policy, and the risk assessments and arrangements that sit beneath it, are reviewed at least every 12 months, and immediately following any significant incident, change in legislation, or change in the nature of our work. The review date is recorded at the head of this policy.
Dale Atkinson
Managing Director, ATKINSONS Group
Signed: 12 June 2026 · Next review: June 2027
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