Free Health and Safety Downloads

From 1 September, a million pounds worth of publications’ content is now freely available to visitors of the brand new HSE website.

In a major initiative, HSE is allowing free downloads of some 230 publications containing health and safety guidance for a multitude of industries, in addition to detailed information on regulations and codes or practice.

The Board agreed access to advice, guidance and regulation should not be limited to those who are prepared to pay for it. The change will improve access to important information, aid compliance in the workplace and reinforce our ongoing commitment to health and safety.  It also demonstrates our commitment to helping small businesses, and supporting managers, employees and health and safety professionals in organisations of all sizes who want to do the right thing.

Around 50 or so of the 230 publications are now available in a fully accessible ‘printer friendly’ PDF format through the HSE website. The other 180 PDFs will be converted to the ‘printer friendly’ format by the end of March 2010.

Visitors to the HSE website will be offered the options of buying the publication or downloading the PDF.

The content of the online and hard copy versions will be identical in substance, if not in form. This means that both the online and hard copy versions will have an identical status in the event of any proceedings.

HSE’s head of business John Lack said the decision taken by the HSE Board was a direct response to the needs of industry. He said: “Having listened to our stakeholders, the Board has agreed that charging for health and safety guidance and advice’ may present a barrier to compliance.

This is a fantastic opportunity for all businesses, safety representatives and workers in GB to access HSE publications free of charge which will greatly enhance compliance with regulation and best practice.”

He added: “Recognising there will still be users who require or prefer HSE’s guidance in hard copy formats. HSE will continue to sell high quality book formats of its guidance, as well as posters and DVD’s.“

There has never been an easier way to get your hands on this type of FREE information so I recommend you check it out as soon as you can.

If you need any personal Health and Safety Advice and have a business in the Bournemouth or Poole area  of Dorset, then why not pop along to my website and see what I can offer you. www.healthandsafetyadvice.net

Blaming Nature for a Broken Leg

Yet another example of Blame and Claim hit me this week.  An article in my local paper told the story of an amateur fossil hunter who had his leg broken when some rocks fell and landed on him.  Something unfortunate but not I suspect unexpected if you go scrambling around rock faces.

But no, this chap wanted to blame his injury on someone else – leading to compensation – and stated that there should have been a warning sign in place.  Surely if this were the case we would need to erected physical barriers around our coastline to stop people from getting anywhere near it.

Come on let’s get real – if you scramble around dangerous places you have a responsibility to your own safety and should take adequate precautions and if an accident occurs then, well, that’s life.  People get broken limbs playing football, rugby, in fact almost any sport you may like to think of but it is a risk thousands of people accept as a risk of the sport.

In my mind fossil hunting although not a sport has potentially dangers aspects associated to, falling rocks being one of them.  Isn’t that what an eroding coastline does, crumble and dislodge rocks?  Scrambling around them and scraping fossils out of the surface is only going to quicken the process, making them more dangerous than before you arrived.

There is too much Blame and Claim in our culture now and people seem amazed when the Health and Safety Executive put safety recommendations (often misinterpreted and implemented against the true purpose) in place and with people like the fossil hunter this will continue to the detriment of the rest of us sensible folk.

I’m off now to put warning stickers on my garden fork in case any visitors are tempted to stab their foot with it!

CDM Regulations – Know Your Responsibilities!

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM) are not an excuse for clients, designers, co-ordinators and principal contractors to pass their responsibilities down the line onto the poor old sub-contractor, the guy trying to get the job done.

Over the years I have worked for sub-contractors and have been astonished at the number of times we were asked to produce and present health and safety documentation and procedures that should have been completed by the guys I mention above, things like; site safety plans, welfare facilities and emergency procedures.

The truth of the matter is that all of these items should have been sent to all sub-contractors long before work was due to commence, in fact along with the tender documents if all the details were known at the time of issue.

Why am I banging on about this now?

Because in the past month I have been asked to produce this sort of documentation for sub-contractors and at very short notice, the day before work was due to start in one case.  When I explain that it is not their duty to produce this documentation, their duty is only to produce risk assessments, method statements, COSHH assessments, evidence of competency, etc for their own work, they tell me that they are aware of that but the main contractor will not let them on site until they do!!

Who the heck the main contractor is going to get to carry out the work at such short notice I do not know and do not care.  I suspect that their rules will suddenly start to bend – but I didn’t just say that did I.

Now, I don’t like turning money away but, I am not qualified to produce the sort of documentation that these pass it down the line merchants want (nor do I want to be) and I suspect that 90% of sub-contractors aren’t either.  Why should they be its not their job!

Ah, that feels better.  Blogs can be great ways to get things off your chest!

Finally can I recommend that if you are involved in work covered und the CDM Regulations that you visit the Health and Safety Executive website and find out what your responsibilities really are.

You will find a lot more Health and Safety Advice at www.healthandsafetyadvice.net

Employers’ Liability Insurance – An Employees’ Guide.

You are probably already aware that an Employer needs to have Employers’ Liability Insurance under the ‘Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969.

The Department of Work and Pensions along with the Health and Safety Executive have produced a new guide for employees and their representatives, brought in line with the revised employers guide – HSE40.

You can download the the Guide Here.

Asbestos the “Hidden Killer.”

I just heard that a housing provider has sent a team of contractors into a property to carry out structural works and has not had any asbestos surveys carried out!  It amazes me that companies such as this are prepared to put workers at risk, especially one that deals in this type of work as an everyday operation.

All this despite the excellent Health and Safety Executive asbestos  “Hidden Killer” campaign last year.  It seems to me that many of these companies are deliberately flouting the Regulations not through ignorance (there has been too much promotion for that to be the case) but to save time and money.  Come on, every adult in the country knows that asbestos can be a killer and that special care must be taken when dealing with it!

This attitude when contractors health is deliberately put at risk is totally unacceptable and I hope that the HSE comes down hard on offenders.

Health and Safety Regulations are often heralded as being an unnecessary hindrance to getting work completed, but when you hear about stories like this you can understand why we need such controls in place.  It will be a case of the few spoiling it for the rest of us, if we can’t be trusted to do things safely without these controls then more controls will implemented.

With the information now freely available on the Internet or through Health and Safety Advisers/Consultants like myself as well as specialist contractors, there really is no need for any company or individual to fall foul of regulations, especially when the prospect of dealing with substances such as asbestos raises its ugly head.

Remember, asbestos needs to be treatd with great care and every business has a duty to manage it, so please don’t bury your head in the sand when it comes to protecting yourself, your employees and contractors from harm.

Risk Assessments – The Truth!

I often get frustrated when talking to people about carrying out risk assessments, more to the point, what is needed to be done especially in a low to medium risk business.

So many companies show me assessments for trivial activities full of impressive risk guidance figures and lovely looking coloured charts.  But ask them to explain what the figures and charts mean and they go rambling on about all manner of irrelevant rules and regulations.

The key is to keep it simple, in reality the document should be meaningful and understandable.  There is no point having fancy documents if the people that need to use the form as guidance to carry out a task safely can’t understand the damn thing.

Keep it simple, clear and concise and you won’t go far wrong.

To make my point here is the Statement issued by Bill Callaghan, Chair of the Health and Safety Commission back in 2006 which explains the truth behind the myths.

I am sick and tired of hearing about petty health and safety stopping people doing worthwhile and enjoyable things, when at the same time others are suffering harm and even death due to poor management and complacency. That is why today we are launching a set of principles of sensible risk management.

The principles set out what we believe risk management should – and should not – be about. They are simple; they are common sense. To some they will no doubt be a statement of the blindingly obvious. Unfortunately they are clearly not obvious to everyone; if they were we wouldn’t keep hearing stories about people concentrating effort on trivial risks and unnecessary bureaucracy. And there would be far fewer injuries, cases of ill health and deaths caused by work.

Some of the ’ elfandsafety’ stories are just myths. There are also some instances where health and safety is used as a convenient and lazy excuse to justify unpopular decisions or cover up management failure. But our research shows that behind many of the stories, there is at least a grain of truth – someone really has made a stupid decision. Of course the untold story is that many organizations manage risks sensibly, responsibly and proportionately. We need more to join them.

We recognized early on that if we – the HSC and HSE – were to make sensible risk management a reality, we could not do it alone. I am delighted to say that we have the broadest possible support for this initiative – organizations representing employers, workers, insurers, lawyers, volunteers, health and safety professionals and many others have all contributed and supported our approach. At the risk of singling out one example, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health has been very supportive and has already produced a checklist that sets the principles in a practical workplace context for its members and others to adopt.

Publication of these principles is the start, not the end. On their own the principles are just words on a piece of paper; we must put actions in place to make them come to life. We have jumped the gun a little and already made a start. In July HSE published new guidance on risk assessment, including a simple step-by-step guide and example risk assessments to show how much is expected, how much is enough. The new guidance makes the point that risk assessment is not rocket science – it’s really about good planning. Our message to all organizations is: don’t overcomplicate things, keep your risk assessment fit for purpose, make it a living document and act on it. Risk management should be about practical steps to protect people, not paperwork for its own sake.

We will work with a wide range of partners to put practical actions behind every one of these principles. Over the coming months we want to hear from our partners what action they are taking. We also welcome comments on the principles themselves. You can contribute by going to our risk web pages at: hse.gov.uk/risk[1]. At the beginning of 2007 we shall publish the finalized principles, together with specific commitments to turn them into reality.

We must, and will, promote the sensible management of risks that protects people from real harm and suffering, but avoids bureaucratic back covering. My clear message is that if you are using health and safety to stop everyday activities – get a life and let others get on with theirs. But equally, if you think health and safety is a joke and that you can just ignore real risks, then try telling that to the families of the 212 workers who never went home at all last year. Sensible risk management is emphatically about saving lives, not stopping them.
Bill Callaghan

22nd August 2006

In other words ……..

Sensible risk management is about:

Ensuring that workers and the public are properly protected

Providing overall benefit to society by balancing benefits and risks, with a focus on reducing  real risks – both those which arise more often and those with serious consequences

Enabling innovation and learning not stifling them

Ensuring that those who create risks manage them responsibly and understand that failure to manage real risks responsibly is likely to lead to robust action

Enabling individuals to understand that as well as the right to protection, they also have to exercise responsibility

Sensible risk management is not about:

Creating a totally risk free society

Generating useless paperwork mountains

Scaring people by exaggerating or publicising trivial risks

Stopping important recreational and learning activities for individuals where the risks are managed

Reducing protection of people from risks that cause real harm and suffering

AMEN.

Got a business in Bournemouth or Poole?  Want some common sense Health & Safety Advice?

Yes ……. the go to www.healthandsafetyadvice.net

Don’t Get Caught Out By The Smoking Ban!

Its been a long time now since the smoking in public and workplace ban came into force but it is amazing how many offices and shops don’t display the ‘No Smoking On These Premises’ signs (great targets for new business – whoopee).

Most people I talk to, although agreeing with the ban, think that the Law is a toothless one.  Well, think again my friends because you will get fined if caught.

Want proof?  Then read on ………

A company director has been fined for smoking in his office after an anonymous complaint to the HSE prompted council officers to pay his firm a visit.

In November 2008, enforcement officers warned Metric Scaffolding in Preston, Lancashire, about its responsibilities under the smoke-free legislation after the council received a tip-off that the firm’s staff regularly smoked in the office and in company vehicles.

When they returned to the premises in January this year, officers caught operations director Martin Lenehan smoking at his desk.

Proof enough?  If not you can read more at the  Health and Safety Proffessional website.

If you are based in Bournemouth or Poole and would like some help with implementing the smoking van you can contact me via my website at www.healthandsafetyadvice.net

Don’t Get Your Knickers In A Twist Over Health and Safety

Some people get their knickers in a twist over health and safety matters – Don’t!

In my opinion the Health and Safety Executive are making things a lot easier to enable you to be able comply with their Regulations, it’s third parties that cause most of the problems.  The protecting their backside attitude towards implementing health and safety makes it a pain in the backside for the likes of you and me to get a job done properly and safely.

I remember a prime example of what I mean from a couple of years back.  The company I was working for at the time was refurbishing a suspended ceiling in a toilet area within a large portable cabin, a straight forward low to medium risk rated task.

However Mr. Main Contractor who we were working for had his cast iron underwear on and I got a call from site saying that our ceiling fixers were being thrown off of site because they were using stepladders to carry out their work.

My first impression – So what, nothing wrong with using stepladders for short periods of time as long as they are used safely!

Not so, according to the main contractor (bless him), “stepladders were banned from his site so our lads had to go!”

I explained to him that stepladders had not been banned by the Health and Safety Executive and were suitable for the work we were doing, but he insisted that we use a portable platform to work from.  So I agreed – but so long as ……

He dismantled the toilet cubicles and the surrounding partition walls and we would come back to do the ceiling when that had been done or I could get our men to do it at a cost.

I heard his brain ticking over and then he accused me of being awkward and, “why the hell (he wasn’t actually that polite) did I want the cubicles and walls dismantled for?”

‘So that I can erect a portable platform Sir,’ I responded, ‘unless of course you know of one that will fit in a toilet cubicle and also leave room for my men to access it!’

Silence ….. More silence ….. then ……..

“Well OK then, your guys can use their stepladders, but tell them to be quick,” he finally conceded, and I thanked him for being so helpful.

Get my point?

If you are sensible about managing health and safety (and read the requirements properly) there should be no need to get your knickers in a twist about it.  Stand back, think about the problem and make a safe but sensible and reasonable decision and you wont go far wrong with your risk management.

Coping with health and safety legislation: manual handling, COSHH and work equipment

Netherwood Hotel, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria. 15 October 2009.

South Cumbria Occupational Health and Safety Group is holding a health and safety event in association with the South Cumbria, Manchester and North West IOSH Districts.

Briefing overview

A variety of talks will take place, including:

• Demystifying the Manual Handling Regulations by Kerry Trow, HSE’s Specialist Occupational Health Inspector;
• COSHH assessment: keep it simple by Gill Smith from HSE’s COSHH Policy Team;
• Practical solutions to manual handling in the NHS; and
• a seminar overview on Manual handling, coping with COSHH and work equipment by Steve Smith, HSE’s Principal Inspector.

For booking details go to http://www.hse.gov.uk/events/copehs.htm

Employee’s Have Health & Safety Responsibilities Too.

Whether you are an Employee or an Employer it is important that you know what the Law expects of you.  As an employee you MUST be able to work in an environment where risks to your health and safety are properly controlled and managed.

In exchange for this the Law says that you must …….

1. Follow the training you have received from your employer when using any work equipment.
2. Take reasonable care of your own AND other people’s health and safety.
3. Co-operate and work with your employer on health and safety matters.
4. Inform the relevant person at your place of work if you think that the work you are carrying out or the safety procedures that are in place (if any) are putting your or others health and safety at risk.

These are the main responsibilites that you as an employee must take.  Of course when you go into this in more depth other responsibilies arise but these will depend on the type of workplace you are in, the work you do and the working environment.  You can find out more about employee’s responsibilities and rights at the Health and Safety Executives excellant website page ‘Workers’ Health and Safety’ .