Health & Safety

There are 9 key changes in the biggest change in health and safety for a decade as detailed below.

Tomorrow sees a significant change in Health and Safety Law as a result of the implementation of Section 69 in the Enterprise & Regulatory Reform Act which amends the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974.  As a result of this change, employees who have an accident at work will now have to prove negligence on the part of their employer before they can claim compensation following an accident or injury caused by an employer’s breach of health and safety regulations

What does this mean in practice?  Well, in many cases under the existing law the burden of proof falls upon the employer to establish they did what was “reasonably practicable” to avoid the accident. Now the burden shifts to the employee. 

The fear is that this change to the law will involve the injured employee in a more complex and expensive legal battle.  As such, many employees may decide not to pursue legitimate cases because the risks / costs involved in proving a claim may be disproportionate to the compensation appropriate for the injury.

Whether this fear proves correct will only be seen through the actual number of cases coming through from tomorrow.

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Many employers do not understand or take seriously the risks associated with the use of computers.  The main problems encountered in using computers are Tiredness, Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and Eye Strain.  The Display Screen Regulations (DSE) are set out to prevent staff getting hurt in the office and by undertaking the following elements you will reduce the possibility of staff suffering from injury.

1. Carry out a risk assessment in order to reduce any identified problems. The way staff set up their display screen and chair is probably the most important consideration in working comfortably.  Both the equipment itself and the area in which it is installed should be arranged and adjusted to suit each individual’s needs and the kind of work they do.  Although there is no such thing as an 'ideal' working posture, making the necessary adjustments to the screen and chair will help minimize fatigue and discomfort, and help staff work more comfortably and effectively.

2. Make staff aware of their entitlement to yearly eye tests, with the cost of the eye test met by the employer in full, and encourage staff to take them.

3. Ensure that staff take regular and adequate breaks from looking at their screens

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Business Owners / Managers need to be aware of the powers the Police now have when stopping drivers.  If a person is stopped by the police at the road side, the police now have the power to perform a road side eye sight test. If the person fails this, the police can revoke their driving license and will electronically inform the DVLA of the details.

So why do you need to worry about this?  The Health and Safety Executive states that an employer’s duty of care extends to all work activities, including driving for work purposes – even if this constitutes only an occasional short trip for a meeting.  As such, you need to have policies in place to manage what happens if an employee has their driving licence revoked i.e. how they manage / perform their role or possibly where they can’t!

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Once Fire Marshalls have been trained once do we really need to put them through refresher training as it’s straight forward isn’t it? 

You may think that, but the law does change quite often and also when it comes to health and safety do you really want to take any risks?

Obviously you have to be compliant but it is good practise to keep your staff aware of Fire Procedures by tool box talks or regular staff meetings, and you should also put your staff through a refresher training course every two years.

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Undertaking effective health and safety practices in your business will provide you with a number of key benefits.

1) Protect your staff

Effective health and safety practices help you look after your staff’s well-being by protecting them from injury,

2) Reduce absences and sick leave

By protecting your staff from injury they are less likely to take sick leave. This in turn saves you money from the direct and indirect costs associated with staff absence e.g. sick pay, production delays, etc.

3) Save insurance and legal costs

Effective health and safety practices in the workplace can also reduce your insurance premiums, as well as the costs of accidents that aren't covered by your insurance e.g. repairs to plant or equipment. Uninsured costs can be greater than insured costs, and they have to be paid out of your funds!

4) Improved Public Relations

The reporting of accidents and injuries, especially serious ones, can have a severe adverse effect on your business e.g. reduced sales.  Effective health and safety practices help avoid this.

5) Retain staff

If your staff see you are committed to looking after them, the more likely they are to remain loyal and committed to you, also helping increase morale and productivity.  This in turn saves time and money associated with recruiting and training a new member of staff.

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The HSE’s controversial cost-recovery programme, ‘Fee for Intervention (FFI)’, will surely generate many more headlines and debate this year.  Since 1 October last year, the HSE has been able to charge for its inspectors’ time at £124 an hour (blended rate) under the FFI scheme.

The Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations 2012, which underpin the scheme, do not simply give HSE inspectors an option to recover costs where they decide it is just to do so, they also impose a duty to recover costs incurred in carrying out its regulatory functions where there has been a material breach of health & safety law.  

Outlined below are a number of likely FFI hotspots to be aware of.

1) Poorly maintained or misused ladders - ladders are often misused as a place of work rather than as a method of access.  In one recent fatality case, a worker was carrying a wheelbarrow down a ladder when he slipped and fell.

2) Dangerous work at height - In the last year, there have been cases of unsafe scaffolds, inadequately planned roofing operations, and improper access methods. Inspectors have been known to drive past a building site, noted a flaw and proceeded with enforcement action.

3) Guarding - in the last calendar year there have been many cases involving fatality and many serious non-fatal with quite horrific injuries following failure to properly guard.  One area seen time and again is when new machinery is purchased from the EU; the machinery may be CE-marked but, in reality, it may still be inadequately guarded.

4) Badly-organised transport – poor pedestrian and machine segregation is another area common in many cases.  Issues range from forklift trucks in poorly-lit warehouses, which do not have clearly demarcated areas of egress and access, through to loading and unloading of lorries in sheds where custom and practice result in a departure from written instructions.  Given that the outcome of such cases is often fatal, the HSE’s FFI work will likely be pre-incident, with a focus on transport plans and proper training programmes for operators of machinery and lorry drivers. Induction records could be another area of scrutiny.

5) Asbestos - Despite asbestos legislation prohibiting the use of asbestos-containing materials since 2000, more than half a million public buildings still contain the hazardous substance.  Significant exposure will likely continue to result in prosecution but the HSE will be interested in notification being given at the correct time, as well as proper registers and good communications with contractors.  It may be that FFI is used in situations where low levels of exposure are reported.

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