ANSS Health & Safety Policy

1 General statement
ANSS Ltd  is working towards a comprehensive health and safety policy and is bound to abide by the Health and Safety at Work Act. This lays down certain duties on all staff and office volunteers. The duties are to take care of their own safety and that of other staff, volunteers and visitors, and to co-operate with the trustee board and its officers to enable it to carry out its responsibilities. In particular, staff and office volunteers have a duty to:

• work safely, efficiently and without endangering the health and safety of themselves, their colleagues or any other person who has a right of access to the organisation’s premises at any time
  
• adhere to safety procedures laid down by ANSS Ltd and their mainstream schools and conform to all instructions given by those with a responsibility for health and safety
  
• record all accidents, near-miss occurrences and hazardous situations in the health and safety/accident book and report them to the next management committee meeting 
  
• meet their other statutory safety obligations, including that laid down in Section 8 of the Act, which states that ‘no person shall intentionally or recklessly interfere with or misuse anything provided in the interests of health, safety or welfare in pursuance of any of the relevant statutory provisions’.

2 Organisation and responsibilities
2.1 Trustee board/management committee
Overall and final health and safety responsibility within the organisation lies with the trustee board. The trustee board shall appoint one person, who will take the responsibility for drawing to the attention of the trustee board, staff and office volunteers any health and safety matters that need to be discussed and/or acted upon.

2.2 Delegated responsibility
The Chairman shall be given delegated responsibility for ensuring that the health and safety policy is carried out within the organisation. In particular, they will be given delegated responsibility for:

• carrying out regular safety inspections in the offices utilised by ANSS Ltd
  
• ensuring that staff are provided with suitable seating and appropriate computer work stations
  
• ensuring that floors and aisles are kept clear, as far as reasonably practical, of trailing wires, equipment, stationery, and so on.
  
• ensuring that the general fabric of the offices (including office items and equipment used by staff) is maintained
  
• investigating and reporting accidents
  
• ensuring that a health and safety workplace poster on health and safety law is displayed
  
• making staff and office volunteers aware of the specific fire escapes and fire extinguishers within the building
  
• ensuring staff and volunteers are given a copy of this policy and understand its contents
  
• ensuring that staff and volunteers are made familiar with the alarm systems within the building and action to be taken in the event of a fire
  
• drawing to the attention of the trustee board and staff any new legislation on health and safety relevant to the work of ANSS Ltd
  
• drawing to the trustee board’s attention any matters they are unable to deal with.
  

2.3 Staff and office volunteers
All staff and office volunteers have a responsibility to:

• read and fully understand the ANSS Ltd’s policy statement and the procedures to be carried out in the event of an emergency; if there is any doubt about the meaning, staff must seek clarification from the Chairman

• co-operate with the trustee board and the Chairman, as appropriate, to achieve a healthy and safe workplace and to take reasonable care of themselves and others
• report to the Chairman within 24 hours of any accident occurring: 
  

                    - on the premises
                    - off the premises, while acting on behalf of ANSS Ltd

• bring to the notice of the Chairman any potentially dangerous circumstances that the employee is unable to put right.
  

2.4 Review
The Chairman, in conjunction with the Development Officer, will keep this policy under constant review to reflect any changes in legislation. The policy will be fully reviewed every three years and will be subject to approval by the trustee board.

3 General arrangements
3.1 Accidents, near-miss occurrences and hazardous situations 
ANSS Ltd has a health and safety accident book located in the ANSS office, Portfolio Innovation Centre, Northampton University, St George's Avenue, Northampton, NN2 6FB,  and all incidents, no matter how small, must be recorded as soon as possible after the incident. The incident should also be reported to the Chairman. In addition to reporting accidents, it is equally important to report near misses and potential hazards, so as to enable preventative action to be taken before it is too late. Once an incident has been recorded in the accident book, the sheet must be removed and stored separately, for example, in the personnel file.

It is the responsibility of the Chairman to ensure that any necessary follow-up action is taken to reduce the risk of the accident or near accident reoccurring.

The Chairman is responsible for reporting incidents which come within the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases & Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR), to the Environmental Health Department. RIDDOR covers the following incidents:

• fatal accidents
  
• major injury accidents/conditions
  
• dangerous occurrences
  
• accidents causing more than three days’ incapacity for work
  
• certain work-related diseases.
  

A first-aid kit is available in  the ANSS office, Portfolio Innovation Centre, Northampton University, St George's Avenue, Northampton, NN2 6FB.

3.2 General fire safety 
Northampton University is responsible for the maintenance of the fire-fighting equipment and the arrangement of regular fire safety checks and fire drills. The University of Northampton also holds a fire certificate for the building. All staff must also read and understand the fire procedure. A fire notice is located in the ANSS office, Portfolio Innovation Centre, Northampton University, St George's Avenue, Northampton, NN2 6FB.

4 Personal safety

• Staff or volunteers who are working on their own should not allow access to casual visitors who have no appointment.
  
• All windows and entry doors will be lockable.
  
• Staff who are going to be away on ANSS Ltd's business should make it clear to other staff where they will be, how long for and how they can be contacted.
  
• Staff should inform the office who they wish to be contacted in the event of an emergency, giving contact details.
  
• Staff who carry money for ANSS Ltd have the right to be accompanied by another person.
  
• Visits to the bank should not be at a regular time.
  
• Staff should not put themselves at risk on account of ANSS Ltd’s property.
  
• All incidents of aggression or violence and any threat to personal safety should be reported to the Chairman and recorded in the accident book.
  
• Staff should be vigilant with regards to terrorist incident warnings – for example, unattended bags.
  

5 Stress management 

• Stress at work is a serious issue: workers can suffer severe medical problems, which can result in under-performance at work, and cause major disruptions to the organisation.
  
• The responsibility for reducing stress at work lies both with the employer and the employee.
  
• Employees should become aware of the causes of stress, and ensure that they do not work in a way which could cause them to suffer an increase in stress, nor cause an increase in stress on others.
  
• If an employee is suffering from stress at work, they should discuss this with their line manager or the Chairman at the first opportunity. Where practicable and reasonable, ANSS Ltd will seek to provide assistance to the employee.
  
• ANSS Ltd will do all it can to eradicate problems relating to stress at work.