IFAs should not risk a fine by falling foul of health and safety legislation, a consultancy firm has cautioned.

With the average cost of a penalty for a health and safety offence in the UK reaching almost £150,000, Paradigm Consultancy said it wanted to raise awareness of health and safety legislation for IFAs.

The compliance consultancy has joined forces with HR and health and safety advisers Citation to promote a checklist of legal requirements, ranging from daily checks through to annual assessments.

“As a profession, IFAs are very good at documenting advice according to FCA guidelines, but it’s vital they apply the same ethos to things such as health and safety,” explained Paradigm Consulting’s head of proposition, David Ryder.

“That’s why we’re working with Citation on increasing IFAs’ awareness of what they need to do for their business and employees, whether part time, contractors or temporary. In many cases, simply ignoring even basic health and safety rules could leave IFAs crippled by a significant financial penalty, so our advice is to follow a checklist, setting regular time to ensure everything is complete and up to date.”

Any IFA with five or more employees on its books legally needs a written health and safety policy in place. And this policy can only protect an organisation if they can prove it’s been communicated, understood and implemented by all staff.

Citation’s head of partnerships, Dave Lambert, added: “We know keeping health and safety systems in place and up to date is not always at the top of an IFAs’ to do list, and can be a bit of a headache. But if they’re not under control, non-compliance with laws and regulations can have devastating consequences for both employees and the business.

“Simple checks, from ensuring all contractor documentation is adequate and up to date, to testing all smoke and fire alarms, should be carried out regularly and can take just take a few minutes.”

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