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Health and Safety Advisors in Britain. UK HS&E
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Passive approach or proactive approach to Health and Safety issues.
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Recently Krono-span a chipboard manufacturer of Chirk, North Wales was fined £15,000, with £2,127 costs, having admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act. Prosecuting, Clive Brookes said: "This was an accident waiting to happen, the rollers closed and trapped his arm in the machine, luckily he was on the side where it rolled his arm out. On the other side it would have rolled him into it. As it happened his arm was broken and thrown out and we are not dealing with a crush injury " |
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| This is just one of a catalogue of horror stories relating to breaches of Health and Safety at work. £17,127 is a lot of money to pay out for something that could have been prevented. It is always easy in hind sight to judge who is at fault - and largely if it is an health and safety at work issue, one can almost guarantee that the blame lies firmly with the employer.
We live a society of a "NO WIN - NO FEE" syndrome that has led to a massive increase in work related health problems and associated claims. This culture brings about two victims, the employer and the employee. Record payouts for compensation are recorded and one often wonders if a given case would ever had gone to court had it not been for a 'no win - no fee ' scenario. Accidents are not the only reason for companies being forced to pay out damages, take Victoria Wine - forced to pay a staggering £179,000 in compensation to their employee Jacqueline Collins, 37 ... because she worked alone in the off-licence at the time it was held up by knife weilding robbers. At the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Lord Carloway said: "the firm's failure to take reasonable care and introduce double-manning materially increased the risk of a robbery of this type, and indeed of other forms of violence occurring." . It is almost certain that more actions are likely to follow given the statistics on shop hold-ups . |
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There are people whose job it is to seek out and prosecute companies. It is almost as if everyone is out to get you! - okay, we need inspectors to ensure we live and work in a safe environment and safety management is important to all of us. If you are an employer, self-employed or in control of work premises you will have duties under RIDDOR. It stands for Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and dangerous Occurrences Regulations. We have all heard of the Health and Safety Executive ( HSE ) - We have other guardian angels such as HEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORK INSPECTORATE (HSWI) - they are a Health and safety at work enforcing authority whose principal functions and activities are to promote and secure compliance with occupational health and safety standards at places of work through inspection, educaiton and enforcement and to safeguard the health and safety of the public where this might be adversely affected by work activities. |
| They have a list of major publications such as: The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (of Parliament) as applied to the Isle of Man; Orders applying the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (of Parliament) to the Isle of Man; Construction (Health and Safety) Regulations 1985 (Isle of Man); Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Legislation as applied to the Isle of Man; Gas Safety Legislation as applied to the Isle of Man; Agriculture Health and Safety Legislation (Isle of Man); Railway Safety Legislation (Isle of Man); Dangerous Goods Health and Safety Legislation (Isle of Man); Mines and Quarries Health and Safety Legislation (Isle of Man); Freight Containers (Safety Convention) Legislation as applied to the Isle of Man; Health and Safety at Work : a General Guide for Businesses; Guide to the Construction (Health and Safety) Regulations 1985; Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences; Head Protection in Construction; Guidance on the Construction (Head Protection) Regulations 1999. |
Who is looking out for us?
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So what are we to do, buy several books, get a few degrees and qualifications like DipSM, DipEM, CSM, MIIRSM, IEng, HNC, FIIE, FISM, DMS, FILM ? we could pay a full time administrator who has all the above qualifications and degrees to run a safety administration services department. Alternatively we could seek a professional safety administration services expert - Yellow pages don't have a section, I checked. The internet is a wonderful thing for researches and it can be a very lazy way of gleaning information. It took me 0.35 seconds to find Quantum Risk Management, a UK based Health and Safety consultancy- the came in at number one in www.everythingwithin.com. Who are Quantum Risk Management? A group of highly experienced Risk Management professionals. They bring together a unique blend of enforcement and technical experience (top level local authority, HSE and private practise) with wide ranging commercial and industrial management expertise. They can help you with practical risk assessment at site level as well as quantifying your business risks to assist you formulate strategic risk policies for your business. In short, they can help you beyond merely complying with legislation, to really reducing your Health and Safety exposures. And they can also advise you on Employment Law to help you effectively introduce HR policies and procedures, together with a helpful means of communicating them to employees. So they are not just a British Health and Safety Consultancy but offer anything from a complete a Corporate Audit of Health and Safety Management to individual site based Risk Assessments and supporting management systems. |
[ United Kingdom Government bodies
for Health & Safety ]
[ Occupational Health and Safety Links Worldwide ][ British Safety Council Awards ]
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News Release By
Peter Yexley
Tel: 01707 646457 |
