Employee health and safety responsibilities
The law requires us to protect you from work-related harm. The University, UECS and Wivenhoe House Hotel (WHH) each have a Health and Safety Policy which describes the legal responsibilities and we all have to look after ourselves, our students, work colleagues and others who may be affected by what we do at work.
Following your organisation's Health and Safety Policy will help you to ensure you are meeting your legal responsibilities and playing your part in contributing to a safe and healthy work, study and living environment.
Please read your organisation's employee guide for an overview of their policy:
Your responsibilities
We all need to work together to make doing things safely a part of our day-to-day work. As an employee you have a responsibility to look after your own health and safety and that of others who could be harmed by your work activities.
Follow safe working practices
Make sure you follow the safe working practices that apply to your work. Your line manager will tell you about local safe working procedures. You can also find out about the University’s health and safety standards in each subject area on this website.
Find out how to do things safely
You must take part in health and safety training and development required for your role. Your line manager will help you identify your health and safety training needs.
If you organise activities, projects or events, you are responsible for making sure it is safe. See our advice on risk assessment. If you need help, please email safety@essex.ac.uk.
Your concerns about health and safety
Tell us if you have concerns about health and safety. You can get advice if you are not sure how to do things safely. Report accidents, work-related ill-health and hazards or any health and safety concerns you have. This will help us to improve and may prevent a work colleague or student from being harmed.
Help our students to do things safely
We are all responsible for contributing to the health and safety education of our students, so it is important that we all set an example by exhibiting safe behaviour. If you organise curricular and extra-curricular activities for students involve them in finding out how to do things safely.
Fire safety responsibilities
Please also familiarise yourself with the fire safety responsibilities you have.
Additional roles and responsibilities
In addition to the responsibilities given above, you may have additional responsibilities depending on your role:
- Principal investigators/researchers
- Managers
- Health and Safety Liaison Officers (HSLO) and Department Health and Safety Officers (DHSO)
- Display Screen Equipment (DSE) facilitators
Principal investigators/researchers' health and safety responsibilities
As a principal investigator you are responsible for the health and safety management of your research project and for the health and safety of employees you line manage.
What you need to do
- Make sure research employees and students know how to carry out their research work safely, by providing adequate information, instruction, training and supervision.
- Carry out a health and safety induction for new research employees and students.
- Make sure that you co-ordinate your activities and communicate with co-investigators, research employees and others who could be affected by your research activities, so that health and safety risks can be managed.
- Make sure risk assessments are carried out as part of your research project planning and that control measures are implemented.
- Monitor and review your health and safety risk assessments and safe working procedures in response to changes to research plans and as a part of regular project review.
For more in-depth information relating to your subject area, please see more on the relevant page:
- Risk assessments
- Physical agents
- Hazardous substances
- Dangerous substances
- Buying work equipment
- Biological agents safety (Essex users only)
- Field trips
- Overseas travel
Further guidance is also available from the Universities Safety and Health Association:
- Responsible research: IOSH/USHA/UCEA guidance on managing health and safety in research (.pdf)
- USHA Higher Education Sector Guidance on Safety in Fieldwork and Travel
- Guidance by the UK Nanosafety Partnership Group: Working Safely with Nanomaterials in Research and Development (.pdf)
- Institute of Safety in Technology and Research
Student responsibilities
If you're a student at Essex, make sure you're familiar with our health and safety student responsibilities. Knowing this will also help you develop skills on health and safety risk management.
