health and saftey

• HSE


  Health and Safety Executive, Britain's national regulator for workplace
• Role of HSE


  • Beyond worker protection to include public assurance
  • Work to ensure people feel safe where they live, where they work and in their environment
  • Aim to reduce deaths and injuries
• How HSE works


  1. Provide information to clients such as measures to exclude unauthorised persons

  2. Plan what form the perimeter will take

  3. Provide fencing

  4. Maintain fencing
• Duties of employers within HSE

  • Ensure health and safety welfare at every workplace
  • Provide for employees, recently check machinery
  • Ensure shifts for employees are 6 hours apart
  • Have emergency plans with first aid
  • Control exposure to harmful substances
• Duties of employees


  • Uphold the equality act
  • Adhere to safety procedures
  • Report any hazards
  • Be initiative-taking in the workplace
• Duties of self-employed


  • Uphold the general health and safety act
  • Mitigate risks
  • Uphold the general premises (temperature, hygiene)
  • Ensure work does not put themselves or others at risk
• Duties of designers and manufacturers

  • Ensure all equipment for use at work is designed and constructed to be safe
  • Conduct relevant conformity assessment procedure
  • Ensure products are labelled and have batch/serial numbers
  • Indicate where the package should be sent
• Powers of the HSE

  • Enter premises without notice, taking measurements samples and photographs
  • Require an area to be left and seize or destroy items
  • Take statements and obtain information
  • Review health and safety records
• Improvement notice


  Inspector notices the employer of something they should improve in a practical way with a time frame
• Prohibition notice


  You should stop the activity at once as it breaches the health and safety legislation
• Duties of employees under MHSWR

  • Report any shortcomings in health & safety arrangements
  • Report dangerous situations
  • Use equipment in accordance with training and instruction
  • Take reasonable care of their own health & safety and those of others
• Duties of employers under MHSWR

  • Identify the risks and take steps to control or mitigate them
  • Appoint at least one competent person for health and safety
  • Ensure employees are not given tasks beyond their competence
  • Collaborate with other employers on health and safety
• Reasonably practicable


  Doing what you can do to ensure the health and safety of workers and others
• Public liability protection


  Covers injuries and damage claims brought against your business by a third party
• Employers' Liability Insurance


  Covers the costs of employee claims for illness or injury caused by their work due to employers' negligence
• Types of insurance for subcontractors

  • Equipment Damage cover
  • Third party Property Damage cover
  • Worker's Compensation Insurance
  • Automobile liability insurance
  • Builders risk insurance
  • Surety Bond
  • Roofers' insurance
• Difference between public liability and employers' liability

  Public liability covers third party, but employers' liability covers employees
• Approved codes of practice

  Give legal advice on how to comply with the law
• Risk assessment steps


  1. Identify the hazards

  2. Decide on who may be harmed or how

  3. Evaluate the risk and decide on the precautions

  4. Record your findings and implement them

  5. Review and update risk assessments
• Hierarchy of controls


  • Elimination
  • Substitution
  • Engineering controls
  • Administrative controls
  • PPE
• Breach of duties under section 2 to 6 can result in a maximum sentence of £20,000 fine in the magistrates' court
• Costs not covered by insurance


  • Sick pay
  • Lost time
  • Damage or loss of product and raw materials
  • Repairs to plant and equipment
  • Overtime working and temporary labour
  • Production delays
  • Insurance investing time
  • Fines
  • Loss of contracts
  • Legal costs
  • Loss of business reputation
• RAMS stands for risk assessment and method statements
• HAVS stands for hand arm vibration syndrome
• Method statement


  A step by step documented procedure to inform you on how to complete the task safely
• Method statement


  • Identify the parts that could potentially cause injury
  • They are intended to be used by the people who carry out the work, therefore, they should be as user friendly as possible (non-technical vocab), otherwise they are likely to be ignored
• Contents of a method statement

  • Job
  • Revision number
  • Date
  • Description of works
  • Tasks
  • Time
  • Duration
  • Sequence
  • Location
  • Resources required (equipment/plant, materials and weights)
  • Supervision and certificate
  • Assessment of risk (access/egress, place of work, other risks)
  • Control measures (permits, security, specialty training, other)
  • PPE (required by law and by the risk assessment)
• Method statements are important because

  • They save time and money
  • Increase productivity
  • Give a competitive edge when competing for projects
• Risk assessments and method statements are mentioned together how ever they are not the same thing a risk assessment analysis the risk whereas a method statement identifies how to control the risk and complete the task.