One of the important things to remember as an employer is the training of your staff.  It is all very well and good taking up the health and safety services offered by consultants such as Veritas, however without adequately training your staff these services will not be much use.  One incident which highlights this issue was recently reported in the press.

The truck dealership firm, Orwell Trucks, which is based in Surrey, have recently been successfully prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive.  Despite have carried out the correct risk assessments one employee, Mr Trevor Muffet ended up in an accident at work.

Crushed By Truck Cab

While carrying out all the necessary checks on the vehicle Mr Muffet was going to be working on, the vehicle cab fell on top of him.  Mr Muffet, aged 60, was crushed and suffered from two broken ribs.  It took ten minutes before he was relieved from the pressure of the truck cab and as a result of his injuries it took six weeks before he could return to work.

Orwell Trucks made the mistake of not giving enough information to their workers about the risks involved in the job.  If you are not sure on how to deliver the results of risk assessments and investigations to your staff then it is a good idea to use the services offered by health and safety consultants.  Had Mr Muffet received training the whole crushing incident could have been avoided.

Another problem that was discovered by the Health and Safety Executive inspector was the lack of supervisions and monitoring of the employees.  As a result of their findings Orwell trucks was taken to court.  The HSE will prosecute every company they discover not to be following the laws and regulations that are in place to help prevent injuries and death to workers in the UK. It will not make any difference if you are a large company or if you are starting up.

Monitor Your Health and Safety Policies

Health and safety consultants will help you deliver the correct training, and advise you on how to make sure you are doing everything possible to prevent accidents from happening.  This is one of the regulations in the Health and Safety at Work Act.  Ensuring the health and safety of employees should be paramount and become second nature to supervisors, employers and the employees.

Lack of Training

As a result of the lack of monitoring and training provided by Orwell Trucks they were ordered to court.  The judge at Ipswich Magistrates Court decided to dine the Martlesham firm £4,500 and they are also going to have to pay additional costs of £2,726.

The HSE inspector said that vehicle cabs have been known to kill workers when they have fallen on top of them and Mr Muffet was very lucky to escape with his life. The accident was preventable and companies need to act responsibly when it comes to ensuring employees safety.

There are a wide range of health and safety services available for you to use. Call Veritas on 0800 1488 677 and speak to expert health and safety consultants today.