Tag: Health and Safety

The Importance of PPE in Your Workplace

Posted on by Charlie Patrick

PPE plays a vital role in keeping people safe at work by protecting the individual from risks that can’t be eliminated through standard risk mitigation. However, this makes it crucial to understand when and where it is needed to ensure your organisation’s health and safety practices are up to standard. So, let’s dive into it.

A safety helmet demonstrating an example of PPE.

What is PPE?

First, let’s cover the basics: Personal Protective Equipment –  often referred to as PPE, is all equipment intended to be used by a person at work to protect them from the risks present in their working environment.

This includes everything protecting you from hazards, such as high-vis clothing for conditions with poor visibility, to harnesses protecting you when working at height; no matter the severity of the risks it’s protecting you from.

When must PPE be used?

PPE must be used to ensure that any remaining risks/hazards, identified in your risk assessments, are adequately controlled, and should only be used when the risks cannot be eliminated by other means. This is due to the other means of risk mitigation being safer and more effective.

If you can avoid or eliminate the risks directly, this creates a much safer environment than applying protective measures; making PPE most suitable as a ‘last resort’ option. This is also reinforced by the HSE placing it last in its hierarchy of controls:

“Elimination – physically remove the hazard

Substitution – replace the hazard

Engineering controls – isolate people from the hazard

Administrative controls – change the way people work

PPE – protect the worker with personal protective equipment”

This makes the use of PPE necessary in high-risk environments such as construction sites, where for example, falling objects and moving machinery can’t be eliminated as a risk, making a hard hat, high-vis clothing and steel-capped shoes the minimum requirement.

A variety of PPE displayed out on a table, showing protective boots, gloves, ear protection, safety glasses, a hard hat and a high-vis jacket.

What does the legislation say?

The use of PPE is covered in many different laws and regulations, however the main two safety acts are the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA), and the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (PPER).

The HSWA prioritises creating a safe environment for your staff with risk mitigation and training, highlighting your duty to provide the necessary equipment and the training/knowledge to achieve this. Whilst the PPER goes into more detail with the requirements:

“Every employer shall ensure that suitable personal protective equipment is provided to his employees who may be exposed to a risk to their health or safety while at work except where and to the extent that such risk has been adequately controlled by other means which are equally or more effective.” – PPER 4.1

This regulation specifies the employers’ duty to provide suitable PPE to protect the employees when any risks are unavoidable and pose a present health and safety hazard.

However, it is crucial for the equipment to be in good working condition, and critical that the staff is trained to safely assess and use the provided equipment. This is because misuse of PPE results in thousands of injuries across the UK every year.

Workers having a safety debrief, covering the importance of PPE usage.

The Importance of PPE

PPE is the crucial last step in your organisation’s health and safety, protecting from the remaining hazards in your workplace to ensure that your staff remain safe. With the right training and maintenance, PPE provides effective protection to help prevent incidents and encourage a safer working environment.

How To Prevent The Most Common Workplace Hazards

Posted on by Charlie Patrick

The working environment is constantly evolving, making it challenging to keep on top of health and safety. But with reports showing that almost 4 million working days are lost because of injuries every year in the UK, the presence of these common workplace hazards are clear.

Although every workplace has its own unique set of hazards, here are the most common workplace hazards that are likely lurking in your environment.

Slips, Trips and Falls

Accounting for almost a third (32%) of all injuries in 2023, slips, trips and falls are the most common cause of workplace injury in the UK, despite being one of the simpler hazards to spot and prevent.

One of the key preventative measures is ensuring good visibility. You should make sure that everyone can clearly see their path ahead, allowing them to double-check for any hazards eg. wet surfaces, objects in the way, uneven ground or steps. Areas should also be well-lit with walkways kept clear and dry, therefore ensuring that the path ahead can be seen.

It is also important to highlight any ‘problem areas’ to alert others to be more attentive. Some common methods to highlight these areas are:

  • Signs – ‘Wet floor’ signs or ‘Caution when wet’ signs are some of the most widely used options.
  • Highlighting steps – often bright grip tape is placed on ledges to highlight the elevation change to prevent trips.
  • Slip-resistant flooring – Commonly placed near entrances to stop wet walkways from becoming a hazard.
Safety tape on a staircase.

Fire Hazards

Fires remain a persistent and common hazard to businesses across the country, with a reported 22,000 workplace fires every year. To combat this, regular employee training is a necessity, and this can be done as a group session or online via a fire safety training course. Afterwards, taking this training periodically will refresh your employees’ knowledge.

It is also necessary to ensure that countermeasures are accounted for in case of a fire breaking out. This means checking your fire alarms and fire extinguishers regularly for damage, ensuring they are unobstructed and functional. Additionally, an evacuation plan should be in place, ensuring that everybody has a safe route out of the building – with any assistance necessary if needed.

Man inspecting a fire extinguisher, to monitor the common workplace hazard

Electrical Hazards

Often forgotten, electrical hazards can pose a huge risk to your workplace safety if not regularly maintained. Shorting out circuits could potentially cause safety systems to fail, thereby increasing the risk of fires.

Simple yet regular checks are often the best way to keep on top of electrical risks, with formal maintenance and inspections carried out by a professional when necessary. Some key areas to check regularly are:

  • Cables – are they all intact and insulated correctly, with no signs of damage?
  • Outlets – are they in good condition and properly grounded?
  • Overloading – are the outlets overloaded?
Overloaded electrical outlet creating an electrical hazard

Ergonomic Hazards

Ergonomics often get disregarded when it comes to health and safety, but with almost half a million workers suffering from work-related musculoskeletal disorders every year in the UK, their importance is clear. Despite this high prevalence, it is one of the easier risks to eliminate.

Increasing awareness is the most common method to mitigate the hazards in the workplace, as employees can take more responsibility of their own workspace and adjust it accordingly. The best way to raise awareness among your staff is through training. A short eLearning course can effectively cover everything they need to know, and also gives you a record of when that was last completed.

Following on from the training, staff will then need to alter their workspaces to suit. This will involve adjusting everything from screen height for office workers to introducing equipment for heavy lifting for the more active sectors. Accommodating these changes will eliminate the ergonomic hazards, helping you prevent any injuries occurring because of poor ergonomics.

Poor ergonomics due to poor workplace hazard management

By identifying and eliminating these common workplace hazards, it can massively benefit both your business and your employees. This will help you to create a much safer and more efficient working environment, which will boost not only your business’s productivity but also its reputation. These implementations can all take place whilst also improving your staff’s morale and well-being by taking the ‘edge’ off your working environment; making it feel safer, whilst reducing staff injury and ill-health.

Sources:

HSE (2023) ‘Health and Safety at work statistics’. Available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/overview.htm (Accessed: 27/06/2024)

Dorset Fire Protection (2023) ‘Common Causes of Workplace Fires’. Available at: https://dorsetfireprotection.co.uk/common-causes-workplace-fires/ (Accessed: 27/06/2024)

How To Build An Online Training Course

Posted on by Charlie Patrick

Building an online training course can be a fantastic way to deliver training to your staff, allowing you to personalise and customise the learning experience, to ensure that all users take in all necessary information. However, that being said it is crucial to prepare properly before creating any eLearning course, to ensure that your courses deliver the required lessons. As often jumping straight into the creation phase, will result in missing content and ultimately a lower-quality course.

A user learning how to build an online training course

1. Course Objectives

Establishing what you want to teach is the first and the most crucial aspect of building an eLearning course. This ensures that the course covers all the crucial lessons that you need to teach, whilst allowing you to plan out how to best achieve this.

Start by setting the objectives of the course, these don’t have to be listed at the start of the course, but it can be helpful to establish to the learners what the key takeaways are. So what are the key lessons you are covering?

  • Filling in gaps of knowledge?
  • Teaching a user how to use something?
  • Where are health and safety measures required?
  • Site specific considerations/information?

2. Research

Research is the next important step in creating your own eLearning course. As before you start to piece together your course, you need to make sure that what you are teaching is correct. This will ensure that you fully understand the course content and iron out any mistakes/gaps in your knowledge to make sure that your training is as high quality as possible.

This step may not be necessary depending on the course content, so use your discretion. However, even if you are experienced in the subject at hand, finding credible sources to back up your statements only adds to the validity of your course, whilst ensuring that your learners can trust what they’re being taught.

A magnifying glass on a keyboard symbolising research

3. Audience and Format

When building your own online training course it provides an unmatched opportunity to tailor the content and format to your audience. This will also help condense the course, helping you to avoid being that dreaded training course that is too drawn out for its own good. So factoring in your audience and altering the content and format to suit, is key to avoiding this and build a high-quality condensed training course.

This will also allow you to change the format to best suit their training needs. For example, if your online training course is primarily for an experienced workforce, then you can tailor the content to be more ‘recap-focused’, to keep their training as concise and engaging as possible. However this therefore wouldn’t be as suitable for new starters, potentially lacking the detail required to fill in any gaps, highlighting why considering your course audience is crucial to ensuring that it delivers on the objectives.

A user learning from a elearning course

4. Course Outline

Once you have your foundations of the content, it is key to plan out an outline for your course. This will help you determine the best way to deliver the lessons to get your point across.

Start out by placing the key slides into your Training Course Creator tool and reorder them until they sit logically – covering all the key points in the order in which they should be covered. This will ensure that your course doesn’t bounce between topics to often and keeps the learning organised into digestible sections.

5. Content

Once you have your key slides in order, its now time to fill out the bulk of the course. This is where you compile all of the previous steps and complete the course with all of the relevant content.

Be sure to keep this in-line with your audience and formatted to suit, to create the best learning experience. Attaching any media, information sources and site-specific knowledge where necessary. This will also help keep the course engaging, which is critical to creating the best learning environment.

6. Quiz Questions and Types (Knowledge Checks)

With the bulk of the online training course now built, you can now test your learner’s knowledge. This is crucial to ensure that they have learnt the course content and meet the level of knowledge required to pass the course.

There are many ways in which questions can be integrated into the course, so make sure to consider the options to find the most appropriate fit. This means considering:

  • How many questions are needed?
  • How are the questions going to be spaced out?
    • Is one big block appropriate?
    • Do you space them out evenly?
    • Are short ‘Knowledge Checks’ the best fit?
  • What question types are you using?
    • Multiple choice
    • Drag and Drop
    • Sortable lists
  • What are the key topics to test for?
Puzzle question piece

7. Quality Checks

Finally, you need to check the quality of the course, ensuring that it works as intended, with no errors throughout the course, whether that is a weird glitch in the test questions or certificates not being awarded properly. This is also where you can refer back to the course objectives you set in the earlier steps, ensuring that the training delivers on its goals and has no content missing or being skimmed over.

During this step it is also important to check for any grammatical or spelling errors as well as formatting errors – are the pictures high quality? Are linked videos running smoothly? Is there any clipping or weird text placement?

Conclusion

Overall, there are many steps that go into the creation, research and formatting of an engaging high-quality training course. But these steps are crucial to ensuring the course lives up to the many benefits of custom courses and make it worth the added effort. When done correctly creating an eLearning course provides a unique learning opportunity and will enhance your training standard.

Introducing ‘Help Desk’ – our latest Smartlog® module

Posted on by Charlie Patrick

We are pleased to announce the release of a new Help Desk facility in Smartlog®.

The new help desk module allows your users to raise tickets regarding any premises issues in your
organisation. Live tickets can be tracked, updated and then resolved within Smartlog and through
immediate email notifications – including all related costs and time spent fixing the issue.

Help Desk provides you with the following abilities:

Create custom ticket categories
Any user can raise a ticket, and custom categories can be created. All created tickets are
automatically categorised and can be immediately assigned to the responsible user to resolve.

Set time-bound priority levels
You can set custom priority levels for your tickets, determining exactly the length of time the ticket requires to be resolved. This enables your SLAs with your contractors to be automatically built-in,
for example.

Keep a track of all costs
You can input and track all costs related to a ticket, and you can also track the exact time spent
resolving the ticket. Also, anyone working on the ticket can update it anytime with their detailed
costs.

Live email updates
From the raising of a ticket, during its resolution, and to its closing, email notifications are sent to
all users involved in the ticket to keep everyone updated on exactly what is going on.

This module is completely free to all our customers who use the full version of Smartlog. and is
immediately available for Company Admins to use.

To book a demo of ‘Help Desk’ for your organisation or to request more information about Smartlog, visit our contact page or send us your query to info@safesmart.co.uk

The Benefits of eLearning

Posted on by Charlie Patrick

Training is a crucial part of any business’s health and safety, with it being critical to ensuring that everyone knows the dos and don’ts within their workplace – everything from Asbestos Awareness to Fire Safety courses. However, managing training can often be a time-consuming and stressful task, and businesses often don’t take the time to consider other options. So here are the 5 benefits of eLearning to help you streamline your training and widen your perspective.

eLearning graphic of a laptop wearing a graduate hat.

Flexible Learning

One of the advantages of eLearning is its flexibility in both location and timing. Gone are the days of trying to schedule training with everyone’s calendars to make sure they can all attend one session at a set location.

eLearning allows you to bypass this and get your staff to learn at a time which suits them. Whether that’s on their phone/tablet as they are on the go or in the office on their computer, online training is completely flexible, all you need is a device and internet access.

Seamless Management

Managing training can be challenging and time intensive, lining up schedules, organising the training and tracking who has done what and when. But eLearning can streamline this process, with fast insights into your organisation’s training.

With the ability to quickly view who has completed their courses and what’s overdue and upcoming, our eLearning module will also ensure that no training is missed. With weekly email reminders for overdue training and auto-assign features, you can ensure that your training doesn’t go past its expiry date.

Smartlog's eLearning laptop, featuring different courses.

Personalised Learning

Another great benefit of eLearning comes from the individual aspects of it, allowing for personalised and unique learning. From choosing what to assign to everybody individually to tailoring their courses specifically to their department/site using a Training Course Creator tool.

Being digital, eLearning also provides a unique learning opportunity, allowing you to use videos and graphics easily to learn and even interactive content, which can provide immediate feedback to the user, helping them learn faster.

Reduced Costs

In-Person training is expensive with many factors affecting the price, from the trainers’ day rate, the travel costs involved, time lost and even the building costs for the room.

However, due to the nature of online training, you can cut these costs down by going digital, having no travel or hire costs and having training for unlimited users all for one price. Making eLearning a lot more affordable for businesses especially when the change in admin work is accounted for.

Reducing the cost of training image.

Bite-sized Learning

Splitting up training time is crucial to remain focussed and ensure the best learning environment. This is especially important when you are covering serious topics as is normally found within workplace training.

This benefits eLearning greatly as you can easily split up your training into bite-sized chunks, either one course at a time or pausing halfway through to come back to it later.

Overall considering the swap to eLearning can be beneficial for most businesses, helping you to streamline your training process whilst reducing costs, removing the hassle, and improving your staff’s learning experience.

7 Tips to work safely with height

Posted on by Charlie Patrick

Working at height can be extremely dangerous when not safely monitored and according to the HSE there are over 40,000 injuries in the UK every year. So today we will cover 7 crucial tips to ensure you follow safe practices when working at height, covering everything from equipment to common mistakes.

1. Assess the risks

When working at height it is crucial to assess the task(s) at hand and ensure that it is safe to proceed before putting yourself at any risk. This may not have to be a formal assessment if your workplace has a valid assessment in place. The key things to check in your assessment are:

– The height of the task – how much risk does that place on the job?

– The duration and frequency of the job – if it is a long task consider breaking it up into manageable chunks. And if it is a frequent job consider a more thorough assessment.

– The condition of the equipment and surfaces – ensure you have the necessary equipment in good condition and the surfaces you will be working on are safe and dry to avoid slips.

Man moving a ladder, and inspecting if it is safe to use.

2. Is it the appropriate time?

To reduce the risk of working with height consider if there is a better time to complete the tasks and if possible, can the job be avoided with a workaround from the ground? If the task is necessary, then take into account the factors that increase the risk.

This could be the training of the person carrying out the job, is there someone more experienced? Or the weather conditions and time of day, is there a quieter time of day or lower-risk conditions to work in?

3. Have you got the correct training?

Training and knowledge are crucial elements in keeping safe when working at height, so ensure that you have the appropriate training before putting yourself at risk. Training can be given in many forms, from direct 1 on 1 training to online training, depending on your needs.

Make sure you are trained well and have covered the relevant topics for the tasks you may encounter, some key topics include:

– The use of ladders

– Selecting and using the correct equipment/PPE

– Using MEWP’s (Mobile Elevator Working Platforms)

– Responsibilities when working at height

– The laws and regulations

Man about to climb the ladder ensuring it is placed correctly, and safe to climb at height.

4. Using the correct equipment

Ensuring the correct preventative measures are in place is crucial to minimizing the risks. This involves ensuring the correct CPE (Collective Protective Equipment) is in place and the appropriate PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) is used when necessary.

Some common examples of CPE include guard rails, scaffolding, and scissor lifts. Common examples of PPE include safety harnesses, a helmet and safety restraints.

Not only is having the correct equipment and knowing how to use it safely crucial, but it is also important that it is all in good condition. Making regular equipment checks vital to safe working procedures.

Man using PPE whilst working at height to keep safe.

5. Safety on Ladders

Ladders are often thought of as the go-to equipment when working at height due to their simple appearance. However, the risks they can carry are often underestimated, as they have been reported to be responsible for up to 40% of the injuries caused by falls from height.

So, despite their ‘simple to use’ appearance make sure you know how to use them correctly, here are some key mistakes to avoid:

– Don’t rest them on weak surfaces

– Don’t place them near anything that could push the ladder, such as windows and doors.

– Place them on flat and level ground, ensuring that the ground is dry.

– Ensure that the ladder is roughly placed at a 75-degree angle, this increases its stability.

6. Do’s and don’ts when working with height

Within any field, it is important to know the ins and outs of what you should and shouldn’t do, so here are some quickfire points to make sure you keep safe when working at height:

Do:

– Keep 3 points of contact on the ladder and don’t overreach on them.

– Ensure you aren’t at the very top, as this will make the ladder unstable.

– Check your equipment before use

Don’t:

– Overload the ladder or equipment you are using

– Overreach or lean over any railings/ladders

– Use ladders/equipment without training

Men climbing scaffolding whilst working at height.

7. Review your processes

Even if you don’t frequently work from height, a simple review of your processes can be beneficial to decrease the likelihood of injury through falls. This can be formal or on the fly, but for more frequent use it is important to review your processes regularly.

As part of your review, you need to consider if the processes you currently follow are still appropriate and compliant with the law. For example, if you have recently changed part of your environment or the factors are weather-dependent, make sure you have the correct PPE/CPE available if necessary and in good condition. Or if you don’t currently use anything more than a ladder, review if another machine may be more suitable and safer, such as a scissor lift. It’s also important to take training into account within these reviews.

References

HSE (2023) ‘Falls From Height’. Available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/food/falls.htm (Accessed: 9/2/24)

HSE (2023) ‘Health and Safety Summary Statistics 2022/2023’. Available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/overview.htm (Accessed: 9/2/24)

What is a Workplace Inspection?

Posted on by Charlie Patrick

A Workplace Inspection is the process of acutely examining the workplace to identify hazards and ensure that all health and safety standards are met. This then allows you to ensure that your workplace is safe and compliant and allows you to mitigate/eliminate the remaining risks.

Under the Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, every employer must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of both the risks to the health and safety of their employees that they encounter while at work, and the risks to the people not under employment.

What are the different types of inspections?

Workplace inspections can be either formal or informal, with the informal inspections being quick checks. There are four types of formal inspections, and they are:

  • Safety surveys – a general inspection of high-risk areas, activities, or processes
  • Safety Tours – a general inspection of the whole workplace
  • Safety Sampling – a systematic sampling approach of the high-risk areas, activities, or processes
  • Incident/accident inspections – After an incident has occurred (near miss, injury, or fatality) a full inspection of the cause and prevention. (this may need to be reported to the relevant health and safety authority)
Workplace Safety handbook with PPE surrounding

Who should complete the workplace inspection?

A formal inspection of the workplace should be carried out by multiple people ranging from health and safety specialists/committee members to supervisors/managers. This will often require you to bring in an external health and safety expert to ensure nothing is missed.

The HSE states that for formal inspections “Union-appointed health and safety representatives can inspect the workplace. They have to give reasonable notice in writing when they intend to carry out a formal inspection of the workplace, and have not inspected it in the previous three months”.

When do you need to complete a workplace inspection?

How often a workplace inspection is required depends on many variables, from the nature/risk of your workplace to significant changes occurring. But with no set timeframe it is up to discretion, here are some things to consider when deciding on the frequency of your regular inspections.

Workplace risk – the level of risk plays a huge role in how often an inspection is required with high-risk environments, such as a construction site, requiring frequent inspections when compared to an office for example.

Significant Changes – How often your workplace changes is also important when determining how often you need to carry out inspections, as significant change will deem your old inspection outdated and will need to be reviewed as soon as possible. Significant change can be anything from a large change in staff (both numbers and experience) to a change of building layout or premises completely or even a change in equipment/machinery.

Specialists’ opinion – Formal inspections require a health and safety specialist present, so you can contact your trusted specialist to recommend your next review/inspection window.

Worker on tablet/iPad completing workplace inspection.

How to complete a workplace inspection

Completing a workplace inspection depending on the environment can contain many different steps. For simpler workspaces, the responsible person will likely be able to use a risk assessment template to complete a sufficient assessment providing they have adequate health and safety experience.

However, for higher-risk or more complex workplaces, it is advised to bring in a health and safety specialist to ensure that your workplace inspections are completed to a high standard. This can then be further improved by assessing the workplace in a group to not miss out on any risks.

References

HSE (2023) ‘Inspections of the Workplace’. Available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/involvement/inspections.htm (Accessed: 17/01/2024)

Legislation.Gov (2014) ‘Health and Safety at Work Act 1974’. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/37/section/2 (Accessed: 17/01/2024)

How to stay aware of Asbestos

Posted on by Charlie Patrick

Asbestos, we have all heard of it but what actually is it?

Asbestos is a material used in older construction and when disturbed it releases tiny fibres into the air, which become extremely dangerous if inhaled. The material comes in many different forms and can be found in buildings built before the 2000s.

It was commonly used as insulation but is now a banned product in construction, with it being completely banned in 1999. Some common places it was used are:

  • Fireproof panels
  • Cement roofing materials
  • Sprayed insulating coatings on metalwork
  • Pipe insulation
Discarded asbestos material

The risks of asbestos

The main and most dangerous risk of asbestos is inhaling the fibres, this can lead to fatal lung diseases. However, this means it is only a threat when the material is disturbed, so if it is left alone, it poses little to no risk but should be respected.

Staff are particularly at risk of this as they will be the ones moving around your site and interacting with everything. This could put them in a situation where they are exposed to it directly, highlighting why it is important for staff to be aware of the risks.

The workplace as a whole is also at risk to asbestos, as if disturbed it could potentially harm anyone in the vicinity and will require that area to be shut off and assessed. Potentially harming workflow and productivity while the issue is ongoing.

How to prevent the risks

As part of “The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012” the law states that the duty-holder of non-domestic premises must ensure:

  • The type of asbestos is identified and the condition of it.
  • The risks are assessed, and control measures introduced to reduce the risk of exposure
  • They protect anyone using or working on the premises from the risks of asbestos
  • Findings are recorded in an asbestos register

Risk prevention can be simplified into a few practices, one of which is providing information. You should be transparent with your staff both teaching them about the risks and informing them on where it is located in your premises. This can be done by providing information on the risks or more simply an asbestos awareness course. Your asbestos register should also detail where it is present on your premises so you can either show them that or talk them through the relevant locations.

Laptop showing e-Learning courses

Asbestos should only be handled by licensed professionals, so make sure your staff know what to do if they find or worst case are contaminated with asbestos. This should be part of their awareness course and all staff should be aware if they are at risk.

Finally, if a staff member finds unknown asbestos they should stop immediately, warn others to keep out of that area and quickly report the finding to the manager. Where they can take the necessary steps to ensure the area is as safe as possible (this includes both a risk assessment – identifying the type and dangers and a plan to mitigate the impact).

Conclusion

Asbestos has the potential to be dangerous, however, with correct care and management, the risks it possesses can be minimised. As long as the correct measures have been taken to reduce the risks – such as a thorough risk assessment, an asbestos register and complete staff training – the risks will be minimal to both your staff and business, but it still must be treated with respect.

References

HSE (2023) ‘Introduction to Asbestos’. Available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/intro.htm (Accessed: 27/11/2023)

Why is health and safety important in construction & manufacturing?

Posted on by Charlie Patrick

“Health and safety” is a term that covers a huge variety of topics, but ultimately it is the identification of hazards and the measures in place to protect people from them. In the workplace, this can include anything from protective equipment to keeping walkways clear and even correct training.

However, with health and safety being so broad, it can lead to areas being missed or overlooked, as often ‘it’s not that important’. But, it is no secret that manufacturing and construction are some of the most dangerous sectors to work within, and keeping your staff safe and healthy is crucial to creating a positive workplace and running the organisation smoothly.

Construction workers monitoring the health and safety of their site

Why is Health & Safety so important?

Construction and manufacturing environments carry a wide variety of risks making them some of the most dangerous places to work (accounting for over 40% of workplace deaths in the UK, last year – 2022/2023). So, it is crucial to keep these places as safe as possible and evokes both a legal and moral responsibility to do so.

The moral responsibility is your duty as the employer to keep the workplace as safe as possible, to ensure your staff return home safe at the end of the day. Although there are no direct repercussions, your staff will hold you accountable.

However, your legal duty under the “Health and Safety at Work Act 1974” requires you to, as far as reasonably practicable, provide:

  • A safe workplace with clear entrances and exits
  • Maintenance for safety equipment and ensure safe systems of work
  • Correct storage for materials and safe use/transport
  • Training and information
  • Safety equipment

This legislation is designed to provide a minimum standard of health and safety and does hold severe consequences if not met – up to an unlimited fine, prison time or disqualification.

Construction workers climbing scaffolding

How can you ensure compliance?

Risk assessments are a great way to ensure you meet the standards, as they have you identifying the risks present and putting in measures to keep everyone safe. This can be anything from checking your PPE availability and quality to making sure exits are clear.

They are also a requirement under the “The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999” stating:

“Every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of—

(a)the risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work; and

(b)the risks to the health and safety of persons not in his employment arising out of or in connection with the conduct by him of his undertaking”.

Risk assessments must be kept up to date – when any significant changes occur and recorded if you have 5 or more employees.

Another tool you can use is regular training. Although this doesn’t directly impact the working environment it will remind your staff of the correct and safe procedures, encouraging them to keep their environment clean and using the correct PPE where appropriate. This training can be in-person reviews or from online sources like videos or E-learning tools.

E-learning training on a laptop

Other benefits of maintaining a high standard of Health & Safety

A safe working environment also comes with many other benefits – increases in productivity, a better reputation, and a higher quality workforce to name a few. So not only does better health and safety keep your workers safe and healthy, but it will also improve the quality and efficiency of your business throughout.

Poor health and safety will affect the productivity of your workforce, as it makes them extra cautious when completing tasks, not only having negative effects on them mentally but also slowing them down, as they don’t feel safe.

A better reputation of safety also comes with many benefits, primarily making it a desirable place to work. This will help with reducing staff turnover but also encourage higher quality applicants when you are looking to hire, due to the increased competition/interest in your roles. Not only that but it will make staff happier knowing the risks they face at work are minimal as no one wants to feel unsafe whilst working.

References

HSE (2023) Legislation: Leading health and safety at work (hse.gov.uk). (Accessed: 08/11/2023)

When to update your Fire Risk Assessments

Posted on by Charlie Patrick

Fire Risk Assessments are a crucial part of fire safety and a legal requirement for all businesses. So, it is important to know how and when they need to be updated, and this responsibility falls upon the ‘responsible person’. But before we dive into that we should clarify:

What is a Fire Risk Assessment?

A Fire Risk Assessment is a review of the premises which identifies any potential fire risks/hazards and who that may affect. The assessment also checks that the correct measures are in place to minimise the risks and allow for a safe escape in the event of a fire.

Who is the ‘Responsible Person’?

The responsible person is either the person who owns the building or manages the premises, this is most likely the employer. Their duty is to make sure the Fire Risk Assessment has been completed by a competent person and to keep the staff safe from risk, this often involves ensuring that adequate training and information are provided to staff.

Worker using a tablet to complete a Fire Risk Assessment

When should you update your Fire Risk Assessments?

Many factors affect how often an update to your Fire Risk Assessment is required, so it’s not as simple as every … years. But here is what the law states from section 9 of The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005:

“such assessment must be reviewed by the responsible person regularly so as to keep it up to date and particularly if —

(a)there is reason to suspect that it is no longer valid; or

(b)there has been a significant change in the matters to which it relates including when the premises, special, technical and organisational measures, or organisation of the work undergo significant changes, extensions, or conversions”

Understanding the Regulatory Reform Order 2005

Although there is no set-and-forget timeframe, the law does say that the assessment must be reviewed regularly by a responsible person. This can be anyone who qualifies as competent, most likely the responsible person, a health and safety officer or a professional assessor.

Reviews are shorter than full-blown assessments, so although it may seem as though only minor things have changed, we recommend a review regularly to keep it up to date even if it seems as though nothing has changed, as small changes can have large impacts on the safety of the building.

Along with regular reviews, it is important to complete new fire risk assessments when major changes occur, as seen in the RRO 2005 (Regulatory Reform Order 2005), these include but are not limited to:

  • Significant change in premises (size, structure, layout)
  • Significant change in the number of staff
  • Significant change in procedures/processes
  • Or any other reason that could invalidate the current assessment.
Man inspecting a fire extinguisher as part of his fire safety checks

The importance of Fire Risk Assessments

Although health and safety can sometimes feel like a drag, it is crucial to complete and upkeep to a high standard, especially when it comes to fire safety as it injures thousands of people yearly in the UK alone.

Fire Risk Assessments are necessary to keep everyone safe whilst on site, making it both a legal and moral requirement for them to be completed to a high standard. Otherwise, you could face unlimited fines or even 2 years in prison for major offences.

Not only does fire pose a risk to life but also to your business, so regular reviews of your Fire Risk Assessment will give you peace of mind that your business is safe.

Help with Fire Risk Assessments

If you would like to book a professional Fire Risk Assessment today you can click here.

Or if you would like to complete your regular reviews yourself, a Fire Risk Assessment template will help you, see here.

References

Gov (2023) ‘Fire Safety In The Workplace’. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/workplace-fire-safety-your-responsibilities/enforcement-appeals-and-penalties (accessed: 27/10/2023)

Gov legislation (2005) ‘The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005’. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/1541/article/9/made (accessed: 27/10/2023)

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