by Clair Mooney | Feb 1, 2022 | Health and Safety
As part HSE’s ongoing Working Minds campaign, spot checks will be conducted to inspect how employers are recognising work-related stress – to help support and sustain good mental health in the workplace.
To help you support employees with stress and stay on the right side of the law, the Health & Safety experts of FIS Associate Member Citation, have put together an exclusive guide on stress risk assessments – including how to recognise the signs of stress and assess the risks involved.
DOWNLOAD HERE: https://tinyurl.com/fis22stress
FIS member benefit
If you’d like to chat about how Citation can help with the HR and Health & Safety side of your business, just give them a call on 0345 844 1111, or fill in their call-back form and they’ll get right back to you.
Please quote ‘The Finishes and Interiors Sector’ when enquiring to access your member benefit and preferential rates.
by Clair Mooney | Oct 1, 2021 | Health and Safety
HSE’s inspectors across Great Britain will be targeting construction firms to check that their health standards are up to scratch during a month-long inspection initiative, starting on Monday 4 October 2021.
This year inspections will focus on respiratory risks and occupational lung disease, looking at the control measures businesses have in place to protect their workers’ lungs from construction dust including silica, asbestos and wood dust. This is part of HSE’s longer term health and work strategy to improve health within the construction industry.
While the primary focus will be on health during this programme of inspections, if an inspector identifies any other areas of concern, including immediate safety risks, they will take the necessary action to deal with them.
Inspectors will be looking for evidence of employers and workers knowing the risks, planning their work and using the right controls. If necessary, they will use enforcement to make sure people are protected.
The initiative will be supported by HSE’s WorkRight campaign, aimed at influencing employer behaviour by encouraging builders to download free guidance and advice, increasing knowledge and capability to protect workers’ health.
More than 3,500 builders die each year from cancers related to their work, with thousands more cases of ill-health and working days lost.
HSE’s chief inspector of construction, Sarah Jardine, said:
“Around 100 times as many workers die from diseases caused or made worse by their work than are actually killed in construction accidents.
“Our inspection initiatives ensure that inspectors are able to speak to duty holders and visit sites to look at the kind of action businesses in the construction industry are taking right now to protect their workers’ health, particularly when it comes to exposure to dust and damage to lungs. These are mature health challenges that the industry ought to be managing effectively.
“There are a few simple things that everyone can do to make sure they are protecting their health and their future. Be aware of the risks associated with activities you do every day, recognise the dangers of hazardous dust and consider how it can affect your health. We want businesses and their workers to think of the job from start to finish and avoid creating dust by working in different ways to keep dust down and wear the right protective equipment.”
HSE is being supported by the Health in Construction Leadership Group (HCLG) and Tier 1 industry contractors. Throughout October 2021, HCLG members will carry out more than 1,000 site visits to assess the effectiveness of measures in place to controls workers’ exposure to respiratory risks from dust. Findings from site visits and a survey will allow industry to feed into HSE’s broader commitment to improve the health of construction workers by providing HSE with a wider dataset to evaluate ongoing practices across industry.
HSE and industry Insights will support HSE’s strategic plan to broaden the range and depth of future regulatory health interventions.
For more information on the programme of inspections visit the Work Right campaign website: https://workright.campaign.gov.uk/campaigns/construction-dust/
by Clair Mooney | Sep 30, 2021 | Health and Safety
A new international standard on mental health, ISO 45003, has been published to provide guidance on managing the psychological health of the workforce as part of an occupational H&S management system. It is available free of charge to SMEs and other organisations can purchase it from BSI.
by Clair Mooney | Sep 30, 2021 | Health and Safety
HSE is continuing to carry out spot checks and inspections on all types of businesses, in all areas, to ensure they are working safely to reduce the risk of COVID.
During the spot checks, HSE provides advice and guidance to manage risk and protect workers, customers and visitors. However, where some businesses are not managing this, we will take immediate action.
This can range from providing specific advice, issuing enforcement notices, and stopping certain work practices until they are made safe. Where businesses fail to comply, this could lead to prosecution.
HSE recently prosecuted a construction contractor following a spot inspection.
Working to manage the transmission of COVID means businesses need to conduct a risk assessment to understand the measures they may require to protect workers and others. Further information is available on working safely during the pandemic.
by Clair Mooney | Aug 16, 2021 | Health and Safety
The Construction Industry Coronavirus (CICV) Forum of which FIS is a key member, has issued another in its series of engaging advice videos, reminding workers how to keep themselves and others safe as the COVID-19 restrictions are relaxed.
The 90-second animation is the latest in a string of easy-to-follow Forum films designed to help construction workers protect themselves and their colleagues, customers and families after Scotland moved out of Level 0 last week.
It follows the Forum’s warning last month that the sector is “not out of the woods yet” and that each worker has a vitally important role to play in continuing to maintain good hygiene.
Among the practical advice, the animation reminds construction professionals to make sure they’re vaccinated, register with Test and Protect, take regular lateral flow tests and familiarise themselves with the rules around self-isolation.
While on-site, it also reminds them to carry out thorough risk assessments, keep work spaces ventilated, wash hands, tools and surfaces regularly, continue to observe physical distancing and wear appropriate face coverings where required.
Rebecca Crosland, Chair of the Forum’s Health and Safety group, and Head of Health & Safety at the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA), said:
“With the recent relaxation of COVID-19 rules, we are now entering a new phase where it is still vitally important to be careful both in our professional and personal lives.
“This video is designed to remind construction professionals that it’s vital not to forget the lessons learned so far, and of the practical steps they should all keep taking to protect themselves and their customers, colleagues and loved ones.
“Make no mistake – COVID-19 is still a very real threat and we can’t afford to relax yet. However, hopefully this will serve as a practical reminder to familiarise themselves with the latest government advice and continue carrying out the safe working practices that have been adopted over the past 18 months.”
The new guidance follows a range of other informative Forum videos that have helped to steer the sector through the pandemic, including advice on face coverings, guidance on travel and information for those carrying out domestic work.
The video was developed by Iain Mason, Chair of the Forum’s Communications sub-group and Director of Membership & Communication at SELECT, another leading member of the Forum, he said:
“Since the CICV Forum began in March 2020, our animations have proved to be highly effective in delivering vial health and safety messaging, and we hope this new video will continue to get more important advice across to construction professional everywhere.
“It’s been heartening to see how people across the industry have pulled together to get us through the past 18 months, and as we enter this new phases we must ensure that we all continue with this level of cooperation and collaboration.
“This latest animation continues the Forum’s key message that we are all #InThis Together and the importance of workers taking personal responsibility to protect themselves, their colleagues and the wider community.”
The CICV Forum is made up of 29 trade associations, professional services bodies and companies. Since its inception, it has maintained a steady supply of information and practical advice to the sector as well as carrying out surveys, producing animations and posters, hosting webinars and speaking with government ministers.
Last month it issued a secure site risk assessment template and close working checklist to help construction professionals plan for projects, with both available to download for free from the Forum website.
- Watch the new video here.
by Clair Mooney | Aug 12, 2021 | Health and Safety
The HSE formal consultation exercise on amendments to the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (PPER) will close on Sunday 15 August.
The aim of the consultation is to understand the impact on stakeholders and businesses of extending the scope of employers’ duties under the PPE Regulations to workers and not just employees.
The consultation can be accessed here.
Background information
HSE is currently consulting on plans to extend the requirement of employers under the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (PPER) to include the provision of relevant PPE to all workers, not just employees. This consultation is launching on Monday 19 July 2021 and running for 4 weeks and can be accessed via the HSE Consultation Hub from this date.
The aim of the consultation is to understand the impact on stakeholders and businesses of extending the scope of the employers’ duties under the PPER to workers and not only employees.
Why is the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) making changes to the regulations?
In November 2020, a judgment was handed down in a High Court case brought by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) against the Secretaries of State for Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Department for Work and Pension (DWP), which decided that the government had failed to transpose elements of the EU’s Framework Directive (which sets out the minimum standards for health and safety through a series of general principles) and the EU’s Personal Protective Equipment Directive (which sets out the minimum health and safety requirements for the use of personal protective equipment in the workplace for workers) into UK law.
The UK implemented the PPE Directive through the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (“PPER”) which places duties on employers to their ‘employees’ in regard to PPE. The High Court found that the PPE Directive required these duties to be extended to ‘limb (b) workers’ and not only ‘employees’. Therefore, HSE is making amendments to the PPER in order to align with the court’s judgment.
“Limb (b) workers” are workers who do not work under an employment contract but work under any other contract whereby they undertake to personally perform work or services for the other party to the contract.
What does this mean?
Employers will have a duty to provide all workers with the same health and safety protections in respect of PPE as they do currently for employees.
Options on how to achieve the extension of the provisions to workers in the legislation will not be presented during the consultation as the key legislative changes are being made to align with the court decision.
FIS is gathering information from our membership on the impact of these changes via this survey here.
As part of the process we are asking your views and trying to understand what the cost implication may be on your business. Please submit your response by Friday 6 August so we can consolidate the information from our community and send it across to the HSE.
