Mally K

Hello, a strange first post I know, but I would appreciate some help / advice.

To cut a long story short, I own a business that has a workshop, and am thinking about taking some employees on, possibly up to 5.

The workshop is in very good condition, and all potential employees are very health and safety consious, however, I need to know what responsibilities I have as a partner of the business, to the health and safety of taking men on ?

For instance, how would I go about finding out how often certain things need checking, such as electrical items (grinders, kettles etc) fire extinguishers, hydraulic ramps etc

Basically I need to know I will be operating within the law when it comes to the health and safety of employees.

Many thanks for any advice

RON

Have a quick look at the HSE website.....

http://www.hse.gov.uk/

logiclee

You absolutely need to get some professional advice.

Have you thought about a Safety Policy, Risk Assessments, Methods of Work, Manual Handling Assessments, Fist Aid Provision, PPE, COSHH, RIDDOR and I could go on and fill the page.

I'm an Electrical Engineer but have IOSHH, NEBOSH Cert and NEBOSH Dep in H&S and trust me the HSE and the Claims Direct people will have a field day unless you have everything in place. The HSE are becoming increasingly more hardline and the number of procecutions are on the increase.

Cheers
Lee

Diesel

Christ tell me about it!!! 300 kids in a TV studio today so I was paranoid about safety. What happened? I twisted my ankle and bashed my head when doing the risk assesment before they arrived. Please mark up 'walking about with a clipboard looking up at lights' a new hazard. I'm suing LOL!!!

Seriously, gen up on the HSE site, learn the ever-so-important acronyms and get on a course. Thought they could have done my 4 day course in a morning, but it was still very useful to get you in a safety mindset.

If you have ANY doubt, write it down or get it checked. They are looking for diligence, thought and safety biased practices.

A company I know is being sued by an employee who chose to put a ladder up against a door - you can guess the rest. The whole situation is RIDICULOUS - but you have to play the game...

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

If it helps, my father works as a self employed Health and Safety consultant. He also does dust extraction stuff for workshops.

If you are interested please PM me and I can put you in touch with him for a quick chat, and then you can take it from there.

MJW

You don't need a ridiculously expensive health and safety consultant, it's pretty straightforward to do yourself if you can keep abreast with current legislation. All a consultant will do is give you all the bumph in a fancy folder and charge you three grand a year.
The HSE are the best people to contact, I've found them pretty helpful in the past. Basically you will need a Health and Safety Policy (the HSE website has a template for this) and at least one trained first aider on site. You will also have to walk round the workshop and identify as many possible risks as you can. Then you must write a risk assessment for each one.
A risk assessment basically must state what the potential hazard is, who will be exposed to it, and what measures you have in place to control it. For example if your workshop has a crosscut saw the risk will (obviously) be getting bits of your body cut off ! Those affected will be persons operating the saw, and preventative measures should be something like a guard over the blade, operatives to wear gloves/goggles/ear defenders, etc.

Electrical tools have to be PAT tested, which you should be able to get sorted locally, and you must keep a log of what and when stuff is tested. With regard to the fire extinguishers, I use a firm who come round and check them once a year and give a certificate to conform they're ok. It isn't too expensive and they refill/replace out of date ones, and test them.

I would say its probably better doing it yourself as it encourages you to keep better tabs on H&S issues. If you want any sample risk assessments / method statements or anything PM me and I can send you some

vulnax999

iTrader: (7)

Remember : these assessments and advice must come from a competent individual.
Trained / competent assessors needed for Display Screen equipment, manual handling, hand/arm vibration, COSHH, legionella, fire precautions, radiation, Noise survey/assessment, risk assessment, PAT testing, work at height, work in confined spaces, hot work, etc. etc. and the list goes on.

Remember too that the requirements are lower for companies with 5 or less employees.

It's not as simple as going to the Health & Safety Executive web site to down load a form or template and a few advice leaflets, you need initial professional advice and buy the ACoPS ( approved code of practice - which the HSE police against, generally ) to get you going.

Workplace hazard spotting CAN be done by most anyone, looking at what could cause harm, and then incorporate that into the risk of that harm actually occuring ( e.g. a circlar saw has hazards - cutting, drawing in, entanglement, ejection, noise, dust, etc. ) but how often is it likely that some one could be drawn in or cut up by it, or some one get hit by a flying bit of metal or wood off it ... and then from that devise control measures to reduce as reasonably practicable the potential risk, to one that is tolerable with the right precautions, including instruction, training, and supervision.

The HSE may be a scary monster, but their first role is to ADVISE companies what is required, free of charge and they will allow time to do it unless the operation has obvious inherent imminent dangers, where they may prohibit work until changes are made.

Hope that helps, made sense, and didn't scare you off from your new enterprise!