Health & Safety Critical Friend

Who's got your back?

Do you miss your in-house H&S expert’s knowledge when they are on holiday, ill or tied up on other things? Do they have anyone to step in and help in case of an incident? Do they spend valuable time trying to find solutions to tricky issues?
What you need is a Critical Friend. A H&S expert who can deliver the help you need at the fraction of a cost of adding another full-time member to your team. Someone who’ll reduce your risks by telling you what you need to hear, not want you want to hear.

A friend for life

A subscription to our Health & Safety Critical Friend service will help you:

Fully understand the Health & Safety regulations

Address weaknesses and areas of risk

Save time

Ensure your safety management system is fit for purpose

Access expert advice which reduces risks and boosts compliance

Take decisive action in case of an incident or near miss

Provide information, e.g. RIDDOR reporting

Keep abreast of legislative changes

Ensure colleagues understand the role they play in safeguarding themselves and others

Identify training requirements

Reassure stakeholders and potential clients

Save time and money

Our H&S Critical Friend service will help you fulfil challenging Health & Safety obligations quickly and cost-effectively. Your dedicated safety consultant will get to know your business so they can provide practical guidance, share appropriate examples of best practice and step in and provide hands-on help, if needed.

Understanding your business

In order to give you the best advice, your Critical Friend will need to develop a thorough understanding of your organisation and any risks to compliance. To ensure we provide the right advice from the very beginning, we’ll conduct a detailed onboarding review. During this, your Critical Friend will ask you what keeps you awake at night and explore known issues, such as concerns about RIDDOR or an increase in employee sick days. 

Shaping your compliance

After the review, your Critical Friend will compile a report showing your high-level compliance against H&S legislation. This will also provide a prioritised action plan to get you back on track.

Your report will enable you to answer to critical questions, such as:

  • Greatest risks within organisation
  • Adequacy of risk assessments
  • Provision of PPE (where required)
  • Communication
  • Incident rehearsal
  • Accident and near miss reporting
  • Requirements for staff education and training

FAQs

It takes two days, plus the time taken to write up your report.

A culture of health & safety is driven by your leadership team. We’ll need access to senior, board level members of your organisation plus support from all members of staff. This will ensure that any non-compliant or exposed areas are addressed, and any processes and procedures fit with your business.

We ask that our named contact has a good understanding of your infrastructure, systems, processes, procedures and policies.

Your Critical Friend will spend an hour with you every quarter to hear about your progress and plans, review your compliance, prioritise tasks and share updates on H&S.

It be used for anything you deem appropriate, including:

  • Document reviews
  • Answering queries
  • Conference calls/virtual meetings
  • Providing emergency support after an incident
  • Advice following an enforcing authority visit or action
  • Support for risk assessments

You can have up to one hour of telephone support per month.

Our normal support hours are shown here, but we can provide out of hours support, if required.

Your dedicated consultant can provide additional support on an agreed per hour, per half day or per day rate. This can be used to help you deliver a project or to attend key meetings.

We’ll quickly match you with another Critical Friend. They’ll have access to your notes, so they’ll be able to give you the advice you need.