Oakfield Consultancy
Health and Safety
Health and Safety Consultancy
Key consultancy services include:
Health and Safety Audits
A Health and Safety Audit provides you with a snapshot at a particular time of your legal compliance and the day to day management, monitoring and review of your Policy and Management Systems.
It provides a gap analysis of areas within your work operations where there is non-compliance and where improvements are required. The audit report will provide you with clear and concise advice and recommendations for you to take to improve performance and to achieve compliance.
Health and Safety Inspections
Inspections, carried out more regularly than audits, review whether the agreed Health and Safety policies, systems and procedures are being used and managed as required and that both the workplaces and systems of work are safe and healthy.
As for the audits, a detailed report will be prepared with clear recommendations on how improvements can be made.
Health and Safety Policy and Management System
If you have 5 or more employees you have a legal requirement to have a written Health and Safety Policy and Management System. This will include a policy statement, the responsibilities for health and safety within your organisation, the arrangements for implementing and managing the policy and procedures for the regular monitoring and reviewing of it.
All Policies are developed following in-depth discussions with you, so that how your organisation operates and the business aims and objectives that drive it can be fully understood. A company specific and easy to read Policy and Management System can then be developed for you, which does not only meet all your requirements, but also ensures general compliance with current legislation, regulation and best practice.
Help can also be provided to you for the implementation and integration of the new systems and procedures into your day to day operations.
Management and Review
The on-going management and review of the Policy and Management System, usually annually but also after any incident or change within the organisation, can also be provided. This will include day to day health and safety support and advice to management and general staff, including phone or email access to assistance, in the event of accident, incident or other related health and safety issue.
A Staff Health and Safety Handbook can also be developed, providing a brief summary of the systems and procedures within the Management System, relevant to the general staff and their usual work activities. This can be in the form of a booklet or stored electronically on a shared drive.
Risk Assessments
As part of the initial review of your organisation significant hazards present or generated by your work environment, workplace and working operations will be identified. Together with your managers, supervisors and staff appropriate Risk Assessments will be developed providing risk control measures and safe systems of work, where required, to ensure that as far as reasonably practicable your staff remain safe and healthy whilst at work and your visitors and the general public safe from your work activities.
Risk Assessments and safe systems of work for potentially higher risk activities are a legal requirement and failure to comply with this can result in costly litigation, or in some cases imprisonment, should a serious accident or incident occur as a result of this failure.
All relevant Regulations will be covered, including substances hazardous to health (COSHH), display screen equipment and workstation assessment, new and expectant mothers, manual handling, home working and driving for work.
Management of Contractors
If you employ a contractor to carry out work on your behalf, whether this is for maintenance work, cleaning or catering, you are responsible for ensuring that they are competent and trained to carry out the works and that they do so in a safe and healthy manner.
By putting in place strict procedures and checks this can be managed, minimising your exposure to prosecution.
Other commonly required services include;
Accident, incident and near miss reporting and investigation - there is a legal requirement to report certain serious accidents and incidents under RIDDOR. By maintaining records and carrying out investigations when required, trends can be identified and changes made to processes and systems of work to eliminate future accidents.
Workstation and display screen assessments - the vast majority of injuries caused in low risk work environments such as offices are from repetitive strain injuries (RSIs) and work related upper limb disorders (WRULDs), generally as a result of poor workstation set up or prolonged incorrect use of work equipment by staff. Employers have a legal duty to ensure that employees' working areas and the equipment they use are safe and that appropriate guidance provided in their use. Specialist workstation assessments are usually all that’s required to minimise these risks.
Control of hazardous substances - most workplaces do not use substances requiring special attention, however some cleaning products, glues, solvents, paints, etc. are classified as hazardous and require specific risk assessments and safe storage and use arrangements.
Home and lone working - home or flexible working is becoming more and more prevalent in today’s workplace. Employers remain responsible for the safety of their staff even when not in the office, including when working from home, when out of the office at meetings or site visits and even when driving for business purposes. Self-assessments for home workers, undertaking appropriate risk assessments and putting in place simple procedures can minimise these risks and your liabilities.