‘Health and safety gone mad’; that well-worn phrase that’s nearly as high up on the Daily Mail’s list of go-to headlines as ‘x gives you cancer’. People love to point to supposed incidents of over the top safety regulations as evidence of a growing nanny state culture in Britain.

In reality, these stories that make the headlines tend to be exaggerated at best and are just plain made-up at worst.

In response, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has created a site dedicated to debunking the myths about Health and Safety regulations.

Even these guys have to wear hard-hats sometimes

Whilst some might seem quite funny, it is a serious issue that has badly damaged the reputation of Health and Safety as a concept. People believe these myths to be fact and then begin to view Health and Safety as over the top. This leads to people ignoring health and safety regulations on the whole, which results in an increase in serious injuries and deaths that could have otherwise been prevented.

As such the HSE is committed to disproving these wild claims in order to maintain the necessary regard for Health and Safety overall. Each month they choose a different myth and set out to prove that it has no actual basis in fact.

In that vein, we thought we’d come up with 5 of our favourites that the HSE has managed to disprove.

Need to learn or brush up on your Health and Safety regulations? Our Health and Safety courses are accredited by IOSH, the world’s biggest health and safety membership organisation.

Read the rest of "Health and Safety Gone Mad: HSE Myth Busting"

Posted by Andy Trainer in Health and Safety, News on November 9th, 2012| 4 Comments »

We are pleased to announce the addition of Risk Assessment Training to our Health & Safety training options. It’s our second IOSH accredited course, joining our highly popular IOSH Managing Safely training course.

The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) is the only Chartered body for health and safety professionals in the world, and currently we are the only organisation to offer an IOSH accredited Risk Assessment course!

At the end of our 1-day IOSH Introduction to Risk Assessment training course you will be able to carry out effective, comprehensive risk assessments that meet industry standards. You will also take a short practical test at the end of the day resulting in an IOSH Risk Assessment certificate.

IOSH Risk Assessment Course Dates

The first available dates for our brand new Risk Assessment course are:

• 3rd October 2012
• 10th December 2012

If those dates aren’t suitable for you then it is also possible to arrange a private session either at your premises or at our training centre in Brighton. Please call us on 01273 622272 for a tailored quote. Read the rest of "NEW! Risk Assessment Training Accredited by IOSH"

Posted by Andy Trainer in Brighton, Health and Safety, News on July 23rd, 2012| 1 Comment »

Meeting government requirements for Health and Safety, of course, has the ultimate goal of protecting your employees from harm. You would not want a workplace accident on your conscience; or to feel responsible for long-term effects from work on someone’s health.

Further to this, having staff trained in IOSH Managing Safely means reduced insurance premiums, enhanced local reputation, increased productivity, reduced absence, and protects you against legal costs – or even imprisonment!

Within the company, the role of managing health and safety usually falls to a manager or supervisor. It is vital that they undertake training in Health and Safety law and practices in order to fulfil this role and protect the rest of the staff.

Here’s some more on those ways that following Health and Safety practices can benefit your business:

1. Reduced Insurance Premiums

Proving that you have managers who are trained in Health and Safety issues will reduce your insurance premiums because, of course, it means you are less likely to make a claim. Not only that, but the actions taken to prevent injury or illness will mean those premiums stay low because no claims are made. Read the rest of "5 Benefits of Health and Safety Training"

Posted by Andy Trainer in Health and Safety, News on May 2nd, 2012| 1 Comment »

Part of achieving your IOSH Managing Safely accreditation involves completing a project assessment about your workplace.  Here we’ve put together our guide to help you complete the assessment.

Each stage of the process will be covered thoroughly during the IOSH Managing Safely course, giving you plenty of time and opportunity to ask the trainer if you are not sure about anything.  The course is arranged so that you are able to complete the project bit by bit over the four days.

The project assessment is based on your own work environment.  The person marking the assessment will not be the trainer who taught you and will not know anything about your workplace.  While this gives you some valuable licence, which may be helpful, you will need to make sure you explain clearly things which may be obvious to you and those who work around you.  You also need to be consistent as each part of the assessment relates to the others.

As with all assessments, the best advice is to read carefully what each of the sections requires and take your time.

To gain the accreditation there is also a multi format exam to complete, we’ve put together some tips for completing the IOSH exam.

The project consists of a series of six forms you will need to complete and these follow a logical sequence: Read the rest of "Completing your IOSH Project Assignment: Help"

Posted by Andy Trainer in Health and Safety, News on July 22nd, 2011| No Comments »

Hazard Checklist – Location

Part 2 of our guide to completing your IOSH Project assessment looks at completing the Hazard Checklist.  On this sheet you are asked to identify three hazards associated with aspects of the workplace you have described in Part 1:

Description of the location

• Give a short, but adequate description of where the hazard is, making sure it makes sense in relation to your sketch /description of your workplace in Part 1.

Description of the hazard

• Only a short description is required, but it must relate to the location just identified.

Number and occupation of people affected

• Don’t forget to give the number, as well as the occupations of the people who may be affected – eg “ 3 engineers” or “1 secretary”
• Also, don’t forget to fill in the Company, Department and Site name at the top of the form.

Risk assessment recommended (Yes or no required)

• If, for some reason, you don’t recommend a risk assessment, you will need to explain why.  It is much easier to select a location and hazard that does require a risk assessment and tick the “yes” box!

Posted by Andy Trainer in Health and Safety, News on July 22nd, 2011| No Comments »

Part 3 – Hazard Checklist: Equipment and Substances

This should be completed in exactly the same way as for Part 2.

Description of the Equipment or Substance

• Give a brief description of three pieces of equipment or substances.  A brief description is all that is required, just make sure you use pieces of equipment or substances you have already identified in Part 1.

Description of the hazard

• Only a short description is required, but it must relate to the equipment or substances you have identified.

Number and occupation of people affected

• Don’t forget to give the number, as well as the occupations of the people who may be affected – eg “ 3 engineers” or “1 secretary”
• Again, the Company, Department and Site name must be completed at the top of the form.

Risk assessment recommended (Yes or no required)

• As before, if you don’t recommend a risk assessment, you’ll need to explain why.  It is much easier to select some equipment or substances that do require a risk assessment and tick the “yes” box!

Posted by Andy Trainer in Health and Safety, News on July 22nd, 2011| No Comments »

Part 4 – Hazard Checklist: Activities

This should be completed in exactly the same way as Part 2 and Part 3.

Description of the Activity

• Give a brief description of three activities.  A brief description is all that is required, just make sure you use activities you have already identified in Part 1.

Description of the hazard

• Only a short description is required, but it must relate to the equipment or substances you have identified.

Number and occupation of people affected

• Don’t forget to give the number, as well as the occupations of the people who may be affected – eg “ 3 engineers” or “1 secretary”
• Again, the Company, Department and Site name must be completed at the top of the form.

Risk assessment

• For this sheet, all the activities must require risk controls, otherwise you cannot satisfactorily complete the rest of the project and will lose a great many marks as a result.

Posted by Andy Trainer in Health and Safety, News on July 22nd, 2011| No Comments »

Part 5 – Risk Assessment Form

This section is worth quite a few marks, so it is worth working through carefully.  It looks quite complicated at first, but it is really only an expansion of some of the information you have already given in the previous sheets.

During the training you will have studied risk assessment in detail and will be familiar with this form by the time you get to the project.

Work activity

• Make sure you use the work activities you have identified in Part 4.  If you don’t, you won’t score any marks at all for this sheet!

Hazard, hazardous event and expected consequence

• Three things are required here, for example “corrosive substance leaking from container resulting in burns to hands” or “use of display screen equipment for prolonged periods causing musculo-skeletal strain”.

People affected

• Look back to Part 4 to see what you entered there and make sure you are consistent.

Assessment of risk

• Use numerical values, rather than descriptive ones, or H/M/L.

Posted by Andy Trainer in Health and Safety, News on July 22nd, 2011| No Comments »