Health & safety

Introduction

It is the policy of CBRE Investment Management to promote high standards of health and safety which will lead to the avoidance of, or reduction in, risks to health and safety, and to ensure that compliance with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASAWA) and associated legislation is achieved. All employees, whatever their level, have a duty to take care of themselves and others who may be affected by their acts or omissions. Any potential hazards should be reported, as appropriate.

CBRE Investment Management’ Health & Safety Policy can be found on UNITE and you should take time to read and understand its contents. The Policy outlines our commitment to health, safety and welfare.

The CBRE Health & Safety Arrangements Policy apportions specific health and safety responsibilities across the organisation, which will go some way to ensuring employee health, safety and welfare and that of anyone else who may be affected by our activities.

The main source of these statutory legal requirements is the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 [HASAWA], whose requirements were made more specific by the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999 [MHSWR].

Employer responsibilities

HASAWA requires employers to ensure that the health, safety and welfare at work of all its employees and visitors, so far as is reasonably practicable. Specifically, an employer must provide:

– Safe plant and systems of work

– Safe use, handling, storage and transportation of articles and substances

– Necessary information, instruction, training and supervision

– A safe place of working include safe access and egress

– Safe working environment and adequate welfare facilities

The MHSWR requires employers to carry out risk assessments of their premises and activities to identify sources of potential harm. Having identified such sources or hazards, the employer must assess the likelihood of harm occurring and then implement and maintain effective control measures.

Employee responsibilities

The HASAWA requires employees to take reasonable care for their own health and safety and that of others. Employees are also required to co-operate with their employer’s health and safety policies and procedures and must not deliberately misuse any item or equipment provided for health and safety purposes. Under the MHSWR, employees also have a duty to report any shortcomings or concerns about health, safety and welfare.

The Accident Book

If you have an accident you must complete the Accident Book (or ask someone who witnessed the accident to complete it for you) as soon as practicable. The Accident Book is with the Office Manager. At CBRE Investment Management, all near misses are regarded as potential accidents and therefore, must be recorded in the Accident Book and a full investigation will be undertaken.

Please see the definitions for an accident and a near miss below:

An accident is an unplanned, uncontrolled event, which HAS led to:

– Injury to persons

– Damage to plant

– Some other loss to the Company

A Near Miss is an unplanned, uncontrolled event, which COULD HAVE led to:

– Injury to persons

– Damage to plant

– Some other loss to the Company

First aid & first aid facilities

All CBRE Investment Management’ First Aiders hold either a full “First Aid at Work” certificate and have attended a three-day course, or a one-day basic course and will be designated as an “Appointed Person”. Full First Aiders are paid an allowance of £120 (gross) per annum, payable on a monthly basis via Payroll. “Appointed Persons” do not receive any payment.

In the event of an accident/injury, please notify a First Aider or ask someone to contact one for you. A list of qualified First Aiders is held on UNITE, and is on the notice board in the town square.

All First Aiders have a fully equipped First Aid box.

Fire

Please familiarise yourself with your office’s fire procedures. Please ensure that you identify the following on your floor:

– The area your workstation is in

– Your nearest fire call point button

– Your area’s nearest fire exit route

– Who the Fire Marshalls are on your floor and where they sit

– Ask your manager to give you a tour of your floor pointing out the Fire Exit Stairwells, the location of the call point buttons and the location of the CBRE IM Fire Point Assembly

Your workstation Chair

The chair provided will meet ergonomic stipulations and will be fully adjustable. Employees should be able to adjust their chairs as follows:

– Seat height

– Seat length

– Angle of back of chair

– Height of back of chair

– Option of settings for chair back e.g. free-flow or fixed

– If arms are fitted, these should be height adjustable

Footrest

You should be able to able to rest your feet on the floor. If you can’t, please contact the Facilities who will either source a footrest from stock or order one for you.

Desk

In the interests of health and safety, your desk should be as free from clutter as possible. CBRE operates a clear-desk policy and therefore, we would request that you clear your desk of papers and files etc. before you leave each evening. This will ensure that the cleaners can adequately clean your desk.

PC/Telephone

The PC monitor provided has tilt and swivel functions. It also has full contrast and brightness controls. If you have any problems with your PC or telephone please contact the IT Help Desk.

Eye test

Any employee who consistently uses a VDU for more than two hours per day is entitled to have an eye examination every year or as recommended by their optician. Eye test vouchers are available via the online portal found on the intranet and can be used at an optician locally.

Reasonable adjustments

Employees are obliged to advise CBRE IM if they have a specific medical condition or disability so that the Company may assess the risks to health and provide any reasonable adjustments, which may be required in order to ensure employee welfare. For confidentiality, please advise the UK Health & Safety Manager, who will carry out a one to one assessment.

Please also refer to the DSE guidance which can be found on UNITE. It is envisaged that with the aid of the DSE policy employees will be able to carry out initial DSE self-risk assessments of their workstations. Should discomfort persist or concerns remain, employees have a duty to raise these with their manager and request an assessment to be carried out by the Office Manager.

Health & safety training

All new employees should attend the Company induction where health & safety information will be provided. Additional work-related health and safety training may be required, eg Manual Handling training (for those employees whose work involves regular lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling and sliding of loads), Risk Assessment Awareness (for those employees who carry out surveying within the Building Consultancy department) etc. Any additional training will be conducted on an ‘as-needs’ basis. All Health and Safety training can be arranged through the People department.

Environmental policy & procedure

CBRE Investment Management is committed to carrying out its operations in such a way that any environmental impact is kept to a minimum.

Every member of staff has a responsibility to carry out their day to day activities in an environmentally responsible manner.

CBRE IM has an environmental champion who will be able to assist you further but please be aware of the following:

There are different waste collection bins for different wastes including recycling, general waste, printer cartridges, food and confidential waste.

– Please ensure that your laptop is turned off completely at the end of each day and that your monitor is not left in the standby mode

– Ensure that you only print off documents if absolutely necessary and that your laptop is set to black and white double sided printing

– Take advantage of video conferencing facilities which are available in our offices rather than travelling

– Where possible use public transport to attend meetings

Finally, if you have any suggestions that may be of an environmental benefit for your office, or the wider Company, please forward these to the Office Manager.

Security alert

In the event of a bomb alert:

– Await instructions from your Fire/Security Marshall

– Always follow the lead of your Fire/Security Marshall

Smoking

The Company operates a No Smoking policy throughout all offices (this includes ecigarettes). This applies regardless of the time of day. Smoking will only be permitted outside the buildings, but not outside the front entrances.

Smokers must ensure that cigarette ends are not left around the outside of our offices. Managers interviewing for new staff should clearly state the policy.

Disciplinary action will be taken against anyone not complying with these restrictions.

Safety of employees visiting unoccupied buildings/sites

All employees must be aware of the Lone and Field working procedure which is available on the CBRE Health & Safety intranet page. All employees are asked to review the full policy on joining the Company.

When you attend vacant sites alone you must contact your nominated departmental contact of your location, with a contact number, the approximate time you will spend on site and to let your departmental contact know when you are leaving the site.

This should be repeated for every site that you visit on your own that is vacant.

Failure to follow this may result in disciplinary action.

Should you fail to call in, then your departmental contact will then try to contact you. If they fail to contact you, then they will escalate an emergency procedure which may involve calling the emergency services.

A model risk assessment has been produced for surveying, make yourself familiar with this. Where you are undertaking specific high risk activities such as roof work, a separate risk assessment must be done before you start work.

Whether the site is occupied or not, as much information on the site should be obtained from the Client, landlord etc. before attending site and your whereabouts should be known to your department including your location and contact number/name of client. This should be easily accessible by someone in your department (e.g. electronic calendars).

Attack alarms are available on request from the Health & Safety Team. It is your responsibility to phone in when attending and leaving a site.