Under the Health & Safety at Work Act etc. 1974, Viper Ltd has a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of its employees and anyone else who may be affected by its acts or omissions, in pursuit of its business activities.
Viper Ltd has therefore established a WorkSafe Policy and Refusal to Work (WorkSafe) procedure for its employees, direct or subcontract, across all its worksites. The policy supports the right of any employee, direct or subcontract, to refuse to carry out work on the grounds of unsafe practices or conditions.
This Policy and related procedure have been established to give Viper Ltd workforce confidence that if they question any unsafe practices or conditions, or the safety of working systems, their views will be given serious and immediate consideration by Viper Ltd management team and they will not face recriminations by their line managers. It provides a method for employees, direct or subcontract, to deal with immediate safety problems, to ensure that work stops and the system is reviewed and changed, if potential or serious risk of accident or incident arises. The person in charge on site will respond positively and promptly to the invocation of the WorkSafe Procedure (viewing it as a positive intervention by a member of the workforce). Consideration will be given to the safety impact on the individual and others and immediate and appropriate action will be taken to resolve the situation.
Each role at Viper Ltd has its role and health and safety responsibilities clearly defined within each of Viper Ltd Competence Profiles. These responsibilities include the duty of all employees to work in such a manner as to not endanger themselves or anyone else by their actions or omissions. All employees must therefore play their part in abiding by those responsibilities. However, in order to ensure safety standards continually improve, they are encouraged to report any unsafe acts or conditions they have witnessed, thereby supporting the implementation of this Policy.
Viper Ltd provides full confidential reporting arrangements via their line managers or its dedicated HSQE Manager (contact numbers are on the HSE Law Poster displayed at all sites, or within site / project documentation).
Viper Ltd will monitor the compliance and effectiveness of this policy by way of internal inspections and audits.
