Health and safety at the office
Why is it necessary?
Over two hundred people are killed at work every year while several hundred thousand others endure serious injury. Around 23.4 million business days were lost in 2009/10 because of work-related illness. The biggest cause of deaths are falls from height and being hit by motor vehicles in the workplace. Meanwhile slips and trips are a common source of injury.
Controlling health and safety effectively
Companies need to be capable to manage health and safety and in doing this they must be completely concious of the hazards which are evident in the workplace, be capable to deal with those risks and be sure that the risks stay manageable.
It would be unreasonable to expect a company to remove all risks, it can’t be achieved, but what it can do is at first identify the risks and then control them adequately. It does this through risk assessment that all businesses have to undertake.
In assessing the hazards a business needs to look at each individual scenario and assess how severe the injury could be, who could be harmed and how likely that was. The hazards can be anything with the possibility to do harm. In considering the risk, it’s not solely the workers who have to be in mind; casual workers, part-time staff and trainees all need to be borne in mind.
The law
It is law that firms with five or even more staff must make a record of their risk assessment this includes the main hazards recognized, who’s most vulnerable and what more must be done and why. Although it is a legal necessity, companies do need a practical perception of the primary dangers inherent in their work.
Among the legislation that businesses should abide by is the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 which says that firms need to ensure the safety and health of others and applies to all work activities and office space. The act states the duties the employer has to satisfy with regards to safety and health, and also those duties that are held by employees, contractors and people in general.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 will also apply to each and every workplace and stresses that all dangers must be examined and modifications made if required. In addition, it states that steps ought to be taken to enhance safety processes at all opportunities and that instruction ought to be given in a way as to minimise the potential risks of hazardous scenarios happening.
Additionally, all businesses need to keep to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) with the firm having to report any work-related incidents, illnesses and near-miss incidents, whilst the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 which place a obligation on companies to make sure that the place of work is safe and appropriate for the duties that are carried out there.
It’s also necessary for companies to display a poster giving simple health and safety information that also lets other people, often visitors to the premises, know who the person in charge of health and safety is. Generally the bigger the company the greater information and guidance it’ll need with safety and health.
Additional action to be taken
As well as all of the actions to be taken, such as risk assessments, conforming to the appropriate acts and regulations, the better companies will also discuss issues of safety with their employees, letting them raise any problems of concern. By taking a more comprehensive approach to the complete problem of safety and health, employers can help be sure that workers take the matter seriously and that dangers are minimised as a result.
I’m now a accident at work claims professional, doing work for an online based claims company. I produce articles about this section of law which people don’t generally know how to take care of and hopefully they can benefit people with my insider information.

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