Last updated: August 2026

Home Flatpack is committed to maintaining high standards of health and safety across the installation services we arrange and manage.

We believe that no installation should be completed at the expense of the safety of an installer, customer, household member or any other person who may be affected by our work.

Health and safety forms an integral part of the Home Flatpack Quality Management System (QMS) and is considered throughout the planning, delivery and review of our services.

This policy should be read alongside our Customer Terms & Conditions, installer requirements and relevant QMS procedures.

1. Our Commitment

Home Flatpack is committed to ensuring, so far as reasonably practicable, that work arranged through our network is properly planned and undertaken in a safe and responsible manner.

Our approach is based on the principles of:

• Identifying foreseeable hazards.
• Assessing and controlling risk.
• Using competent installers.
• Providing relevant information.
• Maintaining clear responsibilities.
• Stopping work where conditions are unsafe.
• Learning from accidents, incidents and near misses.
• Continually improving our health and safety arrangements.

Safety takes priority over convenience, scheduling or the completion of an appointment.

2. Responsibilities

Safe installation requires cooperation between Home Flatpack, our subcontracted installers and the customer providing the workplace.

Home Flatpack is responsible for maintaining an appropriate framework of standards, processes and controls through our QMS.

Installers are responsible for managing the risks associated with the work they undertake.

Customers are responsible for providing a reasonably safe, accessible and suitable environment in which the agreed work can be carried out.

These responsibilities work alongside, rather than replace, any duties imposed by law.

3. Our Installers

Installers providing services through Home Flatpack operate as independent subcontractors.

They are expected to be competent for the work they undertake and to manage their activities safely.

This includes applying appropriate:

• Risk assessment.
• Safe Systems of Work (SSOW).
• Risk Assessments and Method Statements (RAMS), where appropriate.
• Manufacturer instructions and safety information.
• Tool and equipment controls.
• Manual-handling practices.
• Personal protective equipment requirements.

The level of assessment and documentation should be proportionate to the nature and risk of the work being undertaken.

4. Safe Systems of Work

Home Flatpack expects installation work to be carried out using appropriate Safe Systems of Work.

Routine installation activities may be managed through established working practices, training, manufacturer guidance and suitable risk assessment.

Where work presents additional or significant risks, more detailed controls, including RAMS where appropriate, should be applied.

Safe working arrangements should be reviewed whenever the nature of the task or conditions at the property change.

5. Competence

Installers must only undertake work for which they have appropriate competence, experience, equipment and capability.

Home Flatpack does not expect an installer to proceed with work merely because an appointment has been booked.

Where an installer considers that work is outside their competence, materially different from the agreed scope or cannot be completed safely, they are expected to stop and seek appropriate guidance or alternative arrangements.

A legitimate decision not to undertake unsafe or unsuitable work will be supported by Home Flatpack.

6. The Customer's Property as a Workplace

During an installation, the customer's home, garden or other premises becomes a temporary workplace.

Customers are therefore expected to provide an environment that is reasonably safe, clear and suitable for the work being undertaken.

This includes, where reasonably practicable:

• Providing safe access.
• Providing sufficient working space.
• Clearing unnecessary obstacles and belongings.
• Keeping access routes reasonably unobstructed.
• Advising us of known hazards or restrictions.
• Positioning products as agreed.
• Keeping children and pets away from the immediate working area.
• Ensuring outdoor working areas are reasonably suitable for the planned installation.

Detailed customer responsibilities are set out in our Customer Terms & Conditions.

7. The Installer's Right to Work Safely

Every installer working through Home Flatpack has the right to a safe and respectful working environment.

No installer is expected to work in circumstances that they reasonably consider unsafe.

This may include situations involving:

• Unsafe or restricted access.
• Excessive clutter or uncontrolled hazards.
• Unsafe lifting requirements.
• Dangerous electrical or structural conditions.
• Unsuitable weather or ground conditions.
• Uncontrolled pets.
• Children repeatedly entering a hazardous working area.
• Threatening, aggressive or abusive behaviour.
• Any other condition presenting an unacceptable risk.

Where a straightforward hazard can reasonably be removed, the customer may be given an opportunity to do so.

Where the risk cannot adequately be controlled, the work may be suspended, postponed or cancelled.

8. Stop-Work Authority

Home Flatpack gives installers clear authority to stop work where they reasonably believe continuing would create an unacceptable risk to themselves or another person.

An installer does not require customer permission to stop unsafe work.

Health and safety decisions should not be influenced by pressure to complete an appointment, avoid inconvenience or meet a planned schedule.

Where necessary, Home Flatpack will review the circumstances and determine what arrangements are required before work can continue.

9. Customer Presence

A responsible adult is normally required to remain at the property throughout the installation, in accordance with our Customer Terms & Conditions.

Their presence helps ensure that:

• Access can be managed.
• Known hazards can be discussed.
• Children and pets can be appropriately controlled.
• Unexpected issues can be addressed.
• Decisions affecting the work can be made.
• The completion walkaround can take place.

Our installers do not normally access unattended residential properties using key safes, hidden keys or similar arrangements.

10. Children, Pets and Other Persons

Installation work may involve tools, components, heavy furniture, partially assembled products and other temporary hazards.

Customers are expected to keep children and pets away from the immediate working area where necessary.

Installers should also organise their working area in a way that reduces unnecessary risks to other persons within the property.

Reasonable adjustments will be considered where customers or household members have additional needs, provided those adjustments can be made safely.

11. Manual Handling

Furniture and garden equipment can contain heavy, bulky or awkward components.

Installers are expected to assess manual-handling risks and use appropriate working methods.

They should not undertake a lift that they reasonably consider unsafe.

Where an installation requires additional labour, lifting assistance or equipment that was not identified during booking, alternative arrangements may be required.

12. Tools, Equipment and PPE

Installers are responsible for ensuring that the tools and equipment they use are appropriate for the task and maintained in a safe condition.

Appropriate personal protective equipment should be used where identified as part of the relevant risk controls.

Tools and equipment should be managed responsibly within customer properties, particularly where children or other vulnerable persons may be present.

13. Working at Height

Work at height should be avoided where reasonably practicable and appropriately controlled where necessary.

Suitable access equipment must be used.

Improvised access using furniture, customer belongings, packaging or other unsuitable objects is not acceptable.

Installers should not undertake work at height that exceeds the scope of the service, their competence or their available equipment.

14. Wall Fixing and Property Work

Where drilling or wall fixing forms part of the agreed service, appropriate consideration must be given to the proposed fixing location, surface, fixing method and foreseeable hazards.

Installers may decline to undertake work where they cannot reasonably establish that it can be performed safely.

Customers are expected to provide any relevant information known to them about concealed services, property restrictions or other hazards.

15. Outdoor Installations

Outdoor work is particularly dependent on changing environmental conditions.

Weather and ground conditions must be considered before and during an outdoor installation.

Work may be postponed or stopped where conditions such as high winds, lightning, severe rain, flooding, ice, extreme temperatures or unstable ground make the work unsafe.

Safety decisions made because of weather or site conditions will be supported by Home Flatpack.

16. Damaged or Unsafe Products

Installers should not continue assembling a product where its condition, missing components or defects mean that safe completion cannot reasonably be assured.

Where appropriate, the issue will be recorded through our QMS evidence process and the customer advised of the next steps.

The respective responsibilities of Home Flatpack, the customer and product supplier are set out in our Customer Terms & Conditions.

17. Additional and Unauthorised Work

Health and safety planning is based on the work agreed through Home Flatpack.

Customers should therefore arrange additional work through Home Flatpack rather than directly with the installer.

Unplanned work can introduce different hazards, competence requirements, equipment requirements and working methods that have not formed part of the original assessment.

The contractual position regarding unauthorised additional work and product modifications is contained within our Customer Terms & Conditions.

18. Accidents, Incidents and Near Misses

Home Flatpack encourages the reporting of relevant accidents, incidents, unsafe conditions and near misses arising during work arranged through our network.

Significant events may be recorded and reviewed through our Quality Management System.

Our objective is to establish:

• What happened.
• What contributed to it.
• Whether appropriate controls were in place.
• Whether those controls were followed.
• Whether further action is required.

Where applicable, statutory reporting requirements will be followed.

19. Health & Safety Within Our QMS

Health and safety performance forms part of the wider Home Flatpack Quality Management System.

Relevant information may be obtained from:

• Installer job records.
• Photographs and completion evidence.
• Checklists.
• Accident and incident reports.
• Near-miss reports.
• Complaints.
• Customer feedback.
• Installer feedback.
• Internal quality reviews.

Where a weakness is identified, appropriate corrective or preventive action may be taken.

20. Learning and Continuous Improvement

Our approach does not end when an immediate safety issue has been dealt with.

Where an accident, incident, near miss or recurring concern occurs, we will consider both remedy and recurrence.

This means considering what needs to happen immediately and then asking what can reasonably be changed to reduce the likelihood of the same issue happening again.

Actions may include changes to:

• Installer training.
• SSOW or RAMS.
• Booking questions.
• Customer guidance.
• Checklists.
• Evidence requirements.
• Installer monitoring.
• Internal procedures.

This approach supports continuous improvement across the Home Flatpack network.

21. Review of this Policy

This policy will be reviewed periodically and following significant changes to our services, operating model, relevant health and safety requirements or identified risks.

It may also be reviewed following a significant incident or where QMS data identifies an opportunity for improvement.

22. Related Policies and Documents

This policy forms part of Home Flatpack's wider quality and operational framework and should be read alongside relevant documents including:

• Customer Terms & Conditions.
• Complaints & Resolution Policy.
• Quality Management System.
• Installer standards and requirements.
• Safe Systems of Work.
• Risk Assessments and Method Statements where applicable.
• Relevant manufacturer instructions.

Nothing in this policy removes or replaces any legal duty applying to Home Flatpack, an installer, subcontractor, customer or other relevant per