Think Safety Signs

Smoking Ban 2010 Review Axed

Safety Signs — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 12:24:43 +0000

July 2007 saw a smoking ban introduced in the UK with the previous Government promising a review in Autumn 2010. Recently, the newly formed coalition Government has scrapped the smoking ban review much to the discontent of many club and pub owners.

When it was introduced in 2007, all workplaces were required by law to display safety signs indicating that no smoking was allowed in the premises. 3 years on that law still stands. At first businesses were confused by what signs needed to be displayed where.

I personally observed several offices where no smoking signs were placed on every door, both internally and externally. They claimed that it was “better safe than sorry” with fines of £1000 being threatened.

I saw a taxicab with a no smoking sign on each door, one in the front window, one showing in the rear window one on the front passenger windscreen visor and two in the back.

A total of nine signs at least for one taxi, probably overkill in my opinion but at £1 a sign and the potential risks of a £1000 fine, a £9 outlay seemed reasonable to the driver.

I found a post on one blog that talks about putting up too many health and safety signs here : http://uksafetysigns.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/safety-signs-everywhere/

I personally cannot say whether or not it has been detrimental to the pubs and clubs in the UK, it certainly gave a boost to the sign industry for a small period of time. The smoking ban doesn’t appear to be being lifted any time soon. In summary, make sure you still have the appropriate signage in the correct place, unless you’re feeling particularly rich that is?

Sledging Time

James Monaghan — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:48:42 +0000

With the first snow of the year now here many parents will be dreading the treacherous walk or drive to work, whilst the kids will be itching to get outdoors to fling snowballs and build snowmen. However some of the kids will be heading to the local park and sitting on anything from a dust pan lid to a car bonnet and sliding down the largest hill they can find.

Sledging is great fun and it seems to bring out the big kid in most of us adults, the thought of sliding faster and faster down a hill and seeing if you beat your family and friends this seems to bring out the primeval instinct in most people. As the adrenalin starts to pump this is when the fun turns to disaster.

There is a serious side to sledging, over the last few years several people have been killed or seriously injured in-fact only last year in Yorkshire a young bright student was killed as she slid down a hill on a homemade sledge travelling at an estimated speed of 50 MPH. She and her friends were all having fun when disaster struck they were sledging down a hill at the local park when they went too fast and out of control hitting a barbed wire fence.

Many people now know the dangers associated with this sport as in recent years many people have been taken to hospital from injuries ranging from broken legs, arms, rib’s and pelvises, that’s not including internal bleeding for bones and external objects piercing their organs.

It’s only then that we realise that sledging is a dangerous activity.

Happy Egg Rolling Day

Think! Safety

James Monaghan — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:19:25 +0000

As we all head towards the end of 2009 company directors should be giving their Health and Safety Managers a pat on the back for their continued good work. As reported in a previous post Britain is now one of the safest places to work in Europe.

Even though all this good work has been done there is still plenty to do, employees are still getting injured un-necessarily due to some bad practices and jobs being improperly planned. Some companies have to be prepared to change the way that their work is carried out; this may be simple actions from good housekeeping to a total rethink of a particular action. Here are some of the main actions that help health and safety.

Good housekeeping slips, trips and falls still remains the number one form of accident within the workplace and one way that your company can help cut the amount of accidents is to introduce a good housekeeping strategy; this will help control the amount of people that fall within your workplace. This is a strategy that should be followed by all in the workplace from the directors to the cleaners, any obstacles; pallet strapping or waste has to be placed in a bin, all spillages cleared up immediately and proper signage placed around affected areas. Good housekeeping should be observed every minute and not just left till a Friday afternoon.

Risk assessments have to be carried out for each machine or new work action, if there is any possibility that someone could be injured then a risk assessment has to be done. Risk assessments are required by law although the law does not expect you to eliminate all the risks, but you have to protect persons as far as reasonably practical. A risk assessment is an examination of what could harm a person while a specific action is being carried out. There are five steps that have to be carried out whilst doing a risk assessment.

• Look and identify all the hazards
• Who might be harmed whilst work is being carried out?
• Evaluate the risks and put in place any procedures that will help avoiding any accidents.
• Keep a record of any accidents.
• Look at your findings and see if they require an update.

Risk assessments should not be overcomplicated try and keep them simple.

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, under this act companies and organisations will be held accountable if found there was a serious failure in health and safety leading to the death of an employee.

Christmas to Remember

James Monaghan — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:10:18 +0000

On the 25^th of December most of the world will be celebrating the birth of Jesus, the festivities will be widespread and each will be celebrating it in their own particular way, some will be partying the night away while others will be having family and friends round for dinner.

This year there will be some memorable moments as children play next to the Christmas tree, adults laughing, joking and watching some classic TV. However there is a serious side, for some people this will be a Christmas that will not be forgotten.

Christmas safety not only applies to making sure that all the plastic and paper wrapping is disposed of properly but that all their Christmas Lights are properly wired and that are safe for that purpose.

Let’s be honest, how many of us actually check all our Christmas decorations, each year we take them down bundle them into a box place them in the attic and forget them till the following December.

This year more people are going green and buying a real Christmas tree that can be replanted in the garden (this is great) but on a serious side these trees have to be kept moist, do not let them dry out as they become a fire hazard as you Christmas lights start to heat up.

If the instructions are followed properly this tree will give you years of enjoyment but as the video shows it only takes seconds to make this a Christmas to remember.

Festive Fear

James Monaghan — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:42:25 +0000

This time of year we actually enjoy going to work, employees walking around with smiles on their face’s whistling and singing Christmas carols. Christmas songs being blasted out across the airwaves as Directors and office staff walk through the factory talking to everyone, there is a joyful mood in every workplace, although much of this exuberance is not due to Christmas Day it’s down to the works night out.

On the day of the Christmas party the talk within the workplace changes from work, to what people are wearing and who will look the sexiest amongst the office staff, not much production is done, it’s a day spent in high spirits doing maintenance as all machines get greased, oiled and washed down, much of the chat is about the night out. It’s a great feeling when the supervisors tell everyone they can leave early in order to get ready for the nights festivities.

The night starts off in great spirits, everyone in the pub having a great laugh, the boss buying drinks for his employees, everyone laughing as the young apprentices trying their luck with the office staff, groups of people starting to form as the pub fills up.

Britain has one of the worst records in Europe for binge drinking and it’s not long before people are downing the aftershock and slamming back the tequilas. At this time the innocent Christmas kiss can be taken in the wrong way and the man or woman that was your workmate is now following you around the pub thinking they will be getting much more than a kiss.

At this time of year, think about your actions, if you have too much to drink and think that you can take advantage of a work colleague against their wishes you will end up being arrested, may have to attend court and put on the national sex register, along with this you will lose the respect of your family and friends and even lose your job.

This Christmas drink responsibly and keep the respect of all who know you!

Funny Friday

James Monaghan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:19:08 +0000

Thankfully Health and Safety is taken seriously in this country, although listening to some we take it too far, do we? Over the last few months we have been looking at some of the weird and wonderful antics of people trying their best to protect themselves, from not just our country but others from around the world. Here is some more to be shocked at even giggle but would do it?

Would you cross this

Tea break think I will catch up with my knitting

Let’s be honest would you sit in this swimming pool

Fork truck won’t lift high enough, no problem to these lads

No related posts.

Bad Hair Day

James Monaghan — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:20:25 +0000

It has been reported in the media that hairdressers have to put under tighter controls when it comes to training and handling of dangerous chemicals such as peroxide and bleaches. Although there are guidelines that are set out by the Health and Safety Executive in Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH SR11) this is only for guidance and is not compulsory.

At the moment there is no regulation to say a student can or cannot legally mix hair colours and peroxides to be placed on another person’s head. If these chemicals are mixed wrongly or the client has not been tested for any allergic reaction, this may lead to damage to another person such as severe burns, swelling or even in rare cases anaphylactic shock.

Hairdressers only requirement is that they register their company with their local council, however there are no legislation which applies specifically to the hairdressing industry. They can register with the voluntary organisation The Hairdressing Council but of the 130,000 hairdressers in the UK only about 10% have registered. Habia (Hair and Beauty Industry Authority) says “The health and safety checks by local authorities are generic and not specific to the hairdressing industry”.

If trainee hairdressers are left unattended with no little or no supervision the consequences can be catastrophic not only to their clients but often to themselves. It is estimated that nearly 70% of all hairdressers contract some kind of skin damage during their career and most of these are totally preventable.

One of the biggest dangers to hairdressers is dermatitis this is caused when unprotected hands come in to contact with bleaches, peroxides, shampoos and in and out of water every day. There are several ways that can be done to protect your hands such as:

• Wearing disposable non-latex gloves when shampooing, rinsing, and when using bleach and peroxides.
• Use a good quality barrier cream, normally paraffin based ones is best.
• Dry your hands thoroughly.
• Remember to change your gloves between clients.

As an owner of any business you have to monitor what your employees are doing, carry our proper risk assessments and keep training records, only when your employees are competent and can carry out duties to an acceptable level that they should be allowed to do their profession.

Weird and Wonderful

James Monaghan — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:19:19 +0000

No one likes to get hurt especially while carrying out their work duties, most companies will try their best to prevent accidents from happening in the work place but what can they do if the employees don’t listen? Employers have a legal obligation to protect all their workers, they have to appoint Health and Safety managers to carry out risk assessments and ensure that accidents are kept to a minimum.

Here are some examples of people not taking health and safety seriously:

would you change your tyre this way?

Health and Safety has gone out the window here

Check out the new style safety helmet

We have all seen cars with bikes on the back, well this is the new way!

We all know that smoking is bad for you, well is it?

Flooding

James Monaghan — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:18:08 +0000

When we have lots of rainfall this causes the ground to becomes saturated with water this then runs down to a river or a stream which swells and flows onto low flat ground, this amount of water can cause the smallest of streams to become a torrent of fast flowing water which can destroy crops, property and even cause death.

As we are all aware over the last few years some places in Britain have suffered from widespread flooding. It is estimated that in England and Wales there are over five million people are at risk from flooding either at work or in the home.

In recent days we are looking in horror at the images coming out of Cumbria, as the water drenched the town of Cockermouth, as the water from the swollen rivers rushed down the high street cars were turned, homes were left under feet of water and silt and possessions were destroyed. People are now sleeping in shelters not knowing when they will be allowed into their own homes.

As the water starts to subside there are still many dangers to that people have to look out for:

• Flood water is very dangerous it can carry many diseases.
• Kids love to play in water, watch them don’t let them play in it.
• Flood water can rise very quickly.
• The ground around the flood water will be very slippery.

With the weather department predicting more rain there are some precautions that can be done to make you safe:

• Always think about you and your family’s safety first.
• If you think that your property might be in danger of flood be prepared to evacuate quickly.
• If you have to evacuate cooperate with the emergency services.

If you are in a flood area you should be moving all your valuable possessions up the stairs or to a highest point in your house. Get friends to help lift all the heavier items.

Make a flood plan and make sure that ALL your family knows about it.

No related posts.

Temporary Workers

James Monaghan — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:51:22 +0000

With the Christmas period fast approaching many companies will be taking on extra staff to help with various operations within their company, jobs like manufacturing, sorting, cleaning or even delivering, with many temporary (temp) workers only being required to work for an average of four to five weeks do they have any rights within that company?
All workers have the same rights within a company they are all covered by The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

As an employer you must ensure that a proper risk assessment is carried out and that all the dangers are identified and proper procedures are put into place to protect ALL your workers (including temporary and agency). If you are a temporary worker you must also follow the companies Health and Safety procedures you also have a duty to:

• Look after your own and your co-workers health and safety don’t carry out actions that will put or your co-workers life in danger.
• You must co-operate with all health and safety procedures in the company that you are working in.
As an employer you have a legal responsibility to ensure that:
• All Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is supplied free of charge, including gloves, hard hat, boots and hi-visibility vests, all equipment must be in reasonable order and fit you properly.
• Workers must be trained to a safe reasonable standard before being allowed to work on machines.

If you are a temporary or agency worker and believe that your employers are putting your Health and Safety at risk then you can contact the Health and Safety Executive in the strictest confidence.