Ever wondered how those involved in health and safety fill their time? The week ahead is very busy for my consultancy. This is how we think it's going to pan out.
Hagrid, one of my consultants, is travelling up to Leeds on Sunday to spend three days assisting a company that makes training videos with "a shoot". This follows several days work over the last few weeks reviewing and revising the script. All is ready for the final phase of this piece of work.
When Hagrid returns from Leeds, he is off to Bristol and then onto Hungerford to delivery Legionella and Asbestos awareness training. This continues a large training commitment that will take up most of the rest of this month.
John is off to Dorking to carry out some Fire Risk Assessment work and then is back to Leicester to do the same for a series of small blocks of flats with common areas. He then needs to create the reports.
Richard is off down to London, where he has picked up a lot of my Facilities Management Safety work. At least the student protests of last week did not get in the way too much.
For my part, I'm carrying out a project management task for a client on Monday as well as finishing off a paper for the Board of another client (reviewing their health and safety compliance across their sites). I will also be checking in on the progress with an update on my previous review of Health and Safety at the British Library. On Tuesday I will be delivering a day of Legionella awareness training. Wednesday involves a series of client meetings and a dental appointment. On Wednesday evening, I will be presenting my Consultancy Business to several clients of my Bank. I'll be talking about the key factors in running your own business as well as discussing how to manage health and safety.
Thursday starts off nice and early with a breakfast Networking meeting - again, promoting my business. The day continues with two schedules telephone conferences to chase progress with clients. Friday will again have an early start with more Networking.
Within the week, I also need to progress quotations for work with both new and existing clients; I need to check various reports before that are sent out; I need to review news & blog pages and sort out new content; I need to work on new PodCast materials and develop some ideas for further YouTube video; etc. I also need to address any issues as and when they arise.
Monday's Update
Hagrid reports that day one of the shoot went well, but was sapping as it involved a lot of standing around. Day two will involve film kitchen activity - the key is not to be in the way.
The telephone conference calls went well, as did the project manager review. All of the issues seem to be being progressed. The Board paper is nearly complete, it just needs two small pieces of information from the client (promised for tomorrow). Richard's sojourn in London went well, he not has the reports to put together tomorrow. Need to follow up to ensure that John got on okay in Dorking.
Tuesday's Update
Today's Legionella training course was well received by the delegates. There was lots of discussion on the risk assessments and also on record keeping. It never ceases to amaze me how tiring training is. Some time was devoted during the evening to preparing the business to business presentation (B2B) for tomorrow evening with the Bank and some of its clients. I'm hoping that this leads to contact with some interested new (potential) clients.
Feedback from Hagrid on today's filming for the training video was, again, encouraging. I'm a little envious of him for the experience, but I could spare the three consecutive days out of the business. I've been carrying out a little background research to assist him tomorrow - the power of the Internet can be useful sometimes.
Richard attended "Get Bizzing" on my behalf and reported that it was both interesting and (potentially) beneficial. In other news - report writing continues unabated and Richard has been dealing with various phone calls, and general client issues.
Wednesday's Update
Today started for me with a quick trip into the office to touch base with Richard and "delegate" a few tasks to him. I then met with a local client at 08:15 hrs to attend the start of their Board Meeting (where Health and Safety is discussed). My return to the office saw me finishing off the presentation for tonight (more later) and checking through several reports before sending them on to various clients. I dealt with a couple of enquiries and sent off one proposal for client support.
Before leaving the office to attend a dental appointment, I sorted out some invoices for some of the project clients - this is a routine task that I keep rather than delegate. Following the dental appointment, I made a few phone calls and drove over to Blaby (Leicester) where I was giving a Business to Business at a branch of HSBC to about 35 local organisations. This finished at about 20:30 hrs making today a long one. I found the experience rewarding and I'm looking forward to talking to some of the people that I met.
John enjoyed a day off and Richard was working in the office - and picking up delegated tasks! In the afternoon he set off to see a client only to have them phone and cancel while he was in transit. It doesn't happen too often, but it is frustrating. Fortunately, it was a local client.
Hagrid enjoyed the last day of the filming project, after which he called by to collect the training materials for the next two days (in Bristol and in Hungerford). Busy day for all, except John.
Thursday's Update
Well, with the working 4/5 the way through, it's good to say that most things have been achieved.
I made it to the Early Morning Breakfast meeting and renewed several good contacts. This is not a meeting that I attend regularly (it is one where I substitute into a few times a year).
I managed to chase up a lot of information for one particular client and update them in many areas. This involved an extremely long telephone discussion with one of their suppliers. The information was distilled down into a suitable spreadsheet and then emailed over.
Richard and I planned out service delivery to several clients (with a view to keeping him busy until Christmas). We discuoveed a couple of things that had been missed previously and have put things in place to keep the clients happy.
Hagrid delivered a day of Legionella Awareness training in Bristol and is travelling over to Hungerford to spend another training another group in the same subject. Five more of these sessions to be delived this month! We are alos hoping for some follow on training work.
I have put together a proposal for Food Safety Training fo nearly 250 people for next year -fingers crossed on that one!
I will have to miss the early morning Networking tomorrow as I will be taking the car into the garage for servicing. Real life intrudes on health and safety (whatever next).
Friday's Update
I was in the office early after dropping the car off for a service. So far, so good. While contemplating the day ahead, I have noticed that my writing needs to be smaller to get the ideas and actions up on the whiteboard.
Well, Hagrid completed a tough week of filming and training. He carried out the Legionella training in Hungerford and is making his week home for a well earned rest at the weekend.
Richard and John worked through various reports, submitting them in to the office for the formatting to be checked by Janice before being sent on to the client. One of these Fire Safety Risk Assessments was needed by a care home to show to the Fire Officer.
For my part, I finalised a few reports and spreadsheets for several clients and did my stint of chasing up to ensure that clients are receiving their reports on time.
I also had an interesting conversation with an Enforcement Officer with respect to an issue involving a sub-contractor to one of my clients.
Showing posts with label consultancy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label consultancy. Show all posts
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Hazardous substances or COSHH Cases
Case 1
In January this year, a bearings company was fined £20,000 (with costs of £15,000) following prosecution for exposing the workforce to hazardous substances in the form of metalworking fluids as a mist. The company was issued with an Improvement Notice, following an HSE visit in April 2007, to provide its workforce with adequate face protection, and to install adequate control measures on six machines, to prevent employees coming into direct contact with the mist. Inspectors returned in December 2007 and undertook a full safety audit across the whole site. Although the company complied with the Improvement Notice (and installed extractors on each machine) a subsequent inspection identified that the problem was more widespread and 100 other machines were also emitting metalworking fluid. Over the last five years there have been 15 reported cases of respiratory ill health (occupational asthma and extrinsic allergic alveolitis) from workers at the factory. This represents the second largest exposure of its kind in the UK at a single company.
Case 2
The UK's largest domestic manufacturer of energy and telecommunications cables and systems to service home and export markets was fined £27,500 and ordered to pay £10,700 costs, at Southampton Crown Court in September 2009. A factory worker was left with permanent disabilities and has been forced to retire on medical grounds at the age of 48 after contracting a severe form of dermatitis at his workplace. The company pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 6(1)(a), 7(1), and 7(3) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. The site produced high-voltage cables, which contained paper insulation that was soaked in dodecylbenzene oil. As part of the quality testing, the worker cut sections out of the cables and the oil regularly came into contact with his skin. The worker was not provided with suitable personal protective equipment and suffered skin irritations across large parts of his body. As a result of the illness he has been left with permanent scarring and has to avoid contact with a large number of substances that cause further skin irritation.
In January this year, a bearings company was fined £20,000 (with costs of £15,000) following prosecution for exposing the workforce to hazardous substances in the form of metalworking fluids as a mist. The company was issued with an Improvement Notice, following an HSE visit in April 2007, to provide its workforce with adequate face protection, and to install adequate control measures on six machines, to prevent employees coming into direct contact with the mist. Inspectors returned in December 2007 and undertook a full safety audit across the whole site. Although the company complied with the Improvement Notice (and installed extractors on each machine) a subsequent inspection identified that the problem was more widespread and 100 other machines were also emitting metalworking fluid. Over the last five years there have been 15 reported cases of respiratory ill health (occupational asthma and extrinsic allergic alveolitis) from workers at the factory. This represents the second largest exposure of its kind in the UK at a single company.
Case 2
The UK's largest domestic manufacturer of energy and telecommunications cables and systems to service home and export markets was fined £27,500 and ordered to pay £10,700 costs, at Southampton Crown Court in September 2009. A factory worker was left with permanent disabilities and has been forced to retire on medical grounds at the age of 48 after contracting a severe form of dermatitis at his workplace. The company pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 6(1)(a), 7(1), and 7(3) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. The site produced high-voltage cables, which contained paper insulation that was soaked in dodecylbenzene oil. As part of the quality testing, the worker cut sections out of the cables and the oil regularly came into contact with his skin. The worker was not provided with suitable personal protective equipment and suffered skin irritations across large parts of his body. As a result of the illness he has been left with permanent scarring and has to avoid contact with a large number of substances that cause further skin irritation.
Confined spaces - A couple of cases
Case 1
A silo cleaning company was fined £15,000 each of two breaches of the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 (with costs of £15,000) after pleading guilty to breaching Regulations 4(2) (failing to provide a safe system of work) and 5(1) (insufficient emergency arrangements). A worker who had not been trained in confined-space access and egress, nor provided with adequate equipment, died of heat exhaustion inside a feed silo.
Case 2
A metal-treatment company has been fined £533,000 (with costs of £200,000) following a double fatality at its manufacturing plant. The Crown Court heard that a works manager and a maintenance manager died of asphyxiation and were found unconscious on stairs leading to a concrete-lined pit after argon gas had leaked from a large pressure vessel. Following a number of false alarms, the pit’s oxygen alarm system had been silenced. This was coupled to the fact that the ventilation system was also not in operation after the machine had lost power during a power cut. The power cut happened a month prior to the incident and had not been switched back on. The HSE inspector commented “... the risks from confined spaces and asphyxiation due to the presence of argon were well-known to the company, which had experienced of a similar double fatality. Despite this warning the company failed to undertake a proper risk assessment for entry into the confined space. Although they had implemented a safe system of work and permit-to-work procedure, they had not properly trained employees in their use, or ensured that these systems and procedures were being followed through their auditing procedure.”
If you need help to manage your Health and Safety, please contact us via our website
A silo cleaning company was fined £15,000 each of two breaches of the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 (with costs of £15,000) after pleading guilty to breaching Regulations 4(2) (failing to provide a safe system of work) and 5(1) (insufficient emergency arrangements). A worker who had not been trained in confined-space access and egress, nor provided with adequate equipment, died of heat exhaustion inside a feed silo.
Case 2
A metal-treatment company has been fined £533,000 (with costs of £200,000) following a double fatality at its manufacturing plant. The Crown Court heard that a works manager and a maintenance manager died of asphyxiation and were found unconscious on stairs leading to a concrete-lined pit after argon gas had leaked from a large pressure vessel. Following a number of false alarms, the pit’s oxygen alarm system had been silenced. This was coupled to the fact that the ventilation system was also not in operation after the machine had lost power during a power cut. The power cut happened a month prior to the incident and had not been switched back on. The HSE inspector commented “... the risks from confined spaces and asphyxiation due to the presence of argon were well-known to the company, which had experienced of a similar double fatality. Despite this warning the company failed to undertake a proper risk assessment for entry into the confined space. Although they had implemented a safe system of work and permit-to-work procedure, they had not properly trained employees in their use, or ensured that these systems and procedures were being followed through their auditing procedure.”
If you need help to manage your Health and Safety, please contact us via our website
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
COSHH and smaller businesses
COSHH (the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002) is often an area for concern for businesses, especially smaller businesses. It an area of health and safety that is poorly understood and is viewed with mysticism.
Like all aspects of health and safety, small businesses need a considered approach to COSHH, but they must not assume that it does not apply to them or that it does not affect them. A simple process would be:
Like all aspects of health and safety, small businesses need a considered approach to COSHH, but they must not assume that it does not apply to them or that it does not affect them. A simple process would be:
Above all, apply common sense. For further advice and guidance, please contact us.
- review the substances present of site
- assess the hazards associated with them
- reduce the number of hazardous substances
- replace hazardous substances with safe (or at least safer) alternatives
- assess the risk from the use of the reduced inventory of substances
- implement control measures
- enforce the appropriate use of control measures
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
New Fire Safety Legislation
The Fire Safety (England) (Employees' Capabilities) Regulations 2010 came into force on 06 April 6 2010.
These regulations have been issued to close the percieved gap in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO). They require that employers delegating fire safety tasks to employees take into account the fire safety capabilities of the employees to whom these tasks are delegated. This "new" fire safety legislation formalises a duty which was (arguably) already implicitly present in the existing legislation, i.e., the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Regulation 2 of this new legislation requires the employer to take employees’ capabilities into consideration when entrusting them with fire safety responsibilities:
Every employer must, in entrusting tasks to employees, take into account their capabilities as regards health and safety, so far as those capabilities relate to fire.
This is an example of legislation being used to enforce the application of common sense. Fire safety is essential to the safe running of all businesses. If you need help with any aspect of your fire safety (or your health and safety), please contact us through our website.
These regulations have been issued to close the percieved gap in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO). They require that employers delegating fire safety tasks to employees take into account the fire safety capabilities of the employees to whom these tasks are delegated. This "new" fire safety legislation formalises a duty which was (arguably) already implicitly present in the existing legislation, i.e., the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Regulation 2 of this new legislation requires the employer to take employees’ capabilities into consideration when entrusting them with fire safety responsibilities:
Every employer must, in entrusting tasks to employees, take into account their capabilities as regards health and safety, so far as those capabilities relate to fire.
This is an example of legislation being used to enforce the application of common sense. Fire safety is essential to the safe running of all businesses. If you need help with any aspect of your fire safety (or your health and safety), please contact us through our website.
Friday, 6 November 2009
Marketing: Safety-Matter
How do you want to be found?
This is not meant in some deep, dark or sinister way but more in a Marketing sort of a way. In particular, how will your customers find you?
How do you want prospects (or potential new clients) to find you and your company. In my case, it's as a Health and Safety professional (or consultant) in Loughborough, Leicestershire or in the East Midlands. I am looking for people who (whether they know it or not) are looking for a health and safety consultant to help them with health and safety, fire safety, food safety or other risk assessments needs, etc. I am also looking for, people who are looking for ongoing health and safety advice. I have written this down to help me to clarify me thoughts on these matters rather than to provide any other reader with words of wisdom.
So, have decided what I want, the next thing is to think how to go about find these people. Who are they? Where will they look? How will they find me?
Who?Owners and managers of businesses, or directors of larger businesses.
Where will they look?
The web. Google. Search engines. In their post (real and email).
How will they find me?
Well, my intention is not to make it too difficult for them. I will be increasing by virtual and real marketplace presence
One of the purposes of this blog is to help to crystallise some of my thoughts. I need to improve my chances of been found by those who are looking for health and safety advice, guidance and consultancy.
I'm looking forward to spending more time doing health and safety work, including fire safety risk assessments for new clients in the East Midlands. If this is what happens, then it will be because of marketing focus.
Newsletters
I've always steered clear of writing Newsletters, despite the fact that I create a lot of content through various pieces of work. Recently, I have put aside my reservations and "gone for it". If you would like to look at my first foray into Newletters, please look at this. This Newsletter deals with the changes in January to the levels of fines for Health & Safety Offences and provides various cases where things have gone wrong.
My second Newsletter (produced in April) deals mainly with fire safety. While I'm quite pleased with the products, it does create the next problem - where do we go from here? Are there any areas that you would like to see covered? Please let me have your comments and feedback.
Slips, trips and falls may be worth a go - the HSE campaign is still running and it is still a major cause of injury. Importantly, it is also something that can be improved on with very little cost - although effort is required. There are some useful (and free) tools available from the HSE website.
This is not meant in some deep, dark or sinister way but more in a Marketing sort of a way. In particular, how will your customers find you?
How do you want prospects (or potential new clients) to find you and your company. In my case, it's as a Health and Safety professional (or consultant) in Loughborough, Leicestershire or in the East Midlands. I am looking for people who (whether they know it or not) are looking for a health and safety consultant to help them with health and safety, fire safety, food safety or other risk assessments needs, etc. I am also looking for, people who are looking for ongoing health and safety advice. I have written this down to help me to clarify me thoughts on these matters rather than to provide any other reader with words of wisdom.
So, have decided what I want, the next thing is to think how to go about find these people. Who are they? Where will they look? How will they find me?
Who?Owners and managers of businesses, or directors of larger businesses.
Where will they look?
The web. Google. Search engines. In their post (real and email).
How will they find me?
Well, my intention is not to make it too difficult for them. I will be increasing by virtual and real marketplace presence
One of the purposes of this blog is to help to crystallise some of my thoughts. I need to improve my chances of been found by those who are looking for health and safety advice, guidance and consultancy.
I'm looking forward to spending more time doing health and safety work, including fire safety risk assessments for new clients in the East Midlands. If this is what happens, then it will be because of marketing focus.
Newsletters
I've always steered clear of writing Newsletters, despite the fact that I create a lot of content through various pieces of work. Recently, I have put aside my reservations and "gone for it". If you would like to look at my first foray into Newletters, please look at this. This Newsletter deals with the changes in January to the levels of fines for Health & Safety Offences and provides various cases where things have gone wrong.
My second Newsletter (produced in April) deals mainly with fire safety. While I'm quite pleased with the products, it does create the next problem - where do we go from here? Are there any areas that you would like to see covered? Please let me have your comments and feedback.
Slips, trips and falls may be worth a go - the HSE campaign is still running and it is still a major cause of injury. Importantly, it is also something that can be improved on with very little cost - although effort is required. There are some useful (and free) tools available from the HSE website.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)