Top tips for working in other people's premises
As a venue stylist it can be daunting getting to grips with the various aspects of Health and Safety law and how this applies to your business. However, getting into good practice, knowing your responsibilities, is vital.
The good news is that taking time to identify potential risks and managing the hazards involved in the workings of your operation, allows you to take a professional stance to mitigate them. Plus it enables you to concentrate on your core business and do a good job!
So what are the main areas to think about for health and safety for a venue stylist when you’re working at other people’s premises?
1. Understand the law
Health and Safety is one of the only areas of compliance where both civil and criminal law apply.
Criminal law
Under health and safety law, as an employer, you have a responsibility to protect workers and others from risk to their health and safety. No one has to have been harmed for an offence to be committed under the Health & Safety at Work Act, there only has to be a risk of harm.
Civil Law
Under civil law, if someone has been injured or made ill through your negligence as an employer, they may be able to make a compensation claim against you. You can also be found liable if someone who works for you has been negligent and caused harm to someone else.
(source hse.gov.uk)
2. Ensure you have the correct insurance
Ensure you have the correct insurance. In most cases, employers must have employers’ liability insurance. This will enable you to meet the cost of compensation for your employees’ injuries or illness. It’s a criminal offence if you do not have it.
Public liability Insurance isn’t a mandatory insurance, BUT it works in a similar way. It is designed to meet the cost of compensation for injury or illness to members of the public.
3. Carry out a risk assessment
Carry out a Risk Assessment. Think about the risks involved in carrying out your particular work.
Where are the hazards? And how can you mitigate against them?
For example,
- if you are carrying out overhead work, you might need to consider whether people can walk underneath and you’ll also want to consider the suitability of the equipment used.
- if you are carrying out work at ground level, will any of your equipment present a trip hazard and if so how can the risk be avoided?
Our 3 Top Tips
And remember these 3 top tips:
1. Do not underestimate the time it takes, particularly with the more complex jobs, to comply with all the paperwork involved. Factor in your time so you can charge for it. Many venues demand risk assessments and method statements before you are allowed on site.
2. Have details of your insurance and risk assessment/s to hand as you may be asked to provide evidence to anyone managing a venue.
3. If you have any concerns about working at a venue (perhaps as a result of something you’ve seen or heard) then ask to see their own H&S policy, risk assessment and insurance details AND READ THEM. Ensure you are able to comply with everything they have in their policy in the same way you would expect them to read and comply with yours, and if they can’t supply them then this should ring alarm bells!
Become a successful Venue Stylist
We hope this blog post has been useful to you.
However, if you feel slightly daunted by anything you’ve read in them, then do not worry as we take a deep dive into all of these topics in our Training & Mentoring programme! A programme dedicated to helping you make the right decisions when setting up, running and delivering your venue styling business.
Liz & Doug are a husband and wife team who have been running successful wedding and event related businesses for 29 years, most notably Stressfree – The Venue Transformers, one of the UK’s first venue styling companies. From working for big companies as consultants in the 1980 and 1990s, they went solo in 1995 and now believe that with the right know-how and support, anyone with the right attributes can become a successful venue stylist!
And if you’d like some one-on-one assistance, our Stressfree Business Audit is just one of the other ways in which we can help you.
The contents of this blog are for general information purposes only. You may wish to seek professional advice in relation to specific circumstances.