On Brew Monday, the third Monday in January, Walker Health and Safety Services and The Samaritans reminds everyone to reach out for a cuppa and a catch-up with the people you care about.
Today’s the day. The day you put the kettle on. The day small talk turns into big talk. The day you break open the biscuits and the taboos.
The day you remind everyone how good human connection feels. How easy it is. And what a difference it can make.
Let’s prevent suicide with a cuppa and a catch-up this Brew Monday. Because for many, tomorrow’s too late.
We know there’s no such thing as ‘Blue Monday’ and that feeling low isn’t just something that happens on Mondays or a random day in January. So we say out with the blue and in with the brew!
There’s always time for a cuppa and a catch-up. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Monday morning or Saturday night, or if you’re drinking green tea or black coffee. If you’re sharing a cuppa, talking and listening, you’re doing it right.
Everything you need to have a Brew Monday
How to reach out to someone
Reaching out to someone could help them know that they are valued and someone cares. If you’ve noticed someone has gone quiet in the group chat or you haven’t heard from them in a while, reach out and check in. A simple message can mean a lot to someone who is going through a difficult time.
Just reaching out and asking someone how they are can give them the opportunity to open up about how they’re feeling. Don’t forget to put aside some time to catch up with them properly, maybe over a cuppa.
Once someone starts to share how they’re feeling, it’s important to listen. This could mean not offering advice, not trying to identify what they’re going through with your own experiences and not trying to solve their problems.
Contact us if you would like support, we can point you in the right direction!
If your business handles electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) — whether you’re a manufacturer, distributor, importer, or recycler — then it’s time to prepare for a significant regulatory shift.
From November 2025, the long-standing Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2013 (WEEE 2013) will be replaced by a modernised framework: the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations (EEE Regulations).
Here’s what you need to know, and how your business can stay ahead of the curve.
🔄 Why the Change?
The current WEEE 2013 regulations have been in place for over a decade, and while they’ve served a purpose in reducing electronic waste, the landscape has changed dramatically. We now face:
The new EEE Regulations aim to better reflect today’s market and environmental priorities — shifting from just managing waste to designing out waste altogether.
🧾 What’s Changing?
✅ 1. Clearer Definitions of EEE
The new regulations will provide updated and expanded definitions of what counts as EEE — including smart devices, disposable e-cigarettes, batteries-included items, and solar-powered tech.
✅ 2. Wider Producer Responsibility
Producers and importers will face:
✅ 3. Focus on Repair, Reuse & Design
EEE producers will be expected to:
✅ 4. Online Marketplaces Included
The new EEE rules will hold online platforms accountable for ensuring sellers on their sites are compliant — closing a major loophole from the WEEE regime.
📅 What Should You Be Doing Now?
Even though the EEE regulations don’t formally begin until November 2025, you should start preparing now:
🔍 Audit Your Products
📊 Review Your Supply Chain
📝Update Internal Processes
🧠 Final Thoughts
The move from WEEE 2013 to the new EEE Regulations isn’t just a change in name — it’s a shift in mindset.
The emphasis is now on sustainability, circularity, and accountability. Businesses that adapt early will not only stay compliant but also build trust with customers and demonstrate genuine environmental responsibility.
Contact us for further information.
Home Working
There are many people working from home, given the current situation we are in with COVID-19. This percentage may drop in the future, but for now, if we can work from home, that’s what we should do.
With kitchens and spare rooms now becoming a more permanent office space for many, staff should take time to make sure the space is serving their needs and not causing any damage. Your employers can help with this in many ways. Discuss your concerns with them.
Here we look at 8 ways to improve homeworking. If you have any suggestions, let us know.
Health and safety law requires that employers do all that they can to ensure the wellbeing of their staff. This obligation has not changed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and so risks to employees need to be managed in the usual way.
Although generally low risk, homeworking is not exempt from the law, and so a risk assessment should be carried out on the home environment to identify hazards. The risk assessment will also need to establish any measures needed to prevent harm to the employee, as well as anyone else affected by their work (including other members of the household).
To assist this process, employers can remotely work through a risk assessment with members of staff or ask staff to conduct their own assessment using a template and guidance. Contact us for further information.
Managing occupational health is critical for a healthy workspace. Poor posture while working, or a lack of suitable equipment, can cause serious musculoskeletal disorders (MSD), including injuries to the back, neck, hips, knees or wrists.
With many workers converting kitchen tables and spare rooms into their new office spaces, there is a significant risk that employees could unwittingly be causing themselves long-term damage through poor seating choices or by not having the right equipment.
To ensure staff are protecting themselves from potential MSDs, employers should try to find out about their staff’s working conditions and check that everyone knows how to set up their workspace. As a minimum, the risk assessment will likely identify that everyone needs carry out a display screen equipment (DSE) check and know how to report any problems.
Search through our previous blogs for DSE information.
As well as sitting correctly, moving is also an important part of maintaining good musculoskeletal health. In the typical office, people are much more likely to have situations where they need to walk around — as part of their commute, to go to a meeting, or to speak to a colleague. Many of these workplace opportunities to stretch the legs have now been lost, so as well as taking breaks from looking at a screen (as required by the DSE Regulations) encourage staff to take a regular breather to get up and move around. Setting a timer on a phone can be a relatively easy way to do this.
Routine is important to help protect mental health and to provide continuity in the working day. Having clear start and finish times helps create work–life boundaries, as can creating a dedicated workspace.
Wherever possible, ask staff to mix up their to-do list to create balance in their work. Spending all day in video conferences can be extremely fatiguing, as can hours in front of a screen with no workplace contact at all. When evaluating new working arrangements, also ask staff to consider how they are finding the new methods of working.
Working from home brings additional cyber security issues that organisations may not have considered. The National Cyber Security Centre provides comprehensive advice on what employers might need to think about, but a starting point would be to check that staff:
If the organisation has any e-learning modules that cover cyber security, then consider asking all staff to carry out refresher training.
House fires are much more likely to occur when people are at home. When considering the home office, ways to prevent fires include:
Employees working from home should also check that they have working smoke alarms that are tested once a week.
Working from home might mean using new technology. Whereas some may find this an easy transition, others may find it harder. It is commonplace for staff to have previously asked nearby colleagues for help with IT issues, so check in to ask if there are any problems.
Working from home will bring additional costs, e.g. to keep the workspace warm. To help keep energy costs low, organisations could raise awareness of energy efficiency measures that staff can adopt. Some examples might include:
Contact us should you require further information.
Keep safe!
Sedentary lifestyles are commonplace among office workers, but to make matters worse, a large portion of employees don’t feel encouraged to lead an active lifestyle.Top Tips on Managing the Health & Safety of Sedentary Workers
Sedentary working increases the risk of developing certain health problems and can have a long-term impact on employees’ psychological wellbeing.
As an employer, you are responsibility for the wellbeing of your employees. Here’s a few guidelines on how you can effectively manage the health & safety of your sedentary workers:
Contact us should you require assistance
Sitting v standing — the risksThe health risks of sedentary work, for example, among office workers who sit in front of computers for the vast majority of their day, have been well documented in recent years.
Prolonged standing at work: the law
According to the HSE, while there is no specific legislation that relates to prolonged standing, the risk to employees’ health and safety from working in a standing position would fall under the general provisions of the Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974 and its associated regulations, e.g. the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992.
The HSE therefore advises that pragmatic controls that consider both seated and standing work are identified through an appropriate risk assessment.
Crucially, the HSE also emphasises the importance of involving and engaging the workforce in the risk assessment process, as staff can provide feedback on their workstation and practices that can lead to pragmatic and sensible adjustments.
Job design is a critical factor in protecting the health of staff who need to stand during their working day. The basic principles of good job design for standing work are as follows.
Specific points to consider could, depending on the type of work, relate to the following:
The HSE’s current Go Home Healthy campaign is targeting the musculoskeletal health of workers as one of its three key focuses, along with work-related lung diseases and stress.
Employers should be aware that static and fixed postures from prolonged standing can cause musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), along with a range of other health issues.
In the context of the campaign and work involving prolonged standing, an HSE source warned against the pitfalls of starting with appropriate footwear or anti-fatigue matting. Rather, employers are encouraged to:
Certainly, thereafter, appropriate footwear and matting could also contribute to the overall risk reduction of the work.
Again, employers should rather be moving up the hierarchy of controls to think about the design of the work activity, rather than relying on training alone and the HSE has published advice for employers on how to get the right type of help in this regard.
An HSE source had the following to say about avoiding MSDs for staff who need to spend time working in a standing position:
“Fixed and static postures at work such as prolonged standing can affect workers’ health, making it more likely they will experience leg and lower back pain. It’s important that employers work with their employees to consider pragmatic solutions to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal problems — such as balancing sedentary and active work, rotating jobs, and providing rest breaks, appropriate workstations, and suitable equipment — to help ensure that workers can go home healthy.”
If you require advice, please contact us, Walker Health and Safety Services Limited.
