Having trouble with your RE-CHAS?

Each application for CHAS is treated as a new application, this is so that your paperwork can be assessed on a yearly basis to ensure that you comply with the latest Health & Safety Legislation. We often get calls from companies saying that the paperwork they have submitted last year has not been accepted this time around.

If you submit documentation that CHAS do not think is up to the standard they need to pass, they will provide you with a list of actions. This will be sent out to you by your appointed CHAS assessor.

The documentation will go into detail to let you know what you need to provide as additional information, there are a number of actions you can then choose:

• Compile the documentation yourself
• Purchase the documents needed and complete it independently
• Contact a Competent Health & Safety Consultant who can provide you with the information needed as well as advice

We can do your CHAS with you starting at £300 + vat for less than 5 employees.

Having trouble with your RE-CHAS? support

As a Health and Safety Consultant we are happy to look at your documentation and bespoke the responses based on your business please get in touch if you would like our help on 0800 031 5404.

The difference between Safety Advisor and Competent Person

The main difference between a safety advisor and a competent person within your business (eg someone who seems themselves as competent) is that the safety advisor needs to be qualified to at least NEBOSH or IOSH standards.

A competent person may be competent at running a construction site but not the health and safety management of the site, unless they have the above qualifications.

When a business has more than five employees, health and safety legislation states the company must employ a competent person who is competent in health and safety. A person who is competent in the health and safety management of the business. This person will hold health and safety qualifications such as NEBOSH or IOSH.

Ensuring you have the right level of support and advice for your Health & Safety is a bit of a mine field and can be defined simply by the number of employees you have.

Less than 5 employees = Safety Advisor

This service is where you are offered support and advice when needed, this tends to be a one of payment where you will be given a service agreement, certificate and a CV to show the qualifications of the person who is providing you with the advice. Paperwork such as off the shelf risk assessments and risk assessments and Method statements would be provided on an as and when basis should you need them.

More than 5 employees = Safety Competent Person

This service is where you pay a monthly retainer fee for continued support and advice should you need it. This service is where your consultant becomes part of your business and should be informed of anything that changes within the organisation. In this service you will be provided with a full Safety Management System including full Health & Safety Policy, Equal opportunities policy and Staff handbook. Your consultant will be on hand to be the link between you and the HSE should this ever be necessary.

Whilst not every company is black and white like this the rule of thumb tends to be the details above. You may be asked by a client to prove you have a dedicated support for Health & Safety resource as well as a policy with less than 5 employees if that is the case you would need fall outside of the rule.

If you are not sure about your personal circumstances please call 0800 031 5404 during working hours or complete the form using this link. We are happy to go through everything with you.

Working at Height Training

Working at height training is critical as trips and falls within business remains one of the biggest causes of major injuries and fatalities. The most common causes include falls from ladders, roofs and through weak surfaces.

The definition of ‘Work at height’ is working anywhere; if there were no measures in place, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury (for example, a fall off a ladder when you are working on a roof).

Your responsibilities?

As an employer, you are responsible for ensuring that all work carried out by your employees has been carefully planned, looking at the risks involved. These should then be measured using a risk assessment and method statement to ensure that you are doing everything possible to manage the risk by adopting the avoid, prevent and minimise rule.

Do’s and don’ts of working at height

Do….

• Ensure that when working at height, there is a safe route to and from ground level.
• Try to do as much of the work required from ground level.
• Ensure all equipment is suitable and maintained.
• Ensure extra precautions are taken when working near weak surfaces.

Don’t…

• Overload ladders refer to all mechanical information that is provided to ensure the machinery is fit for purpose.
• Overreach on ladders or stepladders
• Rest a ladder against weak surfaces, e.g. glazing or plastic gutters.
• Use ladders or stepladders for strenuous or heavy tasks; only use them for light work of short duration (a maximum of 30 minutes at a time)

Get your people working at height trained.

Book them onto a  Working At Heights E-Learning training program to protect yourself from prosecution and keep your people safe from trips and falls.

Our E-learning courses can be taken on-site, which is very easy to do and very economical. You can try one for FREE to see the quality.

The Importance of Safe Manual Handling In Your Business

Learn the essentials of safe manual handling to reduce injury risks associated with lifting and moving heavy loads effectively. All manual work involves lifting and handling to some extent. Although mechanical equipment should be used whenever practicable, much of the work will inevitably continue to be done manually. The risk of injury can be greatly reduced by a knowledge and application of correct lifting and handling techniques and by taking a few elementary precautions.

Manual handling relates to transporting or supporting of a load (including lifting, putting down, pushing, pulling, carrying or moving thereof) by hand or by bodily force” It is the most common recognised reason for injury at work.

In any case, it’s not simply ‘pulling something’ because of the heaviness of an item, injuries can be brought on in different causes, for example:

• Reaching and lifting over your head
• Long carrying distances
• Twisting
• Bending
• Any poor stance positions
• Lifting or carrying objects with awkward or odd shapes

Over 20% of all accidents occurring in the UK Construction Industry each year involve injuries sustained whilst manually lifting and handling materials or equipment. This incorporates Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs), e.g. injuries or pain in the body’s joints, ligaments, muscles, nerves, tendons, and structures that support limbs, neck and back. Manual handling injuries can happen anyplace inside of the working environment; However, manual labour, existing injuries and unbalanced stance positions can increase the risks.

Manual handling can have consequential implications for the employer and for the individual who has been injured. The employer may bring about some significant expenses, for example, sickness payment, lost production, retraining of a brief labourer, over time to cover the absence and, possibly, compensation. The injured individual may find that their capacity to carry out their occupation has been influenced and their way of life may need to change.

In this manner, it is basic that you must consider the risks and where there are risks, regulations apply.

The Regulations establish a clear hierarchy of measures:

• AVOID handling operations involving risk of injury
• ASSESS operations involving risk of injury that cannot be avoided
• REDUCE the risk of injury e.g. using handling aids and provide information on the load
• REVIEW the assessment

Employers Duties

• Carry out a Manual Handling Assessment
• Reduce risk of injury
• Replace Manual tasks where possible
• Introduce mechanical aids

Employees likewise have responsibilities:

• Make proper use of equipment & follow safe working systems
• Co-operate with their employer
• Ensure others are not put at risk
• Avoid tasks likely to cause injury
• Co-operate with the employer to reduce the risk of injury to themselves and others

Safe manual handling training

Review our safe manual handling online training course.

Safe manual handling RAMS

Buy our manual handling risk assessments and method statement

There are numerous routes in which manual handling can be maintained, see the HSE’s brief guide on manual handling.

Falls from Height

Learn the strategies preventing falls from height. Falls from height continues to be the largest causes of major injuries and fatalities.  About 4000 working at height-related accidents occur each year at work and the most common cases are falls from ladders and through fragile services. Alarmingly, two thirds of all major injuries at work are caused by ‘low falls’ A low fall is a fall from a height below 2 metres.  A high fall is a fall from a height of more than 2 metres.

Top Tips for Preventing Falls from Height:

1. As with all work activities, a suitable and sufficient risk assessment is key to preventing falls from height. The planned activity and location should also be assessed immediately before work takes place, in case there have been any changes since the original assessment took place. The above case is a good example, in terms of missing panels that had not been put back following previous works.
2. All parties involved should be made aware of the findings of the risk assessment, so there needs to be procedures in place to ensure good communication of the hazards, control measures and any changes to the planned works.
3. In terms of control measures, eliminating the need to work at height is usually the best option. However, in reality, that isn’t always possible. Use suitable work equipment such as a working platform, or an existing safe area with a permanent guardrail, and make sure workers can reach it safely.
4. All works should be supervised, and the job undertaken by competent staff. Assessing someone’s competency would include looking at their experience, knowledge and skillset, as well as their qualifications.
5. Consider both personal and collective measures to minimise the distance and consequences of a fall, where some risk does remain, such as fall arrest equipment or safety nets.

Most falls from height can be prevented, by ensuring proper planning of the work and by selecting the right equipment for the job. When equipment is not suitable, it can lead to workers finding other ways to complete the job, which can have fatal consequences.

Working at heights training course

If you are still unsure and would like to look at refreshing your knowledge we offer an working at height e-learning course for you to sit whenever is convenient for you.

You can download HSE’s Working at Height Brief Guide Here