Working Safely Practical Safety for Everyone

Safety is not an additional task completed after the real work. It is part of how every job should be planned, communicated and delivered.

Working Safely: Practical Safety for Everyone is an accessible, illustrated handbook for employees, contractors, agency workers, supervisors and anyone who wants to understand their role in creating a safer workplace.

Written from Robert Porter’s experience of leading large, diverse teams across UK rail, transport and safety-critical operational environments, the book translates essential safety principles into clear workplace actions. It examines how ordinary decisions, changing conditions, competing priorities and communication affect whether people return home safe.

Readers are guided through:

Workplace hazards and risk assessment

Employer and employee responsibilities

Safety culture and human factors

The hierarchy of risk control

Slips, trips and manual handling

Work equipment and electrical safety

Hazardous substances, noise and vibration

Working at height and workplace transport

Driving for work

Fire prevention and emergency response

PPE and display-screen work

Stress, fatigue and lone working

Violence, contractors and temporary workers

Safety briefings and speaking up

Near-miss reporting and incident investigation

Safe starts, handovers and task completion

Six original graphics explain hazard versus risk, risk scoring, the hierarchy of controls, fire prevention, safety signs and the chain of incident causation. Knowledge checks and a 30-day action plan help readers turn awareness into observable workplace behaviour.

The handbook uses Harvard referencing and draws on current guidance from the Health and Safety Executive⁠� and the official IOSH Working Safely course description⁠�.

This is an independent publication and does not replace employer training, workplace procedures, risk assessments or an IOSH-approved course.