Would you feel confident if an EHO walked in right now? Do you have the records to prove you’re compliant? Not sure where to start?
Don’t fret; we’re here to help. This health and safety checklist guide will help you stay compliant and protect your team, customers and business.
Take the next step by setting up a readymade checklist in a simple, secure online environment through the Trail app.
A health and safety checklist is a tool used to reinforce best practices and help you comply with safety regulations. Performing regular inspections using safety checklist templates prevents accidents at work, and will help protect your business during an EHO inspection.
EHO inspections do not need to be scheduled in advance, so a robust health and safety compliance process will ensure that you are always prepared. A good checklist will ensure that employees are always aware of their responsibilities. If you go one step further with a digital health and safety checklist, you will also be able to maintain a record over time to demonstrate your commitment to the best possible standards for your staff and customers.
Discover more ways Trail can help your business stay compliant.
Your health and safety checklist needs to cover the following:
To see how Trail can help you get started with ready-made, digital checklists, visit our health and safety template library.
Running a health and safety audit helps you identify risks and assess whether your procedures are legally compliant.
Health and safety audits involve:
After the risk assessment, you'll know what needs to be improved and which measures to put in place.
A good health and safety compliance checklist should be thorough, covering a wide range of issues, from hazards to hygiene.
Every food-serving business – including bars, hotels and cafés, not just restaurants – needs to show compliance with hygiene standards during an EHO inspection in order to achieve a good food hygiene rating. If your business is not compliant, consequences could involve anything from the issue of a hygiene improvement notice to prosecution in the worst cases.
Ensure you’re EHO compliant with the following:
It’s essential to cover everything from inspection to repairs, every day. And to fill out a maintenance log, so managers know what’s going on.
Your main considerations should include hazard identification, equipment checks and inspecting the working environment.
Examples of common hazards:
From allergens to sell-by dates, food can pose many health and safety risks. Avoid this by:
Our team has prepared handy food safety task templates you can assign to your team or carry out yourself to ensure food safety is of highest standards.
Check everything is running as it should be, both at open and close.
Whatever time you open, some things need actioning:
Create your kitchen opening & closing checklist with Trail.
Whoever runs the restaurant and bar closing checks is responsible for following the procedures correctly, from cleaning checks to wastage reports.
No unnecessary electrical equipment should be running and no taps left on. This might seem obvious, but without checking, it's easy to forget something, leaving your business unprotected.
Record keeping is a vital tool in your armoury:
You don’t have to rely on your own memory alone to stay compliant. A digital health and safety checklist template will give you a comprehensive starting point for compliance. By starting with a template, you know the basics will be covered, and you can customise as needed for your business’s unique needs.
Digital templates are particularly easy to maintain. They leave a secure, historical record and won’t get lost in busy kitchens.
Check out our health and safety checklist templates to get started. Put our food, health and safety templates to test with a 14-day free trial, sign up today!
Compliance is only half of the story. With so much to do each day, how do you know if/when the right checks have been carried out and appropriate action taken?
Scribbling numbers onto paper and spreadsheets can make it hard to keep track of what has actually been done.
Trail is a simple app that replaces your existing paper checks, from health & safety to food hygiene to opening checks.
We’ve created a library of templates including cleaning and compliance tasks so you can be sure you're operating as safely as possible.