Safe working practice

A Safe Working Practice (SWP) should be completed for each procedure that may be undertaken in the designated area, which has a hazard or a potential hazard associated with it. Every procedure an undergraduate, postgraduate, research associate, staff member, technician or secretary is expected to perform, must be adequately explained (with the SWP) at the time of their induction into the working area, by a suitably qualified person.

The scheme should be both an instruction to the user and a safeguard for the research supervisor, to indicate that the correct working procedures have been defined and agreed.

A separate form that includes a safety assessment and a plan for safe working exists for undergraduate and postgraduate projects. It contains a declaration that:

1. both the project supervisor and the project students have discussed the safety issues concerned in the project,
   
   
2. they will take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety of all persons involved in the project, and
   
   
3. they will agree to follow the measures described in the plan for safe working.

This declaration must be signed by both the project supervisor and the project students and retained until the end of the project.