Health and Safety Consultancy in Portsmouth

Portsmouth's working harbour and naval base environment means many local businesses operate in proximity to tidal water, vessels, and port infrastructure, all of which require specific risk controls beyond standard workplace legislation. Risks including falls into water, vessel movements, and restricted escape routes must be formally assessed and managed as part of an overall site safety plan.

A major hazard site is one that holds quantities of dangerous substances above certain thresholds, triggering duties under the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 2015. Portsmouth's defence and industrial facilities may fall within these categories, requiring detailed safety reports, emergency planning, and engagement with the local authority and HSE.

A fire risk assessment identifies the hazards and risks present in a premises and determines what controls are needed. A fire emergency evacuation plan, sometimes called a FEEP, sets out exactly what everyone must do when the alarm sounds, including the roles of fire marshals, routes to assembly points, and procedures for accounting for all occupants.

Employers have a duty under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 to take reasonable care to ensure that visitors are safe while on their premises. Portsmouth's significant tourism, retail, and leisure economy means many businesses must consider public safety as carefully as they do employee safety, including managing slip hazards, crowd flow, and access for people with disabilities.

A display screen equipment self-assessment is completed by the worker themselves, guided by a structured checklist, to identify issues with their workstation setup such as screen height, chair adjustment, lighting, and keyboard position. It should be completed when a worker first sets up a workstation, when they move to a new location, and whenever they report discomfort linked to their screen-based work.

The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 set out strict requirements for managing electrical risk, including a general prohibition on working on live systems unless it is unreasonable to work dead. Any electrical work must be carried out by a competent person, and suitable precautions including isolation, locking off, and testing must be completed before work begins.

A safe working load is the maximum load that a piece of lifting equipment or accessory is designed to handle safely under normal conditions. The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 require this to be clearly marked on all lifting equipment, and operators must never exceed it regardless of operational pressure to do so

Apprentices and people new to a trade are at significantly higher risk of workplace injury because they lack experience and may not yet recognise hazards that an experienced worker would instinctively avoid. Employers must ensure close supervision, age-appropriate risk assessments, and structured on-the-job safety training throughout the apprenticeship period, not just during the initial induction.

A health and safety due diligence review is a structured assessment of an organisation's safety obligations, liabilities, and management arrangements, most commonly carried out before a business acquisition, merger, or significant change in ownership. It identifies any inherited legal risks or compliance gaps that the acquiring party needs to be aware of before completing the transaction.

The hierarchy of control requires that personal protective equipment is only used after all other reasonably practicable control measures have been applied, making it a final layer of protection rather than a substitute for engineering or process controls. Relying on PPE as the primary control without first eliminating or reducing the hazard at source is generally considered poor safety management and may not satisfy legal requirements.

Businesses supplying goods or services to Portsmouth's naval and defence sector may work with restricted materials, specialist equipment, or security-sensitive environments that bring additional safety and access control requirements. Risk assessments must reflect any site-specific rules imposed by the client, which may go beyond standard health and safety law in terms of security clearance, personal protective equipment, and emergency procedures.

A lessons learned register records the findings from incident investigations, near misses, audits, and external safety alerts, and tracks what actions were taken in response. It ensures that the same mistakes are not repeated and builds an evidence base that demonstrates a proactive approach to improving safety over time.