Scaffolding
Many people are now feeling the full force that comes from a second national lockdown! The COVID-19 outbreak has ripped through many industries and caused major financial and medical unrest across the entire country. Even though people who work in construction are still able to operate during these new measures, it’s so important to think about how health and safety needs to be elevated substantially to safeguard both customers and staff. In the world of scaffolding, the individuals involved work outside and have the capacity to keep well away from other people. This still doesn’t detract from simple factors that need to be considered for safe and practical working. So, here are some things to think about if you are working in scaffolding during the new lockdown.
Almost every single day, people are going to be handling equipment and certain parts of scaffolding in order to gain access to various parts of a building. A simple deterrent against spreading anything through touching would be to wear protective gloves, but sanitising should also be brought into play on a regular basis. A deep clean should be conducted at the start of every day and the end. If you think certain things have been handled too much, then clean them down until you are satisfied they have been cleansed enough for future use.
If you think certain tasks can be handled by less people than you would usually call upon, then definitely look into this. A reduction of people you have milling around a building means you are less likely to see the virus spreading. Any projects that do require input from a lot of people could maybe look into staggering the shifts. This means the same manpower is utilised each day without having too many scaffolders operating at the same time.
People working in scaffolding will know that inspections are already a major factor behind any work. Should you require further assistance, you can call the necessary Building Control in order to establish best practices across your site. You also need to be careful if you have small-scale scaffolding for things like warehouses and workshops. A platform scaffold is going to be used on a frequent basis as people try to reach things above the ground. This could end up becoming a hotbed for the virus so perhaps only designate a handful of people to any ladders or platforms.
At the moment, the construction industry is able to carry on, but we all know this could change very quickly. There may come a point where certain areas across the country are deemed unsafe even for outside work as the virus continues to spread. You also need to ensure any staff working are clued up with the rules as even just one minor slip up could cause a wave of major issues. Health and safety has never been so important! So, think methodically and always act in the best interests of people who may be operating during what are unprecedented times.
Contact us if you would like further information.
Guest post written by B3 Scaffolding.
Office
As lockdown looms in England for a second time this year, we wanted to let you know that we’re here for you. We will all be working from home answering your calls and emails.
As before the effects of working from home will be minimal, as we will continue to work our regular hours and phone calls into the business will be transferred and answered by us working from home.
If you have any question, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
We thank you for your patience and understanding at this time.
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!
Health and Safety Law
Everyone’s business experiences a health and safety problem at some point.
The list of possibilities for workplace injury, illness, or even death might be endless.
Slips and trips, burns, gas, spillages, asbestos, structural collapses, tight spaces, strains. We could sit here all day and list the many ways that you or one of your employees or colleagues could suffer at work.
But instead, how about we go through the ways that you can make sure that your staff are aware of and adhere to your company’s health and safety policy?
In many instances below–what applies to your staff might also apply to visitors, contractors, and any other persons who could be affected by your health and safety policies.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 does outline the responsibilities that an employer like you has for the health & safety of their staff while they’re working for you.
Health and safety is, for many, a chore. It involves paperwork, it sounds boring, and it isn’t pleasant. So a week’s worth of policy reading about health & safety isn’t going to look persuasive to anyone in your employ.
Provide up-to-date information that is written simplistically so everyone can follow it. The information should include:
Written copies.
Think email. Think white papers. Think employee/company handbooks. Think specific policy folders in the filing cabinets at the back of the office. Or, if you’ve gone paperless, on your company’s intranet/storage cloud. Then, once you’ve made and stored said policies, send them to your staff. Make access as easy as possible.
If you’ve made your staff aware of your policies and procedures, you’ll probably have a better defence if someone takes you to an employment tribunal if they suffer an injury.
It never hurts anyone to put your employees through their health & safety training paces. Whether you’ve got a team of veteran engineers or junior salespeople, you want all staff to have a minimum level of training, that is, ideally, state-of-the-art.
To do this, you could invite health & safety specialists to your workplace to give talks, hold training exercises, lead discussions, and then even invigilate assessments. If you want to ensure people are learning what they’re being taught, what better proof than an assessment at the end? We all yearn for those long-gone days of exam revision after all, don’t we?
Additional resources such as web-based tools, videos, case studies and incentives such rewarding your employees with a salary review can all be effective methods for helping your employees to learn about how they follow your company’s health & safety policy.
Whether it’s hard hats, masks, safety footwear, jackets, hivis vests – make it available for your staff.
Once you’ve done this, run an instructional course on how to correctly use and maintain all equipment, and if you want to be really thorough again, put your staff through another assessment.
You know the drill. If the floor is wet, get out the yellow sign.
If your workplace bears any significant risk that cannot be avoided or control in another way, ensure there is a sign to inform staff, thus lowering the risk of injury.
Ensure you have the correct cover and resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. Stock your first aid kit and ensure that everyone knows who the first aider(s) is. You should assess (regularly) your first aid situation. If your company is growing exponentially, you might need to add personnel to your first aid team.
Contact us for further information.
Guest Blogger – Kate Palmer
How not to wear a face covering or mask
The coronavirus is here for the long haul! The future will depend on social mixing and the prevention that we have in place and how we comply with that.
Wash your hands often – if soap and water are not readily available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Cover all surfaces of your hands and rub them together until they feel dry.
Avoid close contact – everyone should wear a mask in public settings and when around people who don’t live in your household.
Clean and disinfect – clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily. This includes tables, doorknobs, light switches, countertops, handles, desks, phones, keyboards, toilets, faucets, and sinks.
Monitor Your Health Daily – be alert for symptoms. Watch for fever, cough, shortness of breath, or other symptoms of COVID-19.
Face coverings must be worn by customers in shops, supermarkets and shopping centres. Shop workers will now also have to wear a face covering.
Face coverings are compulsory for anyone travelling by public transport in England, Scotland and Wales, unless they have an exemption or a reasonable excuse. People can be refused travel if they do not follow the rules and can be fined as a last resort.
Face coverings are also compulsory in a number of indoor spaces. These include:
Some people do not have to wear a face covering. They include:
You can take off your mask if:
World Health Organization (WHO) advice says non-medical face coverings should be worn in public where social distancing is not possible.
Coronavirus is spread when droplets are sprayed into the air when infected people talk, cough or sneeze. Those droplets can then fall on surfaces.
The WHO says there is also emerging evidence of airborne transmission of the virus, with tiny particles hanging in aerosol form in the air.
Homemade cloth face coverings can help reduce the spread from people who are contagious but have no symptoms or are yet to develop symptoms. Taking a face covering on and off can also risk contamination, the WHO says.
Contact us if you require further information.
Thank you to Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust for the mask infographic.
Information correct at time of publishing.
