Tel 01204 772977 or 07792 400 503
Comply at Work Upcoming courses
P2-3
The state of regulation
P4-5
A shared approach to emergency training
P6-7
Must a high chair have a harness?
P8-9
In the spotlight
P10
September 2016
P2 | Safety Snippets
Tel 01204 77 29 77 mobile 07792 400 503
Comply at Work OUR UPCOMING TRAINING COURSES…. Ask us about our special offers: Pick n mix sessions, free seminars and discounts for retained clients.
Emergency First aid Mon 19 September Face Fit Testing and Train the Tester Fri 23 September Emergency First Aid Fri 21 October CIEH level 2 Award In Health & Safety – late October Date TBC CDM Regs Awareness date TBC
Please register your interest in any of the above courses as soon as possible to ensure a place.
e-mail info@complyatwork.co.uk www.complyatwork.co.uk
Safety Snippets | P3
Bu By sin te ess s
Tip. For now, the only clear advice we can give is to carry on as you were. HSE inspectors are still active. The fee for intervention scheme under which HSE inspectors charge businesses for their enforcement time - is still in place. The impact of the Sentencing Guidelines is being felt, with greater penalties being handed out in court, and civil compensation claims continue to be made. Therefore, taking your eye off the ball could be costly.
P4 | Safety Snippets
Tel 01204 77 29 77 mobile 07792 400 503
Comply at Work
The state of regulation Since the UK voted to leave the EU in June 2016, there has been speculation about how health and safety is to be regulated. What’s on the cards? Plenty of opinion. Almost as soon as the results were in, column inches were filled by “experts” predicting the future of health and safety legislation. Some commentators were pronouncing a bright future with red tape being slashed. So will there be major changes? In the short term the answer is “no”. In the longer term, possibly. Despite the fact that so-called expert opinion has indicated that wholesale changes are on their way, no one really knows what’s going to happen. Next steps. Until the UK actually exits the EU, the directives that much of our health and safety framework is based on will apply in full. If changes to these directives are made or new ones added, the UK will still have a duty to transpose them into regulations. That said, how quickly the HSE will draft the new regulations or how active it will be in enforcing them remains to be seen. We suspect that neither will be top of its priority list.
In the longer term? After the UK has left the EU, in theory, the HSE could decide to start from scratch and bring in new regulations. Alternatively, it could make minor changes to what’s currently in place. Or it could simply leave the legislation as it is but remove references to the directives. Even the HSE’s future is unclear. Will the government leave it alone or will it use the opportunity to change the way health and safety legislation is enforced? To Summarise: the current situation is that nothing has changed and nor will it for some time to come. So, continue as you are, ensuring you are fully compliant. Contact us for help if needed. The longer-term picture is unclear as no decisions have yet been made.
Source: Indicator
e-mail info@complyatwork.co.uk www.complyatwork.co.uk
Safety Snippets | P5
Bu By sin te ess s P6 | Safety Snippets
Tel 01204 77 29 77 mobile 07792 400 503
Comply at Work
A shared approach to emergency training… Your office is in a multi-occupancy building in which the landlord’s agent maintains some emergency equipment. In this situation who is responsible for providing training on the use of the items? Duty of care In shared premises it is quite common for a landlord to provide extinguishers, evacuation chairs, emergency communication stations and other equipment in the communal stairways and corridors. For pragmatic reasons they may also take responsibility for fire procedures and practice drills. Some go even further by arranging periodic fire marshal and fire extinguisher training. But whose problem is it if this isn’t done? Overlap Due to the way the law is constructed, the responsibilities of different employers in a multioccupancy building cross over. So, for example, a landlord needs to provide fire-fighting equipment, emergency lighting, procedures, etc. to protect their own staff and contractors, whilst tenant employers have matching responsibilities towards their own staff, visitors and contractors. The bottom line is even where your landlord provides equipment or training you retain the ultimate responsibility for your own emergency procedures. What about training? All employers must ensure that their staff have adequate training in fire safety procedures. This includes having sufficient trained staff to assist, as needed, with the evacuation of colleagues and visitors. These duties are set out in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO). Also, under the FSO , sufficient fire extinguishers must be provided in a premises and there must be a sufficient number of nominated individuals who are trained to use them.
Tip 1. Relying on your landlord’s provision of fire extinguishers might satisfy your needs if you have a very small leased space. However, you still need to ensure that some staff are trained in their safe use. Tip 2. Make sure that staff fire training includes the use of any disabled refuges, communications equipment, fire exit furniture and manual alarm call points in the building, including communal spaces. Evacuation chairs When using evacuation chairs there is a risk of a manual handling injury, or of dropping the individual being carried. Therefore, training is required before use. Tip. The first step when determining your own training needs is to consider if there is any foreseeable need for your staff to use the equipment. If the answer is “no” you could decide not to provide training and instead issue an instruction to your staff not to use it. Note. Evacuation chairs are used to help with the vertical evacuation of individuals not able to walk, including staff and visitors. Ensure that you revisit the matter periodically. Tip. If your landlord isn’t offering a course and you’ve identified that you need the use of the chair, you must make your own arrangements.
Comply at Work offers Fire Warden Training and practical training on extinguishers. Just give us a call on 01204 772977 to find out more.
Source: Indicator
e-mail info@complyatwork.co.uk www.complyatwork.co.uk
Safety Snippets | P7
Sn Saf ip ety pe ts
Tip. When providing equipment for children to use you must be especially careful to ensure that it’s in a safe condition with any safety features intact. As this case shows, any high chair with a defect should not be used, even if the omission seems small, such as a missing harness.
P8 | Safety Snippets
Tel 01204 77 29 77 mobile 07792 400 503
Comply at Work
Must a high chair have a harness? Coffee shop complaint. The HSE’s Myth Busters Challenge Panel passes judgement on complaints from members of the public about overzealous decisions made in the name of health and safety. In one case, heard earlier in 2016, a customer complained that their daughter had been prevented from using a high chair in a café because its harness was missing. Finding. The panel ruled that the café’s staff had acted correctly. They were right to advise the customer that the high chair should not be used without the harness in place.
Source: Indicator
e-mail info@complyatwork.co.uk www.complyatwork.co.uk
Safety Snippets | P9
Comply at Work
in the spotlight Congratulations to the following Clients who have been successful with the following accreditations: MWS (UK) Ltd - CHAS P & J Electrical (NW) Ltd – SMAS successful at the first submission
Welcome to our new Clients: J E Walker & Sons Ltd, Withnell Chorley DMS Reprographics Ltd, Bolton H G Dental Laboratory, Horwich GP Practice, Ashton-in-Makerfield
Due to the holiday season, some of you may have missed reading our August Newsletter. As noted in last month’s edition, there is still Funding available for some businesses for Coaching and Development. Please get in touch and we can pass on all the necessary information. Don’t miss out. Call 01204 772977 or info@complyatwork.co.uk
Finally, we are currently recruiting for a new member of our team. The role will be Principal Consultant /Business Development Manager. We will update you as soon as we can.
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