South: Have you displayed the new Health & Safety poster? prompts Alan & Thomas

Dorset-based insurance and risk management specialists Alan & Thomas Insurance is warning local businesses that the deadline for replacing the old Health & Safety Law poster and displaying the new version at their premises is April 5.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published a new, simplified poster and leaflet in April 2009 to replace the 1999 versions and to help avoid any unnecessary burden on businesses. The HSE Board set a five-year transition period for replacing them. This grace period runs out on April 5, so all old posters and leaflets must be replaced with the 2009 versions.

“Employers have a legal duty under the Health & Safety Information for Employees Regulations 1989 to display the approved poster in a prominent position in each workplace, or to provide each worker with a copy of the approved leaflet that outlines British health and safety law,” explained Stewart King, Alan & Thomas COO.

Research showed that the 1999 versions of the H&S law poster and leaflet were visually unappealing and rarely read so they were redesigned to be more readable, colourful and engaging. It sets out in simple terms, using numbered lists of basic points, what employers and workers must do, as well as showing what to do if there is a problem.

Under the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969, businesses are also obliged to display a current employer’s liability insurance in a prominent position where employees can view it.