With both workplace deaths and health and safety prosecutions on the rise here in the UK, it appears that Britain's businesses need all the help they can get when it comes to protecting their workers and staying on the right side of the regulations. With that in mind, we should all welcome the announcement that global law firm Clyde & Co have launched a new app - named ClydeCovered - that aims to make workplace safety incidents a little easier to manage.
The ClydeCovered app is free to download, and in the firm's own words, it is "designed to take the guesswork out of whether a workplace incident is notifiable or not...and what steps an individual or business should take following an incident". More specifically, the app allows you to:
- Find out what jurisdiction you are in and who the local health and safety regulator is (e.g. the HSE in Scotland, England and Wales, and the HSENI in Northern Ireland)
- Identify whether or not an incident needs to be reported to the relevant regulator
- Create an incident report that can be saved and sent via email
- Take immediate action (e.g. first aid) in the event of a serious incident
- Contact Clyde & Co's emergency response team
At time of writing, the app only covers incidents in Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, but Clyde & Co have said that they will be rolling it out "globally" over the next few months. This hopefully means that UK businesses will soon be able to download the app and benefit from its capabilities in the event of a workplace incident.
Of course, while the ClydeCovered app sounds like the perfect tool to have at your disposal in a health and safety emergency, one thing it can't help you to do is stop incidents from occurring in the first place. As American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin once said, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure", and it's better for everyone if you work hard to prevent incidents rather than relying on an app to see you through when something happens.
Preventing workplace incidents:
- Carry out a full risk assessment of your working environment
- Take any necessary measures to minimise risk (e.g. using safety labels and signs to warn of hazards)
- Remain vigilant and carry out regular re-assessments to ensure that no new risks have arisen
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