Did you know that last year the HSE advice line fielded 750,000 calls from small businesses?
As of this month that advice/info line has been withdrawn, which begs the question where do these businesses go now for competent advice.
The HSE has defended the withdrawal by saying that these businesses can find all the information they need on the HSE website; but is it really going to be that easy.
Based on experiences of some of our clients we think the answer is probably not; take for example a call we had recently from a sign company. They had a client who wanted them to install signs on and around petrol forecourts and were unsure of what they needed to do. The first step was to visit the HSE website where after some searching they gave up and came to MESH for advice.
Clearly from this experience not all questions are going to be easily answered by just looking at the HSE website and small businesses will either be at risk of not being in compliance or just not knowing what they need to do.
With this gap in knowledge it is going to require the businesses to make sure they have access to competent advice; either by training internal staff or by seeking professional help.
If you think your business is at risk then why not contact MESH for a free no obligation discussion on which is the right path for your business.