Health and Safety

Workplaces, with few exceptions, are subject to occupational health and safety visits to ensure that employers and other duty holders (e.g. self-employed organisations) are fulfilling their legal obligations.

The team carry out a wide variety of duties relating to health and safety at work.  This includes planned workplace inspections, accident investigations, complaints and providing advice to a range of businesses and workers within the Outer Hebrides.

As an Enforcing Authority, the Comhairle has a responsibility for the provision of health and safety enforcement services covering a range of businesses, mainly within the service sector, including the following:

• retail
• wholesale
• offices
• catering
• hotels
• residential care homes
• leisure and consumer services eg. launderettes, hairdressers, undertakers, shoe repair, tyre and exhaust fitters and churches.

Advice For Businesses

Example Basic Risk Assessment Template (260.5kB)

Information, advice and templates to provide businesses with the basics to ensure they comply with health and safety law is available on the HSE - Health and Safety Made Simple (Opens in a new window or downloads a file) webpages.

HSE have also put together a Health and Safety Toolbox (Opens in a new window or downloads a file) of information on how to control risks at work

Small and medium sized enterprises (those with less than 250 workers) can also receive free occupational health and safety advice from specialist advisors from the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives (Opens in a new window or downloads a file).

The HSE Website (Opens in a new window or downloads a file) gives useful information including industry guidance, free leaflets and research reports on health and safety.  Common topics include:

• How to Manage Health and Safety (Opens in a new window or downloads a file)
• Slips and trips (Opens in a new window or downloads a file)
• COSHH (Opens in a new window or downloads a file)
• Noise at Work (») (Opens in a new window or downloads a file)
• Electrical safety (Opens in a new window or downloads a file)
• Working at Height (Opens in a new window or downloads a file)
• Manual Handling (Opens in a new window or downloads a file)
• Lifting operations and lifting equipment (Opens in a new window or downloads a file) 
• Legionella (Opens in a new window or downloads a file)
• Work-related skin disease (Opens in a new window or downloads a file)
• Vehicles at work (Opens in a new window or downloads a file)

Reporting An Incident

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 2013 (Opens in a new window or downloads a file) puts duties on employers, the self-employed and people in control of work premises to report certain serious workplace accidents, occupational diseases and specified dangerous occurrences (near miss incidents).  This includes certain injuries to members of the public on your premises.

Types of Reportable Incidents Or Accidents (Opens in a new window or downloads a file)

Further Information

Please Contact Us