Introduction to H&S and Accidents & Ill Health
Hi there, welcome to our very first toolbox talk here on the Grow Training blog.
If you don’t know what a toolbox talk is then check out our article; What’s the deal with Toolbox talks.
In our Toolbox talk series, we will take you through some different topics that we find are essential to recap, often!
We’ve covered some basics, and given recommendations to what knowledge you need to ensure that your employees take from the talk.
As this is our first Toolbox talk here on the blog, we’d love to hear your feedback.
Here we go, and let us know how you get on?
Introduction To Health and Safety
Health and Safety in the workplace is vital to protect the wellbeing of employees, visitors and customers.
As an employer you need to take the right precautions to reduce the risks of workplace dangers and provide a safe working environment as you are responsible for health and safety in your business.
A solid health and safety plan should be in place to not only protect people from harm, but also protect the future success of your business.
Whatever sort of business you are, there is always the possibility of an accident or damage to someone’s health.
All work exposes people to risks and hazards, be they:
- manual handling
- dangerous machinery
- toxic substances
- working with electricity
- psychological hazards such as stress or depression
Make sure your employees understand:
- The benefits of H&S for themselves
- The benefits of H&S for the business
The Cost of Health and Safety Failure
Workplaces that neglect health and safety risk prosecution, may loss staff and may increase costs and reduce profitability.
Injuries impose “human costs” e.g affecting the person’s quality of life, or at worse, loss of life.
And “financial costs” e.g loss of production, healthcare costs
Key figures for Great Britain (2015/16) [HSE]
- 1.3 million working people suffering from a work-related illness
- 2,542 mesothelioma deaths due to past asbestos exposures (2015)
- 137 workers killed at work (2016/17)
- 72,702 other injuries to employees reported under RIDDOR
- 621,000 injuries occurred at work according to the Labour Force Survey
- 30.4 million working days lost due to work-related illness and workplace injury
- £14.1 billion estimated cost of injuries and ill health from current working conditions (2014/15)
Make sure your employees understand:
- The statistics of deaths and injuries in the workplace
- The costs of health and safety failure
What We Mean By ‘Risk’ and ‘Hazard’
A risk is the chance that a hazard could cause harm.
A hazard is something in your business that could cause harm to people. They are considered to be potentially dangerous activities, processes or substances, such as chemicals, electricity and working at height.
The most common hazards are:
- Working at height
- Slips trips and falls
- Working with chemicals
- Working with machinery
- Asbestos.
However, depending on your workplace there may be other hazards that aren’t as common.
Ask your team what the most common workplace hazards are:
- e.g slips, trips and falls
How To Identify Potential Hazards
It is vital to accurately identify the potential of hazards in your workplace.
A great idea is to walk around your workplace and think about areas that could have hazards.
Other ways of identifying hazards are:
- checking instructions and labels on chemicals or substances to see if they are hazardous,
- reviewing how often maintenance takes place in case something could potentially break down or cause issue in between.
Ask your team if they know of any other ways to identify hazards in your workplace
- E.g looking at your accident and ill-health records
Risk is a part of everyday life and you can’t be expected to prevent it all. However it is your responsibility as an employer to eliminate or decrease risks to the best of your ability.
The best way to do this is to decide what the main risks are, how likely they are to cause harm and the things you need to do to manage this.
Ask your team if they know of any hazards currently in the workplace:
- e.g think in terms of slips, trips, falls, working with chemicals etc
How To Prevent Hazards
Consider what preventable measures you have in place already and ask yourself if there is more you can do? If you can get rid of the hazard altogether?
Some ideas can include:
- Blocking off the hazard area
- Issuing protective equipment
- Involving and consulting with workers to make them aware
- Organising work to reduce exposure to the hazard
Ask the team for any other ideas that they might have:
- e.g use a cable bridge or staple the cable to the walls
Planning For Health and Safety
Planning is key, without a plan in place you will struggle to implement any health and safety procedures.
You must consider what it is you want to achieve in terms of health and safety for your business.
Set some goals with your team of what you want to achieve:
- e.g No accidents in 2017
You need to address the sources that could cause harm, if you have a current preventive measure in place, and if that is doing enough.
Discuss with your team where they believe there are risks in the workplace:
- e.g The delivery bay – can’t see around the sharp corner
Ideas to fix the problem:
- e.g place a mirror in the corner so you can see around it
You need to delegate roles and responsibilities
Delegate roles such as:
- Who you should report to when an accident occurs
- Who you should report to when their has been an accident
- Who is the fire warden
Note that a lot of the time this might be the same person.
You will need to plan a review process to measure if you have achieved what you have set out to do.
Once you have set your goals put in place a time or date to check them.
- Review accident log book at the end of every month
And finally you will need to plan when and how you make the improvements or adjustments to your health and safety plan.
Make weekly or monthly plans for what you want to tackle and when:
- January 18 – Review the delivery bay
Accidents and Ill Health
If an accident does take place in the workplace then it is important to report and keep a record of the injuries, incidents or work-related diseases.
This process is done under the law of The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR).
It requires the employer to report and keep records of:
any reportable death, injury, occupational disease or dangerous occurrence
all work-related injuries that result in a worker being away from work or unable to do their full range of normal duties for more than three consecutive days (not counting the day of the accident but including any weekends or other rest days)
What Is A Work Related Accident?
An accident is a separate, identifiable, unintended incident that causes physical injury within the workplace.
There must be an identifiable external event that causes the injury.
Ask your team for examples of an accident:
- e.g an object falling from a shelf and hitting someone
What Is Work-Related Ill Health?
Work-related ill health is any health condition caused or made worse by your job. E.g cancer, asthma, skin complaints, stress, back pain
This can include sudden and physical injuries, such as backache, RSI, asthma, certain cancers, hearing loss and eye strain.
Or mental ill health issues including stress, depression or anxiety.
This can be brought on by overwork, unacceptable pressures, bullying and intimidation, harassment, or from hazardous exposure to certain chemicals e.g solvent sprays.
Ask your team ideas to prevent this:
- e.g making sure people take their breaks
Why Is Reporting and Recording Important?
Not only is it a legal requirement but it means you can later identify where and how the risk arises and if it needs to be investigated further.
Information on accidents, incidents and ill health can be used as an aid to risk assessment, helping to develop solutions to potential risks. Records also help to prevent injuries and ill health, and control costs from accidental loss.
Discuss with your team:
- Who you report the accident to
- How you report an accident
