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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.

Winter Slips, Trips and Falls

James Monaghan — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:28:51 +0000

With nearly 11,000 people being seriously injured due to a slip, trip or a fall, companies have to do much more to protect their employees. Many health and safety managers simply go out a purchase work boots which say “slip-resistant” or “greater performance” so what do they actually mean, greater resistant to what? All safety boots are tested to a European standard which might not be attuned to your own particular workplace. When purchasing safety footwear try to explain to the sales person what type of slip hazards are present in your workplace. This could save someone’s life.

With the onset of winter many people have to take care especially travelling to, from and entering their work, there are three major factors that have to be considered:

Rain water, according to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) most accidents happen due to people running into their workplace with wet shoes. Canopies placed outside the entrance with a good water absorbent carpet will prevent some of the accidents from happening. It is also an idea to try and prevent employees from walking across grass land as this becomes very slippery when wet, if it is in the workplace place barriers around grass and dirt and encourage employees to stick to pathways.
Ice and snow, as we all know this can be a very dangerous, Health and Safety managers have to do a risk assessment of all driveways, pedestrian walkways and even shortcuts which include shaded and sloped areas and put a plan into action. Procedures have to put in place so that when the temperature falls below a certain point there are people that deposit sand and salt to these areas.
Wet leaves, these can be as slippery as ice, they have to be swept off all walkways, if left on walkways they also hide any trip hazards that may be on the paths, and again procedures have to be put in place to remove all leaves from paths and driveways.

Employers have to try and eliminate the problems of slips, trips as far as possible this may include such things as ‘roughened’ floor surface, ‘slippery when wet signage’ and the use of matting throughout the areas affected by wet conditions. Good housekeeping is a must this will reduce the amount of employees suffering from slips, trips and falls.

Thermal Control

James Monaghan — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:49:02 +0000

This week saw the temperature fall to the lowest so far this year, with the temperature falling this can only mean one thing, (well apart from Halloween, bonfire night and the imminent arrival of Christmas) winter is here.

Many construction, maintenance and engineering workers are required to work outdoors, so as an employer there are certain procedures that should to be followed to ensure thermal comfort: that is the state of someone’s mind when they are too hot or cold.

Employers have to ensure that all Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is fit for use and appropriate for working in a cold environment.
Employers have to provide adequate facilities for heating up in, and encourage the drinking of plenty of hot fluids.
Try to encourage more frequent breaks.
Ergonomics of working in a cold environment.

Employers have to carry out proper risk assessments and address the hazards found in the assessment, when carrying out the assessment remember there are four environmental factors and two personal factors that have to be taken into consideration.

Air Temperature, this is the defined as the temperature that surrounds your body; we measure it in Celsius or Farenheit.
Thermal Radiation (Radiant Temperature) this is heat given off from the sun, heaters, cookers and furnaces. This will have a greater influence on our bodies than the air temperature.
Humidity, if there is a high humidity in the air this will prevent our bodies from being able to evaporate our sweat, which is our bodies’ way of getting rid of heat.
Air Velocity, this is the speed that air travels across our body.

After looking at the environmental factor we have to look at the personal factors which can affect our thermal comfort.

Clothing, we all have to wear clothing, it’s just how much and when, too much clothing in a hot area will cause us to sweat and too little in a cold area will cause us to suffer from hypothermia, chilblains and frostbite. The proper PPE has to be assigned and fit for use in a given situation.
Peoples work rate, this is best described as the way that we work, harder we do an action the more our bodies react.

As an employee there are several things that can be done to help with thermal comfort such as wearing layers of clothing which can be added or taken off depending on cold/heat. In hot/cold areas taking plenty of breaks will give your body time to re-adjust to a normal working temperature also plenty of warm drinks in cold will help keep your body temperature up.

Workplace Bullying

James Monaghan — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:00:05 +0000

In recent weeks there has been much talk in the news about bullying in the workplace, one of the biggest being the three Beefeaters who have now been suspended for terrorising a fellow worker as she got ready for work. The first female Beefeater to work in the Tower of London was subjected to a barrage of abuse which included her £1,400 uniform being defaced, being slandered online and notes being left inside her locker.

Last year there were nearly 290,000 physical assaults and over 390,000 threats to British employees, this resulted in 4 fatal and 928 major injuries which were reported to RIDDOR. Health and Safety says that workplace bullying can be defined as a person that is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances related to work.

There are four main pieces of legislation that cover workplace bullying are:

The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSW Act), this act states that an employer has a legal responsibility to ensure the health and safety and welfare of all their employees.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, employers must consider all the risks in their workplace including workplace violence and put in proper controls to help prevent this from happening.
The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR), if any person is absent from work for more than three days due to any happenings caused at workplace it must be reported to their enforcing agency, this has to include workplace violence.
Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 (a) and The Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 (b), employers must inform employees in plenty of time of any changes made to their health and safety policies or changes to any personnel that may represent them.

Workplace bullying often leads to other complications such as sickness and stress, again leading to employees to having days off work costing the British economy millions of pounds. Stress is such a problem in the workplace that there is a day dedicated to it, this year National Stress Awareness Day is on the 4th of November.

Congratulations UK Safety

James Monaghan — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:17:48 +0000

Its official, from April 2008 till March 2009 Britain is now one of the safest places to work in the EU. Statistics just released have shown that less people have been killed or been off work from work related injuries or ill heath than in previous years.

Last year in Scotland, England and Wales just over 29 million days were lost in British industry due to some sort of work related injury, that may seem a lot but it equates to 1.24 days for each working person, the previous year it was over 33.9 million working days.

As well as the number of work related injuries falling the number of employees that were killed in our workplaces also fell to an all time low of 180 compared to over 230 in previous years.

Judith Hackitt, Chair of HSE said:

“It is really encouraging to see these improvements in the numbers of deaths, injuries and cases of ill health at work over the last year”.

As our Health and Safety is improving there are other countries which seemingly have no understanding of the concept of Health and Safety some can be seen here:

1. We all know the electricity can kill but in some countries it is still worth running the risk just to get the job done.

2. Ship building is big business, but this takes on a whole new meaning to walking the plank!

3. In many countries Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has no meaning, many workers have to improvise.

Looking at some of the above pictures it makes you glad you are working in a country where health and safety is taken seriously.

Winter Working

Paul Steven — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:39:03 +0000

As we are all aware by the end of this month the clocks will go back 1 hour and before long we can all expect to be going to work and returning home in the dark, winter is here!

The winter weather brings its own set of problems to people travelling to and from their workplace, lets be honest no one likes venturing out of their nice warm homes especially when it’s cold, wet and dark. Driving to work can be especially difficult as people try to get to their destinations as soon as possible, wet and icy roads can be treacherous.

With the shortened days those working outdoors are under more pressure to complete work. Unfortunately, sometimes health and safety is bypassed and shortcuts taken in order to finish jobs. As with all jobs a proper risk assessment has to be carried out. Weather will play a major part in everyday activities; if it is cold and wet then the proper clothing has to be supplied by the employer. Employees that operate driving machines must ensure that all windows are kept clean in order to see what obstacles are around them. All footpaths and walkways have to kept clear from leaves as these can become very slippery especially when wet.

As the winter progresses snow and ice will be the major concern, with cars entering your yard this will compact the snow making it very slippery, try to have a salt bucket and keep your yard free from snow and ice. Walkways and paths have to be kept free from snow and ice at all times.

In the winter many companies hire gas heaters to help warm up their work areas, which are great but ensure that there is adequate ventilation, also any heaters that might not have been used in a long time, get them checked out by a qualified safe gas engineer.

Just by following simple procedures we can cut the number of deaths caused each year in the winter, through people speeding, unprepared employees, and carbon monoxide poisoning

Stress In the Workplace

Paul Steven — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:08:47 +0000

In today’s work and social culture we are required to do more and more in less time, this all has a knock on effect and can often lead to stress in the workplace. Stress comes in many different forms and can affect people in various ways.

Did you know that?

Work related stress causes the British economy over £381 million each year and this number is steadily rising. Stress is not an illness, it is a state, but if it continues in your life it can cause prolonged mental and physical difficulties.

Stress can develop in some and not in others, what a person might see as no problem another may get stressed over, there are no set rules regarding stress. If you think that you be suffering from stress you may notice:

That your sleep pattern will be affected
Eating less or more often and smoke and drink more
You will lose your temper more often
At the end of the day you will look at what you have done and think you have achieved nothing
Start having poor relations with loved ones and work colleagues

These are only a few of the main signs of stress in the workplace; if you think that you are suffering you must contact your manager as soon as possible. The Health and Safety Executive have identified six factors that can lead to workplace related stress.

Demands, can your employees cope with the demands of a particular job?
Control, can an employee have a say in the way that a particular job is done?
Support, if a problem occurs is there adequate support from their managers and directors.
Relationships, what is the relationship between your employees is it a happy one. Is there any of your employees being bullied?
Role, do all your employees totally understand the role they have to play within your company?
Change, companies often change their structures, are all your managers consulted and happy about the changes implemented?

Only when we understand these six factors, can we start to understand the amount of stress that a person or group of people have to go through in order to complete their daily tasks.

Think! About stress on the 4th of November 2009 this is national stress awareness day.

Bosses Banning Decorations At Work

James Monaghan — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:59:29 +0000

With Halloween and then Christmas soon on our doorsteps, some bosses have already sent out memos banning decorations from being displayed in offices and factories using the health and safety umbrella as an excuse. The fact is there are no laws regarding decorations. When erecting decorations however there are a few factors that have to be taking into consideration:

1. Some decorations are glass based so if they are erected on walls and ceilings they have to be secured properly, try not to use tape as this can slip causing the decorations to fall and smash or worse hit a customer or member of the public. If lights are woven through the decorations these have to pat tested, and ensure that they do not overheat. Some decorations have moving parts please ensure that these are clear from other hazards and that they cannot knock over other obstacles.

2. Christmas trees look great and give that seasonal feeling to any office or factory, again always ensure that it is stable and erected on a flat surface. If presents are placed under the tree make sure that they do not cause a trip hazard. If Christmas lights are on again ensure that they are safe for that purpose. Try not to put to many decorations on the tree that makes it unstable.

Slips and trips ruin peoples life’s when erecting your decorations – do not have cables trailing across walkways and paths, try to keep presents under the tree and not hanging out, if possible place your tree in a cordoned off area this will ensure that it does not become a tip hazard.

Remember decorations are meant to give that feel good factor, not death traps!!

Asbestos Still A Concern

Paul Steven — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:07:09 +0000

Companies are still putting their workers lives in danger by not doing proper risk assessments when it comes to doing work on older properties. Whether it be through construction or demolition, asbestos has to be one of the main factors for a risk assessment. This hidden killer was used extensively during the 1950s till the early 80s as a fire treatment and can be found in many areas in older buildings. If you suspect asbestos is present do not work in that area and contact your manager as this material has to be properly disposed off by a licensed asbestos removal company.

What happens if you break up asbestos sheeting without proper training and equipment?

As the asbestos is broken down the fibres are released into the air, not only putting you in extreme danger but also your co-workers and anyone else that enters that area. As the fibres are released into the atmosphere they will eventually settle on your clothes in very high concentrates, they are then transported from your clothes to your car or public transport and finally into your own home with the potential to affect anyone that comes into contact with you.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are taking the possibility of asbestos contamination very seriously and are prosecuting unlicensed companies that break the law regarding the removal and disposal of this deadly material.

From ‘Safety News’ two local companies fined for unlicensed removal of asbestos.

Unlicensed contractor put worker’s health at risk from asbestos.

Workers exposed to asbestos dust while clearing 3,000m² of amosite asbestos insulating board at premises in Enfield may have unwittingly spread the fibres into their homes, vehicles, and onto public transport.

In 2005, Noble Gift Packaging Ltd contracted A & T Roofing Ltd to remove the roof from a building and for 12 weeks the broken tiles were swept into bags.

A & T Roofing Ltd of Enfield pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court of breaching r.3(1) of the Asbestos (Licensing) Regulations 1983, and S.s 2(1) and 3(1) Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for which it was fined £25,000 with costs of £33,844.

Noble Gift Packaging Ltd of Enfield, pleaded guilty at the City of London Magistrates’ Court to breaching S.3(1) Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 for which it was fined £40,000 with costs of £19,223.

An HSE official commented: “The actions of A & T Roofing Ltd in this matter were unpardonable; they were told 2 weeks into the project that they were working with brown asbestos but carried on for another 10 weeks. Noble Gift Packaging Ltd should have taken the basic step of having a full asbestos survey done after they were informed in a valuation survey that the roof contained asbestos.”

HSE are running there successful ‘Asbestos: Hidden Killer’ campaign which starts from November 2nd

Fact: Asbestos related diseases kills around 4000 people per year, making it the biggest killer of British workers.

Fact: more people die each year as a result of asbestos than are killed on our roads.

Think About Alcohol Misuse

Paul Steven — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:40:03 +0000

With the traditional party season creeping up fast we have to seriously think about the consequences of drinking too much alcohol and the effects it will have on our life if there is an accident.

We all love to go out and enjoy ourselves and with Christmas just around the corner even more people will be hitting their local pubs and clubs. In today’s binge drinking culture we try and down as much alcohol in as short a time as possible, sometimes this can lead to being pressured by workmates or friends in to trying illegal substances. Drink and drugs in the workplace will often lead to loss in productivity, loss of wages and loss of friendship.

When we drink alcohol the effects can stay in our bodies for as long as 10hrs after our last drink so imagine you are at the night club and stagger out at 4am, you start work at 8am so what do you do, go to work or call in sick?

If you call in sick you will be joining the 8-14 million employees that call in sick every year that’s between 3-5% of the working population.
If you decide to drive to work at 8am, you are now driving your car illegally and if you have an accident you will get charged with being in charge of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

If you are manage to reach your workplace still under the influence of drink and drugs – the work has the right to suspend you under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. If a director knowingly lets a worker that is under the influence of drink or drugs continue to work then that director can be prosecuted. The Transport and Works Act 1992 now also makes it a criminal offence for certain employees to operate vehicles including trains, trams and other guided transport systems if drink and drugs are suspected.

During the next few months more and more people will be going out and enjoying themselves, is it really worth losing your job, friends and respect just so you can get that last pint in before closing time? It’s also worth remembering no matter how many black coffees or cold showers you have it won’t sober you up, only time can do that.