Advice / Consultancy

It doesn't matter what you want to do these days, you can't seem to be able to do it without doing a risk assessment first and the following 3 steps are the minimum that is expected:

• identify what could cause injury or illness in your business

• decide how likely it is that someone could be harmed and how serious that might be

• take action to eliminate the hazard or (if this isn't possible) control the risk.

These same principles apply to any kind of risk assessment, including the recently changed provisions relating to fire in tenanted properties and holiday lets.

Assessments must be (a) recorded and (b) done by a "competent person" who could be the employer or owner of the business, member(s) of the workforce, or an outside adviser or consultant like me. Whichever option is chosen the assessor must be trained because without that they won't be deemed as being competent in the first place.

So, assessments to consider include the following:

• workplace risk assessments

• fire risk assessments

• manual handling assessments

• display screen assessments

• Covid-19 assessments

• personal protective equipment assessments

• chemicals / substances (CoSHH)

• air sampling / analysis

• lifting equipment

• tools and equipment.

And, yes, there are others!

Check out the Downloads tab because there are a number of things in there that will help and they are mainly free of charge. And, of course, if you think you need assistance or just a bit of guidance by all means get in touch by emailing Brian Mitchell or give me a call on 07960 779360.

In the 50 years I have been working in health and safety the biggest difference I have noticed is .... the amount of paperwork we need to do. Everything we do has to be recorded. Whether it be a policy of some sort (and there's certainly loads of them now, aren't there?), a risk assessment, a fire risk assessment, a method statement or a complete management system, I would be willing to bet that I've got something to fit.

Unless of course you've got nothing better to do and want to write your own.

Have a look at the "Downloads" tab which gets added to on an almost daily basis or get hold of me via email at Brian Mitchell or give me a call on 07960 779360.

Still regarded as being one of the more dangerous sectors despite making huge improvements in recent years, the construction industry makes its own demands and I can help with:

• acting as a "competent person" as required by the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations

• Principal Designer duties

• site inspections

• workplace risk assessments

• fire risk assessments

• pre-construction information

• construction phase plans

• traffic management plans

• method statements

• environmental management plans.

Add to that the tender documentation and the pre-qualification processes and you have quite a burden.

 If you need help of any sort look at our "Downloads" to see if what you're looking for is there or simply get in touch at Brian Mitchell or give me a call on 07960 779360.

The modern railway has its own unique hazards and problems and, just to confound things, it has its own systems, processes and Standards. It's a specialised field and if you need assistance then "yes" that knowledge is available here. Expertise in matters such as:

• tender documentation

• pre-construction information

• construction phase plans

• work package plans

• task briefing sheets

• environmental management plans

• fire risk assessments

• principal contractor licensing applications / processes

is readily available at Brian Mitchell or give me a call on 07960 779360.