ONE of the challenges in health and safety, as a consultant, is overcoming the light hearted remark “Health and Safety gone mad”….well you can guess what side of the fence I am on. Of course, common sense plays its part – the only problem is people have different layers of common sense. As a competent person assessing risk in the workplace, it really is best not to raise pedantic or trivial matters, this will only antagonise and devalue your reporting. What really matters is that you have a Health and Safety Policy in place, a hierarchy of responsibility of roles within the organisa
ONE of the challenges in health and safety, as a consultant, is overcoming the light hearted remark “Health and Safety gone mad”….well you can guess what side of the fence I am on. Of course, common sense plays its part – the only problem is people have different layers of common sense. As a competent person assessing risk in the workplace, it really is best not to raise pedantic or trivial matters, this will only antagonise and devalue your reporting. What really matters is that you have a Health and Safety Policy in place, a hierarchy of responsibility of roles within the organisation, an up-to-date Risk Assessment to cover your processes, separate Fire Risk Assessment (our specialist area) and other reporting, where applicable, for areas such as asbestos or Legionella. Then you need to keep documents current by completing action, updating when staff change or structural changes occur or the nature of your business changes. Training and staff coordination is key. Not an exhaustive list – but that is pretty much it. I would say that was a sensible approach to health and safety. Reduction in incidents and fatalities is all down to awareness and education/expertise that has worked its way through to The Responsible Person/s. Remember, five or more staff is when you need to document your findings. Listed below are some of my favourite memorable statements to keep you safe: 1. Hazard Spotting – If you see something not right, do something about it or report it. Prevention is better than cure. 2. Co-ordinate and cooperate: pass information on to report near miss incidents and at shift/handover changes. 3. Train new staff and refresher train existing staff. 4. Ensure you have adequate numbers of trained staff to deal with emergency evacuation and first aid. This will often mean more than one person. 5. Resources and facilities made available for those that need assistance Always happy to help. Just give us a call at our Thrapston office on 01832 735874 or email