Julian Wilkinson's newest comments

BY rights you will need to have a PRS licence even for the tv with a tv licence, before anyone questions it.

Remembering this is Forum for Members, the response provided by Workplace Law has been niggling me because I think in relation to the question it presented the worst possible scenario without even knowing anything about the premises that could cause unnecessary worry. After all the question was only about a few members of staff suffering from dry eyes, yet the response was Sick Building Syndrome, also implying that SBS is perhaps an infectious illness, along with mentioning legionnella and asbestos.

Yes I agree SBS was a buzz term that derived from the 80's especially when some buildings had been neglected so much so that the heating ventilation and air conditioning systems had numerous faults so to quantify them all the term SBS was used.

For many years now there has been much legislation in place to ensure companies maintain their premises in a safe and appropriate manner in the interest of the health and welfare of its employees. In addition to employers duties, the HSE and local EHO's have been conducting their own inspections of premises on a regular basis such as cooling tower inspection to ensure they are safe and maintained properly, not forgetting EPC certificates and independent air conditioning inspections.

Sometimes too much information or maybe surfing the internet for information can be a dangerous thing especially when there isn't a full understanding of the situation, the numbers of people, type of premises, type of HVAC or work processes.

James, thanks for replying to my question, but I can see you are now in the very capable hands of Alan and Martin

Hi R

more of a concern is perhaps the infringement on your safety, how is this so?

James

do you mean like an outside court yard entrance or the main entrance to the building itself?

Hi Anoop

Lux levels for DSE users or nowadays 'the standard office' should be between 200 and 400 but on average its 200 lux as most people don't like it too bright.

I agree with your break times but its also helpful to have some posters around that show various stretching exercises people can do.

phew......

If you have a lot of electronic equipment this is a source of dry heat therefore ventilation and humidity levels need to be checked as these are often the cause of dry eyes etc. Fresh air should be purified and a minimum of 20% whereas humidity levels should be between 40% and 70%. I suggest you speak to your Facilities Manager/maintenance contractor or an independant company that undertake air quality assessments.

Ok I realise that you may incur a parking fine without prior notice but i was just trying to make the point of asking a direct question.

Yes you can get points for illegal parking, for instance leaving a vehicle on zigzag lines near a pedestrian crossing = 3 points. Parking on diplomat parking bay was also 3 points but not sure if they still exist or not.

Any form of driving or parking offence is down to the driver and not the owner of the vehicle, so in reality its up to the driver to deal with it initially. In some cases the driver as well as a fine may even incur points for illegal parking.

If the leasing company pays in advance of reclaiming from the driver's company, for the driver its always easy to say ' I want to contest it' as the fine has already been paid thus putting all parties in an awkward situation.

Why didn't the driver report it to his manager he had received a parking fine and wanted to contest it before anything was sent to the leasing company?

Hi Ryan

It depends on the risk, i.e small children, depth, the design of the edges etc.

A good place to start is ROSPA they provide a guidance note on pond safety that will help (link below)

http://www.rospa.com/leisuresafety/adviceandinformation/watersafety/pond-garden-watersafety.aspx

Hi Stephen

in my experience

I would expetc to be able to claim expenses for travel, food etc although if they know its going on through lunch time they should provide lunch

As for additional hours, in my book 'you win some you lose some'

There is probably nothing to say that your findings cant be on one template, however If there are sets of regs that denote a risk assessment then really they should be kept separtated for clarification.

Fire
DSE
Manual Handling
First Aid
Workplace
PUWER
Working at Height
etc

There is nothing wrong when walking around carrying out generic RA's but I would say that your final ones should be separated to show that your RA has been designed specific to the task or environment.

A body of rights, obligations, and remedies for example Acop's, Health and Safety at Work Act, British Standards etc that is applied by courts in civil proceedings for persons who have suffered harm from what they believe to be the wrongful acts of others which is known as tortious conduct.

The person who sustains injury as the result of tortious conduct is known as the plaintiff, and the person (or company) who is responsible for inflicting the injury and incurs liability for the damage is known as the defendant or tortfeasor.

Just to clarify my interpretation of the original question

It was the fact that although the licence showed driving convictions but they were no longer valid because they had expired.

1. Clean licence means = no points
2. spent convictions, yet still printed on licence = Clean licence
3. There is no legal requirement to update your licence to have spent convictions removed, most will only do this when they change address and offences are updated automatically. Remember the old paper version came back just with a line struck through previous offences.
4. Q 'Do you have a clean licence?' no points = 'yes'

To perhaps stop or delay this person from employment seems a bit harsh to me.

Jim I agree unless you are in the world of elf 'n' safety that is....

If it was one of my staff I would do nothing (days off unpaid or paid etc) until the staff member explained fully what is going on, after all he may have just been caught up in something that is of no fault of his own and innocent but the police do have to do thier ground work. However if it proves that he is a guilty party and charged with an offence then I would look to go down the road of bringing the company into dissripute rather than worry about a day or two paid or unpaid.

Hi Mark

I dont think it is in the UK, however if the rep has to travel across the EU then it will be a legal requirement country by country so to speak

If the convictions on the licence have expired then he actually has a clean licence without the need for disclosure.

I would say that whatever rate of pay you are on now, for the timebeing at least.

Do you see this as an opportunity to progress in your career? if you prove yourself that you can cover when its needed you will gain the recognition for it then in time....................

Paula is absolutely right here, if this person is going to gossip about someone's expenses then where does it stop, next its going to be about people's salaries, bonuses, sickess payments, bank account details etc etc

Expenses of course can be questioned but that must be through line management where all parties can maintain a sense of confidentiality. I would say that this person in could be in breach of confidentiality and even gross missconduct