Monday 29 December 2014

Get your Health & Safety in order



As a new calendar year approaches, it's time to get your Health & Safety in order. All businesses, companies and organisations will benefit from having a simple yet robust system in place to assess, control and monitor their health and safety issues. If you employ 5 or more people (employ does not necessarily mean pay, volunteers count as employed) then you are legally bound to produce a written health and safety policy, with the necessary procedures in place to make it happen, that said there is no reason why you shouldn't have the same even if you employ less than 5 people.

If you own or operate premises then you must carry out a fire risk assessment of those premises, again if you employ 5 or more people then this assessment must be formally written. A fire risk assessment will drive out any necessary actions to make the premises in which you work, safe from fire. This will include housekeeping, training and maintenance items such as servicing of extinguishers and testing of electrical appliances.

In both cases above, it is essential that once produced these documents are reviewed whenever there are any changes, which affect either the building or your work practices, or at least annually.

It may be that you already have procedures in place that might benefit from being given a review by a third party, or you might like to have an independent eye check that your systems are being operated correctly, either way now is the time to make sure that your health and safety is given the attention it needs to ensure that everyone you are responsible for, is kept safe.

For more information or advice please contact us via www.anchorhands.co.uk

Thursday 5 June 2014

Fire Safety Is Your Business



Some years after changes to fire safety law, The Fire Brigade is warning that many businesses still don’t have enough understanding of how the law affects their business or premises, and could be risking financial ruin or even prosecution.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order came into affect in October 2006 and replaced over 70 separate pieces of fire safety legislation. The Order applies to virtually all buildings, places and structures (the main exception being private homes) so includes premises like shops, restaurants, offices, nightclubs, care homes, sports venues and also communal areas, parts of blocks and houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) used in common by the occupants of more than one flat or bedsit.

The law places the responsibility for fire safety in the hands of employers and other people who have control of premises such as landlords, owners and other people with control of premises, so having an understanding of fire safety and the role you have to play is at the heart of good business management. This understanding is particularly important for small and medium size businesses and landlords who might not consider fire safety to be a top priority. Research from Touche Ross and London Chamber of Commerce estimates that up to 80 per cent of businesses fail within 12 months of suffering a major catastrophe, such as a fire.

The biggest change under the legislation is that fire risk assessment and a duty of fire safety care was introduced for most premises and replaced fire certificates for those premises that previously required them (factories, offices, shops, railway premises, hotels and larger boarding houses). If you are an employer or have control over a premises (known as the ‘responsible person’) then you are required by law to carry out a fire risk assessment and act on its findings.

The document should assess the fire risks to the property and people that work, live in or visit the premises. The risk assessment should also identify actions which need to be taken in order to protect the building from fire. It must be kept under consent review and amended if any changes are made to the premises.

The Fire Brigade carries out many fire inspections of premises each year and although the majority of buildings are managed well in regard to fire, there are still too many buildings that do not have an adequate fire risk assessment and as a result have fire exits blocked, inadequate fire alarms or poor training for staff. The Brigade can and does prosecute companies or individuals if there are breeches to fire legislation and though court action is a last resort, recent cases show that the courts will issue fines or even consider prison sentences for serious cases.

Tuesday 14 January 2014

Health & Safety at Work Poster

Please don't forget that as from April 2014 all businesses must display the new version of the Health & Safety at Work poster.

We have noticed that there are still a lot of businesses with the old one on display, so to help you decide whether or not you have the right one, please look at the image below, the one on the left is the new one and the one on the right is the old one.

The new poster has been in existence for some time now and the HSE has always had the April 2014 date in mind for the final exchange, so don't expect a sympathetic ear if you're caught out with the wrong one.