Health and Safety policy

The Royal Scottish Forestry Society - Health and Saftey policy

Introduction

The Royal Scottish Forestry Society (RSFS) aims to minimise, control and prevent (as far as reasonably possible) the risks relating to hazards associated with the health, safety and wellbeing of our employees and members.

RSFS will aim to provide and maintain safe and healthy working conditions, visits and assemblies and to provide such resources, information, training and supervision as needed for this purpose.

RSFS will do what is reasonably practicable to manage the risks identified and will follow the steps laid out in our risk assessment process.

Each society member and event attendee has a responsibility for looking after their own health and safety, making sensible choices and considering how their own behaviour may impact the health and safety of others.

The purpose of this policy is:

• To protect people who participate in any activity organised or run by the RSFS;
• To provide employees with the overarching principles that guide our approach to Health and Safety; and
• To mandate compliance with health & safety laws, regulations and this policy.

The RSFS believes in the importance of carrying out RSFS activities with minimal risk to ensure the wellbeing of people.

Legal framework

This policy has been drawn up on the basis of laws and guidance applicable in Scotland that seeks to protect those who may be at risk, namely; The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The Act states that as far as is reasonably practicable employers must provide a safe place of work; safe equipment for working; a safe working environment and sufficient information, instruction, training and supervision for employees.

The Management of Health and Satefty and Work Regulations 1999 aims to support the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Employers are required to have systems in place to manage Health and Safety underpinned by risk assessment and management procedures.

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) states that reporting of specified injuries, diseases and near misses occurring in the work place should be reported to the Health and Safety Executive.

The Charity and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 states that Trustees must act within the best interest of the Charity ensuring they comply with direction, requirement, notice or duty imposed on it by virtue of the Act.

We recognise that:

The welfare of employees and members is crucial. We will aim to protect people’s Health and Safety by:

• Providing appropriate and easily understandable information to allow colleagues and members to make informed choices about the activities they undertake on behalf of the Society;
• Identifying appropriate individuals with suitable competence to carry out health and safety tasks;
• Putting in place a mechanism to communicate to employees and members the threat of imminent danger;
• Providing appropriate health and safety training.

Responsibilities

Under Health & Safety legislation, Trustees are accountable for health & safety in the organisation and this accountability cannot be delegated.

The Vice Chair of the Society is the designated Health & Safety Representative for the Society and Regional Committee Chairs are responsible to the Vice Chair on health & safety matters.

The Chair of each Regional Committee is the designated Health & Safety Representative for that Region.

The Executive Director has been authorised to represent the Vice Chair and may, at the direction of the Vice Chair, require a Regional Committee to take or cease certain actions in respect of Health & Safety. This includes but is not limited to:

• Receiving copies of mandatory event risk assessments;
• Receiving copies of mandatory attendance lists in respect of each event;
• Issuing risk assessment templates;
• Providing feedback on risk assessments.

A risk assessment must be completed in advance of each event to ensure that all health & safety matters are considered. The form must be submitted to an RSFS staff member within 48 hours of the event.

In addition to highlighting concerns to the Health and Safety Representative, individuals are responsible for making mindful decisions about how their actions may impact their own health and safety as well as that of others, and will be sent pre-event guidance.

Reporting

If an incident occurs or there is a near miss, the Regional Chair, or event organiser must complete an incident reporting form.

The report must outline the incident or “near miss”, explain what went wrong and how the relevant health and safety procedures could be improved to reduce the chances of an incident occurring.

RIDDOR reporting should be submitted in cases including but not limited to fractures (excluding fingers, thumbs and toes), burns, loss of consciousness caused by a head injury, over seven-day incapacitation – where an employee is unable to perform their duties for 7 consecutive days as a result of a workplace injury. RIDDOR reports will be made by the Vice Chair following discussion with RSFS staff.

It is good practice for accidents and “near misses” to be recorded. These will be logged by an RSFS staff member.

Health & Safety statistics, including nil returns, will be reported at each Board meeting.

Review

We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice annually.

If you have any questions, concerns or need help or advice about any aspect of Health and Safety at RSFS, contact: director@rsfs.org.uk

Document version control

Version number	Change or update	Author or owner	Date
1.0	First version	Executive Director	3/9/26