You must ensure the health and safety of all your employees in all aspects of their work. This requirement is expressly described as an obligation to achieve a specific result.

To fulfil this obligation, you must take into account all the associated occupational risks related to:

• your company’s sector of activity;
• the nature of the tasks assigned;
• working conditions;
• the processes and methods used; and
• the potential exposure to chemical, physical or biological agents.

These obligations apply to all employees, including:

• those on fixed-term contracts (CDD);
• temporary agency workers and workers on temporary loan.

You must put in place appropriate preventive measures to avoid risks, tackle them at source, adapt workstations (ergonomics, equipment, methods), plan for prevention, and eliminate or minimise hazards as far as possible.

In particular, you are obliged to:

• take into account technical developments;
• give priority to collective protective measures over individual protective measures;
• give appropriate instructions; and
• take each employee’s abilities into account when assigning them a task.

You must also:

• assess risks in the workplace and draw up a list of high-risk workstations, in order to organise medical surveillance and identify appropriate preventive measures;
• appoint at least one designated worker to be responsible for occupational health and safety activities;
• consult the health and safety representative, where such a role exists, on all matters relating to health and safety at work;
• inform and consult your employees about risks and safety measures, and provide them with training on health and safety at work in line with their roles and responsibilities;
• bring in external expertise when the necessary skills are not available within the company;
• restrict access to areas posing serious and specific risks to employees who have received adequate training and authorisation.

You must also:

• report any workplace accident to the Accident Insurance Association (Association d’assurance accidents - AAA) and organise first aid, ensure fire safety measures are in place, plan for the evacuation of workers and manage any situation involving serious and immediate danger;
• register with an occupational health service or set one up, in order to provide medical supervision and help prevent occupational risks.

As the person in charge of the company, you must ensure that your employees enjoy normal and decent working conditions, which includes the obligation to prevent and put a stop to any form of psychological harassment.

As soon as you become aware of any circumstances that may constitute psychological harassment, you must take all necessary measures to protect the employees concerned, which may include imposing disciplinary sanctions on the perpetrator.

Even if you are not personally responsible for the actions in question, you may be held liable as a business owner if you fail to put in place appropriate measures to prevent and respond to such events.

To ensure effective risk prevention, you must allow employees and their representatives to speak freely about their working conditions, in particular through the health and safety representative or, where applicable, the staff delegation.

You are required to provide the staff delegation and the health and safety representative with the necessary information regarding health and safety risks, as well as the protective and preventive measures and activities relating to the company and the various workstations.

You must also cooperate, where appropriate, with other companies operating on the same site and inform them, as well as their representatives, of the risks involved in order to coordinate preventive measures.

When a new employee joins your company, you need to ensure that their integration runs smoothly so that they can focus on their duties.

In particular, you must explain the health and safety rules applicable to their role, inform them of the risks associated with their work, the working environment and the processes used, and provide them with the names of the relevant contacts (their line manager, the health and safety representative, the occupational health service, etc.). This integration helps ensure a smooth and safe onboarding process.