Health and Safety Documents for Bookkeepers and Accountants

Self employed bookkeepers and accountants understand compliance better than most - it is the foundation of the service they provide to clients. Yet health and safety compliance for their own business is frequently overlooked. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 applies to every sole trader in the UK, including those working from a home office or rented premises providing professional financial services. || If you see clients at your premises, you are the responsible person for their safety while they are on your property. A fire safety risk assessment is a legal requirement. If you use a computer as the primary tool of your work - which as a bookkeeper or accountant you certainly do - the Display Screen Equipment Regulations require that your workstation is assessed. || Professional indemnity insurers and membership bodies such as the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers and the Association of Accounting Technicians increasingly expect members to demonstrate compliance with health and safety requirements. Having documentation in place before it is requested is always the better position.

There is something uncomfortable about a bookkeeper or accountant who helps clients manage their obligations but has never addressed their own health and safety compliance. The documents are not complex. The requirements are not onerous. But like many administrative tasks that do not directly generate income, they tend to get pushed back indefinitely. || A blank template downloaded from a government website still requires you to identify every relevant hazard, assess the likelihood and severity of harm, and document the controls you have in place. For a home office setup with a computer screen, poor lighting, and a chair that was not designed for eight hours of use, the list of relevant hazards is longer than most bookkeepers expect. || CompliantDocs generates five completed documents from your answers about your working environment. No blank fields. No guessing what the correct answer is. Documents specific to your practice, ready to use.