2015 august comply at work newsletter

Tel 01204 772977 or 07792 400 503

Comply at Work safety snippets & business bytes Upcoming Courses

P2-3

Flimsy Footwear Season

P4-5

Fork Lift Truck Association Safety Month

P6

Preventing contact dermatitis and urticaria at work - revised publication

P7

Improving Documents In the Spotlight

P8-9 P10-11

August 2015

Comply at Work have a responsible Welding Co-ordinator course held at our Horwich Training Centre on the following dates: 3 & 4 September 2015 1 & 2 October 2015 5 & 6 November 2015 3 & 4 December 2015 This 2 day course is suitable for Execution Class 2 and includes a visual inspection course. The usual cost of the course is ÂŁ1,275+VAT via the provider.

SPECIAL OFFER! For any company making a booking with Comply at Work to assist them to gain the BS EN 1090/CE Marking will be eligible to receive a discount of ÂŁ75+VAT for the RWC course.

P2 | Safety Snippets

Tel 01204 77 29 77 mobile 07792 400 503

Comply at Work OUR UPCOMING TRAINING COURSES‌.

Ask us about our special offers: Pick n mix sessions, free seminars and discounts for retained clients.

Thursday 10th September CIEH Level 2 Award in Health and Safety Tuesday 15th September Emergency First Aid Monday 28th to 30th September Three Day First Aid Full Qualification Tuesday 13th October Fire Safety / Fire Marshall Training

All our courses have limited places so please contact us for further details and register your interest as soon as possible.

e-mail info@complyatwork.co.uk www.complyatwork.co.uk

Safety Snippets | P3

Sn Saf ip ety pe ts

Tip 1. Be careful not to convince yourself that staff are at greater risk than is actually the case. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself insisting that office staff wear protective boots at all times.

Tip 2. When drawing up your rules, look at accident records. If there’s a history of foot injuries on your premises, then you know that you need to take a stricter line. If there isn’t then you can be a bit more relaxed.

P4 | Safety Snippets

Tel 01204 77 29 77 mobile 07792 400 503

Comply at Work

Flimsy footwear season Now that the weather has warmed up your staff have started coming to work wearing shoes that are more suitable for the beach than a workplace. Are there any health and safety rules to consider?

Dressed for the occasion

Where to draw the line

As soon as the temperatures start to rise you find yourself fighting a battle with staff over their choice of clothing and footwear. Many of your office staff in particular seem to have ditched their normal shoes in favour of flimsy footwear, including flip flops. Some have even started walking around without any shoes on at all.

Acceptance of staff walking around barefoot is almost certainly a step too far. Not only are they at risk if they were to drop something on their feet, the potential exists for cuts and other injuries.

Although most of your workplace is an office environment and fairly low risk, there are parts of your premises, such as the loading bay, which could be more dangerous. So should you be taking a tough line and making staff dress more appropriately?

What does the law say?

Because of the variation in workplaces and the different levels of risk, what’s acceptable on a construction site is completely different to an office.

There are no definitive rules that cover all premises.

Tip. Follow the risk assessment process to identify what footwear is acceptable. The factors to consider include: is there a significant risk of injury from items falling onto the individual’s feet, for example will they complete tasks which involve manual handling of materials? are there plant or machinery operations which staff could come into contact with?

Control. If you identify that staff could suffer an injury because of their choice of footwear, choose any of the following control measures: insist that they wear more robust footwear at all times prohibit them from entering any areas in which they may be at greater risk insist that they wear more robust footwear when they’re working in areas or completing tasks where the risks are greater.

Where to record this?

You don’t need to complete a separate risk assessment. The best option is to include a summary of your findings in a general risk assessment that covers your entire premises, or any task-specific risk assessments for the jobs your staff may carry out.

There are no explicit rules on footwear. As such, follow the risk assessment process to identify what you can accept in your workplace. Consider the tasks completed, floor surfaces and your accident history.

Allowing staff to go barefoot is asking for trouble, so should be prohibited.

are your floor surfaces relatively smooth; are staff required to wear shoes with slip resistance? are there any hygiene issues associated with staff wearing open shoes?

e-mail info@complyatwork.co.uk www.complyatwork.co.uk

Safety Snippets | P5

Sn Saf ip ety pe ts

Fork Lift Truck Association Safety Month Safetember: see danger, speak up!

On average, lift trucks are involved in about a quarter of all workplace transport accidents.

The Fork Lift Truck Association are holding National Fork Lift Truck Safety Month in September to raise awareness of the dangers involved in using fork lift trucks and to stress the importance of common sense measures that can make lift trucks safer and more efficient.

HSE’s Website has valuable information on Vehicles at Work including: Lift Truck Training Thorough Examination Inspection Checklist FAQ’s Source: HSE

P6 | Safety Snippets

Tel 01204 77 29 77 mobile 07792 400 503

Comply at Work

Preventing contact dermatitis and urticaria at work - revised publication This revised leaflet explains how you, as an employer, can protect your employees from skin problems known as contact dermatitis and urticaria. It will also be useful to employees and their representatives.

Download your free copy from HSE’s Website. http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg233. pdf?ebul=gd-engineering&cr=11/Aug15

e-mail info@complyatwork.co.uk www.complyatwork.co.uk

Safety Snippets | P7

Bu By sin te ess s P8 | Safety Snippets

Tel 01204 77 29 77 mobile 07792 400 503

Comply at Work

Improving documents is important. Improving documents quickly even more so.

Here is a suggested order to consider: Professional look and feel. Does it look the part? Good formatting, page layout etc?

Agreed upfront. Did the writer ask the reader upfront what content she wanted in the document? If so, does the document contain this information? If not, can the writer contact the reader now, to have a quick chat about content, and make any necessary changes before sending?

A clear Call To Action. Is there one? If so, is it easy for them to do it? Is it clear what the first step should be?

If there isn’t one, what should it be? (remember: unless you ask them to do something, they won’t) A good title. The first page must engage. Does it show why the document is important to the reader? Is there a benefit in there – in the title and/or subtitle?

An interesting contents page. Are the sections’ titles interesting? Do they draw the reader in? Are they framed from the reader’s point of view, or the writer’s?

Does the order/structure make sense?

Easy to read. Are paragraphs short? Sentences one line max? Is there lots of light space? Also, column width: our eyes don’t like sweeping across wide columns of text – we miss things (that’s why newspapers’ columns are so narrow). So, is the document in portrait? Or, if landscape, subdivided into columns?

Engaging top lines. When people skim-read, they pay most attention to the top lines of paragraphs. So, do your top lines engage? Or, are your main points in the bottom half of paragraphs? If so, either swap the order of your sentences; or press “return” more often, so you have more paragraphs Good visuals. Are there some? Are they clear, easy to read? Do they look professional?

Short as possible. Does it look like the document could be shorter? Maybe some of the detail could go in the appendix? There’s always something that can be removed – what is it?

This list is of course, not exhaustive, but the great thing about it is you only have to think it through once (to create the list) and then the discipline to use it. So…

Action point Create a short Review List – either the above, or create your own. Apply it to a document today. Then, put the list somewhere visible so you can refer to it again easily.

e-mail info@complyatwork.co.uk www.complyatwork.co.uk

Source: Andy Bounds

Business Bytes | P9

Comply at Work

in the spotlight We also welcome our new clients we have advised this month: San-IT, Cheadle Hulme Poynton Workmen’s Club JRK Decorators Ltd, Leyland Shawns Autos, Leigh Some of the projects we have been involved with this month are: Machinery risk assessments and safe systems of work DSE and maternity assessments Development of Construction-related RAMS Delivering Manual Handling and Asbestos awareness training Development of Health and Safety Policy Support for PQQs Support and guidance for SSiP accreditations: SMAS, CHAS and Safe- Contractor.

Congratulations again to K Darlington & Son Ltd who have achieved both CHAS and Safecontractor with our assistance.

We will soon be announcing our Comply Safety First software package.

Key benefits and features of the system include: • Create site and task-specific risk assessments and method statements pertinent to your industry in minutes • Pre-loaded industry specific templates relevant to your business • Electronic accident reporting with online RIDDOR reporting function • Easy to create and review Health and Safety Policy template • An extensive COSHH assessment library and a COSHH assessment creation function • Electronic safety audit function create or use pre-made site and office safety audits and DSE assessments • Electronic equipment and asset register easy to maintain calibration, visual inspection and M.O.T records of tools, vehicles and more • Online training record function and training matrix with email alerts for due training courses • A library of toolbox talks and other useful Health and Safety documentation; and • A simple to use invoicing application.

We will soon be providing a free demo to clients and contacts interested – please let us know now to register your interest.

We would be grateful if you could give us a like and share our company Facebook page! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Comply-At-WorkLtd/278727748906810?fref=ts

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