The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) recently conducted a month-long inspection programme to take a closer look at health and safety on Britain's construction sites. Its findings? 40% of the 1,748 construction sites visited failed the HSE's spot-checks. Worse still, 20% of the sites visited were so dreadfully non-compliant that the HSE was forced to pursue formal enforcement action against them - that's almost 350 sites in dire violation of basic health and safety laws!
Clearly, this country's construction industry needs to make more of an effort to protect its workers. Building sites can be very dangerous places, with all kinds of accidents just waiting to happen. Height safety was the area most commonly found lacking by the HSE's investigation, with workers repeatedly failing to take the measures necessary to prevent dangerous falls - this is particularly shameful, as height hazards tend to be very obvious and relatively easy to put right.
If you work on or are responsible for a construction site, you share in the responsibility to improve this dismal showing. Keep your eyes peeled for potential hazards, and if you see anything that you wouldn't want the HSE to see, act immediately! Health and safety regulations aren't there to cause headaches - they're there to save lives, and when all it takes is a safety sign or a strip of warning tape, there really is no excuse for letting your H&S standards slide.
Last week, BBC News reported on a proposal from the Sentencing Council that could see businesses in England and Wales hit with £20 million fines in cases of corporate manslaughter. If approved, this proposal will allow for signficantly harsher penalties on corporations whose negligence leads to a person's death.
In a nutshell, this means that companies could soon be paying a far higher price for fatal health and safety violations. This would make basic H&S measures more crucial than ever - many injuries and, yes, even deaths could have been prevented by such mundane things as safety labels and hazard warning signs. If the maximum fine is raised to £20,000,000 then corporations will be keener than ever to comply with regulations and provide a truly safe environment for their employees and the general public.
Really, though, the money shouldn't enter into it. If it takes a multi-million pound fine to make companies care about protecting human lives, we need to start asking some serious questions about those companies. The potential for fatal injury should be more than enough to spur business owners into action, and so while the BBC News report does indeed give companies an additional incentive to take health and safety seriously, we at Label Source would like to think that it will make no difference to responsible companies, who will always see the loss of life as a far graver penalty than any financial punishment.
Hand and Arm Vibration Syndrome can cause significant ill health resulting in long term injuries, affecting the nervous system. This then can lead to numbness in fingers and arms, muscular aches and pains and changes in sensation. This can then be followed by Raynaud’s phenomenon , a painful and disabling disorders of the blood vessels, nerves and joint. Raynaud’s Phenomenon is triggered off buy cold weather, resulting in fingers turning white and cold; then to a blue colour then red. Symptoms can progress if you continue to work with power tools.
Are you at risk of hand and arm vibration syndrome?
Working with any hand held power tools such as
· Concrete breakers
· Hammer drills
· Chipping hammer
· Chainsaws/ hedge trimmer
· Powered mowers
· Needle guns
Then the answer is, yes.
Continue to use these tools and symptoms can become permanent.
Label Source can also help by preventing Hand and Arm Vibration Syndrome. We provide a range of hazard warning safety signs to be displayed in and around the workplace, and labels to be applied to equipment, ensuring that you are taking to right procedures when handling vibration tools. This includes high vibration risk, vibration safety levels and low, medium and high assessment levels. We also provide inspection tags to ensure you that your tools have been maintained.
If you are worried that you are at risk or may be putting someone at risk by not displaying safety signs please contact our sales office:
On 08003761693 in the UK
or +441443842769 for International calls outside of the UK
or email us on sales@labelsource.co.uk
The European parliament described needle sick injury as ‘one of the most serious health and safety threats in European workplace’. Especially for people working in the healthcare sector where injuries occur at any time when handling needles, syringes or any other needle equipment, which are disassembled or disposed. Other occupations which can also be affected are carers, cleaners and tattoo artists.
The European Agency of Occupational Health and Safety estimates that 1 million needle stick injuries occur every year. This then makes workers more vulnerable and at risk to catching deadly viruses such as hepatitis B and C and HIV. These injuries can expose workers to over 20 different blood borne diseases, as even small amounts of infectious fluid can spread certain diseases effectively, also an injury can cause psychological distress, which is caused by the fear that they may have been infected.
Label Source wants to help you prevent needle stick injuries in the workplace. We provide a range of signs informing you of how to prevent any injuries. Signs which are displayed around the workplace informing people to dispose of used sharps and needles, wear disposal gloves, hand protection, clinical and hazardous waste, clean area and report all accidents, can prevent needle stick injuries from accruing. Our first aid poster, preventing injuries from sharps and needle stick are considered a part of the routine practises by healthcare workers, and other handlers of sharps; so make sure you are following these routine best practices with the help of Label Source.
Back in 2012, the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) announced that it would be testing a new 'Fee For Intervention' scheme. Under this new initiative, the HSE began to recoup its costs from the businesses that they investigated; previously, these costs were covered by the taxpayer.
Now, almost two years later, the 'Fee For Intervention' scheme appears to have been a success. The HSE's latest report states that "FFI is working effectively and should be retained", adding that "those who fail to meet their legal obligations should pay our costs".
Most will welcome the news that lazy business owners are to foot the bill for their own neglect, and while the FFI scheme has attracted its share of controversy - some business owners have suggested that the HSE will no longer be impartial if their rulings are directly linked to their own revenue - businesses who are mindful of health and safety regulations should have nothing to fear.
On the other hand, those businesses who aren't so safety-conscious should be very concerned indeed. If the FFI really is here to stay (and this looks to be the case), the news should act as a wake-up call to anyone who thought they could get away with cutting corners forever. Perhaps these business owners will sit up and take notice now that it's their own money at stake!
If your business isn't already compliant with UK health and safety law, here are some (though not all) of the areas you'll need to address:
It's never too late to start being safety-conscious. Get your workplace up to standard ASAP, or be prepared to foot the hefty FFI costs!
