Revisions to Corporate Manslaughter Act puts spotlight on employee Duty Of Care
Software solutions specialist FDH is launching an innovative web-based system to help companies meet its duty of care on policy compliance, and to make staff training that much easier.
Especially with the Corporate Manslaughter Act tightening up this April 2008, making it easier for organisations to be prosecuted for work-related deaths, the spotlight will be firmly placed on the legal requirement for employees to not only read a company’s policies and procedures, but also understand them.
FDH’s Saffron Cascade system is designed to automate the whole procedure, cutting down not only on the paperwork involved, but also providing an effective way of ensuring employees have understood the policies by requiring them to take an on-line test once they have read the information.
As the system is managed through the web, it also allows companies to tackle compliance remotely, therefore cutting down on transport costs and the time taken in carrying out an induction.
The system can be fully customised for individual companies and will guide users through a series of simple steps, from the initial reading of a policy through to taking the test, with a pass or fail alert being automatically sent to the relevant manager. Audit trails of policy and user-history can also be maintained, making it far easier for companies and their employees to access the current versions of a policy or procedure.
Andrew Markwell, FDH’s sales director comments: “The simplicity of the system makes it suitable for any size of business that wants to introduce a sounder policy compliance procedure, not only in case of a work-related death but also accidents where employees then attempt to sue the company.
“Policy compliance can be one of those ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’ procedures, but particularly with the impending changes to the Corporate Manslaughter Act, companies will need to sharpen up on its duty of care by ensuring its health and safety procedures are fit for the job."
