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General Safety Issues

TEN HEALTH AND SAFETY MYTHS EXPOSED (GUEST POST)

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Health and Safety in the workplace continues to be a complicated situation—with regulations changing often, businesses need to make sure they are fully up to date with the precautions they are required to take. However, some companies may disagree with H&S regulations for various reasons. Below, we look at ten common myths keeping some businesses from following proper H&S rules: 

1: Proper Health and Safety Precautions cost Money you don’t have. 

You might think investing in the equipment or signage health and safety regulations demand will cost you more money than it should, but evidence suggests the opposite is actually true. In the UK, on average, 30 million work days are lost per year due to approximately 200 work-related deaths, nearly 150,000 injuries and two million cases of illness. Ensuring your workplace is as safe and well-managed as can be can help save you money in the long run, both through avoiding employee absences and potential fines in the aftermath of an accident. 

2: Health and Safety Stops an Employee Working Alone 

Concerned that health and safety regulations will stop your employees being able to work alone? Don’t be—working solo is acceptable if specific safety arrangements are made to accommodate this. These might include technological precautions as panic buttons, two-way radios or CCTV for regular check-ins. 

3: The Employer, not the Employee, is responsible for all H&S 

While employers have a definite duty to ensure all staff are safe and well in the workplace, employees are also required to adhere to all regulations and maintain a safety-conscious attitude towards all tasks. As long as rules and requirements are clearly specified, employees must follow them to stay safe.  

4: The Employer accepts no responsibility for work-related stress. 

While you may think stress amongst employees is not the employer’s problem, the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 requires companies make sure stress is managed properly. Stress-related ill-health should be given the right amount of consideration—the H&S Executive now requests copies of businesses’ stress-risk assessment to be sure businesses give stress the proper care. 

5: Health and Safety Regulations are unnecessary. 

We understand how easy it can for some companies to underestimate the importance of health and safety rules, believing employees should just use their ‘common sense’ and ‘good judgement’. While employees should definitely think about the potential hazards of any tasks they’re about to embark upon, the employer cannot ignore the relevant H&S regulations—the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 demands businesses perform risk assessments to keep all staff safe. 

6: Workplaces need to be a certain temperature. 

Working in an environment that’s either too hot or too cold can make doing the job right incredibly difficult, depending on the season. On average, the minimum acceptable temperature for the majority of workplaces is between 13 and 14 degrees Celsius, but there are no legal requirements regarding this. Employees’ comfort should always be a priority, so try to reach a happy medium to suit all. 

7: A disclaimer will protect employers from responsibilities. 

Having an employee sign a disclaimer against any potential accidents has no protection from responsibility: the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 demands employers provide a safe environment for employees, and no waiver can change that. Any employees placing themselves at risk may face prosecution!  

8: Just Providing PPE is enough. 

Some employers may think making PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) available is enough to fulfil their duties … but this isn’t the case. Under the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations Act 1992, businesses should ensure all staff use all PPE properly, at the required times; they will be held responsible for any problems that may occur as a result. There is, of course, a requirement to control risks by means other than PPE.  

9: Reporting Accidents is a Waste of Time. 

When an accident happens, some companies may choose to not report it, saving themselves some time. However, the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 dictates that employers are legally required to report specific accidents (anything which causes the victim to miss more than seven days of work)—you could be faced with a fine of up to £20,000 if you don’t. (That’s $33,306.00 in the U.S.)

10:  The Seven-Day Rule Applies to working days only. 

If an accident takes place, and an employee cannot perform their standard job for seven consecutive days (whether that includes weekends and bank holidays or not ), an employer must report it.

This article was sent to us by Gail Newland, for http://www.phoenixhsc.co.uk/ .  In the United States, our rules and regulations are issued by OSHA, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and are very similar to those mentioned above.  Failure to adhere to their regulations can result in unfortunate accidents, as well as dramatic costs to the employer, when an accident occurs.

General Safety Issues

WORKPLACE SAFETY: ARE YOUR EMPLOYEES SAFE? (GUEST POST)

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Every employer knows that its employees are its biggest asset; without them the business couldn’t function.  Keeping employees safe falls to every individual in a company but employers have a responsibility to ensure the people that work for them are happy and healthy, and that someone is there specifically to ensure that this happens. 

So how do you know that your employees are safe while they’re at work? 

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) uses the Health and Safety Act 1971 to uphold strict guidelines on what is needed to keep employees healthy and safe in the workplace. 

Guidelines for employers range from lighting, cleanliness, hygiene, moving around the premises and comfortable conditions.  Employers must make sure that: 

●       Buildings are up to scratch – they are lit well, of a good temperature, are clean and open to some fresh air, are not in dangerous disrepair and have good wash facilities. 

●       Anyone with a role that involves any of the following has specific guidelines around them; harmful substances, manual handling, noise, pressured equipment, working at height, working in confined spaces and radiation. 

●       There are full reporting systems in place for any workplace accidents or near misses. 

Employers also have strict guidelines on: 

  •   Fire Safety                             
  •   Electrical Safety                              
  •   Gas Safety 

On the flip side, employees also have an obligation to themselves and their peers when it comes to their health and safety at work.  Employees have a responsibility to: 

  •        Take reasonable care of their own and others health and safety. 
  •        Not to interfere with or change anything that has been put in place for theirs or anyone elses health and safety and to comply with any guidelines that are in place, including attending relevant training. 
  •        Report any incidents that occur or any concerns in keeping with company procedures. 
  •        Communicate any changes in health in keeping with the company procedures. 

Risk Assessments 

Risk assessments are an effective way of making sure that your workers are safe. They look at what could occur and examine it in detail to minimise the risk as much as possible. 

Risk assessments deliver this by sticking to five steps: 

  • ●       Identify the hazard
  • ●       Identify who is at risk and how they might be harmed
  • ●       Evaluate the risk and look at precautionary measures
  • ●       Record and put changes in place
  • ●       Carry out reviews and act accordingly as time goes on. 

If I’m concerned? 

Employers should ensure that there are adequate whistle blowing and reporting procedures in place and that they are prepared to approach the national governing body, the HSE, should any breaches occur. Employee health and safety should always be paramount. If there are any concerns they should be immediately reported by employees to management or to the HSE by managers. 

This is a guest post provided by the team at  Northern Insulation, UK based asbestos removal and thermal insulation experts.

We appreciate our authors and readers from the UK and several other countries.  This informative article was sent to us by Tudor Davies.  Similar safety rules apply in the U.S., under OSHA. pb

General Safety Issues

HEALTH AND SAFETY ADVICE WHEN WORKING AT HEIGHT (GUEST POST)

There is an inherent level of anxiety when working at height, but provided we take the appropriate safety measures before we embark, the risk can be just the same as working on ground level. I will attempt to outline some key points in staying safe and worry free when working on elevated platforms.

The first element is planning. Let’s look at our operators. Are they competent to operate the Mobile Elevating Work Platforms in the working conditions to which they are exposed? Have they been instructed of the local hazards and site rules? Have they attended a basic MEWP training course? Finally, do they have a level of familiarity with the particular make and model of MEWP that they are authorized to operate? Ensure that distractions for the operator are minimized and potential personal methods for distraction are removed such as phones, devices etc.

Next, and most importantly is performing a risk assessment on the site of the job for the MEWP. Look around for typical hazards that might be present for example; uneven ground, overhead obstructions and objects in the path of the MEWP. A risk assessment must be recorded before proceeding to the next phase for purposes of accountability.

Next, we must ensure that we have selected the correct MEWP, with the right operating characteristics of the job, to reduce the risk of entrapment. This may be a good phase to ask for advice and thoughts from competent operators on which would be the most appropriate. Take into consideration vertical lift, articulated boom and telescopic boom MEWPs to allow a wide variety of different platform movements to be utilized. Factor trapping risks into your assessment of which model to use.

Thirdly we must devise a safe system of work, to ensure that our operators will carry out the tasks safely. Referring to the risk assessment we produced earlier we must make sure all persons involved in the planning and management of work tasks completely understand the safety procedure that we have produced. This procedure must communicate and identify the hazards we looked at earlier and ways to control their risk.

Finally, let’s look at your emergency plan and drills.  It is a legal requirement to plan for this when anyone is working at height. Swift rescue of someone who has become trapped makes a significant difference to the injuries potentially sustained, or the difference between a survivable or fatal injury. Ensure there is always someone on ground level to keep an eye on and intervene in an emergency while a MEWP is in use.  This person should wear a Safety Vests with reflective stripes and the proper P.P.E. required to keep him/her safe and in constant contact with the operator.

Do you have a rescue plan that everyone is familiar with? Panic is natural in such a situation, and having a plan that everyone understands can prevent disaster and eliminate complacence when every second counts.  The location of the emergency MEWP controls for a descent should be communicated in addition, they are specific to individual machines and their location is outlined in the unit’s operational manual. Conduct regular drills and develop a level of competency with the ground and emergency controls for each machine in use.

Following the advice outlined above while adhering to health & safety regulations and legal requirements when operating MEWP drastically reduces risk of injury in the workplace. Something Kevin has been promoting for years in his current job at Promax access, where he oversees specialist access platforms training.

Kevin, thank you very much for this informative article.  Anyone who works with this equipment will appreciate the good advice.  Operators must be trained and highly skilled for this type of work. pb