HSE Myth of the month

'Health and safety' banning everything from ladders to school trips is a familiar headline, but it is rarely true - each month the HSE portray a myth about health and safety and enlighten us on the reality of the situation.

Myth: 'Pin the tail on the donkey' stopped by health and safety risks
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Myth: Poles in fire stations banned
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Myth: Safety goggles needed to play conkers
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More myths

Training

Training and development of your staff is of fundamental importance as they are potentially your greatest business asset. Trained staff deliver your products, services and promises to your customer; meaning training is integral in any organisation. Conventionally training is required to cover essential work-related skills, techniques and knowledge, and as an effective means of developing people. In our experience it can be very well-managed with regular refresher training and comprehensive training matrices, especially where training and competence is valued in the company and a need for flexibility has been identified.

However, sometimes training is overlooked and new staff learn good and bad habits from existing employees during on-the-job "buddy buddy" training - it is important that all staff are aware of the procedures for doing the various jobs they are responsible for and that they are retrained when best practice changes. Training and development schedules should take into consideration:

• Mechanisms to identify training needs
• Departmental and individual training plans
• Training provision and facilities
• Career development opportunities
• Staff retention

Investing in your people is one of the most effective ways of improving the safety, reliability and efficiency of your business.

The Murder Mile

"One of the toughest uphill miles in the country," say Islwyn Running Club. "Easier said than run - hellish!" say the Echo. One of the Runner's World top ten hardest races. And yet, we're back for more.

Mynyddislwyn Mile, the Murder Mile, the Mad Mile; the guaranteed personal worst! The numbers on the shirts surpass 80, yet the number of people struggles to reach 50 - it can only be assumed that 30 absentees quickly acquired some sense on the day of the race! Memories of zombied legs failing at abseiling the beast, and then the dreaded quarter-mile markers - two miles to the first, seven to the second, a marathon to the third!

We descend in groups into the jaws of Mynyddislwyn, harshly reminded as we turn of the sheer scale of the task laid out before us. Jokes and hollow laughter do their best to mask the questionable sanity, as the last of the madcap runners arrive. The Solutions boys have no excuse for being here however, having conquered the mountain the year before and lived to tell the tale! But, the numbers are pinned to our vests, and the world awaits us at the top of the hill.

  The race official prepares in the safety of his car, which fails to go anywhere on its first attempt - this sets the precedent for the runners. Second serve: "On your marks, get set, go!" People around us start the timers on their watches. In all honesty it's a little less painful without. The course record is just under eight minutes - a comfortable pace by the Solutions boys' average given any other race!

Deceptively scenic...

It's said that during a marathon, the real race starts at 24 miles. The 24-mile wall. And, I think I can speak for both of us when I say that the 24-mile wall hit us at the first quarter-mile marker! Mantras push us forward, keepitmovingkeepitmovingkeepitmovingkeepitmoving... and what starts off in my head exudes on a breath by half a mile, and is being yelled by three quarters. My body begs me to stop, to slow down, to walk; and I know that if I were to listen and walk I would likely reach the finishing line faster. But I can't cheat myself now, having run for almost the whole of the monster, a feat that was impossible last year. In reality it's the reason I came back - walking it feels like letting it beat you, and this close to the top I can't let it happen.

Close to the top. Close to the top. One hour later it seems and I'm still close to the top. And gradually, over the shining brow of the hill, a golden turning into the finishing line appears. Am I seeing things? Is it really there? Does it actually exist? The neverending one-mile race... and I can see the end! There's not enough of my essence left to exert a sprint to the line, but I manage to keep to my hill speed as the race flattens out, widens out, brightens up, and I've made it!

Survivors

 

Blissfully collapsing over the line, a drink thrust into my hand, I know that next year the only thing I'll remember will be the bliss of collapsing over the line and having a drink thrust into my hand. The pain will have been blacked out by then, who wants to remember it? And foolishly, we'll come back. For now, though, aureate victory. In the acheful form of hobbling around for about a week.

The Solutions-IMS Team

Our staff and associates have held various management positions within industry; they are well educated, professional and fully understand the management requirements of a modern business.

They have previously built and maintained Certified Quality, Environmental and Health & Safety Management Systems. The team includes - quality system experts, environmental management professionals, health & safety technicians, engineering and science degree graduates, members of appropriate professional bodies, experienced trainers, qualified lead auditors and six sigma specialists.

Key Team Members

Key team members that you may already know include Christine (Accounts), Paula (Sales), Connor & Ben (Marketing). Whilst the primary consultants at Solutions-IMS are Jonathan and Paul.

Jonathan Davies MSc. MCQI CQP AICS

With post graduate qualifications in the fields of both quality and environmental management along with extensive health & safety experience and qualifications, Jonathan has held a variety of senior management positions within the manufacturing industry. Starting his career as a Waste Manager, Jonathan swiftly implemented processes and procedures which led to promotion to Quality Manager.
More recently Jonathan has worked in a construction-based manufacturing environment as the QAHSE Manager. His main responsibilities included the implementation and maintenance of the company’s quality, environmental and health & safety systems.

Jonathan is a Chartered Quality Professional, a founder Member of the Chartered Quality Institute and an Associate of the Institute of Constructional Safety. He is also an IOSH licensed trainer and has completed relevant auditing training courses.

Paul Moon BSc.(Hons) AIEMA AIOSH

Educated to HND in Mechanical Engineering and BSc (Hons) in Mathematics and Computing, Paul has held a varied array of positions within the manufacturing industry starting his career in the automotive industry as a SQA Engineer before swiftly progressing to Customer Field Service Engineer.
Next saw a move into the glass industry in a variety of roles including Integrated Management Systems Engineer - implementing and integrating the company's quality, health & safety and environmental systems; Laboratory Engineer - performing defect and failure analysis, and Senior Customer Service Engineer - serving the industry's European customers. Paul's last challenge saw him setting up an entire management system from scratch on a 100 acre manufacturing facility.

Paul is a member of both the Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment and the Institute of Occupational Safety & Health as well as being a trained Lead Auditor and Six Sigma Black Belt with a proven product and systems improvement record.

ISO9001 - The benefits to you

Thinking about a QMS in your organisation? There are lots of benefits for operating such a system, including cost savings, competitive advantage & tighter control on processes you do day-to-day

The benefits to you and your organisation

Never considered implementing a management system to the requirements of ISO9001:2008 in your organisation? There are great benefits and cost savings when doing this, and it’s applicable to any sector and any size of business, from a plumber to an oil refinery.

ISO9001:2008 is an internationally recognised set of requirements that spell out what your organisation needs to be doing, not how to do it; furthermore it is the basis of many sector specific schemes such as TS16949 and AS9000, as well as government schemes such as the SIA Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS).

The standard identifies key areas of control that need to be considered in any organisation, namely:

• Document control
• Control of records
• Corrective and preventative action
• Internal audits
• Control of non-conformance

  

As well as systems to cover:

• Management review
• Continual improvement
• Calibration
• Handling and storage of product
• Training and competence
• Sales and purchasing
• Design (where applicable)

This may all sound elaborate but the size and nature of the system is appropriate to the scale of the operations, bigger multi-site businesses have bigger and more complex systems than smaller one site companies.

The key focus is the customer - delivering the services or products your customer wants, when he wants them. Customer complaints are considered as non-conformances and customer satisfaction is seen as a key driver in your business.

Continual improvement

Continual improvement is also a key part of the standard, ensuring your organisation improves all the time, chasing regularly reviewed top level quality objectives and targets.

Not convinced? Certification by a UKAS accredited body adds value to your business, enabling you to win more tenders and have an competitive advantage over your rivals; and at the same time saving money through the reduction and elimination of mistakes within your organisation, meaning less rework, less customer complaints and less scrap.

In my experience, any organisation that sets up a system to the requirements of this standard saves more money than the cost of implementing and maintaining it.

Which certification body?

Now that your management system has been implemented and been running for a while it’s time to get audited, so which certification body to use?

Well a word of warning, make sure the body you use is UKAS accredited, this is the government department that audits the auditors, you can check if a company is accredited by visiting the UKAS website or look out for the UKAS logo.

There are several consideration when selecting a certification body, it cannot be denied that cost is an important factor, but there are other things to consider, the type of scheme you are looking for makes a huge difference.

If you are looking for ISO standards then most of the certification bodies can accommodate you but for specialist schemes the choice can be somewhat limited. Further considerations include lead time, the certification of other schemes in your organisation and the option to combine schemes to lessen the audit time required.

ISO14001 & other environmental schemes

Implementing an Environmental Management System (EMS) will help you identify major impacts your processes have on the environment and enable you to set goals and objectives to lessen their effect.

Environmental Management Systems

The successful management of processes within your organisation that have the potential to affect the environment has become a key business driver; ensuring all legislation that applies to your company is identified and fully adhered to, making sure the risk of pollution is reduced as far as possible and empowering your staff with knowledge of how their actions at work could affect the local and greater environment.

There are several benefits to implementing an Environmental Management System (EMS) the following are just a few of them:

• Reduced costs through good waste management
• Reduced risk of pollution and prosecution
• Ability to demonstrate a commitment to the environment
• Reduced costs through better energy usage
• A framework for continuous improvement in environmental performance
• A forum for product and process development

With regards to their impact on the environment there are several environmental schemes in existence, but as rough guide the following areas are considered:

• Environmental base line review, including identification of the main aspects of your business that have an effect on the environment
• Legal compliance check
• Formulating a companywide environmental policy with appropriate responsibilities
• Setting objectives and targets
• Controlling operations to ensure environmental performance is sustained
• Staff training and awareness
• Top level management reviews

This may all sound elaborate but there are several schemes to ensure good environmental management, these are summarised below:

ISO14001:2004
International recognised standard in line with ISO9001, a fully certified system with the option of combining existing quality systems with the requirements applicable to the environment and/or health and safety.

Acorn scheme
IEMA 6-part phased scheme in line with BS855, see below.

EMAS
EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme, European recognised legislative scheme harmonised to the requirements of ISO14001:2004.

Green Dragon
Welsh environmental 5-part phased scheme, similar to the Acorn scheme. Stage 5 Green Dragon meets the requirements of ISO14001.

BSI STEMS (BS8555)
6-part phased implementation scheme, auditable at each stage as with Acorn and Green Dragon

So which EMS is best for you?

In our experience, if an organisation wants to implement a full system the ISO scheme is widely recognised, and therefore preferable (unless a customer demands EMAS). If a company wants a phased scheme (with a certificate at each stage) then the Acorn or STEMS scheme are better, unless your company operates solely in Wales, then consideration should be made to the Green Dragon scheme.

Good luck with your EMS

Waste management

The elimination of waste is an effective way to increase profitability. Whilst poor waste control costs, not only in terms of monetary losses, but also the impact on the environment & sustainability.

Saving money and the environment

All of the waste that you produce has a cost associated with it.

Waste management is a key area for scrutiny in all businesses nowadays, buying raw materials and components is costly and the costs associated with disposal of waste increases year on year.

The first stage of waste management is to REDUCE your consumption, the less you use of something the less waste will be generated.

Be sure to REUSE anything, either within or outside of your organisation, you can. The key is to remove anything from waste streams that has intrinsic value, converting a waste into a usable material.

The last and most frequently talked about is RECYCLING, recycling waste products or materials for use in other processes or products. Common examples of this are:

• Paper, wood and card recycling
• Glass and plastic bottle recycling
• Green waste composting
• Ferrous and Non-Ferrous metals

However, if you have a particular waste stream that you are currently disposing to “landfill” it may be of value to other organisations as a raw material, you could even get paid for the removal of this “material”. Visit the Wales Environment Trust website for help (http://www.walesenvtrust.org.uk/).

Risk Assessments

Conducting risk assessments and implementing appropriate control measures are an essential part of a good health and safety system.

If you have 5 or more employees you are required to have:

• A documented health and safety policy
• Risk assessments for all significant hazards to staff, residents and visitors
• Access to competent health and safety advice
• Documented arrangements for the planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of your safety arrangements. For example, A health and safety manual

However good health and safety is largely about applying common sense.

Health & safety – The basics

There are three main reasons why effective management of health and safety is important within any organisation:

1. Moral – Employers have a moral obligation towards their employees and others.
2. Financial – Good health and safety management can have beneficial effects on employee morale, productivity and hence company profit.
3. Legal – Health and safety legislation sets standards, which are by definition the minimum standard employers are expected to achieve.

Ever since the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 required every employer to “ensure so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees (and others)” there has been an implied duty to assess and control risk. This has been developed and made more explicit by the majority of recently published health and safety regulations.

The law

The main legislation relating to health and safety at work is the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

This give rise to further European and UK laws and regulations, including:

• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
• COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) 1999
• RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations) 1995
• Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992
• Fire Precautions (workplace) Regulations 1997/99
• Health and Safety (first aid) Regulations 1981

Health & safety responsibilities

Employers must:

• Provide a safe working environment
• Display insurance liability certificate
• Display health & safety law poster
• Carry out risk assessments
• Provide PPE (personal protective equipment)
• Communicate with staff regarding health and safety

Employees must:

• Cooperate with the employer on matters of health & safety.
• Consider their own health and safety
• Not interfere with any equipment provided for health & safety. 

Health and safety assistance

Health and Safety Assistance (The Management of Health and Safety at Work 1999 - Regulation 7)

Every employer must appoint one or more ‘competent persons’ to assist him in his undertaking the measures he needs to take to comply with the requirements of the law.....the overall purpose of the competent person is, therefore, to help ensure that the health and safety responsibilities of the employer are being met.....if there is no competent person in the workforce can the employer seek an outside consultant to act as the competent person.

A competent person can be defined as a person with:

• Sufficient training to suit the task
• Relevant qualifications
• Skills and experience – to apply their knowledge
• Understanding of the work involved and best practice
• An awareness of their own limitations
• Good personal qualities, attitude and communication
• The ability to supplement their own knowledge by obtaining external knowledge and advice

Risk assessments

Risk assessment is an essential part of the planning stage of any health and safety management system.

  

Risk assessment is the cornerstone of modern health and safety law. This dates back to one of the basic principles stated in the Robens Report which led the way to the HASAW Act 1974 ‘those who create risks should have the responsibility for overcoming those risks’.

Risk assessment is therefore the process of establishing whether or not risks are adequately managed (a safe system of work exists).

A risk assessment is simply a systematic way of establishing whether or not:

1. Legal standards are being met
2. Best practice is followed
3. Risks are reduced to the lowest level that is reasonably practicable to achieve i.e. that a safe system of work exists.

A risk assessment is important because it:

• Creates awareness of the hazards present in the workplace and the risk that they entail
• Identifies the population at risk, often those who are not thought of as being at risk (for example, cleaners, temporary workers, visitors)
• Identifies whether existing measures are adequate and whether more should be done.
• Makes sure that risk controls are proportionate to the risk involved
• Can iron out risks at the design stage in products that give rise to risks, for example machinery
• Helps to prioritise risk control measures, making sure that the most important risks are tackled first

Common definitions

Risk is defined as: The likelihood that the harm from particular hazards is realised (the extent of risk covers the population affected and the consequences for them) a risk can be reduced by good management.

Hazard is defined as: Anything with the potential to cause harm.

The elimination or adequate control of hazards is a more pro-active way of reducing injuries than simply investigating accidents. The identification of hazards is the first step in risk control, each hazard representing a potential accident or health problem.

Common hazards

Hazards may be either:

• Physical - for example, machinery, electricity, heat, noise, gravity, thermal
• Chemical – for example, water, acid, alkali, asbestos
• Biological – for example, HIV virus, legionella, hepatitus
• Ergonomics – for example, physical stress
• Psychological – for example, stress, shock anxiety

There are many hazard identification techniques the simplest of which is observation/inspection.

Conducting a risk assessment

The HSE gives comprehensive risk assessment guidance in their booklet five steps to risk assessment.

The five steps are:

1. Identify the hazards
2. Decide who might be harmed and how
3. Evaluate the risks and decide upon precaution
4. Record your findings and implement them
5. Review your assessment and update if necessary

Don’t overcomplicate the process. In many organisations, the risks are well known and the necessary control measures are easy to apply.

It is important to ensure that all groups of employees and others that might be affected must be considered.

Do Not Forget:

• Office staff, night cleaners, maintenance, security guards
• Visitors, the general public
• Young or inexperienced workers
• Lone workers
• New and expectant mothers
• Disabled staff
• Contractors

Who are Solutions? 

We are a South Wales based company providing business support across all sectors - specialists in providing Health & Safety, Quality and Environmental Management Support. We offer affordable and professional assistance, developing your business to be the benchmark for others within your field.

Personal, confidential, professional and affordable - we deliver a sensible and proactive approach to enabling you to fulfil all your responsibilities, legal requirements and customer expectations. We are a one stop shop for all of your quality, environmental and health & safety requirements.

Our team members are trained and experienced specialists within their fields. We promote best practice and are happy to provide you with answers to any of your questions from within our areas of expertise - just leave us a comment!

How can I get in touch?

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• Or come and find us at our website,                     http://www.solutions-ims.co.uk/