Category Archives: Health and Safety

Top Tips to Ensure Workers Stay Safe On and Around Scaffold

1. Always ensure that unless your scaffold is erected to a recognised configuration (such as that contained within the National Access & Scaffolding Confederation technical guidance TG20:13), it is designed by a competent person with experience and training in this field. All scaffold erections must be overseen by a competent supervisor.
2. Inspect your scaffold frequently. It should be inspected after installation, before being used for the first time, and following that at intervals of no more than seven days.
3. Make sure you re-inspect scaffold in the event of any circumstances that could compromise its safety, such as high winds, or if it has been modified in any way.
4. Ensure that inspections are undertaken by a competent person who knows about your particular scaffold system. Use a tag system if applicable so workers know when the last inspection took place.
5. Train workers how to use and access the scaffold, and make sure they know not to make any changes to it, such as removing platform boards or toe boards.
6. Ensure the scaffold is suitably guarded – use double guard rails and toe boards and make sure all open sides are protected. Platform floors must be free from gaps to avoid anything such as tools falling through. Avoid slips and trips by removing waste and spare materials, and ensure good housekeeping on the scaffold.
7. Where possible, tie the scaffold to the supporting structure and ensure it is set on firm, level ground to stop any movement.

Over 60% of fatalities involving work at height include falls from structures such as scaffold. Make sure your workers are properly protected.

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There are many types of spill response equipment, but a typical spill kit will include a mobile bin with a lid containing oil- or chemical-absorbent pads, inert absorbent such as granules and plastic bin bags to store the spill.

One way to decide how to stock a spill kit is to carry out a spill risk assessment based on answers to the following questions:

• How much would I spill in a worst-case scenario?
• Who would be expected to clean it?
• How would they go about it?
• What is the potential pollution linkage, including source, pathway and receptor, for the spill?
• What do I need to deal with the spill? For example mop, bucket, dust pan, vacuum cleaner, personal protective equipment, barrier tapes, warning signs, SDS availability/disposal containers.
  Could the spill involve special considerations such as confined space working, or a need for breathing apparatus?
• Where will a spill kit be most easily accessible?
• How will I maintain the kit?
• What training should I give to employees to use the kit in an effective and safe manner?
• Does my spill response procedure specify the location of the spill kit and how to replenish it.

Learning curve

In some cases, spills may become reportable to the authorities under regulations such as the Reporting of Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 in the UK. Therefore, a formal reporting system for spills is required to record and assist with legal requirements.In case of doubt, it is better to report an incident that looks like it may meet the criteria than not report it at all.

Systematic reporting of spill incidents helps to detect any adverse trends and identify underlying causes. After a serious near-miss or incident, a formal summary of lessons learned is good practice, taking care to keep it simple and accurate and avoid naming individuals.

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It may sound strange, but even in this day and age it is legal for employers to require female employees to wear high heels. TUC footwear guidance states that it is estimated that 80% of adults have a foot or leg problem, such as swelling or varicose veins. Many of these issues can often be attributed to or exacerbated by work activities. Wearing inappropriate footwear can lead to back pain, and could also contribute to an accident, for example, if heavy items are dropped onto poorly-protected toes in a warehouse.

6 Tips to Help Protect Your Workers’ Feet

1. Where the risk assessment of a work activity indicates that risks to feet cannot be controlled by other means, then workers will need appropriate safety footwear. Any footwear provided for this reason needs to be done so free of charge, and you must show workers how to wear and look after it correctly.
2. Consider all possible hazards to feet in your workplace, including how they could be crushed, run over or caught in machinery. Communicate these hazards and your identified control measures to workers. Consider what footwear is appropriate in specific environments – you might allow flip flops in office settings, but not in the machine shop, for example. Keep floors clean and dry, as this could cause a slip or trip no matter what the footwear might be.
3. Investigate ground conditions that could cause problems for feet, for example, nails found on the floor that could puncture the sole. Provide puncture-resistant footwear in this scenario.
4. Make sure the safety footwear provided fits properly – there should be ‘wiggle room’ for toes. Give staff a choice and consult with them over options – get feedback on styles to be ordered next time.
5. Review your dress code on a regular basis to ensure that staff are not prevented from wearing comfortable shoes – get safety representatives involved to ensure dress codes do not affect staff safety.
6. Prevent prolonged standing, as this can cause leg, hip and back pain. Offer options on whether staff sit or stand, adapt the workplace where feasible, and rotate jobs regularly.

Feet need to be comfortable and protected at work – so make sure your footwear policy allows this to happen.

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5 Tips to Ensure Your Workers are Adequately Trained

1. Undertake a risk assessment to establish where your training needs lie – you might find that this process identifies hazards which would be best controlled by staff training, either in place of other controls or alongside them. Work out whether the training would be best given on the job (for example, in relation to using machinery), in a classroom (perhaps in relation to theory) or as a mixture of both.
2. Keep training records of who has received which training and when – this will help to identify when refresher training is needed.
3. Always consider staff training requirements when new work conditions arise or the environment changes – for example, when new equipment is introduced, people change jobs or work is done outside rather than inside.
4. Ensure the training is carried out by competent people who understand the nature of the hazards involved. Provide written instructions where necessary for workers to refer back to, for example, for complex procedures.
5. Check with staff after the training has been given that they understood it, and that it was suitable for their needs. Use any feedback given to help you plan your next training sessions.

Training is one area that you cannot afford to get wrong – make sure your staff know what health and safety risks can be found in their roles, and how they are supposed to manage those risks to avoid coming to any harm.
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5 Tips to Ensure the Safety of Your Workers during Loading Operations

1. Make sure you have completed a thorough risk assessment to identify how and when workers could be hurt. Look at every step of the procedure – from vehicle movements, loading equipment and the loading operation itself to identify where the hazards are.
2. Produce a loading plan for every operation, and make sure that the driver of the vehicle knows how the loading operation was performed so that he or she knows how it is to be safely unloaded at the delivery site.
3. Always load vehicles on level ground, and secure any ramps to stop them moving. Verify with the manufacturer that ramps can take the weight of the load before using them. Make sure the lorry’s brakes are on, and that stabilisers are used.
4. Train workers to use all loading equipment properly – from forklift trucks and vehicles to access ladders and hoists.
5. Always make sure that the load is secured properly, otherwise it may shift within the vehicle during transit which could make the vehicle overturn. Pack it properly and use racking, chains or straps (and sheeting if loose contents such as soil could escape).

The heavy equipment often used in loading operations can cause a serious accident or a fatality if not used properly and in a safe manner. Make sure you review your loading procedures to ensure they meet the grade.

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