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Posts Tagged ‘EssentialSkillz’
A definition of Manual Handling
Manual Handling has been defined as ‘any transport or supporting of a load which includes the lifting, putting down, pushing, pulling, carrying or moving thereof’ by hand or by bodily force.
The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 is a legislation introduced to us in 1993. These new regulations replaced a number of earlier legislations which included sections for factories, offices as well as shops and railway premises.
A major source of injury within the workplace is manual handling and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has provided a lot of support and also guidelines for employers to follow in order to adequately manage the risks involved in manual handling operations.
Taking the first step to educate your employees on company specific health and safety policies and procedures.
Getting injured at work or becoming ill through work is not a topic we want to think about, however, the reality is that over 200 people a year lose their lives at work in Britain. Additionally, around 150,000 non-fatal injuries are reported each year, and an estimated 2 million people suffer from ill health caused or made worse by work.
Implementing health and safety measures doesn’t have to be expensive, time consuming or complicated. In fact, safer and more efficient working practices can often save money but, more importantly, they can help to save lives.
Adequate health and safety training forms part of many induction programme for new starters and addresses the kind of elements which cause the more common accidents and harm to people’s health. Health and Safety Induction training can identify what applies to your work activities, and tells you how you can get more help and information.
The Ethical Code of Conduct and how to remain compliant. Essential for every business with the introduction of the UK Bribery Act.
The UK Bribery Act 2010 came into force on 1 July 2011. It amends and reforms the UK criminal law and provides a modern legal framework to combat bribery in the UK and internationally.
According to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office: “The Bribery Act 2010, attracted strong cross party support in Parliament and received Royal Assent on 8 April 2010. Section 9 of the Act requires the Government to publish guidance on procedures that commercial organisations can put in place to prevent bribery on their behalf. Foreign bribery has been illegal for many years, with a number of individuals and companies having been convicted under the current law. The UK is contributing through the OECD Working Group on Bribery International Business Transactions and the UN Convention Against Corruption to increasing global awareness, enforcement and investigation of foreign bribery.”
E-learning for Employees
EssentialSkillz (a leading supplier of world-class online Health & Safety training and risk assessment software) offer a short course on Anti-Bribery and Corruption to ensure your employees and anyone who works on your behalf is aware of the new UK Bribery Act coming into force July 1st. The e-Learning course demonstrates how it can affect employees and how it impacts on current work practices.
Providing managers and supervisors with a general background in the concept and importance of risk assessments.
Risk assessments are vital for protecting workers, businesses, as well as remaining compliant with the law. As a Manager, you have responsibilities for others and therefore need to focus on the risks that really matter in your workplace. These risks need to be prioritised and managed, especially the ones with the potential to cause harm.
According to the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) “In many instances, straightforward measures can readily control risks, for example, ensuring spillages are cleaned up promptly so people do not slip or cupboard drawers kept closed to ensure people do not trip. For most, that means simple, and effective measures to ensure your most valuable asset – your workforce – is protected.”
Definition of a Risk Assessment
A risk assessment is simply a careful examination of what, in your work, could cause harm to people, so that you can weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent harm. Workers and others have a right to be protected from harm caused by a failure to take reasonable control measures.
The Health and Safety Executive has prosecuted Thor Specialities Ltd as a result of a potentially fatal chemical reaction at its plant in Wincham, Northwich on 23 August 2007.
An employee at the plant had been mixing solid and liquid chemicals which eventually caused the release of both toxic and flammable substances into the workplace laboratory. The employee had continued to mix the chemicals together after mistakenly presuming that as there was no initial reaction to the mixing process that it was safe to continue doing so. However the chemical reaction suddenly got out of control and generated the hazardous substances into the working environment.
The chemicals had reacted so rapidly that it became impossible for the employee to bring the situation safely under control and he had to flee the building. There were no other employees in the laboratory at the time of the incident although when the alarm system was activated, another employee returned to the scene to investigate only to be forced to abandon the plant as a result of the cloud of toxic fumes.
An employee of Cemex was killed by an explosion at a cement plant in Rugby on 15 January 2008.
The explosion was of such force that the victim was blown through the side wall of the plant to where his body was discovered on the road 10 metres below.
The dead man had been trying to unblock a mixing machine when a sudden violent explosion caused by the build up of steam and dust from inside the machine propelled him through the wall of the building where he fell to the road below. An inquest determined that the explosion almost certainly would have killed the man instantly despite the 30 foot drop to the road.
A young employee had to have his left arm amputated after it was trapped in a piece of workplace machinery at Natural World Products Ltd. in Co. Armagh, Northern Ireland.
While conducting his daily check on 29 June 2010 the employee had noticed a piece of wood had been caught under the conveyor of the screening machine and suffered severe injuries to his arm when he attempted to remove it.
The machine was unguarded and a HSENI investigation has determined that the original guard had been tampered with and reduced in size in order to allow maintenance staff access to internal machine parts while it was running.
A worker at a farming company in Fife had to have two of his toes amputated after they became trapped in machinery on 4 September 2009.
The worker had been attempting to remove water from a grain reception pit when his foot got caught up in the screw auger mechanism inside the pit. The screw auger consists of a large screw inside a metal tube and is used to rotate and mix the grain. The top part of the screw auger is uncovered and the worker’s toes were unfortunately placed in this area.
Although the screw auger was not initially turned on, the worker’s colleague was cleaning out another grain reception pit which required him to turn on the screw auger conveyor which had the function of disposing with the leftover grain. However he mistakenly switched on the screw auger for the grain reception pit of the accident victim causing the screw auger to rotate and inflict serious injury.
A recent survey carried out by Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and Simplyhealth entitled ‘Absence Management Survey’ has revealed that the most common reason for long-term sickness absence among manual and non-manual employees, is stress.
EssentialSkillz looks into the findings of this survey and investigates the reasons for this increasingly common workplace absentee problem.
Redundancies looming?
There’s nothing like an absent carrot to keep you motivated in your job, especially in light of austerity cut backs. Affecting most industry sectors, headcounts are being analysed, job roles are being scrutinised. “Employers planning to make redundancies in the next six months are significantly more likely to report an increase in mental health problems among their staff (51% compared with 32% who are not planning redundancies).”
Public sector no longer the ‘untouchables’
Organisational change and restructures are common place within public sector bodies, however in more recent times, the end result is leaving people without any form of job security. Gone are the sideways moves, the slotting of departments into other divisions. Put simply, Government cutbacks mean there is a reality that entire public sector initiatives/organisations are fast disappearing, whilst those that do manage to hold on to some kind of role will have to suffer pay freezes and pension cuts. Public sector respondents identify the amount of organisational change and restructuring as the number one cause of stress at work.