Add You - Ensuring the Legal Standard of Health & Safety in Your Business

So what exactly do you need to cover in your workplace? It’s all very well putting the equipment and workers you need into a room with some desks, but just like setting up a hamster cage – you need to be aware of safety concerns. Luckily though, it’s unlikely you’ll have to worry about your employees trying to gnaw their way out…

So what do you need to look into? Follow these guidelines and you can be sure your workplace falls under government requirements to ensure you do everything you can to make your business safe and healthy for workers and the environment.

1. Fire Safety
It’s highly likely that your local fire station will have a designated Fire Safety officer who will be more than pleased to talk to you about fire safety in your workplace. The kind of things they’d be asking you to look at are escape routes, fire-fighting equipment (which requires regular maintenance), emergency lighting, staff training, storage of flammable materials, fire alarms and fire-resistant doors and walls.

Some businesses require a fire certificate – this is you if your workplace is a public place (restaurant or shop), has more than one business operating in the same building, or employs more than 20 people (or more than 10 of your people work above or below the ground floor).

New legislation coming into effect in 2006 will also require that your Fire Safety is put in the hands of a responsible person at your workplace. Designating those responsibilities to one of your employees can be efficient delegation, and also of course increase staff morale (by demonstrating confidence in their abilities).

By far though, the best first step is to get in touch with your local Fire Officer. Phone the non-emergency fire station number and ask them for some information.

2. Risk Assessment
Every workplace is expected to carry out risk assessment, in order to ensure that every precaution has been put into place. If there are more than five people in your office, you are also expected to record your risk assessments and store them for reference.

When carrying out your assessment, you should be looking for potential hazards such as trips or falls, tasks carried out at height, possible exposure to toxins, high noise levels, moving vehicles and exposure to fire and explosions.

You can find more information on properly putting together and recording a risk assessment here. As a conclusion to your risk assessment, you will also want to designate a First Aider amongst your employees, and ensure they have covered the basic first aid courses.

3. Sanitary Facilities
There are some basics standards of comfort that all businesses are expected to maintain for their employees and clients. These include adequate and sanitary lavatory facilities, hand towels and soap. Hot running water and drinking water should also both be available.

Room temperature should be at least 16 degrees Celcius for seated and relatively inactive employees, or 13 degrees Celcius for active and mobile employees. If your room temperature falls below these levels, you must provide local heating such as fan heaters or gas heaters.

Comfort and sanitation is often a matter of common sense, and keep in mind that your employees have no choice but to come to their place of work every day. Make it a comfortable, appealing and clean place of work, and not only will you be fine in the eyes of the law but you’ll have a happy workforce too.

4. Equipment Safety
The Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) state that you must ensure all equipment given to employees is safe and of good standard. Depending on your business, this may encompass a very large part of the work you will have to do to make your workplace safe and legal. For workshops and building contractors, all your machinery will need to be tested and regularly maintained. Even in a small office, ensure all electrical equipment is tested and certified (this is not a legal requirement, but you are required by law to ensure electrical equipment is as safe as you can make it, and testing covers all the legalities)

You also have a responsibility to ensure all employees are fully trained to use the equipment they work with, and you can benefit from having such training documented somewhere for future reference.

It is also a good idea to have some focus on employee health, such as posture (for chair based workers), eye-strain (when using screens and computers), repetitive strain injury and other work-related health risks. Investing in your employees in this way will pay dividends.

5. Reporting Accidents
In accordance with the Recording of Injuries, Diseases & Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR), you are required to document any of those stated occurrences in your workplace. Such records must be kept at your usual place of business for at least three years after the fact, and you can store them in whatever form you please. Hand written, typed and electronic reports are all fine, or you can use the statutory Accident Book (B1510) as a record.

Occasionally an incident may have to be reported to the authorities, if it is particularly serious. Major injuries, any resulting in death, certain diseases and any injury preventing an employee carrying out their duties for over three days should all be reported to the authorities.

For more clarification on what accidents need to be reported, and how to keep concise and legal records of staff mishaps, see this page.

In a first read-through, that might all seem overwhelming, but once put into action a lot of these things take care of themselves. Good Electrical Testing companies, for example, will give you the option of booking maintenance and re-testing so that you don’t need to remember yourself. Delegating responsibility to staff members saves a bit more memory, and documentation and reports are easy to keep if you don’t leave them to build up.

You can find further helpful sources of information on Health & Safety for business-owners at these websites:
Book a Course on Health & Safety
Health & Safety Homepages
Business Growth Tips: A Roadmap to Business Growth & A Prosperous Future
For almost three years, JR Andersen, CEO of mid-size software company Andersen High Tech (AHT), and his board have been uneasy. Business growth has been “OK” at eight percent but the market has been growing at a 15 percent annual rate. With almost half the growth from price increases, unit growth for the main product line has been less than five percent. Fortunately, margins have been expanding nicely along with management bonuses, so things aren’t too bad.Or are they?With business growth rates well below the market, AHT is losing customers and hence market share. At a minimum, this means lost opportunities.Competitors are gaining enough critical mass to develop the next product faster or better. AHT’s biggest competitor has won three bids with “leading edge” requirements, leaving JR worried about his next generation product.If you were JR and his board, where would you look to escape this predicament? My experience suggests your workplace is a public place (restaurant or shop), has more than one business operating in the same building, or employs more than 20 people (or more than 10 of your people work above or below the ground floor).

New legislation coming into effect in 2006 will also require that your Fire Safety is put in the hands of a responsible person at your workplace. Designating those responsibilities to one of your employees can be efficient delegation, and also of course increase staff morale (by demonstrating confidence in their abilities).

By far though, the best first step is to get in touch with your local Fire Officer. Phone the non-emergency fire station number and ask them for some information.

2. Risk Assessment
Every workplace is expected to carry out risk assessment, in order to ensure that every precaution has been put into place. If there are more than five people in your office, you are also expected to record your risk assessments and store them for reference.

When carrying out your assessment, you should be looking for potential hazards such as trips or falls, tasks carried out at height, possible exposure to toxins, high noise levels, moving vehicles and exposure to fire and explosions.

You can find more information on properly putting together and recording a risk assessment here. As a conclusion to your risk assessment, you will also want to designate a First Aider amongst your employees, and ensure they have covered the basic first aid courses.

3. Sanitary Facilities
There are some basics standards of comfort that all businesses are expected to maintain for their employees and clients. These include adequate and sanitary lavatory facilities, hand towels and soap. Hot running water and drinking water should also both be available.

Room temperature should be at least 16 degrees Celcius for seated and relatively inactive employees, or 13 degrees Celcius for active and mobile employees. If your room temperature falls below these levels, you must provide local heating such as fan heaters or gas heaters.

Comfort and sanitation is often a matter of common sense, and keep in mind that your employees have no choice but to come to their place of work every day. Make it a comfortable, appealing and clean place of work, and not only will you be fine in the eyes of the law but you’ll have a happy workforce too.

4. Equipment Safety
The Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) state that you must ensure all equipment given to employees is safe and of good standard. Depending on your business, this may encompass a very large part of the work you will have to do to make your workplace safe and legal. For workshops and building contractors, all your machinery will need to be tested and regularly maintained. Even in a small office, ensure all electrical equipment is tested and certified (this is not a legal requirement, but you are required by law to ensure electrical equipment is as safe as you can make it, and testing covers all the legalities)

You also have a responsibility to ensure all employees are fully trained to use the equipment they work with, and you can benefit from having such training documented somewhere for future reference.

It is also a good idea to have some focus on employee health, such as posture (for chair based workers), eye-strain (when using screens and computers), repetitive strain injury and other work-related health risks. Investing in your employees in this way will pay dividends.

5. Reporting Accidents
In accordance with the Recording of Injuries, Diseases & Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR), you are required to document any of those stated occurrences in your workplace. Such records must be kept at your usual place of business for at least three years after the fact, and you can store them in whatever form you please. Hand written, typed and electronic reports are all fine, or you can use the statutory Accident Book (B1510) as a record.

Occasionally an incident may have to be reported to the authorities, if it is particularly serious. Major injuries, any resulting in death, certain diseases and any injury preventing an employee carrying out their duties for over three days should all be reported to the authorities.

For more clarification on what accidents need to be reported, and how to keep concise and legal records of staff mishaps, see this page.

In a first read-through, that might all seem overwhelming, but once put into action a lot of these things take care of themselves. Good Electrical Testing companies, for example, will give you the option of booking maintenance and re-testing so that you don’t need to remember yourself. Delegating responsibility to staff members saves a bit more memory, and documentation and reports are easy to keep if you don’t leave them to build up.

You can find further helpful sources of information on Health & Safety for business-owners at these websites:
Book a Course on Health & Safety
Health & Safety Homepages
What You Need To Know Before You Weld
Welding How To: What You Need to Know Before You WeldPeople rely on welding to accomplish many tasks. In fact, the art of welding dates back thousands of years to the Bronze Age. Since then, man has discovered many advancements and improvements that make welding easier, safer and more vital to civilization than ever before. Welding is used:1. To manufacture cars, trucks and other modes of transportation.2. To build homes.3. To build and repair machinery and equipment.4. It’s even been used by artists to create beautiful metal sculptures.Inside or outside, on land or underwater - even in outer space - welding is vital to all areas of our life. It’s no wonder, then, that more and more people want to learn how to weld.If you’d like to learn how to arc weld, we’d like to help. Below, you’ll find important information and resources you need before you can start welding: what equipment you’ll need, along with s9&r.l2=1073859149&r.t=RESOURCES&r.i=1073791656&r.l1=1073858805&r.s=e">here. As a conclusion to your risk assessment, you will also want to designate a First Aider amongst your employees, and ensure they have covered the basic first aid courses.

3. Sanitary Facilities
There are some basics standards of comfort that all businesses are expected to maintain for their employees and clients. These include adequate and sanitary lavatory facilities, hand towels and soap. Hot running water and drinking water should also both be available.

Room temperature should be at least 16 degrees Celcius for seated and relatively inactive employees, or 13 degrees Celcius for active and mobile employees. If your room temperature falls below these levels, you must provide local heating such as fan heaters or gas heaters.

Comfort and sanitation is often a matter of common sense, and keep in mind that your employees have no choice but to come to their place of work every day. Make it a comfortable, appealing and clean place of work, and not only will you be fine in the eyes of the law but you’ll have a happy workforce too.

4. Equipment Safety
The Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) state that you must ensure all equipment given to employees is safe and of good standard. Depending on your business, this may encompass a very large part of the work you will have to do to make your workplace safe and legal. For workshops and building contractors, all your machinery will need to be tested and regularly maintained. Even in a small office, ensure all electrical equipment is tested and certified (this is not a legal requirement, but you are required by law to ensure electrical equipment is as safe as you can make it, and testing covers all the legalities)

You also have a responsibility to ensure all employees are fully trained to use the equipment they work with, and you can benefit from having such training documented somewhere for future reference.

It is also a good idea to have some focus on employee health, such as posture (for chair based workers), eye-strain (when using screens and computers), repetitive strain injury and other work-related health risks. Investing in your employees in this way will pay dividends.

5. Reporting Accidents
In accordance with the Recording of Injuries, Diseases & Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR), you are required to document any of those stated occurrences in your workplace. Such records must be kept at your usual place of business for at least three years after the fact, and you can store them in whatever form you please. Hand written, typed and electronic reports are all fine, or you can use the statutory Accident Book (B1510) as a record.

Occasionally an incident may have to be reported to the authorities, if it is particularly serious. Major injuries, any resulting in death, certain diseases and any injury preventing an employee carrying out their duties for over three days should all be reported to the authorities.

For more clarification on what accidents need to be reported, and how to keep concise and legal records of staff mishaps, see this page.

In a first read-through, that might all seem overwhelming, but once put into action a lot of these things take care of themselves. Good Electrical Testing companies, for example, will give you the option of booking maintenance and re-testing so that you don’t need to remember yourself. Delegating responsibility to staff members saves a bit more memory, and documentation and reports are easy to keep if you don’t leave them to build up.

You can find further helpful sources of information on Health & Safety for business-owners at these websites:
Book a Course on Health & Safety
Health & Safety Homepages
Why Are There Free Podcasts
Why are there free podcastsPodcasting, unlike other media forms, almost never has charges for services, and the vast majority of feed producers distribute free podcasts. This puts at odds with, say, online radio stations, news sites that offer media to subscribers, or the online music industry general. Even though podcasting has very direct correlations with industries like news and music that have strong business models, podcasting differs. Podcasting does not really have a business model, and hardly anyone is podcasting in order to profit from it.There are some businesses and news sites that podcast, but they do it as a way to supplement their companies and to gain technological geek credibility, not to make money. This is an odd thing, but explainable in light of what podcasting is.The free podcast problem is not difficult, and podcasting differs in several key ways from other media areas. First, podcasting involves the place safe and legal. For workshops and building contractors, all your machinery will need to be tested and regularly maintained. Even in a small office, ensure all electrical equipment is tested and certified (this is not a legal requirement, but you are required by law to ensure electrical equipment is as safe as you can make it, and testing covers all the legalities)

You also have a responsibility to ensure all employees are fully trained to use the equipment they work with, and you can benefit from having such training documented somewhere for future reference.

It is also a good idea to have some focus on employee health, such as posture (for chair based workers), eye-strain (when using screens and computers), repetitive strain injury and other work-related health risks. Investing in your employees in this way will pay dividends.

5. Reporting Accidents
In accordance with the Recording of Injuries, Diseases & Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR), you are required to document any of those stated occurrences in your workplace. Such records must be kept at your usual place of business for at least three years after the fact, and you can store them in whatever form you please. Hand written, typed and electronic reports are all fine, or you can use the statutory Accident Book (B1510) as a record.

Occasionally an incident may have to be reported to the authorities, if it is particularly serious. Major injuries, any resulting in death, certain diseases and any injury preventing an employee carrying out their duties for over three days should all be reported to the authorities.

For more clarification on what accidents need to be reported, and how to keep concise and legal records of staff mishaps, see this page.

In a first read-through, that might all seem overwhelming, but once put into action a lot of these things take care of themselves. Good Electrical Testing companies, for example, will give you the option of booking maintenance and re-testing so that you don’t need to remember yourself. Delegating responsibility to staff members saves a bit more memory, and documentation and reports are easy to keep if you don’t leave them to build up.

You can find further helpful sources of information on Health & Safety for business-owners at these websites:
Book a Course on Health & Safety
Health & Safety Homepages
Residential Construction - Estimating Software Will Save Contractors Time & Money!
It certainly isn't the easiest job in the world to manage a construction project – and it involves a lot more than knowing how to use tools and build things! Of course construction managers do years of study to learn all the complexities of their role, but onstructionestimating is something that is only mastered through hands on, long term experience. Many contractors hold the belief that residential construction estimating software can cause more harm than good, and this was perhaps the case in the earlier stages of development. Modern day advances mean more variety is available on the market and there is a construction estimating software package that can make your life a whole lot easier.If you want your residential construction business to be a success, it is vital that you have solid record keeping procedures and immaculate books: If the numbers aren't right the whole business could go under. Construction estimating software will ious. Major injuries, any resulting in death, certain diseases and any injury preventing an employee carrying out their duties for over three days should all be reported to the authorities.

For more clarification on what accidents need to be reported, and how to keep concise and legal records of staff mishaps, see this page.

In a first read-through, that might all seem overwhelming, but once put into action a lot of these things take care of themselves. Good Electrical Testing companies, for example, will give you the option of booking maintenance and re-testing so that you don’t need to remember yourself. Delegating responsibility to staff members saves a bit more memory, and documentation and reports are easy to keep if you don’t leave them to build up.

You can find further helpful sources of information on Health & Safety for business-owners at these websites:
Book a Course on Health & Safety
Health & Safety Homepages
Governments Webpages for Health & Safety at work
Health & Safety Executive for England
Health & Safety Executive for Northern Ireland
American Health & Safety Institute
U.S Department of Labour

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