Welcome
Welcome to our October Health and Safety Brief – your plain English health and safety update.
In this edition we provide information on:
- Recent changes to First-Aid at Work training
- Brief pointers towards limiting the likely effects of Swine Flu
- Prosecutions for failure to safeguard young people in the workplace
First Aid Changes
Changes to first aid at work (FAW) training announced in April 2009 came into effect on 1st October 2009.
From the 1st October the four-day first aid at work course (FAW) is reduced to three days. The rationale being that with the streamlining of first aid protocols, such as Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and casualty movement, students would spend less time away from work. There is still a need for the two-day FAW requalification, taken within three years of the initial training, and this is unchanged.
A new qualification is introduced, Emergency First Aider in the Workplace (EFAW), which requires one day of training and is aimed at lower risk premises, whilst the FAW is aimed at higher risk sites.
Additionally, the HSE recommend all first aiders (FAW & EFAW) attend a three-hour Annual Refresher (AR) course – designed to prevent skill fade as it is established that life saving skills fade over time if not used or practiced.
Other changes relate to risk categories of premises with regards to the provision of first aiders. The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 (still the current key legislation) places level of risk categorised as low, medium, or high. From 1st October these reduce to just two categories, low and high, see table below.
The basic requirement is still to base your workplace first aid requirements and provisions on sound risk assessment of your work activities. Consider things such as:
- Type of work – shift work?
- Accident and ill health records – what types of accidents have occurred/ where did they occur
- Premises/Site – separate buildings, large areas, isolated or remote areas
- Distance from emergency services
Suggested numbers of first-aid personnel to be available at all times people are at work
From your risk assessment, what degree of hazard is associated with your work activities? |
How many
employees do you have? |
What first-aid personnel do you need? |
Low hazard
eg offices, shops, libraries |
Less than 25 |
At least one appointed person |
25-50 |
At least one first-aider trained in EFAW |
More than 50 |
At least one first-aider trained in FAW for
every 100 employed (or part thereof) |
Higher hazard
eg light engineering and assembly work, food processing, warehousing, extensive work with dangerous machinery or sharp instruments, construction, chemical manufacture |
Less than 5 |
At least one appointed person |
5-50 |
At least one first-aider trained in EFAW or
FAW depending on the type of injuries that
might occur |
More than 50 |
At least one first-aider trained in FAW for
every 50 employed (or part thereof) |
For more information on the changes or first-aid risk assessment please click the links below:
Swine Flu
With government warning that the autumn would see an escalation in the outbreak of swine flu many organisations are taking stock and making contingency plans.
It is considered that in most cases where the sufferer has no other complications the symptoms of the illness will be mild and no more than that of seasonable flu. But even if the symptoms are mild and the illness recoverable, absences of up to 35% of the workforce at any one time could have serious implication to the viability and safety of an organisation
To limit transmission within any group of workers, the health authorities have been pushing the message about good hygiene: “catch it, bin it, kill it” has been the advertising and poster campaign; and emphasising washing hands and hard surfaces correctly.
Checklist (based on NHS source):
Organisational points to consider for reducing transmission from an individual with symptoms of influenza like illness (ILI) to healthy or susceptible people in the workplace:
- Raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of flu and the need for individual with symptoms to self isolate
- How best to manage people with flu like symptoms in the workplace
- Promote an environment where staff who become unwell feel that they can stay at home until well
- Consider alternatives to direct meetings and visits e.g. phone, or video conferencing
- Encourage proper use of respiratory etiquette and hand hygiene
- Where practicable avoid direct contact, where possible, maintain a distance of more than a metre between staff and customers/visitors
- Where social interactions are unavoidable, those with symptoms should minimise close interactions and direct contact.
Organisational points to consider for preventing the risk of healthy or susceptible people becoming infected;
- Raise awareness of the importance of respiratory etiquette and hand hygiene
- Consider the practicability of the effective use of social distancing within the work environment
- Reduce face to face meetings wherever possible and only undertake essential travel
- Encourage use of telephone or video communication or conferencing
- Consider use of home working where this would be a practical option
- Identify individuals who may be at particular risk e.g. pregnant, or having a predisposing medical condition such as asthma, diabetes; and deploy to areas where contacts are minimal
Where planning your organisational response, keep in mind that however mild their symptoms, some staff will need to take time off work and stay at home for a few days. They may also need to look after sick members of their family, or their children if school is closed. They may not be able to get to work if transport is disrupted.
If you are planning for people to work from home because they are either at special risk or are critical to the business continuity, make sure that a risk assessment for home working has been prepared beforehand.
Follow the link below for more information
www.dh.gov.uk/en/publichealth/flu/swineflu/index
Young Workers
Recent case law has caused employers to focus attention on the health and safety and welfare of young persons. The HSE website reports that between 1996 and 2001 there were 54 fatal accidents involving people under the age of 18.
In 2008 the British Safety Council called for health and safety to be made a part of the school national curriculum to educate young people and reduce the number of accidents involving them in the workplace. This call could now gain the support of employers and the general public in light of recent incidents coming to court.
A young 17-year-old girl received severe burns and blisters after her hand slipped into hot fat while scraping oil from a donut fryer in Dinky Donuts. In the ensuing investigations it was revealed that the employer had failed to provide her with relevant safety training and had failed to carry out a young persons risk assessment. The employer Dinky Donuts was fined £4000 and ordered to pay costs of £1390 at Teeside Magistrates court in August 2009, for six other breaches of health and safety law.
A 17-Year-old mechanic almost lost his arm after crashing a forklift truck into a lorry trailer at William West, a haulage firm depot in Nottingham. He had never been trained to operate the vehicle and was not authorised to do so. In July 2009 the company was fined £27,000 and ordered to pay costs of £29,000 after pleading guilty to failing to provide adequate training and allowing unauthorised use of forklift trucks.
A 16-year-old employee on summer holiday placement with Holdsworth Packaging, a Sheffield based firm, lost three fingers in a rolling press while making cardboard boxes. The company admitted failing to assess machine risks and completing a young persons risk assessment. They pleaded guilty to two health and safety offences and were fined £12,000 with £1800 costs in July 2009
Most significant though was the recent case of a 15-year-old boy who was crushed to death after being left unsupervised to prop up a falling wall. He had been working on a casual basis for Colin Holtom on a large refurbishment and landscaping project. In July 2009 Holtom pleaded guilty to gross negligence manslaughter and was sentenced at the Old Bailey to three years imprisonment
These cases suggest a tendency for some employers to take a relaxed approach towards the health and safety of young persons or temporary/casual staff. But the fact is the courts are likely to make an example of those who fail to ensure young persons safety and welfare in the workplace.
Increased penalties (including imprisonment for directors and senior managers) under the Health and Safety (Offences) Act 2008, and other existing legislation designed specifically to protect young persons, seem to offer the enforcing authorities varying options when deciding whether and how to prosecute an employer for workplace accidents involving young people.
Take a moment to check your arrangements if you employ young persons, have you:
- Carried out or prepared a young persons risk assessment
- Paid regard to their general inexperience, attitude and perception of risks
- Informed their parents, guardian, or school, college, etc, of the risk assessment findings and arrangements
- Provided or arranged for adequate induction and relevant training
- Arranged appropriate supervision
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