Compliance Solutions

According to the Cambridge dictionary, compliance means: the act of obeying a law or rule, especially one that controls a particular industry or type of work. Many industries have their own rules and regulations that must be followed, but there are many common threads that apply to most, if not all, businesses. I have experience in several industries of ensuring their compliance with the appropriate requirements

GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation is a law that has been in effect since 2018. It governs the collection, storage and use of data supplied to businesses by their customers. It ensures that businesses have a legitimate need to collect personal data and they must be open and transparent about how and why they are doing so. Individuals have a right to see, amend, restrict or remove permission for their data to be processed.

GDPR - how I can help?

I have experience in managing compliance with GDPR regulations and can help by...

reviewing your data protection policy
writing a new data protection policy
assessing your current data collecting and procedures to see if there are areas for improvement
reviewing/writing your privacy notice to ensure it complies with regulations for your industry.

Policies

Did you know that in the UK business that employ others are legally required to have a Health & Safety policy (if you employ more than 5 people), Disciplinary/Dismissal policy, and Grievance policy?

However, it is sensible to consider other policies that may help your business to function smoothly. These may include Equal Opportunities, Flexible Working, Social Media, Bullying & Harrassment, Maternity/Parental Leave as well as others specific to your industry.

I can work with you to review your existing policies and discuss whether new policies need to be created.

Health & Safety - General

The importance of health & safety in the workplace cannot be emphasised enough. You have a legal duty of care to both employees and your customers to ensure that the environment they are in is safe with no obvious hazards. Alongside a policy, you should also have written risk assessments and a monitoring/review plan in place.

Do you have lots of electrical equipment around? Has it been PAT tested? What about Fire Extinguishers? When were they last checked and by who. I can help you set up a monitoring and review plan so that you know when these things are due.

Whilst some elements of health & safety are not needed in such detail if you are a self-employed, it is still something that you should give consideration to - especially when you are working with a customer.

Health & Safety - Accidents

Everyone needs to know what to do in case of an accident. Who is responsible for recording the details and where do they write it? You need to know who reviews the details and know if the accident is serious enough that it needs reporting to the Health & Safety Executive on a RIDDOR form.

I can design accident/incident forms to help make the task easier. After an accident, you need to think about who is going to review the details of the accident and decide if changes need to be made to prevent it happening again. I can help by providing an independent eye and talking through what happened.

Health & Safety - Procedures

As well as having the information in place, it is important that you have well-known procedures in place in case of a problem.

For example, what do you do in case of a fire? Where/how do people leave the area? Who is responsible for contacting emergency services, and who's going to know if everyone got out? These are questions that you need to have the answers to. The procedures need to be written and displayed prominently and you should ensure that all of your employees are aware of them.

Sadly, in our current world, you also need to consider a critical incident plan. What are the best things to do should a critical incident arise? By thinking through these things before an incident occurs, you are much more likely to be able to keep a clear head if something does occur.