Health & Safety at Work

Health & Safety at Work

by Dr David Towlson, Dr Terry Robson, Vicki Swaine, RRC International

Health & Safety at Work For Dummies®

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, www.wiley.com

This edition first published 2016

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Contents at a GlanceIntroduction ................................................................ 1

Part I: Getting Started with Health and Safety at Work ...................................................... 5Chapter 1: Making Sense of Health and Safety in the Workplace ................................ 7Chapter 2: Setting Your Health and Safety Policy ....................................................... 23Chapter 3: Engaging Your Workforce with Health and Safety ................................... 47Chapter 4: Assessing Health and Safety Risks in the Workplace ............................... 69Chapter 5: Getting Your House in Order....................................................................... 89

Part II: Managing and Implementing Health and Safety in Your Business ..................................... 107Chapter 6: Moving to a Recognised Safety Management System ............................ 109Chapter 7: Developing Safe Systems and Procedures ............................................... 121Chapter 8: Monitoring and Reviewing Health and Safety in the Workplace .......... 135

Part III: Controlling Workplace Risks ........................ 159Chapter 9: Tackling Behaviour‐Based Issues: Workplace Woes .............................. 161Chapter 10: Harnessing Gravity and Managing Workplace Transport ................... 177Chapter 11: Unpacking Manual Handling and Other Ergonomic Risks ................... 197Chapter 12: Working Safely with Machinery .............................................................. 215Chapter 13: Shocking Truths: Electrical Safety .......................................................... 233Chapter 14: Fanning the Flames: Fire Risk .................................................................. 251Chapter 15: Getting the Chemistry Right: Controlling Hazardous Substances ...... 271Chapter 16: Making Waves: Tackling Noise, Vibration and Radiation .................... 291

Part IV: Going the Extra Mile .................................... 309Chapter 17: Wrestling with Health and Safety Law ................................................... 311Chapter 18: Developing a Positive Safety Culture: Factoring in

Human Behaviour ........................................................................................................ 331Chapter 19: Cracking Process Safety ........................................................................... 349

Part V: The Part of Tens ........................................... 363Chapter 20: Ten Ways to Get Risk Assessment Wrong ............................................. 365Chapter 21: Ten Neat Tools to Help You Assess Risks and Choose Controls ....... 375Chapter 22: Ten Great Health and Safety Websites ................................................... 385

Index ...................................................................... 391

Table of ContentsIntroduction ................................................................. 1

About This Book .............................................................................................. 2Foolish Assumptions ....................................................................................... 3Icons Used in This Book ................................................................................. 3Beyond the Book ............................................................................................. 4Where to Go from Here ................................................................................... 4

Part I: Getting Started with Health and Safety at Work ...................................................... 5

Chapter 1: Making Sense of Health and Safety in the Workplace . . . .7Putting Health and Safety into Context ......................................................... 8

Cutting through the hype ..................................................................... 8Understanding the value of health and safety ................................. 11Focusing on what’s important ............................................................ 12

Benefitting Your Business ............................................................................ 12Protecting your employees ................................................................ 13Boosting your profits........................................................................... 14Staying legal .......................................................................................... 16

Speaking the Language Like a Pro ............................................................... 16Recognising hazards and risks ........................................................... 16Balancing risk: Opportunities and threats ....................................... 19Distinguishing between ‘health’ and ‘safety’ .................................... 20Keeping things in proportion ............................................................. 21

Chapter 2: Setting Your Health and Safety Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23Deciding Whether to Go It Alone or Seek Assistance ............................... 24

Understanding the risk profile of your business ............................. 25Evaluating your own capabilities ....................................................... 29Selecting qualified help ....................................................................... 32

Navigating the Maze of Official Guidance ................................................... 33Preparing Your Health and Safety Policy ................................................... 35

Introducing your statement of general policy.................................. 36Writing a statement of general policy ............................................... 37

Implementing Your Statement of General Policy ...................................... 41Getting organised: Make arrangements and

allocate responsibility ..................................................................... 42Making sure the resources are available .......................................... 44

viii Health & Safety at Work For Dummies

Chapter 3: Engaging Your Workforce with Health and Safety . . . . . . .47Developing a Positive Safety Culture in Your Workplace ........................ 48Taking Control ............................................................................................... 51

Leading from the front ........................................................................ 51Empowering your managers ............................................................... 53

Co‐operating with Health and Safety ........................................................... 55Understanding the benefits of participation and involvement ...... 56Consulting through safety committees or representatives ............ 57

Talking the Talk: Communicating about Health and Safety ..................... 59Keeping people informed .................................................................... 59Writing down your procedures and processes................................ 61

Investing in Your People ............................................................................... 62Turning your people into health and safety ninjas ......................... 63Matching your business to its training requirements ..................... 64Refreshing employee training ............................................................ 66

Chapter 4: Assessing Health and Safety Risks in the Workplace . . . .69Thinking about Risk ...................................................................................... 70Conducting Your Risk Assessment ............................................................. 71

Using qualitative techniques .............................................................. 73Taking a quantitative approach ......................................................... 81

Controlling Your Risk Level ......................................................................... 81Considering your control options ..................................................... 82Prioritising your actions ..................................................................... 84Following through ................................................................................ 84

Transferring Financial Risk with Insurance ................................................ 85Understanding how insurance works................................................ 86Knowing what you must insure.......................................................... 86

Chapter 5: Getting Your House in Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89Working Up a Healthy Sweat ........................................................................ 90

Breezing through ................................................................................. 91Keeping your cool ................................................................................ 92Lighting the way ................................................................................... 94Keeping it clean .................................................................................... 95Staying spatially aware........................................................................ 95Sitting comfortably .............................................................................. 96

Staying Safe and on the Move ...................................................................... 96Maintaining the working environment .............................................. 97Routing for pedestrians ...................................................................... 98Opening doors .................................................................................... 101

Considering Employee Welfare .................................................................. 102Going potty ......................................................................................... 103Drinking responsibly ......................................................................... 105Eating in style ..................................................................................... 105

ix Table of Contents

Part II: Managing and Implementing Health and Safety in Your Business ...................................... 107

Chapter 6: Moving to a Recognised Safety Management System . . .109Discovering Why Safety Doesn’t Manage Itself ........................................ 109Choosing a Recognised Safety Management System .............................. 110Looking at Safety Management System Elements ................................... 112Implementing a Recognised Safety Management System ....................... 114

Taking a deeper look at BS OHSAS 18001 ....................................... 114Analysing the gaps using an initial review...................................... 116Deciding on the scope of your safety management system ......... 117Working towards certification.......................................................... 118

Chapter 7: Developing Safe Systems and Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . .121Developing Safe Systems of Work ............................................................. 121

Analysing tasks................................................................................... 122Formulating controls, including procedures.................................. 124Training users about the system ..................................................... 126Monitoring and improving the system ............................................ 126Using permit systems to control higher‐risk activities ................. 127

Preparing Emergency Procedures ............................................................. 129Deciding what emergencies to cover .............................................. 129Working out the details ..................................................................... 130Making sure that you’re always ready ............................................ 131

Contracting Procedures .............................................................................. 131Selecting contractors ........................................................................ 132Monitoring the work of your contractors ....................................... 133

Chapter 8: Monitoring and Reviewing Health and Safety in the Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135

Monitoring Your Safety Management System .......................................... 136Using KPIs and Targets ............................................................................... 136Conducting Inspections and Audits .......................................................... 138

Audits .................................................................................................. 140Inspections ......................................................................................... 143

Learning from Accidents ............................................................................ 144Using accident data wisely ............................................................... 145Investigating accidents ..................................................................... 147Reporting accidents........................................................................... 153

Improving Health and Safety Performance .............................................. 155Reviewing your safety management system .................................. 156Implementing change ........................................................................ 158

x Health & Safety at Work For Dummies

Part III: Controlling Workplace Risks ......................... 159

Chapter 9: Tackling Behaviour‐Based Issues: Workplace Woes . . . . 161Lifting the Lid on Violence ......................................................................... 161

Understanding the risk of violence in your work environment ....163Reducing the risk of violence at work ............................................. 164

Stressing Out ................................................................................................ 167Identifying stressors .......................................................................... 168Managing stress using the HSE’s Management Standards ........... 171

Wising Up to Drugs and Alcohol ................................................................ 173Looking for the signs ......................................................................... 174Managing drugs and alcohol sensibly ............................................. 175

Chapter 10: Harnessing Gravity and Managing Workplace Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177

Working at Height ........................................................................................ 177Avoiding, preventing and minimising work at height ................... 179Inspecting your equipment............................................................... 182

Controlling Workplace Transport ............................................................. 183Standing still: Evaluating safety issues with

stationary vehicles ......................................................................... 184Moving around the workplace environment:

On‐site transportation ................................................................... 185Getting out on the road: Driving off‐site for work.......................... 190

Chapter 11: Unpacking Manual Handling and Other Ergonomic Risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197

Introducing the Problem ............................................................................ 198Taking Practical Steps to Handle Loads Safely ........................................ 199

Assessing manual handling risks ..................................................... 200Selecting solutions for manual handling issues ............................. 206

Getting Comfortable with Workstations ................................................... 208Assessing desktops and laptops ...................................................... 209Considering solutions for all workstations..................................... 211

Chapter 12: Working Safely with Machinery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215Getting to Know Your Machinery’s Hazards ............................................ 216

Drilling down into mechanical hazards .......................................... 218Battling against non‐mechanical hazards ....................................... 219

Controlling Machinery Risk ........................................................................ 220Making Safeguards Count ........................................................................... 221

Fixed guards ....................................................................................... 223Other types of guards and protective devices ............................... 224Protection appliances ....................................................................... 227Training your team ............................................................................ 227

xi Table of Contents

Using Your Machinery ................................................................................ 229Restricting machinery use ................................................................ 229Maintaining your machinery’s condition ........................................ 230

Chapter 13: Shocking Truths: Electrical Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233Keeping Current on Electrical Hazards .................................................... 233

Plugging in electrical equipment ..................................................... 235Working overhead and digging deep ............................................... 236Dealing with environmental hazards ............................................... 238

Preventing Danger: Controlling Your Electricity Risk ............................ 239Keeping your electrician happy ....................................................... 240Covering up your conductors .......................................................... 240Using protective systems.................................................................. 242Hiring electric professionals ............................................................ 244Working out safe systems of work ................................................... 245Inspecting and maintaining your electrical equipment ................ 247

Chapter 14: Fanning the Flames: Fire Risk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .251Playing with Fire .......................................................................................... 251

Taking responsibility for fire risks ................................................... 252Getting to know the fire triangle ...................................................... 253Classifying fire types ......................................................................... 255Working out how fires spread .......................................................... 255Discovering common causes of fire................................................. 256

Assessing Fire Risk ...................................................................................... 257Considering the burning issues ....................................................... 258Establishing who’s at risk ................................................................. 258Evaluating what you have in place .................................................. 259Plan and implement extra precautions ........................................... 259Review your risk assessment ........................................................... 259Changing workplaces ........................................................................ 260

Selecting Options for Fire Prevention and Protection ............................ 261Controlling fuel and ignition sources .............................................. 261Building barriers to limit fire spread ............................................... 262Alarming yourself in the night .......................................................... 263Don’t be a hero! Fighting fires to make your escape ..................... 264Emptying the building: Emergency evacuation procedures ........ 266

Chapter 15: Getting the Chemistry Right: Controlling Hazardous Substances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .271

Assessing the Risks to Health from Chemical Substances ..................... 271Staying informed with labels and safety data ................................ 274Getting under your skin: Routes of entry ....................................... 277Factoring in the risk of ill‐health ...................................................... 278Exposing exposure limits .................................................................. 279

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Keeping Chemicals under Wraps .............................................................. 280Practicing the principles of good practice ..................................... 281Implementing common control approaches .................................. 283Monitoring your control measures.................................................. 285Cutting out cancer ............................................................................. 286

Getting to Know Asbestos .......................................................................... 287Containing asbestos .......................................................................... 288Managing asbestos in buildings ....................................................... 289

Chapter 16: Making Waves: Tackling Noise, Vibration and Radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .291

Dealing with Noise and Vibration in the Workplace ............................... 291Listening out for problems ............................................................... 292Managing workplace noise ............................................................... 294Feeling your way towards the problem .......................................... 299Protecting your employees from vibration .................................... 299

Addressing Radiation Concerns in the Workplace ................................. 302Differentiating between ionising and non‐ionising radiation ....... 303Working with strategies to control radiation hazards .................. 305

Part IV: Going the Extra Mile ..................................... 309

Chapter 17: Wrestling with Health and Safety Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .311Judging What’s Right: The UK Legal System ............................................ 312

Understanding the law: Criminal, civil, statute and common law ............................................................................ 312

Courting disaster: The court structure ........................................... 316Taking responsibility: Criminal and civil liabilities ....................... 318

Drawing Out the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 ...................... 323Grasping the fundamental duties..................................................... 324Exploring the offences ....................................................................... 327

Breaking into the Management Regulations ............................................ 327

Chapter 18: Developing a Positive Safety Culture: Factoring in Human Behaviour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .331

Evolving Your Organisation’s Safety Culture ........................................... 332Improving performance .................................................................... 332Influencing your peers....................................................................... 337

Anticipating the Impact of Human Factors .............................................. 338Understanding the human influences on safety behaviour.......... 339Learning from errors and mistakes ................................................. 343Violating the rules .............................................................................. 346

xiii Table of Contents

Chapter 19: Cracking Process Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .349Approaching Safety Differently .................................................................. 349

Learning from history........................................................................ 350Hanging up hard hat safety............................................................... 352Attending to the little things ............................................................ 353

Breaking Down Process Safety Management ........................................... 354Producing an onshore Safety Report: Visiting Seveso .................. 355Making a Safety Case offshore .......................................................... 358

Stacking Up Some Process Safety Management System Elements ........ 358Analysing process hazards ............................................................... 359Operating with procedures .............................................................. 360Steaming through cultural change .................................................. 360Contracting work ............................................................................... 360Managing your assets ........................................................................ 360Managing change ............................................................................... 361Analysing root causes ....................................................................... 361Preventing escalation ........................................................................ 362

Part V: The Part of Tens ............................................ 363

Chapter 20: Ten Ways to Get Risk Assessment Wrong . . . . . . . . . . . .365Using a Risk Assessment to Justify Decisions You’ve Already Made .....366Making Your Risk Assessment Too Generic ............................................ 366Overcomplicating Your Risk Assessment ................................................ 367Ignoring Industry Standards and Good Practice ..................................... 369Using the Wrong Guidance ......................................................................... 369Knowing Nothing about the Activity You’re Assessing .......................... 370Leaving Consultants to the Task without Getting Involved Yourself .....371Getting Bogged Down in Trivia .................................................................. 371Treating Your Risk Assessment as a Paper Exercise .............................. 372Assuming That Nothing Ever Changes ..................................................... 373

Chapter 21: Ten Neat Tools to Help You Assess Risks and Choose Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .375

Office Risk Assessment Tool ...................................................................... 375Risk Assessment Routefinder ..................................................................... 376COSHH Essentials ........................................................................................ 377Manual Handling Assessment Charts (MAC) Tool .................................. 378Assessment of Repetitive Tasks (ART) Tool ............................................ 379Noise Exposure and Hearing Protection Calculators .............................. 379Hand‐Arm Vibration Exposure Calculator ................................................ 380Work at Height Access Equipment Information Toolkit ......................... 381Asbestos Essentials Task Sheets ............................................................... 382Stress Management Tools .......................................................................... 382

xiv Health & Safety at Work For Dummies

Chapter 22: Ten Great Health and Safety Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .385Health and Safety Executive ....................................................................... 385Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland ........................................ 386Public Health England ................................................................................. 387Fire Safety in the Workplace ...................................................................... 387Legislation .................................................................................................... 388Institution of Occupational Safety and Health ......................................... 388Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register ........................... 388European Agency for Safety and Health at Work .................................... 389World Health Organization ......................................................................... 389International Labour Organization’s Encyclopaedia of

Occupational Health and Safety ............................................................. 390

Index ....................................................................... 391

Introduction

H ealth and safety is a surprisingly interesting topic. It combines bits of science, engineering, management, psychology, ergonomics, law and

economics, giving them a safety and health spin. So, if you’ve ever studied anything or had a job of any kind, you may find that much of the information in this book is familiar and accessible (though it certainly has its techy bits).

We wrote this book because a lot of people are still a bit confused or mysti-fied by health and safety – and we don’t want that confusion to continue! It’s partly because health and safety is surrounded by more mythology than an ancient Greek epic, and partly because it can be hard to find the information you need unless you know exactly what you’re looking for (or you’re just plain lucky).

At one extreme, you may think that health and safety is just common sense (so why all the fuss?), and at the other, you may think that it’s just too com-plicated. We have sympathy with both extremes because we’ve all been there. None of us started out as safety professionals (though we’ve always been professional . . .). We’re ordinary folk (with what we like to think of as a healthy interest in fires, explosions, drugs and alcohol).

To start you off on your health and safety journey, here are a few interesting things we, as authors, have picked up along the way that you may find useful:

✓✓ Risk assessment is a core tool for health and safety. It helps you to make decisions and is a springboard for action; it isn’t supposed to be an end in itself.

✓✓ Safety management systems are much easier to set up than to maintain, review and improve – people can lack the motivation for these repeat visits/checks/audits.

✓✓ Using consultants can be an efficient and effective use of resources, especially when you’re dealing with something technical. But make sure that you’re clear about what you want from your consultant (in terms of end‐result deliverables). A good consultant can help you work out the specifications around your needs, but this process can be tricky if you yourself have no clear idea of what you want in the first place.

✓✓ Consultant fees seem only to come in units of one day, regardless of how little work is done.

2 Health & Safety at Work For Dummies

✓✓ No two safety experts will ever agree on the detail. Don’t let that worry you too much – health and safety work relies on professional judgement, and in reality you can find many ways to achieve the same end result. Take a holistic view.

✓✓ You get better at safety the more you do it!

About This BookBusinesses have lots of things they need to do to be successful – and making sure that the money is coming in is obviously right up there. But health and safety is also an important part of managing a business. It isn’t something separate or an optional add‐on – it needs to be integrated into your business’s operations, but it often isn’t.

In terms of health and safety, you and your business at least need to:

✓✓ Navigate the apparently complex laws and guidance.

✓✓ Discover what your priorities are – the things you must do, like write a safety policy, complete risk assessments, consult with your employees and report accidents.

✓✓ Work out what you can do yourself and when you may need help – and where this help may come from (for example, from consultants).

✓✓ Work out how to improve performance.

✓✓ Be sensible, proportionate and realistic (rather than striving for perfec-tion or overreacting).

This book can help you to do all these things, using the experience, wit and humour of three safety professionals (us, your authors). We can help to make health and safety real – so you can see how it can be put into practice in everyday terms. We also introduce you (in Parts III and IV) to the wider scope of safety and health. Not all of these areas will apply to you and your business, but health and safety crosses industries, sectors and continents. It’s relevant in any industry that’s interested in protecting its people, so we aim to deliver comprehensive coverage of the major topics.

You may notice a few icons in the margins as you work your way through the book – these icons help you to identify the key points, take note of some useful advice and they also indicate the stuff that’s just nice to know. You may prefer to skip some of the sidebars and ‘Technical Stuff’ icons if you’re in a hurry and need the basics fast.

3 Introduction

Within this book, you may notice that some web addresses break across two lines of text. If you’re reading this book in print and want to visit one of these web pages, simply key in the web address exactly as it’s noted in the text, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist. If you’re reading this as an e‐book, you’ve got it easy – just click the web address to be taken directly to the web page.

Foolish AssumptionsWe assume that you’re either very interested in health and safety or at least need to know the basics. However, we don’t assume that you know very much about health and safety, apart from what you may have read in the newspapers. You may be a business owner, a manager or anyone who needs to get health and safety sorted in your workplace.

Icons Used in This BookTo help you sort out the important information, we use icons in the text. Here’s a quick summary of what these icons mean:

This icon indicates practical advice that we’ve discovered along the way that can make life easier for you.

This icon points out some things that are important enough for you to take note of. You may even want to write these key points down somewhere.

This icon warns you of traps that you can fall into if you’re not careful.

This icon provides you with a realistic example (sometimes from your authors’ chequered pasts) that can help you to see how things work in practice.

This icon highlights technical terms. Did you really think you’d get away with avoiding the jargon? Every topic has some subject‐specific terms that need a bit more explanation, so we take the time to point them out, especially when they’re common words that have a special meaning in a health and safety context.

4 Health & Safety at Work For Dummies

This icon notes specialised health and safety facts that go deeper into a topic than you may need to go. But you can skip these if you’re in a rush and still get the point.

Beyond the BookAs you navigate your way through Health and Safety at Work For Dummies, you can supplement our sublime text with some extra online goodies. You can find the book’s e‐cheat sheet at www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/healthandsafetyuk. And, by going to www.dummies.com/extras/healthandsafetyuk you can find some bonus articles with detail that we just couldn’t fit in the book.

Where to Go from HereThis book isn’t a novel; it’s a reference book. As such, you can start anywhere you like. But, if you have little or no safety knowledge or experience, we sug-gest that you start at the beginning, because the chapters in the first part provide a gentle introduction to the subject and focus on the key things you must do in a business to cover health and safety – the absolute basics.

Other than that, take a quick look at the table of contents or index and choose a topic that makes you smile – and get started!

Visit www.dummies.com for great (and free!) For Dummies content online.

Part IGetting Started with Health

and Safety at Work

In this part . . .✓✓ Understand what health and safety is and its benefits to you

and your business.

✓✓ Decide whether you need professional help or can go it alone, and take a look at your safety policy.

✓✓ Set the right culture – lead from the front, consult with your employees, communicate effectively with your team and train your employees to do their jobs properly.

✓✓ Assess your business risks using pragmatic and sensible approaches that are proportional to the risk.

✓✓ Create a healthy and safe physical workplace environment and give attention to your employees’ welfare – that means toilets, temperature and housekeeping.

Chapter 1

Making Sense of Health and Safety in the Workplace

In This Chapter▶▶ Understanding what health and safety is

▶▶ Establishing how health and safety can benefit your business

▶▶ Navigating health and safety terminology

H ealth and safety at work isn’t a new thing. In past times, making work safer has sometimes been a by‐product of not wanting to run out of a

limited supply of skilled labourers. For example, gravity has always been diffi-cult to defeat for us humans, so even the ancient civilisations (like the Greeks and Romans) thought of scaffolding and cranes (which also introduce some additional risks – choices, choices).

Things have moved on since then. Modern times bring their comforts and benefits but also new health and safety challenges for every business owner and manager. Safety standards are considerably higher today, and society won’t tolerate a business that recklessly fails to protect its employees from unnecessary risks. With modern knowledge, tools and technologies, you’re more capable than ever of managing these risks – but you may at times feel that you need to embrace a seemingly bewildering range of legislation and advice along the way. But not to worry – we’re here to help you figure out how to rise to the health and safety challenge.

In this chapter, we look at what workplace health and safety really is, why it’s important, and how good health and safety practices can help your business flourish. We also introduce you to some of the key terminology you’ll see again and again as you discover more about the wonderful world of health and safety. More than anything, we want to give you the confidence to tackle health and safety issues yourself in your own organisation.

8 Part I: Getting Started with Health and Safety at Work

Putting Health and Safety into ContextHealth and safety can be an emotive subject. It gets a lot of bad press in the UK. Every week you hear about some nonsense or other that reinforces that health and safety is out to spoil everyone’s fun, ridiculously disproportionate or just plain silly. Or you hear lots of stories about how not enough was done, how someone or other must be held to account, and how on earth this can be happening again. It’s enough to make you want to write a strongly worded letter to The Times!

But, believe it or not, health and safety professionals get just as frustrated with this as you do – and they’re not out there to spoil your fun or to sur-round you with red tape. In fact, many rather like having fun themselves.

The next few sections offer some perspective on health and safety, so that you can understand what it’s really about (and save you from believing all the bad press and silly stories).

Cutting through the hypeQuite a few (though not all) of the stories you hear in the news berating health and safety have nothing to do with health and safety. In fact, they’re often down to local policies and decisions, and health and safety is simply an excuse or a smokescreen used to hide a decision that has already been made for other reasons.

As a result, in the popular mind‐set, health and safety can be seen as a reason for not doing things. Indeed, this idea has become somewhat of a comic stereotype in the UK – with ‘elf and safety’ providing the incontestable, final word. But try it on your nearest and dearest and see how far it gets you: ‘I’m not cleaning the toilet today – health and safety – I might fall into the bowl’; ‘Kids, I’m not taking you to that birthday party today – health and safety’. You’ll find that your excuses quickly wear thin!

In reality, people manage risks perfectly well when it’s something they want or need to do. For example, you can apply risk management principles to oil production (the source of many modern‐day chemicals, and used to make plastics and fuel your car), power generation or even simply driving a car.

The UK’s main health and safety regulator, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), became so fed up with health and safety being used as an excuse to ban things that it set up a ‘myth‐busters challenge panel’. It’s dedicated

9 Chapter 1: Making Sense of Health and Safety in the Workplace

to challenging some of the more ridiculous health and safety excuses that have been reported to them by outraged members of the public. The idea is that the panel investigates the circumstances and reports their thoughts on the matter. That is, do they think that the reasons given are really due to health and safety – or do they think that health and safety is being used as an (unconvincing) excuse?

The panel’s answer is just its opinion – it isn’t legally binding. So, it doesn’t mean that you can enforce an appeal. But it does mean that you can chal-lenge the reason for the apparently poor decision. (The real reason may simply be that someone was looking for an excuse not to run an event, for example. That’s fair enough, and often entirely up to the decision‐maker in question, but they shouldn’t be calling it a health and safety reason when it isn’t. They should come clean and give you the real reason.)

Many cases heard by the panel surround events that have been run for years but get cancelled or unreasonably constrained on the basis of some made‐up health and safety reason.

Here are a couple of examples to brighten your day, which just goes to show how much fun it must be working for the HSE:

▶✓ Custard pie fight: ‘A custard pie fight at a local event has been cancelled because the event organisers could not get insurance on the basis that the activity is too dangerous’.

The myth‐busters panel concluded that this was just a case of ‘over‐the‐top risk aversion’ and there was no real danger. Instead, everyone missed out on some harmless fun.

▶✓ A night in the museum: ‘A national museum is hosting a ‘sleepover’ event and has advised those attending that they can bring a foam mattress to sleep on but not an inflatable one on the grounds of health and safety’.

The myth‐busters panel couldn’t think of a convincing health and safety reason for this. Their conclusion is that the museum needs to justify it – not just blame health and safety when it isn’t a health and safety issue.

According to the HSE, one of the reasons cited for disproportionate interpre-tations of safety requirements is a fear of being sued. With the ease of access to no‐win, no‐fee lawyers, people have the perception that anyone can sue for just about anything, however trivial, and get away with it. But there’s little evidence that being sued for trivial things happens much in practice – the law, in most places around the world, does at least grasp the concept of reasonableness; frivolous cases usually get dismissed or thrown out (but obviously with the aid of a safety net).

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Of course, the fear of being sued is not to be sneezed at, and many organisa-tions develop unnecessarily in‐depth health and safety management plans to protect their business. The nearby sidebar, ‘Reclaiming health and safety’, looks at the disproportionate application of health and safety regulations in more detail. It also points out that the legislation itself actually seems to be set at about the right level in the UK – which is good to know!

The UK health and safety system is largely one of enforced self‐regulation. That means a legal duty exists for those who create the risk to control it, but exactly how they do it (and monitor compliance) is pretty much left up to them to decide, based on the circumstances and some hefty guidance. In effect, you’re expected to have a safety management system that actively identifies, controls and reviews risks. It’s a risk‐based approach. In this sense, the legal duties treat you like an adult instead of telling you in minute detail precisely what to do.

Reclaiming health and safetyIn 2011, there was such a backlash against perceived excessive health and safety legis-lation that the UK government commissioned Professor Ragnar E Löfstedt, an eminent aca-demic who heads up the King’s Centre for Risk Management, at King’s College, London, to investigate the matter and to ‘reclaim health and safety’. Löfstedt published his findings, concluding that safety regulation in the UK was actually about right. Of course, there were a few examples where legislation was burden-some and requirements were duplicated. The sheer amount of legislation was an issue for some, too. However, for the most part, the UK was achieving the right balance.

Löfstedt identified that the problem was less to do with the regulations themselves and more to do with the pressure people felt to go well beyond what the law required: that is, disproportionate application. This seems to

be the case on the topic of risk assessment in particular. The original purpose of risk assess-ment was to assess significant risks, and to prioritise and manage them. Instead, some businesses have attempted to note every con-ceivable risk in exquisite detail, however obvi-ous and trivial (for fear they’ll be held to account if they don’t record it). And, in the process, they can turn an office risk assessment, a two‐ or three‐page affair, into a 200‐page analysis that wouldn’t be out of place to justify a nuclear installation or oil refinery being placed next to a hospital or school.

Unnecessarily complex risk assessments create a disproportionate administrative burden. This greatly undermines the cause of safety and encourages the view that health and safety gets in the way, tying up valu-able resources in efforts that don’t benefit the business.

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Understanding the value of health and safetyHealth and safety is something you do every day without even knowing it. (It’s always nice to have a fancy name for something you’ve known all along.)

At its basic level, it’s a survival instinct. You look before crossing the road; you walk more carefully on ice and snow; you smell milk before drinking it; and you don’t accept sweets from strangers.

To some extent, even poorly performing businesses consider safety at this basic level, utilising rules they’ve grown up with in order to survive. But they may not do it very well, or they may just have been lucky so far.

Health and safety covers management, leadership, law and aspects of the physical sciences (physics and chemistry), engineering, biological sciences, psychology (human behaviour) and ergonomics. Science and engineering are natural bedfellows with safety because they often involve doing things that may be considered rather risky if you don’t control them properly. No one wants to get blown up when testing a nuclear device, setting off explosives or designing a new‐fangled industrial robot – or even while distilling their own gin. (This may also be why a lot of safety people start out in science or engineering – perhaps they simply fail to step out of the way when manage-ment is asking for volunteers to hand out the safety equipment.)

Modern health and safety isn’t some strange, mystical art. In fact, you can argue that it isn’t really a subject in its own right at all. Instead, it’s a col-lection of topics brought together with a safety emphasis; that is, to avoid injury or ill‐health. In a wider sense, health and safety is also a key aspect of  business risk management.

The word risk can mean different things to different people, so it’s possible to get a little confused. We’re using it here in a health and safety context, but the word is widely used in the business world in ways that go beyond health and safety. For example, senior business executives are responsible for corporate governance to ensure that their companies are managed effectively (don’t look so surprised). This is sometimes termed business risk management or internal control. Obviously, it’s heavily skewed towards financial, market and product risk, but health and safety (and environmental) risks also feature because these too are business risks. We talk more about risks in the later section, ‘Recognising hazards and risks’.

Health and safety also features in corporate social responsibility (when the emphasis is more on morality, ethics and social justice). Either way, health and safety is something businesses need to see as integrated into their normal activities, and not something separate.

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Neglect of significant health and safety risks can bring a business to its knees in no time at all.

If you’re well‐prepared and motivated (which we think you may be, because you’re reading this book!), you can take charge of your business’s health and safety to ensure that you have your risk management under control. The first few chapters in this book give you the essential information that any business needs to understand to get started. Like most things in business, you start by working out your policy (see Chapter 2) – which commits you to going in a particular direction – and organising your workforce to implement your policy (see Chapter 3).

A core part of safety is identifying and assessing the risks that arise from your business. We look at risk assessment in Chapter 4 and some basic things you need to get right on your business premises in Chapter 5.

Safety needs to be managed – but not to worry, we cover management system implementation in detail in the chapters in Part II. The chapters in Part III take an in‐depth look at a range of workplace risks that you can control to create a safer working environment – from fire‐ and electricity‐based hazards to manual handling and stress‐related problems.

Focusing on what’s importantPerspective is important when dealing with health and safety. You need to get into the right frame of mind and recognise that health and safety is essen-tial for the success of your business. But it’s very easy to feel overwhelmed and bogged down. As every management guru will tell you (for a large fee), it’s better to focus your efforts on a few important things and do them well, rather than to start lots of things you never finish.

Trivial tasks can get in the way of good health and safety. If you ask yourself, ‘What are my main business risks?’ and find that you’re not controlling these – and you’re instead concentrating on trivial details that have little impact – something is wrong. For example, if you’re a chemical manufacturer and you aren’t focused on controlling the chemicals in your factory (worrying instead about making sure that people put lids on their coffee mugs and introducing a handrail‐holding training programme), you aren’t doing what you need to do.

Benefitting Your BusinessPlenty of people say that health and safety is good for business. Obviously, it’s good for people who sell health and safety products and services, but that’s not what they mean. They mean it’s good for any business.

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In the following sections, we look at some of the inspirational benefits of health and safety that should convince any doubters out there. You may see a lot of overlap between these strands – because one aspect can influence another – but they provide a solid overview of the benefits.

Protecting your employeesLooking after your employees is good for business. You should treat your employees with respect and common human decency – just as you would treat anyone else. This is a so‐called moral imperative – doing the right thing.

People don’t expect to get injured, killed or ill as a direct result of their work. However, we accept that people do, to some extent, volunteer for different levels of risk by their choice of employment. Thus, a Grand Prix racing driver or TT motorcyclist knows by the nature of his activity (and historical records) that he runs a greater residual risk of injury, even if he does what’s reasonable to manage it. (Residual risk is just the risk that remains after you take into account the precautions you already have in place to manage it.)

Nothing is ever risk-free. It’s self‐evident that different industries carry differ-ent risk profiles. However, no one accepts that they will be killed or seriously injured at work; rather, they accept that they may have a higher risk that it may happen than, say, if they had stayed in bed.

This is an entirely reasonable expectation in any modern society. It may also be the case that your employees are already injured or ill – plenty of people with existing disabilities or conditions also go to work. But they don’t expect their work to make it significantly worse.

A moral duty also extends beyond employees. Just because someone isn’t an employee (say, they’re a contractor or member of the public), it doesn’t mean you can ignore them. Remember, your employees know (or should know) what the risks are in your workplace and still choose to continue to work there; now, that’s understandable in a chocolate factory, but probably not in sewer‐cleaning (which we are reliably informed is nonetheless hugely satisfy-ing). But the general public going about their own business won’t appreciate or understand the risks in the same way as a trained, experienced employee (for example, if you’re erecting scaffolding on a busy high street), so they’re more likely, unknowingly, to be exposed to danger. Interfacing hazardous operations with the public therefore requires more careful planning, because the public may have no awareness of the dangers they may be facing.

On a purely practical note, if you don’t take reasonable steps to protect your employees from injury and ill‐health, you’ll soon be spending more time managing sickness than managing your business. So, take this on board as a valuable lesson. Be nice.

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Boosting your profitsGiving attention to health and safety can make your business more profitable for all sorts of reasons. If you’re a single‐minded, money‐fixated boss, this should be the clinching argument for you.

Done properly, health and safety can save you a lot of money. That money then stays with you and adds to the bottom line. This isn’t easy to appreci-ate until you look at the cost of neglecting health and safety. If you manage health and safety properly, you can detect the triggers that lead to serious accidents at an early stage and then manage these issues before they cost you too much money.

Arguments about theoretical accidents that can happen may not quite con-vince you. It may therefore be tempting to see a health and safety department as an unnecessary expense. But that’s short‐sighted and, though probably not immediately, it will eventually cost you far more.

Accidents are pretty convincing when they happen. Their effects go well beyond the injured person. In terms of the financial implications, you can divide costs into insured versus uninsured costs (or direct versus indirect costs). These are just different ways of labelling costs. But, whatever you call them, even a simple accident will cost you money.

If you’ve ever had a car accident, you know how time‐consuming and awk-ward it is, even for a minor scrape – a cast of thousands seems to be involved, and you never recover all the time and money involved. And, all the while you’re dealing with that, you have an opportunity cost to think about – you lose the time that you may have spent doing other things (okay, maybe you were just going to flop in front of the telly, but it’s still your time that you’ve lost out on).

Imagine that you’re the manager of a supermarket. Your employee drives a ride‐on sweeper around a corner and straight into a customer on a mobil-ity scooter, tipping her from the vehicle into a pile of neatly stacked bottles of wine. Bottles are broken, wine is everywhere, and your trained sweeper operator (and others) slips and falls while trying to help.

The costs soon mount up: repair to the sweeper, repair to the mobility scooter, loss and replacement of product, loss of productivity (other employ-ees helping on the scene, first‐aid‐trained colleagues taking time away from their posts, the cleaner on sick leave recovering), hire of a replacement sweeper and mobility scooter while the damaged vehicles are undergoing repair, conduct of an internal investigation (time is money), injury compensa-tion, legal advice costs, increased insurance premiums . . . and before long, a seemingly simple accident has become an incredibly expensive experience.