Four key risk assessments you need to manage under the new government

As an employer, you have an obligation to make sure your employee’s working environment is fit for work. That means making sure all hazards are removed - or at least controlled.

This is a golden rule for any work space – whether that’s your office, warehouse, shop floor, or your employee’s own home.

The only way to determine whether your worker’s environment is truly safe to work is to carry out a work risk assessment.

Labour’s plans to change existing employment laws mean you’ll likely have to review your current risk assessments or carry out new ones for the first time.

Labour has made some key employment law changes…

Labour has said they’ll introduce new employment laws in Parliament within 100 days of entering number 10. They’ve promised:

• New flexible working rights
• New family friendly rights
• New duties for managing mental health and stress in workplaces

And much more.

To find out what these big changes mean for your individual risk assessments, here are four important ones for you to consider...

What do new flexible working rights mean for your risk assessments?

Under Labour’s plans, flexible working is to become the default.

It’s not yet clear what Labour means by making flexible working the “default” but we expect that you could find yourself having to consider ways for your staff to work more flexibly.

It’s important to remember that if your employee is working from home, you should make sure they have a safe and suitable workspace. You can check this by this carrying out a home working risk assessment.

If you’ve never had employees working from home before, it’s important that you take the right steps to make sure their workstation, equipment and home in general meets health & safety standards.

What do new obligations for managing menopause mean for your risk assessments?

If you employ more than 250 members of staff, Labour has promised to make it mandatory for your business to have a written menopause action plan.

It’s already important to make sure you support employees who might be going through menopause in your workplace. If you don’t, your employee could have grounds to make a claim for sex discrimination.

In some cases, menopause can be considered a disability. That’s if it meets the criteria set out in the Equality Act. And by law, you have a duty to consider reasonable adjustments for an employee who might need them.

As part of your risk assessment for workers going through menopause or perimenopause, you should make sure:

• your workplace doesn’t exacerbate menopause symptoms for your employee
• you take steps to help your employee manage symptoms of menopause at work

An example of a reasonable adjustment might involve changing your employee’s working pattern to prevent them from working long hours or making sure your workplace is a comfortable temperature.

Now the new government wants to make menopause action plans legal, it means you’ll need to be clear about the support your workplace can offer and able to show this in writing. Before you do that, you’ll need to review your risk assessments specifically for menopause.

What do more family-friendly rights mean for your risk assessments?

Labour has promised to bring in new family rights, including strengthening the rights of pregnant workers and giving employees the right to take parental leave from day one.

The new government wants to make it unlawful to dismiss a pregnant employee for six months after they return from maternity leave except in specific circumstances.

By law, you already have a duty to carry out an individual risk assessment for an employee who is pregnant or has given birth in the past six months. This involves talking to your employee one-on-one to discuss any concerns they might have. Plus, identifying any issues or potential hazards in your workplace that could put their health & safety at risk.

So, making sure your risk assessments are up to speed with any new parents and expectant staff is vital.

What does the right to disconnect mean for your risk assessments?

Labour is wanting to introduce the right to disconnect to the UK, a policy that first spread across Europe.

This means you won’t be allowed to contact your employee outside of their normal working hours. The aim is to help support the mental health of workers and encourage a healthier work-life balance.

If your employee regularly works outside of their hours and often struggles to “switch off”, they might be at a high risk of experiencing work-related stress and burnout.

By law, you do have to carry out a risk assessment to help protect your employees from work-related stress.

So along with this change, it will be important to make sure you are taking all the right steps to help your employees manage stress at work and prevent stress from having a negative impact on their health.

Find out how well you’re protecting your workforce against risk with Safecheck

Staying on top of workplace risks is tough – especially when there are so many different kinds. From the physical to the emotional, some work hazards often go undetected.

For peace of mind and certainty that your workplace has all the right measures in place to stay safe, take advantage of SafeCheck.

For a one-off fee, a Health & Safety expert will visit your workplace and uncover any hidden risks that could be putting you and your staff in danger.

You’ll also receive a full detailed report to help you eliminate any work risks that could be looming and a free Health & Safety toolkit, full of templates and checklists to make sure you pass your next inspection.

Tap below to learn more about how to protect your workplace with SafeCheck: