Category Archives: Health and Safety

Each year, two or three children alone die after gaining access to construction sites when they shouldn’t have been able to enter them in the first place. Take action today to ensure that your premises are secure.

6 Tips to Help Ensure Safe Construction Sites and Premises

1. Walk the perimeter of your site and work out how someone could get in, for example, by jumping over a fence or hedge, or by squeezing through any gaps or holes. Ensure that you have a continuous perimeter fence in place, which marks out a clear boundary from adjoining land. It depends on the type of site but, typically, a perimeter fence for a construction site would need to be 2 metres high, and consist of mesh fence or boarding.
2. Put up adequate signage which warns members of the public about the dangers of the site, and informs them they are not to enter or access the site for any reason.
3. Remove all keys from workplace vehicles and machinery when the site is closed. Lock away all tools and hazardous substances.
4. Prevent any items from falling outside of the site boundary, such as tools or building supplies. Use toe boards and nets on scaffolding to prevent this.
5. Remove any ladders and access equipment from plain sight when the site is closed. Secure them somewhere safely so they cannot be moved or stolen.
6. Prevent access to excavations and pits by covering them and putting barriers around them.

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Risk assessment forms the basis of good health and safety management in the workplace. Make sure you take the time to ensure that your assessments are effective and that the necessary measures are taken to protect your employees and any others on the premises.

Tips to Consider When Undertaking Risk Assessments:

1. When starting to do a risk assessment, first identify the hazards involved in the work. Walk around and look at how anyone could be injured or harmed by machinery, vehicles, the local environmental factors or hazardous substances, for example. Record your findings (unless you have fewer than five employees).
2. Identify who and what could be harmed, in terms of employees, contractors, members of the public and visitors. Consider those with special requirements such as young workers and new and expectant mothers.
3. Work out the risk in terms of how likely it is that the identified harm will occur. This will help to prioritise the actions needed to be taken to prevent an accident or ill health occurring.
4. Determine the actions you need to take to remove or at least reduce the hazards identified. This might include providing safety equipment, installing barriers or changing the system of work, for example.
5. Monitor your controls to ensure they are suitable and sufficient, and that they do the job they are intended to do – for example, check that guarding is working properly. Check that all identified actions have been taken, and ensure that the timeline for implementation is adhered to. Review your assessments regularly, and update them as necessary if things should change.

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If you have ever had the pleasure of the HSE visiting you and leaving saying great job, well done!

The Health and Safety Executive or Local Authority can visit and leave an improvement notice or a prohibition notice.

The HSE or LA may issue an improvement notice if they believe you’re breaking health and safety law. This will usually be where the law is being broken in a relatively serious way, or in a way that poses a risk to people.

Health and safety prohibition notices. If inspectors believe that your work activities give rise to a risk of serious personal injury, they may issue you with a prohibition notice. The prohibition notice normally requires you to stop that activity immediately.

Remember to always comply with the requirements of a notice, and ask for clarification on any matters that you are unsure of – otherwise you could find yourself in court and in receipt of a large fine.

Tips to Ensure Compliance with Improvement and Prohibition Notices

1. Check that the notice has been served on the correct legal entity – for example you might be a partnership or limited company – to avoid any confusion or future legal complications.
2. Remember that any non-compliance will be noted by the HSE. An Inspector may refer to the same issue on any future visit, therefore, it’s important to take the correct action straight away. Failure to comply with a notice often leads to prosecution.
3. Do contact the Inspector who issued you the notice if you think you may have difficulty in complying with its requirements. In certain circumstances, they may be able to offer you a time extension. An Inspector will usually ask for proof of action taken – even if they don’t pay a visit – so be sure to keep a written record of what you have done, and any related purchase receipts and service records, for example.
4. There is often a schedule attached to the notice – make sure you read this as it will give clear directions on how best to achieve compliance.
5. Give clear responsibility for ensuring compliance with the notice to a senior member of staff, to ensure that the necessary personnel and funds can be put forward to enable the necessary action to take place.

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Tips to Ensure a Safe Environment for Contractors and Others Affected by Joint Work Activities

1. Undertake a joint risk assessment with all parties involved in the work and make it site specific. Look at environmental factors such as ground conditions, utility cables that are present, and any other hazards that could cause a problem. Agree on the necessary controls to be implemented – it’s a good idea to write down who will be responsible for doing what.

2. Only allow trained workers to undertake the work activity – ask for proof of this from any contractors you take on.

3. Ensure effective sharing of information between all parties, such as how the work will be undertaken safely and who can be contacted in the event of an emergency.

4. Verify before work starts that the correct machinery, work equipment and safety equipment will be used. Check that appropriate signage has been put up in public areas to warn others of the work to be undertaken.

5. If working in or near public areas, ensure all parties clear up after the work finishes and take all equipment and rubbish away. Do a final sweep of the area to ensure this has happened.

Remember – contractors need to take steps to ensure that their work activities do not affect the safety or health of any other persons, including neighbouring companies or members of the public.

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There is a 90 % probability of heatwave conditions between 0900 on Monday and 0900 on Thursday in parts of England.

Advice: Stay out of the sun. Keep your home as cool as possible – shading windows and shutting them during the day may help. Open them when it is cooler at night. Keep drinking fluids. If there’s anybody you know, for example an older person living on their own, who might be at special risk, make sure they know what to do.

What is a heatwave?

Although there is no official definition of a ‘heatwave’ in the UK, the term can be used to describe an extended period of hot weather relative to the expected conditions of the area at that time of year.

The heat-health watch system comprises four levels of response based upon threshold maximum daytime and minimum night-time temperatures. These thresholds vary by region, but an average threshold temperature is 30 °C by day and 15 °C overnight for at least two consecutive days. These temperatures can have a significant effect on people’s health if they last for at least two days and the night in between.

• Level one: This is the minimum alert and is in place every year from 1 June until 15 September, which is the period that heat-health alerts are likely to be issued. This minimum alert simply means that people should be aware of what to do if the alert level is raised.
• Level two: Issued when there is a high chance that the threshold will be exceeded within the next few days
• Level three: Issued when the thresholds have been exceeded
• Level four: Issued when a prolonged hot spell becomes severe

Why is hot weather an issue?

Many people enjoy hot weather but there can be serious health consequences from too much heat and vulnerable groups are particularly at-risk in prolonged hot spells.

What effect can a prolonged hot spell have?

Hot weather, especially when prolonged, with warm nights, can have effects on people’s health and on certain infrastructure. To aid preparation and awareness before and during a prolonged hot spell, a heatwave plan has been created by Public Health England in association with the Met Office and other partners. It recommends a series of steps to reduce the risks to health from prolonged exposure to severe heat for:

• The NHS, local authorities, social care, and other public agencies
• Professionals working with people at risk
• Individuals, local communities and voluntary groups

Contact us, should you have any queries regarding your risk assessments.