Kate Gardner's newest comments

Dear Ross,

You are not required to physically undertake checks to employee's vehicles, the company is not responsible for the condition of a privately owned vehicle.

You do however need to ensure that the employee is aware of the policy, has adequate insurance etc and is aware of the risks associated with driving such as tiredness and fatigue.

Asking employees to sign to confirm they have read the policy is sufficient.

Kind regards,

Kate

Ray

http://nds.coi.gov.uk/imagelibrary/detail.asp?MediaDetailsID=268225
you can download your copy by clicking on the attached link

Linda
Health and safety law defines a young person as anyone under eighteen years of age The law on working time defines a young worker as being below 18 years of age and above the MSLA (minimum school leaving age).

Before employing a young person, your health and safety risk assessment must take these specific factors into account:
• the fitting-out and layout of the workplace and the particular site where they will work;
• the nature of any physical, biological and chemical agents they will be exposed to, for how long and to what extent;
• what types of work equipment will be used and how this will be handled;
• how the work and processes involved are organised;
• the need to assess and provide health and safety training; and
• risks from the particular agents, processes and work.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations require that young people are protected at work from risks to their health and safety which are a consequence of the following factors:
• physical or psychological capacity
• pace of work
• temperature extremes, noise or vibration
• radiation
• compressed air and diving
• hazardous substances
• lack of training and experience

Your risk assessment should focus on critical tasks which rely on skill, experience and an understanding of the task requirements.
You should provide young people with training and effective supervision, particularly where they might be:
• using machinery with exposed dangerous parts, eg food slicing machinery;
• potentially exposed to violent or aggressive behaviour.
There is no need for you to carry out a new risk assessment each time you employ a young person, as long as your current risk assessment takes account of the characteristics of young people and activities which present significant risks to their health and safety.

Hello Philip
You will need to apply the same rules to the employee in France. However, it is not necessary to visit in person, as long as you provide the support and proper training so that they can do the assessment themselves.
I hope this is helpful.
Kind regards

With regards to agency and temporary staff, L26, the HSE guide "Work with display Screen equipment" clarifies the position as follows

Host employers are responsible for

• assessing the risks to agency workers
• ensure all workstations provided comply to minimum requirements
• ensure agency worker is able to take breaks from DSE work
• Provide training to agency works about risks, risk reduction, workstation setup, breaks and training

Employment business (Agencies) are responsible for providing

• eye sight tests (on request) to the agency staff that they employ
• H&S training
• information about eye test and training

In addition agencies are required to check that the host employers are carrying out their duties (as described above)

Abby

Having checked the HSE and our local Environmental Health officer they both advise that it is acceptable to dispose of used plasters and disposable antiseptic wipes in the same way that you would dispose of any other non hazardous waste. You could also specify that you only dispose of such waste into the bins within the toilet areas rather than into general waste bins and remind staff to wash their hands if the have been handling any waste. In situations where large quantities of bio waste need to be disposed of then you should contact your local waste provider for additional guidance.

Kathryn

The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 require you to provide adequate washing facilities for staff, which includes the provision of hot and cold running water. However where you are faced with a situation which interrupts normal provision, you are required to make suitable alternative arrangements. In practice this will require you to provide some form of warm water for washing hands at easily accessible places within the workplace. Remember that if you choose to use a kettle or a wall mounted water heater then you need to make sure that your risk assessments are updated to ensure that the risk of scalds to staff is addressed.

John

It is a legal obligation to make the health and safety policy readily accessible to anyone that it concerns, however as a competent policy is typically a long document it may not be appropriate to display a hard copy. In this case it would be appropriate to display the statement of intent on the company notice board and to make the whole policy available on the company intranet. The key is to ensure that it is brought to people’s attention and they are provided with information on how and where to access the policy.

James

The loneworking guide has been published and is available to download from the workplacelaw network website via the following link http://www.workplacelaw.net/news/display/id/10872.

Louis
As an organisation you have a requirement to ensure that you provide adequate information and instruction to staff on the safe use of the DSE equipment that is provided, as well as ensuring that appropriate DSE assessments are carried out. Where you have staff who have identified that they have a problem with pain then you should be carrying out a more detailed assessment, using a correctly trained specialist DSE assessor or specialist ergonomics practitioner. Where a back problem has been identified then you may also wish to involve the specialist skills of an occupational health practitioner or ergonomist who can assist in identifying whether the existing chair is contributing to the problems suffered. There are a number of Occupational Health providers whose services you can use on an Ad Hoc basis should you decide to follow this route, and we can put you in touch with several, in addition to providing your with DSE assessors training. (Please call Workplace Law Training 0871 777 8881)

Changing to an ergonomic chair may be a solution, however for it to be used correctly the user must be trained on the importance of adjusting the chair settings both to their body and the tasks being carried out. Physiotherapists often prescribe using either ball chairs (similar to a gym balls) or kneeling stools as a solution to the back pain, often with little knowledge of what the user does of the layout of their workstation. If you decide to offer an ergonomic solution I would recommend using the services of an ergonomics specialist who can use anthropometrics (body measurements) to determine appropriate dimensions for optimum fit between people and their work environment.

As an employer you would be responsible for the health and safety of your employees at an event such as a Christmas party, even if it is not held on your premises and may be outside working hours, if the function is something you have organised and encouraged.

Just as with any other work-related activity a risk assessment should be carried out to identify potential hazards, working with the venue concerned.

In addition you should also think about some of the human resources issues that might arise at such an event. Employers can be found vicariously liable for their employees? behaviour if it takes place in the course of their employment. Anti-discrimination legislation for example says that acts committed by an employee "in the course of his employment" are treated as if they were done by the employer, irrespective of whether these actions are known about or sanctioned by the employer.

The following are issues that you should consider:

·Identify potential hazards: A risk assessment must be carried out to identify potential hazards.

·Set a party policy and issue behavioural guidelines: These should be included in the party policy and should spell out what is unacceptable behaviour, such as harassment, bullying and fighting. Employees should understand that, as this is technically a work activity, normal disciplinary procedures would be applied. It is also important to ensure that staff are aware that disciplinary action might be taken against them if they fail to turn up for work the next day, and there is reason to believe it is due to drinking too much alcohol.

·Avoid loose talk: Bosses should avoid talking about promotion, career prospects or salary with employees who may use the atmosphere to discuss matters that are more suited to a formal appraisal.

·Limit the alcohol: An employer that supplies the alcohol, or encourages its consumption may be legally responsible for the welfare of employees if they suffer from drink induced disasters - even if they occur outside of the party itself.

·Stop drink driving: As employers are responsible for employees' actions after consuming alcohol that they have provided, sensible bosses will issue advice before the party about not driving after having an alcoholic drink. It is advisable to hire a minibus for the end of the night, or provide the phone numbers of local taxi firms to demonstrate that reasonable steps have been taken to minimise this risk.

·Lose the mistletoe: The Christmas party is the perfect environment for a festive fling but this could have repercussions when employees return to work. A brief encounter under the mistletoe can cause embarrassment in the workplace and put strain on working relationships.



I hope this information is helpful. We also have a guide on our website that you may find useful:

http://www.workplacelaw.net/display.php?resource_id=3002

Based on the futher information you provided by email, our advice is as follows:

The key requirements would be to make sure that a suitable fire risk assessment for the building has been undertaken and the findings clearly communicated to all users of the site.

The pub and nightclub will be operating within the terms of their entertainment licence, which may also impose certain conditions.

The construction work is covered by the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM), so suitable risk assessments should have been completed by the client and main contractor.

The issue of the egress in an emergency needs to be clearly addressed - what other means of escape are there and how has this been communicated to users of the building? It is possible that the nightclub and pub employ their own door security staff, so they should be given information on emergency procedures to be followed while construction is in progress, especially if their usual route of escape is out of action.

The result of the risk assessment will identify if there is a need for 24-hour security.

Communication is the key.

Lindsey

When considering the amount of space that is required, you really need to understand the tasks that are being performed, the degree of both individual and co-operative working and access to and from the workstations (remember to give due regard to the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 2005). While the minimum space requirements for Health and Safety are quoted as 11m3, which equates to 4.2m2, the traditional amount of space allocated by architects and planners is 10m2, however this figure includes a proportion of the general circulation space. The British Council for Offices suggests a best practice range of between 12 ? 17m2 per person.

How you actually fit people into spaces will depend upon the shape and space of the building and how you apply organisational space standards. A space standard is the amount of space (square metres) allocated to each employee taking into account the desk, chair, local storage and immediate access to the workstation. This can be used as the minimum allocation per person, but standards to vary greatly between organisations, the most common being -

Single standard or universal footprint where all staff have the same furniture or space allocation. Makes planning simple, but only the most non-hierarchical companies carry the principle through to the most senior people in organisations

Space by seniority is the most common form, where space is allocated by management level, e.g. support staff receive 5m2, middle managers receive 7m2 and senior management receive 10m2.

Space by need is based on the job needs rather than the seniority of the job holder. Those requiring large amounts of personal storage are allotted more room and those whose work is confidential or highly sensitive are allocated cellular offices rather than open plan areas.

Space budgeting is used to calculate team areas using the total amount of individual space and then allowing the teams or departments to arrange the space as it suits their way of working. Departments of 10 with a combined entitlement of say 60m2 could then opt to have smaller personal workspaces thus freeing up space for breakout and shared meeting spaces.

Susan
Part M of the Building Regulations covers the requirements of accessible toilets under the DDA regulations. In addition the link to the following web site gives some good information and samples of accessible toilets for both wheelchair and non wheelchair users.
http://www.accesscode.info/buildings/6_9b.htm

Alan

Having spoken to the Environment Agency today, they advise that as of July 16th 2005, all fluorescent lights were classified as hazardous waste and are therefore not covered under the WEEE regulations. Disposal of tubes must be carried out by a registered waste management company at a registered waste site.

I hope this helps.

regards

Kate

It is worth checking with your local building control officer as they may have a different interpretation, but generally if the lift is used in buildings of 3 or more floors then you will need to install a talking lift. For buildings where there are fewer than 3 floors Braille only lift is acceptable.

We spoke with Richard Hinckley from Total Access (UK) Ltd and asked him to comment on your question.

Not the easiest question to answer as there is no legal threshold to work up to. A number of calculations have been conducted over the years within the Rope Access sector which relate to exposure to wind speed and chill factor and give recommended time frames between breaks during shifts.

As a rule you should not work in speeds greater than 25 knots (which can be measured using a wind speed hand held anemometer).

Some areas that they should also be considered are:

? Is the Mansafe System fully tested and certified?

? Have the Operatives been suitably trained in its use and is the correct PPE is in place?

? Is a Permit to Work in Place / Lone Working Policy for roof work?

? If a Fall Arrest System is used then is a Rescue Device and Procedure in place.

Steve

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development have produced a fact sheet on the statutory and recommended retention periods for various classes of personnel documentation. This is based on both legal requirements and good personnel practices. It was first produced in March 2000 and updated in December 2006. With regards to medical records that relate to the Control of Lead at Work Regs 1998, Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regs 1999 and the Control of Asbestos at Work Regs 1987/1998 there is a statutory requirement to retain all related medical records for 40 years from the date of the last entry.

Charles

As the landlord and manager of the space you have a duty to ensure that the fixed wiring is in a good state of repair and that your fixed wire-testing regime is in place. The tenants are responsible for their own equipment and the management of their own contractors. Contractors are responsible for carrying out their own PAT testing and it is important that your contracts make this clear. As the managing agent you can request copies of PAT testing certificates for equipment that will be used on the site by your own contractors as part of their risk assessment/ method statement process prior to works starting.

Steve

Following several discussions with a range of FM companies, it appears that there are many and varid ways of calculating resources. Some are quite simple and are based on the actual time taken to complete the works, calculated over an 8 hour day. Others are much more complex and use some very sophisticated FM software to capture and manipulate the data. In all cases the age and state of repair of the property portfolio along with the service level expectation of the users has to be taken into account. If you would like some further info, please contact me directly via the telephone advice line.

Regards

Kate Gardner MBIFM,MIIRSM, TechIOSH
Business Manager H,S & FM
Workplace Law