Safety Matters June 2021
The H&S Dept
Back to the office: your safety checklist
The end of lockdown may have been delayed, but it buys further time to plan a safe return to work for you and your employees. The important thing is not to rush the transition. Even when restrictions are lifted, COVID safety measures will still be necessary for the foreseeable future.
These are set out in the government’s secure guidelines for offices and contact centres. The guidelines include eight steps that all employers should take when reopening an office:
Complete a COVID-19 risk-assessment
As always, your first step should be carrying out a risk assessment. This should consider the safety of both employees and visitors, paying special attention to vulnerable people. Be sure to share this risk assessment with colleagues and give them an opportunity to flag up additional risks you may have missed.
Clean frequently
Cleaning remains an effective strategy against COVID-19 transmission. You should clean the office regularly, focusing on communal spaces and frequently touched areas. Hand sanitiser should be provided for colleagues and visitors, and regular hand washing should be encouraged.
Enforce mask wearing
Mask wearing is still compulsory in indoor public spaces for anyone who isn’t medically exempt. You may want to put up signs to remind visitors of the law.
Maintain social distancing
The current guidelines still require people to stay at least 2m apart unless further control measures are in place. Consider putting up signs or implementing a one-way system to help enforce this.
Increase ventilation
COVID thrives in enclosed spaces so it’s important to provide adequate ventilation. You can create natural ventilation by opening doors and windows, or you can use fans and ducts to circulate fresh air from the outside mechanically.
Take part in Test and Trace
You should record the names and contact details of all staff and visitors and pass them on to the NHS Test and Trace team if asked. These details should be destroyed after 21 days.
Look out for symptoms
Any employees with a high temperature or a persistent cough should be sent home and told to self-isolate. Any visitors with these symptoms should be turned away.
Consider the mental health of your employees
The prospect of returning to work will be a daunting one for some employees. Talk to your staff about their anxieties and try to calm their fears. If employees are continuing to work from home, be sure to make regular contact to prevent feelings of isolation.
Please don’t rush your return, make sure it is done safely. These are only the minimums you should be considering and certain scenarios will require specific control measures. If you need advice on reopening safely, we’re here to help.
RIDDOR: Why it is vital to report accidents
A recent prosecution has shown how important it is for employers to report accidents to the HSE. The head of a construction company was jailed for 24 weeks after failing to report an incident in which an employee’s leg was crushed by an excavator. As well as failing to notify the HSE, the employer had also failed to provide adequate safety training.
As you probably know, the reporting of accidents is covered by RIDDOR (The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations). Employers must report serious accidents, occupational diseases and certain types of near miss within ten days. You can do this through a form on the HSE website.
Reporting accidents is important for two reasons. It helps you to identify areas of risk in your own workplace and introduce safety measures to manage them. It also allows the government to spot recurring dangers in certain industries and create legislation in response.
Does your equipment meet health and safety standards?
The HSE recently prosecuted a Nottingham metal manufacturer for failing to keep one of its forklift trucks in good working order. This led to an accident in which an employee was trapped between the truck and a rack of metal pipes. The company was found guilty of breaching the Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) and fined £80,000.
PUWER doesn’t just apply to heavy machinery. It covers work equipment of all kinds, whether you own it or simply use it. The definition of “equipment” is broad, encompassing everything from power tools to computers. Even if you work in a low-risk environment, you need to make sure that everything is properly maintained.
The full regulations are highly detailed, but the basics are simple. You must ensure that all equipment is in good repair and is checked regularly. Equipment should only be used for its intended purpose, and only by those who are properly trained. If the safety of a piece of equipment depends on its correct installation, you should inspect it after it is installed and before it is used, this includes an accompanying safety measures – for instance guards on machinery.
If you have any questions about PUWER and how it applies to your workplace, don’t hesitate to ask us.
Returning to the office? Don’t forget about fire safety and first aid
Despite delays to the end of lockdown, many employees will be returning to the office over the summer. This will create a number of challenges. Both the layout of your office and the working patterns of employees are likely to have changed. Desks will have been rearranged to facilitate social distancing and staggered shifts may have come into force. This means you may need to modify some of your existing safety measures.
This is especially true in the case of fire safety. You should perform a new fire risk assessment to make sure that evacuation routes are still clear, and to spot any new fire risks that may have been caused by rearranging the office.
Workplaces are still required to appoint fire safety wardens to assist the designated “responsible person”. You should check your shift patterns to make sure that there are sufficient wardens. Official guidance acknowledges the need for some flexibility. You may consider consolidating workers in one area to reduce the number of wardens required, if social distancing permits.
First aid may also be affected. In this case, your legal obligations are the same as ever. As a minimum, all workplaces should have a first aid box and someone in charge of restocking it. More hazardous workplaces may require first aid-trained colleagues on site. Once again, a risk assessment is the place to start. This will help you identify any gaps in first aid cover and find ways to fill them.
Mythbusters – back to the office
With employees set to return to the office over the summer, health and safety guidelines will be more important than ever. H&S legislation does not reach as far as some people like to make out though. Here are two office-based myths that were submitted to the HSE myth buster panel, where H&S law was wrongly cited.
Weighty matters
An HR manager refused to buy weights for the company gym on the grounds of “health and safety”. There is nothing in health and safety legislation that prohibits the use of weights in a gym. In fact, the provision of workout equipment is likely to have a positive effect on employee wellbeing. There may have been a good reason for the decision, but it had nothing to do with health and safety law.
Breath of fresh air
In another case of H&S scapegoating, office employees were forbidden from opening third floor windows. It may be necessary to lock high windows if there is a genuine risk of someone falling out, but these windows were safe. Instead, the decision seems to have been an attempt to hide problems with the office’s air conditioning system. It is better to have an open conversation about an issue rather than just blame health and safety.
