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Posts Tagged ‘DSE’
- Health and safety forum places filled in days
- Industry keen to engage with Lord Young after positive response to his report
LORD Young of Graffham will speak to a packed Great Hall at the Chartered Institute of Insurers on Monday October 25, following the publication of his report into health and safety culture in the UK.
Industry leaders will gather to hear Lord Young, Gerald Forlin QC and David Smith, managing director of Zurich Insurance UK Broker Division at the event, organised by Cardinus Risk Management, in conjunction with International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM).
Audience members will have the opportunity to debate Lord Young’s report, Common Sense, Common Safety, which was published on October 15. All seats at the event were filled within a week of invitations being sent out, such is the interest in Lord Young’s proposals.
Prime minister David Cameron, writing in the foreword to the report, said, “Lord Young has come forward with a wide range of far reaching proposals which this government fully supports… Now we need to act on this report and I am delighted that Lord Young has agreed to remain as my advisor on these important issues; to work with departments and all those with an interest in seeing his recommendations put into effect.”
- Registered safety practitioner to lead Cardinus consultancy division
- Versatile professional started in construction; now experienced across all sectors and disciplines
CARDINUS Risk Management has appointed Mark Preston as head of its health and safety consultancy.
Mark is a registered safety practitioner with more than 20 years’ experience in health, safety and environment management. He started his career in 1987 with the construction company McNicholas and was director of HS&E there until 2002.
Between 2002 and 2007, Mark was director of quality, safety and environment at Carey Group plc where he introduced initiatives that resulted in dramatic reductions in accident rates at the civil engineering, building and demolition group.
Since 2007 Mark has advised a large number of high-profile international corporations. His consultancy work has included the development of systems, auditing, training and strategic advice to senior management in organisations including: BMW, AB World Foods, Eversheds, Microsoft, Air Canada, Thames Water, EA Sports and the New York Stock Exchange.
Mark Preston BA, CMIOSH, MAPS is a member of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management, the Association for Project Safety and the American Society of Safety Engineers. He has qualifications across the entire range of health, safety and environmental disciplines.
Ergo Journal regularly publish articles, tips and advice on how to arrange your office workstation in an attempt to raise awareness of basic workstation ergonomics and reduce the stresses we each face on a daily basis.
With laptop computers now firmly outstripping sales of desktop computers around the globe, additional consideration by individuals and employers should be given to workstation ergonomics if the laptop is going to be used for any reasonable amount of time in one place.
I use a laptop myself and make sure I practice what I preach by using a laptop stand to lift the screen height, a dedicated mini keyboard, wrist rest, ergonomic chair and so on as I predominantly use my laptop whilst at my desk in the office.
We recently discovered a highly insightful white paper published by Ergoton, specialists in display mounting technology. The white paper is based on academic research spanning 25 years on the subject of comfortable computing and is entitled: Comfortable Portable Computing: The ergonomic way.
Within any organisation, it tends to be the responsibility of the employer to ensure that employees are provided with the tools and education to carry out their jobs safely.
Working in a manufacturing or construction environment, it is often easy to see evidence of these assessments, high visibility jackets, signage, warning alarms and so on make it easier to appreciate the health and safety risks and considerations for employees and site visitors. But what about the health risks in less ‘dangerous’ working environments, such as the office?
Within any given office the dangers may be less obvious, no heavy machinery for example (vending machines, water coolers and photocopiers excluded) but the apparent calmness of the office does not mean that employees are not at risk from health issues.
What about Workstation ergonomics? Injuries such as Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) can potentially lead to long term illness and a loss in productivity yet can often be avoided.
One way to ensure that the tools and education are provided to employees to highlight and minimise risk at the workstation, or desk’ is to carry out a risk assessment on each employee and their workstation, and put in place any corrective actions should a risk be identified, thus creating a healthier, more productive working environment.
In a recent report published in the U.S. We are informed of how ‘Technology has brought huge advances in the power and capability of the machines which support us in our work. The human machine evolves at a somewhat slower pace. The result: workplaces which can at times resemble medieval torture chambers, at least as far as our necks, eyes and hands are concerned! The adaptation of machine to man is the concept of Ergonomics. Ergonomic products seek to enhance the interface between technology and the human form. Ergonomics attempts to identify the physical points of stress, and then minimize or eliminate that stress through superior design of workstations.
The economy of ergonomic improvements is reported in case studies in Swedish companies. Poor workplace ergonomics and related musculoskeletal problems were already known and had caused repeated sick-leave periods at the companies. Expenses associated with certain preventive activities were accounted for the financial effects. When costs were compared to gains, the improvements appeared to be highly profitable. (Kristina Kemmlert, Solna, Sweden)
There are still a lot of people who do not realize that the body pains they bear are often attributed to the bad ergonomics in the office. According to ergonomics, no matter how healthy a person is, once he or she is forced to work using office products with bad ergonomics, he or she can develop a world of medical problems such as upper and lower back pain, leg, hip, and neck pain, as well as severe headaches and migraines. (Tomer Harel, How Ergonomic Office Products can Improve your Life)’
We are often asked: What is ergonomics?
According to The International Ergonomics Association, ergonomics is defined as:
‘Ergonomics (or human factors) is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance.’
Put simply, the science of designing and arranging products and the local environment to minimize the risk of injury and maximize productivity.
Poor ergonomics (or understanding of ergonomics) could lead to a Repetitive Strain Injury, which can be incredibly painful for the sufferer and can lead to loss of productivity to employers, it is therefore big business!
- New Cardinus service maintains compliance at lowest possible cost
- Multiple levels of intervention ensure appropriate response
TO help organisations with depleted resources manage their display screen equipment (DSE) risk, Cardinus Risk Management has launched a fully managed DSE service.
The innovative Cardinus managed DSE programme is designed to mitigate employee risk at the earliest opportunity – when costs can be kept to an absolute minimum. The service is particularly useful for organisations that might have seen budget cuts and reductions to administration resources.
Jon Abbott, managing director – ergonomics and safety, at Cardinus Risk Management, said, “Cardinus has always listened very closely to its customers and our Client Services team meets every few days to discuss new ways of helping them. It was very clear that an affordable managed solution would be a great new service to offer companies that want to keep both their risk exposure and their costs to a minimum.
Ergonomics is the method of constructing design around human needs in order to optimize system performance. This science can also be called human or human factors engineering.
Research is conducted by professional ergonomists who study the relationship of the physical human and it’s working environment. The research then drives the evaluation and design of tasks to make the job and the person compatible.
In the workplace, ergonomics generally refers to the appliance of this science to tasks, functions and equipment such as ergonomic chairs and ergonomic keyboards etc. Employers have a responsibility for the welfare and safety of the workforce and have a duty to provide the best equipment available and to train in its purpose. Good use of ergonomics in the workplace can reduce costs to the employer by saving on compensation pay outs to an employee who has been injured at work. The manufacturing industry alone could save millions of pounds by adopting safer working methods and better use of ergonomics.
WorkRite has teamed up with Newcastle International Airport’s nationally-acclaimed training academy to run fire safety courses throughout the country.
WorkRite is already one of the UK’s leading providers of workplace health, safety and first aid training. Now, by partnering with the team at Newcastle Airport, it is also able to offer its expanding roster of blue-chip corporate clients high quality, practical and realistic fire safety training.
Geoff Thompson, national sales manager of WorkRite’s parent company, Posturite Ltd, said: “Whether you are a small company that requires basic extinguisher training or a large organisation with various levels of risks identified within the workplace, we can provide you with a comprehensive training package to ensure your company meets current health and safety legislation.”