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Definitions of young people and children by age:

• A young person is anyone under 18
• A child is anyone who has not yet reached the official minimum school leaving age.

Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, an employer has a responsibility to ensure that young apprentices employed by them are not exposed to risk due to:

• Lack of experience
• Being unaware of existing or potential risks and/or
• Lack of maturity.

You must consider:

• The layout of the workplace
• The physical, biological and chemical agents they will be exposed to
• How they will handle work equipment
• How the work and processes are organised
• The extent of health and safety training needed
• Risks from particular agents, processes and work.

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 applies as well.

Protect the Potential in Your Apprentices – Act Now!

You can use your existing arrangements for assessment and management of risks to your apprentices, but you also need to:

• Take into account the potential lack of physical and psychological capacity of the apprentice
• Pay special attention to exposure to harmful agents such as chemicals, heat, cold or vibration (the effect of which can be accentuated by youth)
• Pay special attention to the apprentice’s experience and training
• Pay special attention to their possible lack of attention
• Consider carefully the role of supervision and ensure the correct level and type is provided

Contact us if you require assistance.

• 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?