Health and safety at work

Good governance is linked to safe practice delivered by appropriately trained staff working as a team.

Health and Safety at work is vital for all companies and here at ANHH is no different. We have just carried out our annual mandatory training day as a team and covered the following areas.

Slips, trips and falls – a reminder to employees about the dangers from slips, trips and falls in the workplace. Both employers and employees have a crucial role in identifying hazards and preventing incidents from happening.

The process of managing risk involves:

· Identifying the hazard

· Assessing the risk

· Implementing effective controls

DSE – Employers must protect employees from the health risks of working with display screen equipment (DSE) such as PCs, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. The Health and Safety DSE regulations apply to all workers who use DSE daily, for an hour or more at a time.

In law, employers must:

· Carry out a DSE workstation assessment

· Reduce risks, including making sure workers take breaks from DSE work or do something different

· Provide an eye test if the worker asks for one

· Provide training and information

The law applies if users are:

· At a fixed workstation

· Mobile workers

· Home workers hot desking

First Aid – You can never predict when you or someone around you will have an accident. Knowledge of basic first aid helps you prevent a minor injury from becoming something more serious. You could be the difference between a life saved or lost in a medical emergency.

Fire Training – Keeping your workplace safe can be as simple as ensuring that your workforce is aware of the fire hazards and potential pitfalls that can be caused by poor fire risk management. Fires can be started or fuelled by features that are common to all work environments:

· Waste – ideal fuel for a fire to start

· Flammable Liquids

· Dust

· Electronic Equipment

· Overloading power sockets

· Other combustible materials

· Human error

Our training included activities as well as direct information exchange. As ever, we learned about each other’s knowledge, strengths, and weaknesses.

As the year ends, why not commit to some shared learning of your own early in 2023? As ever, if there’s anything ANHH can do to support your governance, you know where we are.