Feature
e f a s r e t t e B than sorry
business How and why you should give your n and food manufacturing. Such workplaces a safety check-up, by Susanna Nelso
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re your safety procedures up to date? Do they cover every possible contingency? It’s important to stay ahead of safety regulations and standards, and to make sure you’ve thought of everything that can possibly go wrong at your business. You don’t want to be caught short in a safety emergency. “When assessing your site you need to look at it with fresh eyes, as though you were looking at it for the first time,” says Linda Wilcox, Director of Wilcox Safety and Signs. “This is especially important if you have contractors or visitors or younger employees or apprentices as they have much less hands-on experience and often fail to recognise dangers. Over time, simple things like tripping hazards or slippery surfaces that regular staff are aware of get overlooked.” FIRST-AID KITS “The first question to consider is whether your business is a low- or high-risk business,” says a spokesperson at FastAid. A low-risk workplace is one where employees are not exposed to hazards that could result in serious injury or illness—this might include offices, shops or libraries. Low-risk workplaces need one first-aid kit for every 50 workers. At a high-risk workplace, workers are exposed to hazards that could result in serious injury or illness and would require first aid. Sectors in this category include mobile and manufacturing plants, construction, mining, trades, warehousing
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need one first-aid kit for every 25 workers. “If you have a smaller number of workers at a separate location—in a different building or on a different level— they must have access to a first-aid kit too,” FastAid’s spokesperson says. “You need to factor in casual workers, volunteers and contractors in your total number of workers when you purchase your first-aid kits.” Work vehicles—from tractors to taxis— are considered a work place and must contain a compliant first-aid kit. The kit must be safely located and secured so as not to become a projectile in the case of an accident. FastAid stocks a compliant first aid kit that contains all required elements and comes in a soft-pack case that may reduce injury should it dislodge in a work vehicle and become a projectile. It also stocks a kit containing a snake and spider bite module for regional areas.
FIRE EXTINGUISHERS Fire extinguishers are required for every commercial premises and every place of work. Again, this includes commercial vehicles—buses, trucks, tradies’ utes, sales representatives’ cars— which are defined as places of work for this purpose. The number of fire extinguishers needed for a commercial building will depend on the number of square metres of building space and its function—hospitals, for example, have highly specific regulations regarding fire extinguishers. “Fire extinguishers must be properly maintained,” says David Smith from Megafire. “Every six months, your fire
The Workplace Safety Specialists