H&S

[dombanks]

Does anyone know if there is any legal requirement to keep certain H&S activities and courses up to date. such as manual handling/working at heights etc. I know radiation and first aid need to be maintained but I'm struggling to find out if I have a requirement to refresh my staff other than as a result of review or incident?

 

I've always had to do these courses but then I change employer regularly so it might just be a result of that. I find it amazing that someone can manual handling course in 1995 and an employer is not expected to keep this up to date with current legislation. from one point of view I don't want my staff hurting themselves but from another I don't want to leave the university open to financial compensation if an accident does happen and we are at fault for incorrect training!

 

(im not interested in any rhetoric regarding the insidious nature of H&S in the workplace... its here and we have to abide by it whether or not we agree with it, im only interested in my responsibility to my work force)

 

 

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

If you had an accident then you would need to show that the person was trained and competent to carry out the task.

 

This will either be by experience or some form of specific training.

 

It is always difficult to prove experience and this is why most companies ask for a certificate as evidence of training that has been carried out to a specific standard.

 

Your Risk Assessments will highlight any risks and from this you can look at the appropriate training required.

 

www.hse.gov.uk has a wealth of information.

 

The MAC tool on the HSE website is brilliant for manual handling assessments. 

 

Does your university not employ a safety advisor or an independent advisor that you could speak with for guidance.

 

This will help you with working at height.

 

http://www.hse.gov.uk/work-at-height/faqs.htm#comply-with-work-at-height-regulations

 

 

How do you decide if someone is 'competent' to work at height?

You should make sure that people with sufficient skills, knowledge and experience are employed to perform the task, or, if they are being trained, that they work under the supervision of somebody competent to do it.

In the case of low-risk, short duration tasks involving ladders, competence requirements may be no more than making sure employees receive instruction on how to use the equipment safely (eg how to tie a ladder properly) and appropriate training. Training often takes place on the job, it does not always take place in a classroom. 

When a more technical level of competence is required, for example drawing up a plan for assembling a complex scaffold, existing training and certification schemes drawn up by trade associations and industry is one way to help demonstrate competence.

[D7PNY]

General stuff is all about prooving competence and mainly 'best practice' guidance on frequency of training.

We refresh health and safety with manual handling and asbestos awareness every 2 years for all site staff (building firm) but this is over and above any specific training for individuals.

Any dealings we have had with HSE has always been about showing good training programme in place and best efforts being made to ensure safety and education etc.

Dave

[D7PNY]

Ps. Who is your insurer? Might be worth speaking with them as ours offers a portal with various training courses F.O.C for staff to watch and it records scores for tests etc at the end and reminds when required again.

A very cost effective and flexible way of keeping things up to date.

Dave

[dombanks]

We do have a safety services but they are "Undecided" on stuff like this. It's a throw back to when policy was lax and the service was very hands off. More reactive than proactive.

Think of it along the lines of "if we don't have a schedule or policy then we can't be held accountable to one"

I think I've pretty much decided that all of my people will be going on relevant courses whether or not thy want to or not. they are free as it's classed as staff development and from the looks of it no one has done anything for over 5 yrs.

Frankly the lack of line management in the technical service is astonishing even for my inexperienced eye. unpicking it is a real ongoing headache.

[jeff oakley]

We make sure all our staff are trained upon joining in manual handling. If they get a bad back, we retrain.

You should also keep all training records for 7 years after the staff leave, this is the period where the ambulance chasers can make claims. They do like to hit you with claims as most companies do not keep them, or do anything at all.

The key thing is having good quality risk assessments, if you do these 90% of accidents go away as you will always get people who live dangerously regardless of what you tell them.

H&S can be a pain in the A*** but getting a staff member injured is in a whole world of pain for every one

[dombanks]

Thanks Jeff.

H&s is only a pain in the A*** when interpreted therefore implemented wrong or a jobsworth uses it as a stick to stop stuff.

We have a wide and varied safety need over my departments so it keeps me on my toes.

In my job description it was a simple one line "act as cluster safety coordinator" lol ... easy if your the maths dept. Most dangerous thing they have is a sharp pencil!

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

I thought maths departments weren't allowed sharp objects any more!

Seriously though, you're generally right about H&S, daft half made up/miss-reported scare stories in the press aside, most H&S absurdities are caused either by someone missintepreting rules for their own agenda, or applying them heavily handededly and often out of context, to cover their own "risk averse" backs.

[corsechris]

Like most sound ideas, it's been perverted by idiots.