These are few questions that could be asked and inadequate knowledge of these can be dangerous and possibly lead to loss of lives, properties and even rub off on your corporate reputation should any eventuality occur. It is on this note that we advice on a Training Need Analysis of your work force to help you assess their competence thereafter making a recommendation on what training they need and the most cost-effective way of providing it.

HSE BASICS

Health, Safety and Environment is not all that complicated, but for the sake of your employees and for your own legal protection it is vital to get it right.

• For this reason you need competent consultants that you can call on in an emergency but, more importantly, we advice on how to minimise the likelihood of emergencies arising in the first place.
• You want peace of mind and you also want flexibility to be able to call on just the services you need, when you need them and at the right price.
• You want to retain control but not be distracted from your core business activities.

We can package Health and safety services in a variety of ways to cater for your needs, regardless of the size of your organization, the nature of your business or your personal management style.

Whichever package best suits your needs, all the necessary health and safety services are available, including:

• Assessing the Need: You may already know how well you measure up to health and safety requirements. However, if you are unsure, then a good starting point is to conduct an Initial Status Review (ISR). This involves inspecting your premises, talking with your employees, observing the work, the materials being handled, the equipment used and the working methods employed. The result is an assessment of how well you are doing and what level you are, if anything is needed to achieve legal compliance. Once your HSE programme is established, you need an occasional independent status check or Audit – the equivalent of a financial audit of your accounts. This assesses progress since the Initial Status Review (or previous Audit) and documents what still needs to be done.
• Action planning: The logical next step from either an Initial Status Review or an Audit is to draw up a Management Action Plan of actions, priorities and responsibilities for addressing any legal issues or unsafe practices. Priorities are very important. The first time a review or audit is undertaken, situations may come to light that demand immediate action to remove the risk of serious injury or worse. However, most issues can probably be addressed over a period of time, perhaps as part of scheduled maintenance or refurbishment. It is, however, important to demonstrate that you are taking hazards seriously and you are addressing them in a timely manner.
• Consultation, Mentoring & Advice: Every organization is different with its own challenges and ways of dealing with them. Some prefer to outsource all their day-to-day health and safety to a ‘safe pair of hands’. Others prefer to keep the work in-house but have an occasional visit from a qualified health and safety advisor who is also able to mentor their staff. Either way, it is comforting to have Help Line Support available whenever you need it. We can help you in writing your Policy & Procedure and advice on what Organisation and Arrangements you need to put in place. But it is more profitable to your organization when you make employees write them as a way of assessing their understanding. And if you need us to organise and run your Safety Committee, we can do that as well. An essential element of health and safety is staff training and awareness. We have discovered an excellent way of maintaining interest is to host occasional Awareness Events that are designed to attract people’s attention and raise the profile of health and safety. The preferred result is that there should be no accidents. However, even in the best run operations, there is inevitably occasional incident and then you need a competent person to conduct the Accident Investigation.
• Risk Assessments: A core health and safety activity is Risk Assessment, which identifies hazards in the workplace and assesses levels of risk against the measures that are in place to control them. There is the General Risk Assessment that is often completed at the same time as an Initial Status Review. This identifies broad areas of risk that may call for more specific Risk Assessments. These may be required because significant risks have been noted or because of statutory requirements such as Control of Substances Hazardous to Health. There are other assessments and audits that need to be carried out by almost every organisation that has premises, including Fire Safety, Waste management audit, Equipment audit etc.