Stuart Knill is general manager for Venners Health & Safety Division. Founded in 1896, Venners is the UK’s largest and longest established stock audit company servicing the hospitality and leisure sector. Its services include liquor and food stocktaking; inventory listings and valuations; compliance audit; and a range of health and safety services including food safety and fire safety. It serves all the UK and key European cities using only its own employees.
Call 01279 620 820, email enquiries@venners.co.uk or visit www.venners.com
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Health & Safety: Time to put your feet up
10 November, 2009
So who’s minding your business while you take a well-earned break? There are some steps you can take to ensure you don’t end up out of pocket…
Now that the peak holiday season and some of the traditionally busiest months of the year are coming to a close some managers will be considering taking a well earned break before the all-important Christmas trade begins.
Among the many things to consider before doing this are two that are critical to best protect yourself and the business in your absence.
The first of these is to decide who will be the designated premises supervisor (DPS). It is important that this key position is adequately covered because there should always be a responsible person who is quickly contactable in the event of anything untoward occurring.
The person selected to carry out these duties must be a current personal licence-holder who understands the role and responsibilities undertaken by a DPS.
To this end, a company would be well advised to have a basic ‘template’ letter in which the current DPS relinquishes responsibility during
the period of holiday to the named person who is taking over the role. Of course, if there is any likelihood of this being a permanent change then a transfer of the named DPS should be made in the normal way with your local authority.
Independent stocktake
Regular, professional independent stocktaking helps protect you and the business at all times. In regard to holidays it is advisable to organise a professional independent stocktake on the day you depart and hand over the keys to your relief manager (who may also be the DPS) and another stocktake on the day you return and retrieve the keys.
As most trade is made up of numerous small cash transactions it can be very tempting for staff to help themselves particularly when they know you are away. If someone is going to steal from you then the chance of them doing it is greatly increased when you’re not around. Regardless of whether you are leaving a family member or a capable assistant in charge the risk is very real.
Having these stocktakes enables you to monitor and see how well your relief manager has coped with and managed your business in your absence.
It may also be of benefit to them, particularly if the result is satisfactory, in that they will have an independent record of the period that they were in charge which could be used in future to demonstrate that they are indeed capable of managing premises.
Edited by Venners
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