1. hello@tradingsafelyltd.co.uk Registered address: Cherry Tree House, Selby Road, Wistow, North Yorkshire YO8 3UT
TREADING UNSAFELY
A quarterly briefing brought to you by Trading Safely Limited
ISSUE 1 Q4 2016
Tesco Stores
Tesco Stores Ltd have recently been fined £200,000 after a worker fell through a
skylight. Tesco Maintenance Ltd were fined £300,000 for the same incident.
Thankfully, the worker sustained only minor injuries. What can we learn from such
prosecutions? If you are an occupier or a controller of premises, there will eventually
be a point in time when someone will need access to your roof, either to inspect,
clean, maintain or repair. You may decide to outsource the work to a building
contractor, but you cannot outsource your own duty of care. Tesco Maintenance Ltd
had received no information relating to the fragility of the roof from their client Tesco
Stores Ltd. Furthermore, no risk assessment or method statement had been produced
prior to carrying out the work. Action to be taken: review your policies on ‘working at
height’ and on the ‘safe use of contractors’.
Worker or employee?
Do you mention ‘workers’ in your Health and Safety Policy? If you subscribe to Trading
Safely’s policy management system you will notice that we reference ‘workers’ on
many occasions throughout the documentation. There is good reason for this. ‘The
Worker’ is defined in draft ISO 45001 as the person working under the control of the
organisation and this includes subcontractors, agency workers, volunteers etc. as well
as your own employees. If you do not subscribe to our policy system, please look over
your current policy and make sure that you are compliant.
Interesting to see HSE...
...making it very clear that risk assessment should be part of day-to-day business
management. This is why your risk assessments are essential business documents.
Users of risk assessments should always cross-refer to documents such as workplace
rules, HS workbooks, training materials, safe operating procedures for additional
information about existing control measures
Buzzing news
The Control of Electromagnetic Fields at Work Regulations 2016 (CEMFAW) came
into force this year. It is surprising how many devices emit electro-magnetic fields
(EMF’s); wireless devices, power tools, and welding equipment for example.
CEMFAW Regulations require employers to assess the levels of EMFs to which
employees may be exposed. For many businesses, this is probably as far as you will
have to go, as the risk posed will be considered very low. If you are in any doubt, or
employ pregnant workers or workers with active or passive medical implants, please
give us a call.
Safety nudge
You train your employees, but do you train your managers? If you subscribe to
accreditation services or third party audit and when serious accidents are investigated,
this question will inevitably be raised. Train your managers in how to manage health
and safety! Speak to us about our training courses.
Fire safety tip. How to check if you have enough smoke detectors in a corridor. In a
corridor less than 2m wide, smoke detectors can be spaced 15m apart.
…and a thank you to Jo Blackburn, Environmental Health Consultant for the
inspirational title for this briefing note.