c2 news latest c2 updates - c2 safety · 2016-12-13 · be eligible for extra benefits payments....

[email protected]: 0800 080 33 44

TimesProfessional Pragmatic Safety Advice

C2 news Latest C2 Updates

In 2016 we have done lots to our offices and have employed two additional new advisors, employed a fire engineer to service and maintain fire extinguishers, held another golf day and exhibited at the national homebuilder exhibition where I was one of the speakers but most importantly we have achieved ISO 9001 quality accreditation (Well done Linda it was lots of hard work).

It is with this in mind that I have a couple of announcements to make with regards to 2017.

Firstly in January we will be officially launching a programme to take C2 across the UK as we franchise what we do. Currently, there are no safety consultancy franchises and due to the amount of time, effort and money we have spent over the years developing our IT infrastructure we believe we can be the first, the biggest and the best. If you know anyone who may be interested in working with us do not hesitate to let me know.

Over the years we have raised over £45000 to charities mainly the lighthouse club (the construction industry charity) or It’s in the bag (the testicular cancer charity). In 2017 we will be rolling out a charitable giving programme, where for every

Season greetings to one and all.It seems hard to believe that another year has passed. In fact nine

years have passed since I bought John Harwood out making this our

10th year and the company looks so different now to what it did then.

There is a team of twelve of us proud to be focused on making health

and safety easier for our ever growing list of customers.

new customer we work with we will make a donation to the Lighthouse Club or it’s in the bag. Please help us to raise money for these charities by referring customers to us.

Finally, in March we will start offering the SMSTS and SSSTS qualifications initially from Bridgwater and then further afield.

2017 sure is going to be a busy year for us and we hope it is for you as well.

Be good, have a great break and come back safe and sound!

Be safe, Jerome.

Keeping business legal across the South West

HSE is not ShrinkingJob ads. It appears the HSE is looking to increase its work force. On their website they have ads for specialists in controls and instruments, electrical safety, marine, offshore environments to name but a few. They are also advertising for trainee inspectors for their field operations unit.

You can expect to see inspectors on the ground for some time to come.

Nail and staple guns: too noisy?It ’s been concluded that nail and staple guns should not be included on a list used to assess industrial disablement claims. Does this mean that this equipment doesn’t damage hearing?

This ruling means that employees whose hearing is damaged by fastener driving tools, e.g. nail guns, won’t be eligible for extra benefits payments. The decision is based on complex factors and doesn’t mean they’re not a hazard. You must ensure sensible precautions are implemented including the wearing of hearing protection.

If your staff use this equipment, issue them with hearing protection as a precaution. If you don’t have the real data, use the manufacturer’s figures to specify the best type of hearing protection.

Are safety glasses dangerous?It’s been suggested that wearing safety glasses all day can affect the health of eyes.

Is there anything in this and should you be asking staff to wear them for prolonged periods?

Safety culture. A few years ago it was very rare for

companies to implement mandatory rules on wearing safety glasses. However, these are now commonplace in the construction, manufacturing and chemical etc. sectors. But it’s been suggested that this policy could be doing more harm than good on a number of levels.

Health concerns. Rumours suggest that wearing safety glasses for prolonged periods can cause damage to the eyes. Apparently, the problems are caused by looking through the curved plastic lens. But is there anything in this? Nothing has been found to confirm that the glasses can cause problems - a number of studies state that there’s nothing to worry about.

Strong opinion against. The second argument against safety glasses is stronger. It’s claimed that they don’t reduce risks significantly and in many instances they could actually put the wearer at risk. An example of this is when staff wear them in the rain they are unable to see clearly and become distracted. Plus the dust etc. is being controlled by the rain anyway.

Ignored. These issues cause problems with compliance. Evidence suggests that many workers don’t wear them at all and frequently only put them on when they could get into trouble for not doing so. This means that companies have policies and procedures in place which aren’t effective and this could be held against them in the event of an accident.

Don’t forget that personal protective equipment should only be used as a last resort. You must always try to address the hazard by other means first.

Wearing safety glasses does not cause damage to the eyes. Only implement a blanket policy on wearing them if there’s a real risk of staff suffering an eye injury which cannot be reduced by other means.

Legislation news

www.c2safety.co.uk

[email protected]: 0800 080 33 44Professional Pragmatic Safety Advice

[email protected]: 01278 671995Professional Pragmatic Safety Advice

These pictures were sent from Tom Werner from Exova in Bridgwater, in future if you see any like these we will publish them and you will be handsomely rewarded for your efforts!!

Take a look at the pictures and see if you can spot what is wrong and why?

Legislation news continued...

L Load

I Individual capability

T Task

E Environment

T Task

I Individual capability

L Load

E Environment

Manual Handling Acronyms

www.c2safety.co.ukSafety Team

Jerome TimbrellBA (Hons), CMS, CLog, MILT, GradIOSH Commander in Chief

Office: 01278671995Fax: 01278620195Mobile:07983660999Email: [email protected]

Linda BurkeGradIOSHOfficeManager/SafetyAdvisor


Mark TwistGradIOSH SafetyAdvisor

Office: 01278671995Fax: 01278620195Mobile: 07771125709Email: [email protected]

Doug BlackieTechlOSHSafetyAdvisor


John PooleTechIOSHSafetyAdvisor


Michael JohnsonTechIOSH SafetyAdvisor

Office: 01278671995Fax: 01278620195Mob: 07576510999Email: [email protected]

Carole BarnesMA.HONSPGDMMIRSM SafetyAdvisor



Prior to the use of any substance Mr J Timbrell will request a safety data sheet from the supplier and utilise the information contained within this to produce a COSHH assessment.

The COSHH assessment will provide information to all employees on the effects of the substance and what measures need to be implemented to prevent or adequately control the risks.

Mr J Timbrell will provide employees with all the necessary PPE to ensure their safety and provide adequate training within the use of the equipment. All equipment will be maintained and stored in a suitable location to protect the PPE from contamination, loss or damage.

Mr J Timbrell will ensure that all First Aiders are familiar with the effects identified within the COSHH assessment and ensure suitable treatment is available at all times.

COSHH risk assessments

www.c2safety.co.uk

Think what hazardous substances might be present in your workplace

Substances hazardous to health include: gases, vapours, liquids, fumes, dusts and solids and can be part of a mixture of materials

Find out what substances are coming into the business and where they are used, worked on, handled or stored; all should be accounted for. Check stock lists

All your hazardous substances need a Coshh risk assessment completed using the safety data sheet for the product so make sure your safety advisor is aware of all substances you use so that your safety policy is appropriate to you

The main routes of entry of substances into the body are: • Inhalation • Ingestion • Absorption • DirectEntry • Injection

The form these substances come in could be: • Paste • Solid • Vapour • Fumes • Dust • Foam • Powder • Liquid • Gas

All employees are to ensure that a COSHH assessment has been completed before work commences. If an assessment is not in place then Mr J Timbrell will be informed.


COSHH risk assessments continued...

COSHH Risk Assessment

Brick and Patio Cleaner

Assessment made by; Date; Review Date;

Level Of Risk Low Permit to work required

No

Describe the activity or work process

• Cleaning brick work

Where is it being used

Persons at risk Employees (including trainees)

Contractors Public (including visitors)

Classification (state the category of danger)

Very Toxic Irritant X Extremely Flammable

Toxic Sensitising Highly Flammable

Corrosive X Biological Flammable

Harmful Oxidising Environmental

Carcinogen Explosive Gas under pressure

Hazard Type X

Gas Vapour Mist Fume Dust Liquid Solid Other

Route of Exposure

X X X Inhalation Skin Eyes Ingestion Other

First Aid Required • Move the exposed person to fresh air at once and keep the person warm and at rest • If swallowed wash out the mouth with water, do not induce vomiting, seek medical

advice • Remove contaminated clothing and wash skin immediately with soap and water • Make sure to remove contact lenses from the eyes before rinsing. Promptly wash eyes

with plenty of water while lifting the eye lids. Continue to rinse for 15 minutes • Call trained first aider and seek medical assistance if appropriate

X X

PPE Required • Protective gloves • Protective clothing • Tight fitting safety goggles. Ensure eye bath is to hand

Control Measures Required • Train and instruct operatives • Suitable extinguishing media should be used for surrounding fire • Absorb into dry earth or sand • Keep away from heat and sources of ignition • Prevent entry to water course • Record issue of PPE • High levels of hygiene to be adhered to. Remove clothing that becomes contaminated • When using do not eat or drink


JaLee First Aid Training NewsJaLeeFirstAidTraining

“Know what to do!”Tel:03303230240Email:[email protected]

All our courses now include training in the use of a defibrillator (AED). Obviously, you do not need to acquire a machine for the workplace but it is useful to understand how the defibrillator fits into the chain of survival. It will also give you confidence should you ever need to use a community AED.

Our team has grown! We now have 16 amazing trainers, which gives us the flexibility to offer our customers their choice of in-house dates.

You can also choose from a range of open courses across the County. Please note, our prices include course books, certificates and free-flowing refreshments! Our course schedule for 2017 is now available on request.

January dates are:

Emergency First Aid at Work Yeovil, January 12th

Emergency First Aid at Work Taunton, January 18th

HR

There have been several key Employment Tribunal cases recently which we thought you would like to know about which concern the calculation and payment of holiday pay, employment status and equal pay.

Holiday Pay

Holiday Pay and Commission The Court of Appeal decision published on Friday 7 October2016intheBritishGascaseconfirmedthatBritish employees, who have normal or set working hours, are entitled to be paid commission or any similar payment during 20 of their 28 days of statutory annual leave. This means that worker’s commission payments should be included in holiday pay when it is directly linked to the work that is carried out, but it was for the National Courts to determine how that should be calculated.

ItisunderstoodthatBritishGasintendstoseekleaveto appeal to the Supreme Court. It is therefore not the end of the road. The Court of Appeal also failed to address the question of a reference period and so if businesses wanted to include commission in holiday pay now, there is no guidance on how to calculate this amount correctly. However our view is that even if leave to appeal the decision is given, the final result is going to be the same.

Therefore we suggest that if you are a business which pays commission, and where commission is an intrinsic part of remuneration, you should begin to take steps to protect yourself from claims for example by:

• Investigatingyourpotentialexposure.Thismayinclude undertaking an audit and risk assessment to ascertain the cost of backdated claims and the future cost of holiday pay.

Recent Tribunal Round-Up

Does your working environment have a high risk of catastrophic bleeding incidents? If so, we can help with training in the use of haemostatic dressing and tourniquets.

Please contact us for a chat if you have any first aid questions at all – we would love to hear from you.

Happy Christmas to you all, and a very exciting 2017.

Stay safe! Julie & Lee


Recent Tribunal Round-Up continued...

HR

• Reviewingcommissionstructurestoseeifthesecanbe amended to mitigate the impact of this case.

Holiday Pay and Voluntary Overtime Should voluntary overtime payments be included in calculating holiday pay? Yes, says the Tribunal provided the voluntary overtime is worked with “sufficient regularity” to constitute “normal pay”.

In this case the employees had received holiday pay but argued that they had not received the correct rate of pay as their holiday pay did not include amounts in respect of voluntary overtime, voluntary standby allowances, voluntary call-out payments and travel allowances which they would have received had they been in work.

TheTribunalconcludedthatthemajorityoftheadditional elements, which were all in relation to voluntary work, should be included in the Claimant’s holiday pay. The Tribunal also clarified that its decision only applied to the first four weeks of holiday leave (i.e. the 20 days statutory holiday entitlement provided for under the Working Time Regulations).

Although technically non-binding as this is only a Tribunal level decision at this stage employers need to decide whether they take a risk averse approach and include such “sufficiently regular” voluntary payments in their calculations going forward or wait for this issue to be decided at a higher level in the EAT (with hopefully further guidance on what constitutes “sufficiently regular” voluntary overtime).

Asda and Equal Pay

Asda lost a landmark employment tribunal ruling involving thousands of workers in their supermarkets. The case involved the claim that work done in the Company’s retail stores was perceived as “women’s work” and was paid at a lower rate than the work in distribution depots (which was traditionally seen as “men’s work”). This decision means that more than 7000 workers can now proceed with equal-pay claims against the company.

The claims could see workers recovering over £100 million dating back to 2002.

While this case involves a large employer and thousands of workers the core principle of equal pay for ‘like’workisjustasrelevanttosmallerbusinesses.ACASguidance states the following:

“Employers must pay men and women equally if they are doing ‘like work’, which is work that’s the same

or broadly similar; or work that’s of equal value (for example, in terms of effort, skill or other demands); or workthat’sratedasequivalentunderajobevaluationstudy.”

To make matters more complicated, if an employer can show that there is a genuine reason for any difference in pay that is not based on the sex of the individual (or any other protected characteristic such as disability, race, religion, etc.) then the equal pay legislation may not apply. The advice here is that if you are in any doubt, take professional advice!

Employment Status - Uber Outcome

An Employment Tribunal has decided that two drivers who provide services to the online taxi firm, Uber, are ‘workers’ and therefore entitled to the rights as described below. Uber had argued that all its drivers were self-employed.

UK law distinguishes between groups of staff and provides different rights for each group. Broadly these groups are:

1) employees, who have the largest selection of legal rights

2) workers who have a more limited selection of rights such as minimum wage and holiday pay, and

3) the self-employed who have minimal legal rights owed to them (other than contractual rights agreed between themselves and each organisation to whom they provide their services).

For a self-employed, non-employee, to qualify for worker status there must be a contract between the individual and the ‘employer’ under which the individual undertakes to do work personally, and the ‘employer’ must not be a client or customer of a business operated by the individual.

Those who show they have ‘worker’ status can then access a broader range of employment rights such as the national minimum wage, 5.6 weeks’ paid annual leave each year, right to a pension scheme, a maximum 48 hour average working week and rest breaks and protection of the whistleblowing legislation.

Although this decision is fact-specific, and based on Uber’s business model, it increases the chance of other ‘gig economy’ companies facing claims that their ‘contractors’ have worker status.

It is likely that this Tribunal decision will be appealed to the EAT.

Call 01278 550000 for a free no obligation IT reviewWhat do our customers say about us?

As a professional services company Qss IT has provided us with the reassurance that out computer is up when we need it. Paul and his team have the same philosophy as ourselves where nothing is too much trouble, their honesty and trustworthinesswith our system and the associated sensitive customer information is unparalleled! Jeromeis unparalleled! Jerome Timbrell C2 Safety

Improve your IT and your business with our Managed IT Support and

remote Computer Support Services

Call 01278 550000 for a free no obligation IT reviewWhat do our customers say about us?

As a professional services company Qss IT has provided us with the reassurance that out computer is up when we need it. Paul and his team have the same philosophy as ourselves where nothing is too much trouble, their honesty and trustworthinesswith our system and the associated sensitive customer information is unparalleled! Jeromeis unparalleled! Jerome Timbrell C2 Safety

Improve your IT and your business with our Managed IT Support and

remote Computer Support Services

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Email: [email protected] www.thedesignhive.co.ukHighbridge & Burnham-on-Sea

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Can we help tell your story?Whether you require logo design, business stationery, brochures,

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c2 news latest c2 updates - c2 safety · 2016-12-13 · be eligible for extra benefits payments....

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