Are You Wasting Money on Electrical Safety Tests?

There is a common myth which is believed by a large proportion of businesses in the UK. This myth costs office based companies around £30 million each year! That money is being spent to test all of the portable electrical devices in the workplace, and it is absolutely not necessary.

Portable electrical appliances don’t have to be checked each year.  Many electrical companies that offer the tests to businesses give off the impression that their service is essential and a must. This misleading advice is incorrect as the actual law says that all employers need to do is ensure the electrical items are well maintained and safe to use so they prevent dangers from occurring.  The law does not state that a yearly test is necessary.

New Revised Guidelines Designed to Help Improve Understanding of the Law

While it is helpful to measure the condition of any electrical appliance, the safety tests can put a lot of expense on companies.  Checking over the condition of an appliance should be enough for most low risk environments. You can check for signs of a fraying cord for example.

The Health and Safety Executive have just revised their Portable Appliance Testing guidance.  The Chair of HSE, Judith Hackett said at the launch that they recognised that many companies considered to be low risk were often left confused by the law regarding PAT.  While employers are responsible for protecting their staff it is wasteful and stressful to have to arrange testing when it is simply not necessary.  It’s important to keep things in proportion and ensure that employers focus on risk based approaches.

Features of the PAT guide

In the new guidance publication which is available on the HSE website it makes it clear that while maintenance is important there is no stipulation on how frequently you need to do this or how to go about it.  It states that you must take into consideration:

• If there is an increased risk based on how often the equipment is used
• Is the equipment suitable for what it is being used for?
• Is the environment it’s used in harsh?
• Check to see if the equipment is double insulated or earthed

Any outside equipment your employees bring in to the workplace also must be checked. It doesn’t matter of they supplied it or if you did, either way it needs to be included in the PAT. Not all equipment requires a PAT and you can carry out some simple tasks without an expert such as:

• Bare wires
• Any internal damage inside the plug
• Signs of fire damage
• Loose cables
• Correct fuse is in use

Other appliances or electrical equipment will still require testing such as the kettle but this doesn’t have to be once a year by law.  Ask your employees to mention any issues with electrical appliances immediately and to check over the item before it is put to use. Try and work in a visual inspection into your routine, perhaps once every six months for example.  If you find appliances which aren’t double insulated get those checked by a professional and arrange re testing between one to five years.

If you are left confused by any laws the health and safety consultants are waiting to lend a hand. Check out the office based health and safety services online or give the consultants a call to discuss your concerns.

Implementing an HR strategy for your business

Is your workforce beginning to bulge at the seams? It is highly likely that you will need an HR strategy for your business if you haven’t done so already. There comes a time in every stage of a business where a solution is required to manage every aspect of an employee’s lifecycle.

By providing tools for not only the HR team, but job applicants, employees and decision-makers within the company, it is possible to streamline the communication process across an entire organisation.

Consequently you may decide to integrate dedicated HR software that is easily configured to fit with your very own processes and ways of working on a day-to-day basis.

Such a system allows businesses to have a centralised point for all employee information, ensuring it can be accessed quickly and efficiently in order to report on any aspect of it to perhaps improve diversity in the workplace or monitor salary bands.

Effective human resources can also help businesses to better understand their employees’ needs with the ability to address important areas of training and development. Your HR solution should also ensure employees are trained and well-versed with UK health and safety regulations. This is a genuinely practical benefit that helps to improve the efficiency and productivity of your workforce – regardless of the sector you are in.

A businesses’ HR strategy no longer needs to be a standalone system that is only accessible by HR staff. Many leading HR products utilise the latest web-based technology to provide employees with the ability to access their own documents, payslips and P60s, as well as put forward suggestions for training courses and make appropriate preparations for annual appraisals.

The leading HR solutions give businesses the opportunity to build their own workflow processes into their system for a strategy tailored entirely to their services. A web-based HR system will definitely save a phenomenal amount of paperwork and data entry, saving valuable time and resource to put towards other areas of the business.

Guest Post by Daniel Summers

Rotating Saw Cuts off Factory Workers Fingers

Factories must maintain very high levels of health and safety in order to manage the risks involved in the industry effectively.  One of the cases in the news this week which highlights the dangers involves a factory worker in Bolton. While he was carrying out his job his fingers were cut off, the 27 year old man lost three of his fingers right down to his knuckle, and this accident was unnecessary and should have been avoided.

Lack of Training and No Safety Guard

The accident occurred at the Industrial estate in Blackrod where the man was working for Frank Hill Ld. The employed who has requested for his name not to be released, was responsible for holding some wood. A colleague was cutting through the wood and the young man’s hand got caught on the rotating blade in December 2010. The HSE investigated the incident and they found that the employee had not been given any training regarding use of the saw. In addition to the lack of training the saw was lacking an essential safety feature, there was no guard.

Once the investigation was completed two Prohibition Notices were given to the company making sure that the rotating saw and a second saw found without a guard were not used until they had been returned to safe working condition.  The factory owners, Frank Hill Ltd were ordered to court where they were found guilty of breaching tow of the regulations in the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

Prosecution Will Always Follow for Any Company Found to Be Breaching Health and Safety Laws

As the firm went into liquidation they were fined just £2 and there were no costs applied. The inspector overseeing the hearing at Manchester Crown Court said that incidents such as this one were very high in the manufacturing industries. Prosecution is necessary, even if the company no longer trades. The lack of health and safety at the factory has left one man without three of his fingers. This was easily prevented by ensuring the employee had the right training before asking him to work on such dangerous equipment. Guards are also necessary and need to be place on all machinery as a safety precaution; if the saw had a guard the accident could have been prevented.

Do Everything Possible to Reduce the Risks

The amount of major injuries in the manufacturing industry is shockingly high. On average 31 employees are killed at work each year, and there are over 4,500 injuries. Staying on top of your policies can stop so many people being affected by accidents. Health and safety services such as training can help you to work towards a safer environment and is required by law to show that our employees’ health and safety is a priority. You must do everything possible to reduce the risks, and training can go a long way in raising awareness and helping to create a strong health and safety culture in your workplace.

Health and safety consultants can advise you on appropriate training and often supply courses for you and your employees. The experts can also help regarding machinery laws and an audit is a great way of making you aware of serious problems which can contribute to accidents and result in prosecution.  Call 0800 1488 677 to find out more.

Back Pain Needs to Be Taken Seriously

The cause of many back conditions is often unclear, however many jobs can lead to the problem. Employees who experience back pain often need to take time off or seek medical advice. More serious conditions can lead to surgery and extensive time off work and even lead to workers having to give up their job permanently. As an employer you must consult with your employees on how to reduce the risks of back pain, including working solutions into risk assessments if any employees are especially sensitive to this condition.

Roles Where Back Pain is More Common

Some of the most common types of jobs where employees are often more likely to experience the pain are:

• Those involved in manual labour or heavy handling duties
• Delivery workers who need to handle goods in awkward places
• Long distance drivers
• Those who are seated for long periods throughout the day
• Operators of heavy machinery
• Repetitive task workers such as packers

Some of the movements that can lead to problems in the back also include:

• Twisting, reaching and over stretching
• Pushing, dragging and pulling loads
• Bending over, crouching or stooping
• Anyone who is working outside their own physical abilities

Do Your Best to Reduce the Risks

In order to try and reduce the risks it is necessary to have a good communication with your employees. Ask them about any of their concerns and listen to what they tell you. Try and work together to find new ways of making the job possible to carry out with fewer risks to the back. So you could introduce new pieces of equipment or alter the heights of work surfaces and seating.  By carrying out risk assessments you should be able to identify the main problems and find a way of overcoming them.

When an employee has time off for a bad back you should start looking at their working methods. The sooner you make the changes the more likely the situation can be improved, reducing the needed for long periods of time off work.

What Your Employees Can Do

Workers need to be aware of the importance of communicated with their employers or the health and safety manager. When you notice your back is beginning to ache more often or for long periods of time go and see your doctor.  If you think the pains have been brought on by your work talk to your employer and raise your concerns. Your method of working can then be examined and new methods to help reduce the risk can be introduced.  You can also help prevent the problem by:

• Taking breaks
• Stretching and moving around regularly
• Ensure the height of your chair allows you to rest your forearms on the desk or work station properly, with your elbows at right angles
• Break up your tasks so you are not using the same parts of your body for long periods of time
• Follow methods of work
• Talk to your boss or health and safety manager about your concerns

Don’t let back pain disrupt your Workplace. Contact the health and safety consultants and discuss the available workplace health and safety services which are available. Call 0800 1488 677 to find out more.

Health and Safety Myths in the UK

In 2008 the Prime Minister David Cameron wrongly told the Tory party conference that monstrous health and safety legislation meant that teachers were unable to apply a plaster to a child’s grazed knee without contacting a first aid officer. Despite it being untrue, it highlighted for many the ridiculous nature of some health and safety legislation, and how it was impacting our ability to live free and responsible lives. The people of Lewes have burnt effigies of health and safety officers at their annual bonfire night. Health and safety officers, it seems, are public enemy number one.

Image used under a creative commons license courtesy of World Economic Forum on Flickr

The point is that teacher’s need to know whether a child is allergic to plasters. If this is the case, it is likely to be rare and easy to remember. As long as the teacher can be sure the student isn’t allergic to plasters they can clean a cut or graze and apply a plaster without the fear of prosecution. It’s just one of many health and safety myths which exist in the UK, and something which the government’s Health and Safety Executive is attempting to debunk. Ridiculous health and safety situations arise often, but these are seldom the result of legislation itself, more of ill-informed health and safety officers who can make stupid recommendations in attempt to protect themselves and over-interpret the law.

Recently South West Trains health and safety officers had to “climb down” over instructing train station managers not to water plants using a ladder. The hanging baskets were 6ft in the air and for months the managers have been forbidden from reaching them using the ladder, thanks to over-sensitive health and safety officers. After receiving some publicity, South West Trains admitted there had been a “misunderstanding” and that using the ladders was OK.

Image used under a creative commons license courtesy of Montpelier on Flickr

Each winter in the UK, we hear about how health and safety rules mean that homeowners cannot clear the snow and ice from the pavements outside their home. If someone were to fall on a cleared piece of payment the person who had cleared would be culpable, or so goes the story. This is another myth which the HSE is keen to debunk. It clearly states on the DirectGov site that “anyone can clear snow and ice from the pavement outside their home or public spaces to prevent slips and falls”, and even provides a useful guide on how to do this safely.

Those in the know agree; it’s not legislators who are to blame for health and safety atrocities, but the health and safety officer who over-interpret the law, being deliberately cautious to cover their own back. As David Cameron put it “everyone’s so worried about being sued that they event lots of their own rules on top of the regulations that already exist”, arguing that the status quo “stifles judgement, personal initiative and responsibility”. These ideas work on the basis that the general public should be considered irresponsible and devoid of good judgement. They prevent people from being able to take responsibility for their own actions.

The situation has got so ridiculous that the Health and Safety Executive site has been listing its top health and safety myths in a “myth of the month” section. As they say, over-protective health and safety rules “trivialise the true purpose of health safety: protecting people from real risks”. Among their favourite health and safety myths are ones associated with Christmas; that children are banned from having snowball fights, office workers being told they can’t erect Christmas decorations, performers banned from throwing sweets to audience members, coins banned from Christmas puddings and Christmas lights needing to be PAT-tested annually. It’s important to draw a line of distinction between health and safety regulation and the over-protective ideas which health and safety officers attempt to enforce.

Alan Cairns writes on a number of subjects including health and safety, cherry picker hire and platform lifts.

Lapse in Standards Lands Gas Fitter 3 Years in Jail

The life of Zoe Anderson was tragically cut short after she was overcome by carbon monoxide in her bathroom in 2010. In the two weeks prior to her death Andrew Hartley, a gas fitter from Somerset worked on the boiler in the property Miss Anderson was staying in which belonged to her father.  Although Judge Neil Ford QC acknowledged that there wasn’t any hostile intention in the work carried out by Mr Hartley the defendant was sentenced to three years after being found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence.

Flue Pipe Was Not Correctly Installed

The case took two weeks and came after Mr Hartley has already been prosecuted for breaching gas safety regulations where he pleaded guilty. Mr Hartley installed a brand new boiler in the property in December 2010. The experienced gas fitter felt he had installed the flue correctly; however he had failed to secure it with screws causing the flue to slip.  This was a botch job seemingly carried out in a hurry that resulted in carbon monoxide leaking from the flue pipe and into the property.

It was believed that Miss Anderson slipped and bumped her head when her body was discovered by her boyfriend. However tests showed that carbon monoxide poisoning was the cause and so an investigation was carried out and Mr Hartley has been forthcoming with the police, feeling guilty for the loss of life and admitting his errors.

A Warning for Tradesmen

A detective who led the investigation stated that although Mr Hartley did not intentionally cause the death of Miss Anderson the sentence was simply to reflect the severity of the failings in the work and to serve as a message to all other tradesmen to ensure they are aware of the duty they have to their customers. The case has also shown that carbon monoxide is a serious danger to life and the importance of using carbon monoxide detectors in all properties to help detect any leakages.

By law anyone who works on gas appliances needs to be registered with the Gas Safe Register. In order to be accepted on the register engineers need to show they have expertise in their field, have qualifications and also have certificates to prove they are competent when working with gas.  Everyone on the Gas Safe register must go through tests every five years to show they still have the skills required to work with gas.

One Error Can Lead to Loss of Life

In this incident Mr Hartley was on the register and he had many years’ worth of excellent service to his customers. This one lapse led to the loss of life of Miss Anderson and although Mr Hartley pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act relating to gas appliances he felt that he was not guilty of manslaughter. He said that he tested the gas boiler and left it working properly after being tested. However because the screws were missing from the flue he was found guilty.

If you are a gas fitter or a landlord you must take gas seriously.  Health and Safety Consultants may be able to help you with their health and safety services and inform you of your duties relating to the law. Call 0800 1488 677 for further help and information.

Second Scaffolding Collapse Results in Fine

Another case of poorly managed and planned construction work made the headlines this week.  This time two workers were injured after the scaffolding collapsed at a student accommodation site. The men were positioned at various heights on the scaffold tower as they worked on the building.

As the scaffolding began to collapse the employee at the lower height of six meters was forced to jump off. He jumped six meters to the floor and as a result he fractured his right heel and his left ankle. The second worker was higher up, and he was left hanging onto scaffolding which had fallen against the opposite building at a height of ten meters. Luckily he was able to slide down and he made it to the ground without serious injury.

Former Company Director Fined

Both of the men had been employed by Robert Leslie Butler, the former company director. He was prosecuted at Nottingham Magistrates Court after the investigators discovered a number of breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act.  The investigations showed that the scaffolding had not been correctly built to the industry standards. In addition to the poor structure of the tower there were no adequate ties being used that would have secured the tower to the building. Mr Butler pleaded guilty and was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £2,000 in legal costs.

Working at Height Needs to Be Managed

Last year alone there were fifty workplace deaths in the construction and 3000 serious injuries. These numbers are not acceptable and it is essential to consider the safety of your workers, no matter how big or small the construction job is.

The scaffold tower had been very poorly built with only ties connected at the top of the tower; this meant collapse was inevitable when it came time to dismantle.  All work at height must be planned through carefully and a safe method of working must be established and communicated to the workers. Mr Leslie Butler failed to do both of these steps and therefore the Health and Safety Executive had no choice but to prosecute as both the men were lucky to walk away with their lives after this incident.

Ask for Help and Address the Issues

The health and safety consultants are ready to help you with many aspects of the safety on your site. There are many services available from training, risk management to CSCS Card testing. To avoid breaching any of the laws and regulations work closely with the experts and make full use of the help that are available which can save lives.

With so many accidents still occurring today the HSE are looking to greatly reduce the amount of incidents which occur down to poor management and planning. A great place to start with your health and safety is by requesting an audit to highlight any areas of weakness. Call 0800 1488 677 to discuss the various health and safety services available within the construction industry and beyond.