Expert health and safety advice is being offered free to businesses in the D2N2 Growth Hub area of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, as part of a four month pilot project to help companies cut costs and avoid future problems.
The D2N2 Growth Hub – part of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, a private sector-led organisation which promotes economic growth and jobs creation across Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire – runs a Better Business Regulation (BBR) service, to raise firms’ awareness of and help them navigate business regulations.
Compliance with health and safety regulations can be a potentially large cost for SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises); should they need to pay to get consultancy help in to understand the rules, or fall foul of regulations if they don’t keep up with changes to them.
The Growth Hub’s BBR service is launching a completely free health and safety check-up and advice service for businesses, which will run as a pilot scheme for the next four months from today (December 7).
Businesses using the service will get their premises and practises reviewed by an independent, qualified health and safety practitioner. The expert Regulatory Officer will offer advice on specific topics of concern and on finding a cost effective solution, which will help the company in question meet its legal requirements under Health and Safety Executive regulations.
The service is aimed at businesses in the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire area. It is hoped that up to 30 businesses in the two counties will access the service over the four month pilot period.
To contact the free service phone 0333 006 9178 or email info@d2n2growthhub.co.uk, giving company contact details and a brief explanation of the type of advice being sought.
David Williams, Chairman of the Better Business Regulation service and of the D2N2 Growth Hub, said: “Businesses can be concerned or just plain confused by changes to health and safety and other legislation affecting them, but it’s not something which can just be ignored.
“By providing this new free service we hope to raise businesses’ awareness of what’s required of them legally and how they can meet their obligations, as cost effectively as possible.
“In turn, our BBR service will gain a better understanding of common health and safety compliance problems SMEs face; which we can feedback to Government and the regulatory bodies, to help them make their regulations and information more accessible to companies.”
For more information about the work of the Better Business Regulation service go to web link www.d2n2lep.org/BBR and for more on the D2N2 Growth Hub services see website www.d2n2growthhub.co.uk
Media wanting further information on this news release should contact Paul Cooper, Better Business Regulation Co-ordinator, on paul.cooper@d2n2growthhub.co.uk or mobile 07545 323724; OR Sean Kirby, D2N2 Communications Manager, on 0115 9578749 or email: sean.kirby@d2n2lep.org
