Feedback on business model - would you use it?

[SafetyOne]

Good afternoon UKBF,

So being locked down has resulted in many changes in circumstances in both career and outlook in my future ambitions.

I have decided that rather than sit and wallow - it's a great opportunity to better use my expertise and possibly make it into a business model going forwards.

I am a Health, Safety & Environmental Manager for over 10 years experience in the manufacturing industry, with relevant qualifications to suit, however, more commonly as people are setting up their own businesses they are failing to consider and implement the safety management around the requirements of the law.

The idea is for simple things such as policies, procedures and office risk assessments etc. Business forms such as inductions, permits, accident and hr forms often overlooked and considered not necessary by some businesses.
Only yesterday was I hearing from a business with over 15 employees that they didn't know an accident book was a legal requirement, that their first aiders certificate had expired which left them without a trained on-site first aider and them saying that risk assessments for an office environment were not needed.

I want to create a place where you can find basic business safety information in an understandable format, business startup safety checklists and be able to download and buy templates and forms, get custom made documents - all things relevant to health and safety.

Now, what makes me different?
I will not be a business trying to spin many plates and sell many things. I will stick to what I know. Safety management. I don't want to deal with PPE distribution when I want to focus on employees getting the basics right.

What would the business offer -

• Toolbox talks
• Safe working instructions
• Accident, Near miss & hazard alert forms
• Policies & procedures
• Permit to work templates
• Emergency response plans
• COSHH assessment templates
• Generic risk assessments
• Safety checklists and audits
• Safety signs, stickers and posters
• Employee handbooks
• HR forms
• Induction packs
• Covid-19 safety checksheets, visitor questionnaires and info
• Custom requested content

Would you go to a business which could help support you with these things and ensure your safety management systems are adhered to?

I am greatly away more research is to be carried out, but I always say "communicate is free, just ask!".

I look forward to hearing back some info by me putting this initial post on the forums.

Kind regards, Charlie

 

[AllUpHere]

Not a bad idea, but I don't understand what makes you different or better than the competition. A strong point of differentiation is what you need to concentrate on.
I've owned and been involved with businesses that carry out some of the most dangerous types of work in the country in which it was very important to get these things right. Having said that, businesses like yours were always thought of as 'business prevention' consultants.

 

[Mark T Jones]

As @AllUpHere says, there is really nothing new or unique here. Which is a good thing, in that you don't have the monumental challenge of exposing a concept

You do, however need to find a clear target audience and a point of differentiation - in either order.

 

[fisicx]

People don’t know what they don’t know.

You may have a KB with all that information but Bob and his company don’t know if they need all those things. What they want is someone to do the audit and then generate all the necessary policies and procedures.

 

[SafetyOne]

Hello all,

Thank you for taking the time to respond so quickly.

Not a bad idea, but I don't understand what makes you different or better than the competition. A strong point of differentiation is what you need to concentrate on.

I agree with you AllUpHere and although this is just a starting point to to get feedback, I want to look at the products I have and the services I can provided to discover a strong USP.

You do, however need to find a clear target audience and a point of differentiation - in either order.

Hi Mark, I agree and it is something I want to dig deeper into further to ensure I clear answer for these.

People don’t know what they don’t know.
You may have a KB with all that information but Bob and his company don’t know if they need all those things. What they want is someone to do the audit and then generate all the necessary policies and procedures.

Hello fisicx, thanks for replying. I’d love to be able to provide onsite services, however, I’m currently in a position of working full time still and wanting to get the business off the ground in my spare time it is not possible.


Again, thank you for these helpful replies.

Regards, Charlie

 

[mattk]

I am a big fan of these "x in a box" type ideas. Health and Safety In a Box will appear to a lot of small-ish to medium size businesses, who as you describe, are either not aware of their obligations or don't have time/experience to produce their own documents from scratch.

 

[SafetyOne]

I am a big fan of these "x in a box" type ideas. Health and Safety In a Box will appear to a lot of small-ish to medium size businesses, who as you describe, are either not aware of their obligations or don't have time/experience to produce their own documents from scratch.

Thanks mattk, it’s another idea to throw into the mix. I’ve never thought about creating a system ‘within a box’ and systems, forms and documentation I can definitely do. Thanks for taking the time to reply!

Regards, Charlie

 

[noweto]

It sounds like a good idea, though as others have said, not unique and potentially quite competitive.

I just googled "COSHH assessment templates" for example, and it came up with 4 companies running Google Ads, plus sites where I can download templates for free.

It may be worth thinking about the barriers your potential customers face. Why aren't they currently implementing the required H&S policies?

Is it that they don't have access to the knowledge and tools, and would be willing to pay for those things?

Or is it that they either don't know what they need or find the whole thing to be too much hassle?

If it's the latter, your business will be more successful if you can find a way to remove hassle (and frankly, boring admin). What you don't want to do is set up a business where you expect people to pay you to give them work to do. The more knowledgable and responsible companies may pay for that, but if your target market is the less knowledgeable companies who are not currently meeting requirements, they're unlikely to proactively search for and pay for educational tools and templates.

 

[The Byre]

How do you intend to market this service?

 

[Opinion87]

Thanks mattk, it’s another idea to throw into the mix. I’ve never thought about creating a system ‘within a box’ and systems, forms and documentation I can definitely do. Thanks for taking the time to reply!

Regards, Charlie

It's something I would be interested in, for sure.

 

[Uke]

I’ve seen ‘HR in a box’ models work really well so there’s no reason I can see why it wouldn’t work as well in H&S, as long as you have a clear focus on who your target market is and market accordingly.

 

[Paul Carmen]

This is one of those situations where you need to carry out research first to establish if this is even viable. Asking a question on UKBF shows you're thinking about viability first, but won't really answer the questions.

Based on your questions and answers here, this in an online model, so you need to understand what customer search for online and what the competition already offers. This requires proper keyword and customer market research to asses the volumes of searches and what is likely to convert.

The competitor piece is then key, as you need to be able to rank and get seen for the relevant searches, either via SEO work and organic ranking or paid ads. The Google Ads Keyword Planner is a reasonable way to start and well tell you roughly what keyword volumes/costs are and what your competitors bid on.

At this stage you also need to think about who your customer is, is it a subset or specific area of the market, or can you target everything. You also need to ask why would a customer use you; e.g. what's great or unique about your proposition and products/services, how much do they cost and how does it all work.

At this stage you should be able to start pulling together a plan of work/costs required to build and market this; e.g. the site pages needed, products and payments etc, offsetting this against the marketing and traffic costs. You can then build a rough model for the project and get an idea of whether this is a viable proposition and whether you want to invest time and money to make it work.