Hancock Industrial Access Ltd Health and Safety Policy Statement Back to policy page

PP Townsend
Director/Safety officer

Hancock Industrial Access Ltd 3 December 2008

Organising for Health and Safety

Good management and positive leadership are necessary to realise a high standard of health and safety. To achieve this it is necessary to detail the organisation within which health and safety will be managed and specify the responsibilities for health and safety management that exist. This section of the company health and safety policy details how HIA ltd will manage health and safety.

Responsibilities.

Over all responsibility.

The responsibility for health and safety is director Mr Philip Townsend. He is to establish effective safety policies and procedures for the management of health and safety throughout HIA ltd.

He is to ensure that all rope access operatives establish and maintain effective safety management systems.

He is responsible for ensuring the following:

That adequate resources in terms of time, finance and personnel are available to implement and manage health and safety.

That health and safety performance is monitored and reviewed on a regular basis at the quarterly directors meeting.

Monitoring the effectiveness of company safety policies and recommending improvements where appropriate.

Quarterly review of the Discipline health and safety policy.

Annual production of a health and safety action plan that outlines targets and objectives to be achieved to reduce accidents and occupational ill health in support of the company targets and objectives.

He is required to:

Provide adequate resources for the management of health and safety.

Implement the requirements of the Discipline safety policy and where necessary supplement this to ensure safe working.

Set targets and objectives on all levels of management to achieve a reduction in accidents and occupational ill health in accordance with the Discipline objectives.

Monitor the effectiveness of the health and safety management system and instigate improvements if it is failing.

Carry out periodic visits to a variety of sites and contracts to monitor the standards of their employees’ health and safety.

Ensure directors, managers and supervisors are aware of their responsibilities concerning safety management and that they receive appropriate training to meet this requirement.

Ensure all employees have the appropriate level of health and safety competence to work safely.

Ensure the reporting of accidents, occupational ill health and near miss incidents in accordance with Group procedures. Where appropriate ensure that an investigation is carried out.

Monitor the health and safety performance of the company by periodic review of accident and incident data and ensure that all activities receive a periodic safety audit.

Establish a company safety committee that involves employees in the management of health and safety

Ensure that health and safety responsibilities are clearly annotated in all job descriptions.

Company Directors and Managers are to:

Ensure they are aware of their responsibilities with regard to the management of health and safety in their respective companies.

Apply the relevant safety management system to all activities under their control.

Set an example in safe behaviour, good management and positive leadership.

Identify and meet the safety training and development needs of employees under their control to ensure competency.

Ensure the reporting of accidents, occupational ill health and near miss incidents in accordance with company policy. Where appropriate ensure that an investigation is carried out in accordance with company procedures.

Allocate appropriate resources to the planning of all activities. Ensure all activities are effectively managed and supervised.

Systematically identify hazards through site visits and, where necessary, obtain safety information from clients, designers, safety advisors and documented codes of practice.

Allocate appropriate health and safety responsibilities to line management, ensuring they are understood and effectively implemented.

Develop and apply the appropriate risk control systems and work place precautions to eliminate or minimise risk.

Involve and consult with employees on all matters concerning health and safety, enabling two way communication on such matters.

Identify health and safety deficiencies within contracts or projects and take appropriate remedial action. Ensure the Company Managing Director and Safety Adviser is informed of the deficiency.

Ensure all employees receive company and site inductions.

Ensure all contractors under their control are competent, are given appropriate information relevant to their health and safety while working for HIA ltd and receive the appropriate site induction.

Ensure all plant, equipment, personal protective equipment and other safety devices are maintained, repaired and replaced as necessary. In addition, they are to ensure that all appropriate statutory and other appropriate tests are carried out on all safety related equipment at relevant intervals.

Monitor the health and safety performance of employees and contractors through site and contract visits and inspections.

Keep up to date with legislative changes, codes of practice, industry best practice, company and Discipline standards.

Assist the company and discipline in improving safety systems and performance through consultation, co-operation and communication.

Employees are to:

Ensure discipline and company safety arrangements and procedures are followed at all times. Employees should also bring to the attention of their management any apparent deficiencies in systems of work or equipment provided that expose them to unnecessary danger or risks to their health and safety.

Use all work equipment and personal protective equipment properly and in accordance with training received.

Report any safety deficiencies, accidents, near misses and cases of ill health to their line manager, or if necessary their company Managing Director.

Assist the company during investigations of accidents and safety related incidents.

Work safely at all times giving due consideration for the safety of others.

Notify line management of safety training needs.

Assist the company and discipline in improving safety systems and performance through consultation, co-operation and communication.

Inform their line manager of any physical or mental condition that affects their ability to work safely.

HR Managers are to:

Ensure that all job descriptions identify competencies necessary for safe working

Ensure that all employees have the necessary safety training and competence to be able to work safely.

Ensure that operational line managers are inducting new employees to sites correctly and that any safe working requirements have been communicated.

Ensure that new staff members receive a relevant induction that covers office safety.

On a periodic basis and in conjunction with the company/Discipline safety manager conduct a training needs analysis for safety training requirements.

Ensure that all formal and informal safety training is appropriately recorded in an employee’s training record.

Ensure that the requirements for occupational health and sickness absence management are followed. Arrangements for carrying out the Health & Safety Policy

In HIA ltd the work that is undertaken can expose our employees and others to a wide variety of hazards and situations that may present a risk to their health and safety. The purpose of this section of the policy is to identify the arrangements that are in place to manage those hazards and situations.

The arrangements will, as far as possible, ensure that we are compliant with current legal requirements for health, safety and welfare at work. In addition, they will assist in meeting the requirements within the respective Disciplines for an effective safety management system that is compliant with either HS(G)65 or OHSAS 18001.

The arrangements will also protect the health and safety of other persons who can be affected by our work.

The requirements in this section will from time to time be supplemented by additional instructions or information to aid in their application.

All HIA ltd employees are required to be aware of the specific requirements that apply to their role and ensure, as far as possible, that they are followed. If for any reason it is not possible to follow the requirements, employees are responsible for advising their line manager who is to seek advice accordingly.

Health and Safety Performance Objectives

In order to achieve continual improvement in our health and safety performance, the directors will, on a quarterly basis, carry out a review of the overall safety performance of the company and set objectives for performance improvement. The objectives will be documented and appropriately communicated to each of the Disciplines for action and implementation.

All objectives need to be realistic and achievable and fit with the overall business plans. Base the objectives and targets on data generated from performance review and internal audit results.

Performance Monitoring

Performance monitoring is required to ensure compliance with HIA ltd and legislative requirements for health and safety management. The directors are to institute a system of internal audit that addresses all aspects of health and safety management on a yearly basis.

Management Review

The results of the internal audit are to inform the formal Discipline management review.

Management review of safety performance is to take place every 3 months.

Risk Assessment

Safe working can only take place if all of the hazards that exist in a work task are identified and evaluated. This process is called risk assessment and seeks to quantify the level of risk to which people are exposed. Once the risk has been quantified, it is possible to then determine what actions are necessary to either remove or reduce the risk. Special attention is required for the following:

Pregnant Workers. Occasionally the work HIA employees undertake can be potentially damaging to the health of a pregnant worker or their unborn child. Additionally, there is also a potential risk to the new child and a nursing mother from certain hazards in the workplace. Employees have a responsibility to notify us when they become aware that they are pregnant. Once we have been notified, line managers are responsible for carrying out an additional risk assessment to evaluate the level of risk to a pregnant employee or nursing mother. Alternative duties will be arranged.

Young Persons. Due to a lack of experience and occasionally a lack of maturity, young workers below the age of 18 represent an increased risk in the workplace. Therefore, where any company employs a young person, they are to carry out a specific risk assessment to address their needs and lack of experience. As per IRATA directives no person below the age of 18 will be involved working at height.

Employment of Children. It is HIA ltd policy that children under the age of 16 will not be employed by the company. The one exception is where an individual is on a recognised and approved office based work experience scheme. In which case a young person’s risk assessment is to be carried out. The results of the risk assessment are to be communicated to the child’s parents/guardians as well as the child and education authority.

All work tasks are to undergo an appropriate level of risk assessment prior to the task commencing.

Risk assessment is a line management responsibility and whoever carries out risk assessment for a task should have received the appropriate training. The significant risks should be identified and recorded on the appropriate form; the risks and the correct control measures should be communicated to the operatives who will carry out the task. Where operatives change over part way through a task, it is a line management responsibility to ensure that the risk assessment is appropriately communicated to the replacement personnel.

Specific guidance on carrying out risk assessments is provided for the following areas.

Working at height

Hazardous Substances

Manual handling operations

Risk Control, Reduction and Removal

Risk control is the process of designing, implementing and maintaining measures that will reduce a particular risk. The primary purpose of risk assessment is to identify the measures necessary to either remove the risk completely, or put in appropriate control measures to reduce the level of risk.

There are three possible ways to reduce the risk:

Reduce the likelihood.

Reduce the severity.

Reduce the likelihood and severity.

Base the control measures on the hierarchy of control shown below:

Eliminate the hazard at source.

Reduce the hazard at source – substitution.

Remove the person from the hazard.

Contain the hazard by an enclosure.

Reduce employee exposure.

Personal protective equipment (PPE). This is always to be used as a last resort and the use of PPE rather than any other control measure is to be justified on the risk assessment.

Some control measures will be better than others for a given situation, when identifying the required control measures, consider the following areas.

The number of people protected by the control measure – it is better to use a control measure that will protect everyone, rather than relying on individuals to provide their own protection.

It would be better to put a physical barrier around a roof edge to prevent falls, rather than rely on people to use individual fall arrest systems and a harness.

The extent to which the continuing effectiveness of the control measure relies on human behaviour. Apart from routine maintenance, it is best to have a control measure that operates without human intervention. When a control measure relies on people, it is inevitable that on some occasions it will not be used, either deliberately or inadvertently.

The extent to which the risk control measures require testing, maintenance, cleaning, replacement, etc. All of these require human intervention and therefore have the potential to fail.

The cost of the control measure. This should be calculated over the lifetime of the control measure since some control measures have a low installation cost but are expensive to maintain, while in some cases the opposite can be true. This aspect, along with the final point, will allow us to identify if we have met the legal obligation of “reasonably practicable”.

The extent to which the control measure reduces the risk. Ideally, the control measure will reduce the risk to near zero, often in practice this is not achievable and it will be necessary to devise a detailed safe system of work.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Only provide PPE as a last resort when other control measures are impractical or not possible. The nature of some of our activities dictates that on occasions PPE is the only acceptable control measure; its use is to be justified on the risk assessment.

Selection of PPE. Prior to providing PPE to control a workplace hazard, line managers are responsible for its correct selection. The following points are to be considered when selecting PPE.

Is it appropriate for the risks involved and the conditions at the workplace where exposure may occur?

Does it take account of any ergonomic requirements and constraints?

Consider the state of health of the person who will wear it.

Is it capable of fitting the wearer correctly after appropriate adjustments?

As far as possible it is to effectively prevent or adequately control the risks without increasing the overall risk.

For example, this could cover the provision of ear defenders that would prevent audible warning sounds being heard.

Is it legally compliant?

Use of PPE.

Prior to using PPE, all employees are to be provided with information, instruction and training in its use.

Information is to cover the hazards that the PPE is designed to protect against and any limitations in its effectiveness.

Instruction is to cover how to use the PPE correctly, how to test it, any maintenance that is required and how to report faults.

Training is to cover the effective use of the PPE including its cleaning and maintenance.

Records of Issue. Record the issue of any item of PPE on the appropriate form. This is to record the type of PPE supplied, the date of issue, frequency of maintenance required, frequency of cartridge/filter changes, training provided and hazards protected against.

Method Statements

Certain work tasks can be complex, or the risk associated with the tasks so significant that detailed instructions are required to manage the risk. Where this becomes apparent, prepare a detailed method statement that identifies the various procedures necessary to manage and control the risks and communicate it to the relevant operatives.

Disciplines are responsible for devising an appropriate format for the method statement to follow that meets their specific requirements. Additionally, personnel drafting method statements are to be competent to do so.

Permits to Work (PTW)

Communication and Consultation

The development of a positive attitude to safety will only occur with the involvement of all HIA ltd employees. Critical to achieving this is the need to consult on all aspects of health and safety and communicate HIA ltd’s current issues and how we intend managing them. By involving the wider workforce in the process, it is anticipated that they will take joint ownership of issues affecting their health and safety.

Company senior management is to ensure that all employees are kept aware of all initiatives and developments that affect their health and safety. They should also inform them of the results of any accident investigations that may directly affect them. Senior management is to ensure that when information regarding their employee’s health and safety is requested, it is provided in a timely manner.

Supervision and Management

Adequate and competent supervision and management is essential in the prevention of accidents and occupational ill-health. The majority of serious accidents occur where the management chain or supervision is inadequate.

The level of supervision required on any task is commensurate with the level of risk and the competence of the people employed to carry out the task. Company senior management is to ensure that an adequate level of supervision is provided within all contracts; additionally, they should ensure that the managers and supervisors are competent for their role, particularly with regard to health and safety.

Health and Safety Training

Job, and where appropriate, task specific training in the hazards present in the workplace and the reduction of the associated risks is critical to successful health and safety management. All HIA ltd personnel are to receive relevant and timely training to ensure they are competent to carry out their role safely. The type and nature of the training will depend upon a person’s prior knowledge, experience and any previous training they may have had, therefore there is a need to provide initial induction training, with periodic refresher and specialist training as appropriate.

All training is to be provided by competent trainers and at the end of each training session the training is to be evaluated by the trainees for its value and effectiveness. Additionally, the trainees are to receive some form of testing appropriate to the training to validate it.

Records of all health and safety training received by an employee are to be maintained within their personnel file. The HR manager are responsible for periodically reviewing the training needs of their employees and ensuring appropriate refresher training is provided.

Occupational Health

New Employees. The HR is responsible for Occupational Health are followed when employing new employees, this is to ensure that the individual concerned is fit for employment and that the work they will be involved in will not present a threat to their health and safety.

Sickness Absence. Where an employee is either long-term sick, or suffers from recurrent short-term sickness absence, the procedures of Management of Sickness Absence are to be followed.

Management of Injuries. Where an employee has been injured through their work, an early occupational health intervention can increase the possibility of an early return to work and also reduce the possibility of a negligence claim. If, due to injury, an employee is likely to be absent from work for an extended period of time, advice should be sought by the respective HR manager from the occupational health service regarding their management.

First Aid

If an accident happens to HIA ltd employees or persons on HIA ltd premises, if this does happen we need to ensure that appropriate first aid is readily available.

First aid provision is to be commensurate with the level of risk and guidance can be obtained in the Approved Code of Practice L74 – First Aid at Work which is available from company/regional safety advisers.

Where HIA ltd employees are required to work in a high risk area, either due to our operations or a client’s, contract/site managers are to ensure that there is an adequate number of first aiders available and that all staff are aware of how to contact them in an emergency. Additionally, sufficient readily accessible first aid kits are to be provided and staff made aware of their location.

Where we are reliant on a client’s or another contractor’s first aid facilities, managers are to ensure that a formal agreement exists between HIA ltd and the third party. HIA ltd is still responsible for ensuring the adequacy of these arrangements.

The directors are to nominate a responsible person to check the first aid equipment and facilities periodically. This should be in line with the nature of the site, the hazards present and the frequency of any accident reports. In any case, it should be no greater than monthly.

No HIA ltd employee, while at work, is to provide first aid above their level of competence. Managers are to ensure their staff are aware of this.

Occupational Road Risk

There are three aspects to occupational road risk for HIA ltd employees. Firstly, the obvious one of driving, or being a passenger in a company vehicle, secondly, misuse and thirdly, the hazards associated with working on or near a road. In all cases the risks to HIA ltd employees’ health and safety is to be assessed prior to the task being carried out.

Occupational road risk management related to driving company vehicles is covered in our– Occupational Road Risk Policy. This is to be communicated and understood by all company vehicle drivers before they are provided with a company vehicle. Company senior management is to ensure that the requirements, particularly regarding fitness and competence to drive are adhered to. They are also to ensure that driver’s license and vehicle servicing records are checked at 6 monthly intervals.

The following aspects of vehicle safety are to be specifically highlighted and understood.

Handheld mobile phones must not be used while driving.

Avoid driving while tired and allow sufficient time for each journey.

The loading of vehicles is critical to the safety of the vehicle and drivers are to be made aware of the safe weight limits for their vehicles and are not to overload them.

The safe condition and driving of vehicles used for company business is the responsibility of the person to whom the vehicle is issued, or receives payment for. It is the responsibility of that person to ensure the monitoring of the vehicle’s condition, particularly the lights, brakes, tyres and other safety critical elements. They are to ensure that any defects are remedied as a priority.

Work on, or adjacent to the highway poses potentially significant risks, consequently, prior to any work commencing in this area, a detailed risk assessment is to be carried out that identifies all areas where our work interfaces with the highway and identify the appropriate control measures. Guidance to be followed is contained in our Code of Practice for Street Works.

Occupational Stress

Stress-related ill health is a growing problem. In many cases, the source of stress leading to ill health is not work related, but relates to issues away from work that affect an individual’s capacity for work. In the main, stress related illness can be prevented by good management practices.

Occasionally, an employee can be exposed to a greater level of occupational stress due to an increased workload, taking on additional responsibility or promotion. It is incumbent on senior management to identify the potential for this before appointing an employee to the position. Additionally where employees believe they are suffering from increased levels of occupational stress, they have a responsibility to bring this to the attention of their manager.

Work equipment

Across HIA ltd, a wide variety of work equipment is used on a daily basis. The equipment varies from the relatively simple to the complex, and all of them present their own hazards and risks that are to be assessed and controlled.

Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment

There are many areas of HIA’s operations that require the use of lifting equipment to carry out a lifting operation. Using temporary anchorage equipment, eyebolts and structural anchors. In all of these operations there are many hazards present, primary amongst these are people falling from height, or the load or equipment falling and landing on people below.

Noise

Exposure to high noise levels has the potential to damage the hearing of those exposed. The extent of the damage is related to the noise level and the exposure time. There are occasions when the noise is instantly damaging; fortunately those cases are rare, if not non-existent in HIA ltd’s work areas.

Most of the noise to which HIA ltd employees will be exposed is relatively low-level and therefore has limited potential to cause hearing damage. There are occasions when equipment we are using, or equipment in areas where we are working may cause exposure to noise that can lead to hearing damage. As with all other workplace hazards, it is necessary to carry out a risk assessment for all employees exposed to high noise levels, when carrying out any assessment, always remember to consider client’s and other contractor’s noise sources.

Vibration

Many pieces of equipment are in use across HIA ltd operations that may potentially expose users to hazardous levels of vibration. This may lead to a variety of health effects depending on the nature and source of the vibration.

Many of the vibration sources will be hand held equipment that may lead to damage of the hands and arm. HIA ltd staff may be exposed to vibrations if required to drill anchor bolt fixings. Drilling operations are few and far between, and any employee that is prone to suffering discomfort from these activities can abstain from this acivity.

Hazardous Substances

Generally, across HIA ltd the use of and exposure to hazardous substances is non existent due to the nature of rope access and the ropes deteriorating with use of any chemicals + or – neutral ph 7. The exposure to pigeon guana + rat excrement is feasible and ppe will be issued to combat this.

Regardless of the hazard potential of the substance it is necessary to carry out a COSHH (Risk) assessment for all substances that our employees are exposed to in the workplace

Working at Height

Work at height represents HIA ltd most significant risk areas, if only in terms of the potential for serious injuries or death to occur because of a fall from height.

Follow the requirements of the health and safety guidelines and irata guidelines, no employee will work at height without irata accreditation.

A chain of command exists within the IRATA guidelines, level three operatives being site supervisors, level two operatives receive instruction from level three operatives and level ones receive instruction from both level 3’s and 2’s. Level 1’s

See our generic method statement for a full description of our working at height practices.

Electrical Safety

The effects of electric shock can be significant and lead to fatal injuries. The hazards may arise from bad design, construction or installation of electrical equipment, or from inappropriate use or misuse of equipment. Actions to prevent electric shock and injury include the following.

Periodic inspection of all electrical equipment, particularly portable hand-held tools. Determine the frequency of inspection and test by the nature of the equipment and its use.

Ensure that suitable equipment is installed/provided for circuit protection.

Periodic and recorded testing of circuit protection equipment.

Regular inspection of equipment.

Make daily checks of the integrity of cables, plugs and protective covers.

Carry out periodic PAT testing depending on the type of equipment and nature of use.

Avoid work near live conductors unless appropriately authorised to do so under the constraints of a permit to work system.

Use proper systems and methods of working.

Ensure those using or maintaining the equipment are competent to do so.

Ensure that electrical equipment complies with relevant safety standards and is appropriately marked.

Where personnel are working with or near to electricity, and the work environment exposes people to electrical dangers, the guidance in HSG 85 – Electricity at Work should be considered and where appropriate its recommendations implemented. Copies of HSG 85 are available from company safety advisers.

Asbestos Awareness and Management

It is HIA ltd policy that, with no HIA ltd employee will knowingly work with asbestos containing materials (ACMs).

In order to ensure, as far as possible, that employees are not accidentally exposed to asbestos an adequate investigation is to be carried out prior to any work commencing to determine the presence of ACMs where our work is likely to result in damage to the fabric of any building. All buildings within which we work are legally obliged to hold an asbestos register, consult this at the tender and operations stage. Where asbestos is present, we are to identify if our work is likely to cause it to be damaged. If damage and fibre release is possible, the work is not to be undertaken until removed by a competent asbestos removal specialist.

Fire Safety

Fire and the effects of fire is one of the areas that can potentially affect all employees within HIA ltd, regardless of whether they are site or office based. Depending of the seriousness and location of a fire it has the potential to kill if control and evacuation does not happen quickly.

To reduce the likelihood of fires occurring and to minimise their effects should they occur in the workplace, a fire risk assessment is to be carried out prior to occupation of any office and when commencing a new contract.

The purpose of the risk assessment is to:

Identify potential fire hazards in the workplace.

Decide who might be in danger in the event of a fire or while trying to escape from it.

Evaluate the risks arising from the hazards and decide if the existing fire precautions are adequate.

Identify the adequacy and suitability of the fire detection and fire warning systems.

Ensure that there are adequate and suitable means of escape from the building in the event of a fire.

Identify the training needs of employees regarding evacuation and fire prevention.

Fire and Emergency Plans. Company directors are responsible for ensuring that fire risk assessments are completed and that there is an effective and workable emergency plan in place for all offices under their control.

Where personnel are operating at remote locations, contract/site managers are responsible for ensuring that there is an appropriate emergency plan in place and that it is communicated to all appropriate personnel.

Violence at Work

HIA ltd recognises the potential for our employees and others working on our behalf to be exposed to violent behaviour. This type behaviour is considered intolerable by the organisation and every effort will be made to prevent such exposure.

The causes of violence are many and varied and it is difficult to identify all persons who may be potential assailants. Due to the complexity of the problem and the peripatetic nature of works undertaken by HIA ltd, especially interaction with the general public, it is not possible to ensure that all employees are protected against all potentially violent behaviour.

However, it is possible, through good risk management to give employees the skills to identify potentially violent situations and implement control measures to ensure the safety of employees.

Record Keeping

Record keeping is an essential aspect of health and safety as it serves to demonstrate internally and externally that we have met the requirements of our policies and management systems. Additionally, records are critical to being able to defend HIA ltd in any prosecution or civil claim. There are numerous records that we are required to keep, all of which serve different purposes which are outlined below and none of the examples are exhaustive:

Implementation. This relates to risk assessments, method statements, health and safety contractual requirements, training needs analysis and training provided.

Injuries, ill health. Accident and incident reports, RIDDOR reports, GP notes.

Statutory requirements. Certain items of equipment require periodic tests and examinations; this includes pressure vessels, electrical equipment, fire alarms and vehicles.

Health surveillance. Certain occupations within HIA ltd will require periodic health or medical surveillance; examples include audiometry, lung function and skin examination.

Active monitoring. In order to ensure that we are managing health and safety adequately, periodic visits to site/contracts will be carried out. The records will provide statistical evidence regarding our performance improvements over time.

Reactive monitoring. Records that result from accident/incident investigations, these will be critical to managing improvements that may be required.

HIA ltd will determine the type and nature of records required. Generally a relevant form will be provided for the recording of the data and this is to be used for the purpose, this will ensure that the information is readily identifiable and traceable.

The data collected is to be retained for various periods of time determined by its reason for collection. Examples of this are provided below; where necessary obtain guidance from the safety adviser

Statutory Tests. The records from statutory tests generally only need to be kept until they are replaced by a more recent test certificate.

Risk assessments. If for a general risk assessment they need to be kept for a minimum of 3 years. If for occupational health surveillance, it can be anything up to 40 years.

Confidentiality. Some of the data collected will be, by its nature, confidential. This is particularly the case with occupational health information. It is an HR and line management function to ensure that all confidential information is stored appropriately with only appropriate and authorised access to it.

Right of access. While some of the information recorded may be confidential, a large proportion is not and where appropriate this should be communicated to employees, particularly if it is relevant to their health and safety at work. There are also occasions when employees or their representatives can ask for certain information to be provided and they have a right to that provision, when this does occur, advice is to be sought from the regional/company safety adviser.

Reporting and Investigation of Accidents

All accidents involving HIA ltd employees or our operations are to be reported as soon as a possible after their occurrence and at least within 48 hours. It is the responsibility of all employees to report any accident involving them to their site supervisor: it is the site supervisors responsibility to report the incident to the safety officer.

All accidents are to be appropriately investigated – Investigation of Accidents and Incidents. The level of investigation and the responsibility will depend on the seriousness of the incident. Our accident investigation form is to be completed for every accident and incident in order to generate appropriate data for the prevention of accidents in future.

Contact with Enforcement Authorities

Periodically there may be a need to have contact with one of the enforcement authorities; in order to maintain a consistency of approach, any such contact is to be notified to the Head of Health and Safety at the earliest opportunity, particularly where enforcement action is a possibility.

HIA ltd endeavours to maintain a close liaison with the HSE and IRATA at national level with regard to health and safety matters. To maintain a positive relationship with the HSE, any issues related to enforcement or the conduct of inspectors, both HSE and local authority, consult the Head of Health and Safety before entering into dialogue at a local level.

Design Responsibilities

Where a project or contract involves design work, employees with responsibility for the design, are to ensure that they consider the health and safety implications during the construction phase of the projects and also any safety implications post construction.

As far as possible, we will:

design to avoid risks to health and safety;

reduce risks at source if avoidance is not possible;

consider measures that will protect all workers if avoidance nor reduction to a safe level is possible; and

ensure that the design includes adequate information on health and safety.

Where any design work is outsourced, the respective HIA ltd is to ensure that they only use competent designers and the designs are validated prior to the construction phase.

Office Safety

Within our offices there are many potential safety problems that need to be managed and controlled.

In order to manage the risks in the office a relevant and competent person is to be nominated as the safety coordinator for the office Responsibilities of the office safety coordinator include but are not restricted to-

Ensuring that relevant and appropriate risk assessments are carried out, particularly for DSE and manual handling.

Periodic inspection of the office to identify any safety hazards.

Coordination of safety training requirements for office based staff.

Ensuring that fire risk assessments are carried out.

Periodic testing of fire alarms in conjunction with the office fire warden – minimum of once per month.

Periodic testing of office evacuation procedures – minimum of once per year.

Coordination of first aid provision.

Coordination of the office PAT testing requirements.

Liaison with the company/regional safety adviser.

Periodic update of office based staff on relevant safety matters.

©2009 Hancock Industrial Access Ltd
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