COMPANY NEWS
TRAINING – ONLINE COURSES
Wenlock Health & Safety Ltd (WHS) provides an extensive suite of fully certificated online courses, priced at a very reasonable £25 + VAT per course, to help with staff training when time is short. All that candidates need is access to a computer or laptop.
We would always recommend face-to-face training to help your workforce get the most out of course content, but these online courses offer a temporary solution when time is short or turnover is high; all courses take only 30-40 minutes to complete and can, of course, be completed at home as well as at work. Full details of all available online courses and booking facilities for this e-learning platform can be found on our website: www.wenlockhealthandsafety.co.uk
TRAINING – SHORT COURSES
And, in addition to the programmed courses we have on offer over the next few months (as listed below), don’t forget that WHS also provides a multitude of other short courses (both classroom and customer based) to suit your needs. Feel free to contact Vicki Brown at the WHS office on 01952 885885, or via email on enquiries@wenlockhs.co.uk or vicki@wenlockhs.co.uk , to discuss your particular needs.
TRAINING – OTHER COURSES
FIRST AID
1-day Emergency First-Aid at Work course dates are listed below; specific requirements and controls will be advised within the joining instructions.
Dates:
28 October 2024 (Monday) limited places available; book now to avoid disappointment
27 November 2024 (Wednesday)
18 December 2024 (Wednesday)
29 January 2025 (Wednesday)
24 February 2025 (Monday)
Cost: £85 + VAT per person
MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID
1-day FAA Award in First Aid for Mental Health (Level 2 RQF)
Dates: 9 October 2024 (Wednesday)
Cost: £85 + VAT per person
IOSH MANAGING SAFELY
3-day IOSH Managing Safely course
Dates: 20, 21 & 22 January 2025 (Monday – Wednesday)
Cost: £450 + VAT per person
HSE NEWS
ASBESTOS – THE HSE CAMPAIGNS
The HSE has stated that 2,257 people died in 2022 from mesothelioma caused by exposure to asbestos at some point in their lives, a slight reduction on the figures from previous years.
However, it needs to be considered that mesothelioma is the only asbestos-related disease that the HSE records; many other forms of lung-cancers (e.g. asbestosis) go un-recorded and it has been said in the past that mesothelioma accounts for around 50% of the total asbestos-related deaths.
Whatever the accuracy of these figures, the fact remains that possibly 5000* people die in the UK each year as a result of asbestos exposure, which is shocking. Hence, the current HSE campaigns to combat asbestos exposure is hotting up. Refer to:
- Asbestos and You highlights the risk of asbestos to trades-people
- Asbestos – Your Duty; the legal duty to manage asbestos in buildings
* Various health bodies put the annual number of asbestos-related deaths possibly as high as 255,000 worldwide! Monkey-pox is, understandably, getting a great deal of media coverage right now but there is, as always, little or no coverage of this epidemic of totally avoidable asbestos-related fatalities.
ASBESTOS – RESULTS OF NON-COMPLIANCE
And just a couple of timely reminders:
Not only do businesses risk killing or severely harming employees (and others) when non-compliance with the legal requirements results in exposure, the HSE now levy a charge of £174* per hour for all interventions, enforcement, investigations and prosecutions resulting from breaches of the law. The costs soon mount up!!
And to ALL businesses – the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 apply to ALL commercial enterprises, no matter what their nature! It is a misconception that the Regulations apply exclusively to contractors, they do not. ALL persons in control of businesses have legal duties to prevent harm to employees and others affected.
* £174 per hour for a breach of asbestos law – weigh this up against £160 per person for training to ensure your personnel do things properly. Contact WHS to book your Cat B training places (full details above).
GENERAL NEWS
PERSONAL SAFETY
The issue of lone working applies to most industries, particularly where lone travel to meetings is the norm or where work outside of normal office hours is not uncommon. And the risk issues involved are compounded significantly when called upon to work abroad.
A reminder here that the safety of all employees is the sole responsibility of the employer and the duty to risk assess all work circumstances is absolute. The first (legal) duty of any employer is to avoid risks so far as reasonably practicable, i.e. eliminate lone working where at all possible, and there are many ways this can be done, often without additional expense.
However, nobody would suggest that lone working can be eliminated completely so employers must then consider how best to reduce and control risks. Each situation will present different risks, hence the (legal) requirement to risk assess according to the prevailing circumstances. If you’re in any doubt at all about how to risk assess lone working, do contact WHS and we’d be more than happy to assist.
Do be aware that the employers’ duty of care doesn’t stop once the company shuts down each day if employees are still out and about for work purposes; care must extend until the employees are safely home or at their overnight stop. You will no doubt be aware of the multiple free apps that can now be installed on mobiles to keep a track on the whereabouts of employees or for employees themselves to summon help, and it would be wise to liaise with your staff and agree which apps suit your purposes. For example:
- The ‘what3words’ app has now become a standard tool for pinpointing locations both of premises and employees. The app is expanding all the time to provide additional and very useful facilities and can be recommended for both work and personal use. Details can be found on:
https://what3words.com/products/what3words-app - Apple itself provides the ‘Find My’ app for iphones which works even if the individual is offline:
https://www.apple.com/uk/icloud/find-my/ - And a particularly useful app is ‘Holly Guard’ which has several features enabling users to summon immediate help: https://hollieguard.com/
However you choose to control lone working issues, and for any work outside company premises or standard working hours, these apps are extremely useful for ensuring that both employers and employees’ families know where individuals are and whether something may have happened to them. Hopefully, gone are the days when families didn’t find out for hours, or even days on some occasions in the past, that something had happened to a loved one.
AND FINALLY
Work at height – as always
- Southampton Container Terminals Ltd was fined a massive £1 million plus costs of £11,665 after an employee fell 11 metres through a hole in the driver’s cab of a straddle carrier and died from his injuries. The hole had been created by contractors who were replacing a glass vision floor; the victim had been undertaking maintenance work and was not made aware of the open hole. There had been no risk assessment, no safe system of work and no permit to work system in place for the replacement work.
Although this is an extreme case, this is another issue where another reminder is appropriate. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 apply to ALL industries. ALL businesses will ‘work at height’ at some point, even if just in an office or retail environment; however, circumstances such as in this case provide ample evidence of just why the regulations are strict and apply to ALL businesses, no matter what work they undertake.
Lastly – reasons to be cheerful
WHS is now the proud sponsor of under 7s football team Nova United based in Newport, Shropshire. Let’s hope they do well in the coming season; come on lads!
WHS is working for you; help us to help you.
Our aim is to keep people safe and to keep your company working.
To contact WHS, ring: 01952-885885