Introduction to Health and Safety at Work

3.9.4 Information for customers
The quality movement has drawn attention to the need 
to ensure that there are processes in place which ensure 
quality, rather than just inspecting and removing defects 
when it is too late. In much the same way, organizations 
need to manage health and safety rather than acting 
when it is too late.
Customers need information and specifi cations from 
the manufacturer or supplier – especially where there 
is a potential risk involved for them. When deciding 
what the supplier needs to pass on, careful thought is 
required about the health and safety factors associated 
with any product or service.
This means focusing on four key questions and then 
framing the information supplied so that it deals with 
each one. The questions are:
➤
are there any inherent dangers in the product or 
service being passed on – what could go wrong?
➤
what can the manufacturer or supplier do while 
working on the product or service to reduce the 
chance of anything going wrong later?
➤
what can be done at the point of handover to limit 
the chances of anything going wrong?
➤
what steps should customers take to reduce the 
chances of something going wrong? What precisely 
would they need to know?
Depending on what is being provided to customers, the 
customer information may need to comply with the fol-
lowing legislation:
➤
Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 1992 and 
amendment 1994
➤
Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 
1998
➤
Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regula-
tions 2002
➤
Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for 
Supply) Regulations 2002 & 2005 amendments.
This list is not exhaustive.
3.9.5 Buying 
problems
Examples of problems that may arise when purchasing 
include:
➤
second-hand equipment which does not conform to 
current safety standards
➤
starting to use new substances which do not have 
safety data sheets
➤
machinery which, while well guarded for operators, 
may pose risks for a maintenance engineer
➤
offi ce chairs which do not provide adequate back 
support.
A risk assessment should be done on any new product, 
taking into account the likely life expectancy (e.g. delivery, 

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