Author Archives: Author

• Fire safety legislation requires the establishment of procedures for serious and imminent danger and the provision and maintenance of suitable means of escape.
• Employers must ensure staff are aware of the fire evacuation procedures, including location of fire exits and assembly points. Carry out fire drills and exercises.
• Those who may require additional support and assistance when evacuating should be identified and specific plans developed for them.
• Fire exits and emergency routes must be properly marked with signs and, where necessary, adequate emergency escape lighting.
• It is the duty of the responsible person/duty holder/appropriate person to ensure that there are sufficient numbers of escape routes to enable occupiers to reach a place of reasonable or total safety. Each employee should be aware of the action to take in the event of fire and the recommended evacuation policies.
• Assembly points outside the building should be indicated clearly. These points should have been selected in consultation with the fire authority and routes to them signposted with appropriate notices.
• Systems for providing relevant information to the fire and rescue services should be developed.

Ensure you provide a safe environment for employees.

Have you got an up to date fire risk assessment?

Contact us if you require advice.

In order to use ladders safely at work and comply with the current legislation a fairly straightforward process has to be followed.

1. Identify the tasks that you or your employees need to carry out at height.

Remember work at height means work in any place from which a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury. That can mean any height and even work underground.

2. Complete a risk assessment for each task to identify the safest work method.

The aim is to establish whether you have an alternative other than to work at height. If not then you need to identify the most suitable work equipment to do the job. If it is a short job, under 30 minutes, or if there are features of the work site that make other equipment impractical then you can use a ladder to do the job. Ladders are not banned from the workplace but you must ensure that they are the most appropriate piece of equipment to use.

3. Ensure that the people using the ladders are competent.

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 is clear on this point – all employers, employees and the self-employed shall ensure that no person engages in any activity in relation to work at height or work equipment unless he or she is competent to do so, or if being trained, is being supervised by a competent person.

Competence can be demonstrated through a variety of means including practical and theoretical knowledge, training and experience. This is important as the quality of the training makes all the difference. ‘Practical and theoretical…’ The training needs both elements so a CD or internet based training course won’t be enough to meet the requirement here, nor will a training course that doesn’t have a strong practical section.

4. Inspect and maintain all your ladders & access equipment.

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 stipulate that regular inspections are conducted by a competent person for all work at height equipment. The records of formal inspections are legally required to be made available to a health and safety inspector. Storage of the records must be made in a way which is accessible but protected from interfering or being tampered with by others.

Again that word competent comes into play and it is pretty crucial in respect to the detailed inspection of ladders that must be completed every 3 or 6 months. Ladder inspectors need to be properly trained including practical and theoretical knowledge, training and experience.

Contact us if you require assistance.

Employers have a legal duty under the Health and Safety Information for Employees Regulations to display the approved poster in a prominent position in each workplace or to provide each worker with a copy of the approved leaflet that outlines British health and safety law.

The HSE published a new simplified version of the Health and Safety Law Poster in April 2009 and all businesses must update to the new 2009 version by the latest 5th April 2014.

Go to www.walkersafety.co.uk and click on the safety sign banner to the left of the screen.

Order your poster and any other equipment you require today with UK Safety Store.

Contact us if you require advice.

This report is taken from the SHP Website.

One million self-employed people will be completely exempt from health and safety law when the Deregulation Bill comes into force, David Cameron announced this morning.

In a speech to the Federation of Small Businesses, the Prime Minister outlined the relaxation or removal of over 3,000 regulations, which includes “needless” health and safety regulation. “We will scrap over-zealous rules which dictate how to use a ladder at work or what no-smoking signs must look like,” he said. “We’ve changed the law so that businesses are no longer automatically liable for an accident that isn’t their fault. “And the new Deregulation Bill will exempt one million self-employed people from health and safety law altogether.”

Richard Jones, head of policy and public affairs at the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, said that while IOSH supports the simplification of legislation and guidance, it is against lowering standards that could lead to more accidents and deaths: “We think it would be unhelpful, unnecessary and unwise to exempt certain self-employed from health and safety law, as the Government is proposing – causing more of a hindrance than a help.

“It’s important to remember that health and safety failures in the UK cost a staggering £13.4 billion per year, double this once you take into account the cost of occupational cancers and property damage. Whereas, good health and safety saves lives, supports business and sustains the economy.

How do we feel about this? Anyone have any thoughts?

The same law applies to migrant workers as to any person at work and this is also true even if the migrant worker is working illegally in the UK. This means that the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Regulations made under the Act always apply.

The employment relationship for migrant workers can sometimes be complicated. Migrant workers may be at increased risk in the workplace because:

• Migrant workers are sometimes not able to easily understand English and many do not wish to admit to their limitations in English, for fear of losing their job or not being employed in the first place. Therefore, health and safety training and instruction in English may not be effective whether such communication is verbal or written.
• Many migrant workers come from countries where health and safety standards are low and where health and safety legislation is undeveloped.
• There are often cultural differences too, which may affect the workers’ approach to health and safety in the workplace, their attitudes to health and safety and their perception of risk. Many come from countries where taking risks in the workplace is ‘part of the job’.

Tips for Managing Migrant Workers

1. Attitude to health and safety: they may have different expectations about health and safety responsibilities. So make sure they understand the importance of health and safety in your workplace.
2. Communication: they may have problems communicating in English. Make sure communication is clear and effective, for example by providing information in other languages, visual formats or simple English if necessary.
3. Competence: before they start at your workplace, check that they have the occupational qualifications or skills needed for the job, and assess skill levels gained from overseas qualifications.
4. Training: they may be completely unfamiliar with workplace risks, and may have never done the sort of work they are required to do – so make sure induction training is clear and simple.

If you employ migrant workers, take action now. They may be at increased risk. Don’t take that risk!!!

contact us for advice.