By Nigel Mair
This month I wanted to follow on from the New Year Resolutions I suggested last month and give you some health and safety tips that you might want to follow... if you are anything like me, then you will already have dispensed with your resolutions!
Tip 1
Don’t be an ostrich and bury your head in the sand. If you do, something will definitely come along and bite you in the testimonials. It might not happen this week, month, or year, but sooner or later something will happen. If (when) it does, it will cost you money, or even worse!
Tip 2
Speak to your staff! This isn’t very groundbreaking and is something that Roger, The Garbage Guru, also keeps mentioning in his articles. Nevertheless, it is probably one area that most managers are pretty bad at... particularly if it is their own business.
Although I have said “speak”, perhaps a better description would be “to listen to your staff”! I appreciate that they will come up with a lot of whinges and also probably an unobtainable wish list, but there may well be some nuggets of useful stuff. It will also ensure that you stay close to the business... and did you realise that you are actually required by legislation to consult with your staff?
I get involved in talking to a lot of staff when carrying out NVQ work on sites and it is amazing what they will tell me about problems they have and also suggested improvements. You might also find out some unexpected work practices!!
Tip 3
Make sure that your staff are doing the basics. This again sounds obvious, but you might be surprised how many times we go to sites and find the most basic rules being broken. For example, at a simple level do they wear the PPE they should... always?
It can be difficult to check, but you need to put in place some sort of monitoring system and also pull them up when you spot something wrong.
Tip 4
Following on from Tip 3, you should also ensure that you follow the basics... do you always practice what you preach, following all the site rules as well? This is essential as any shortfalls in your behaviour will completely undermine any message that you might try to get across.
Tip 5
Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork! I know this is always a bit of a nightmare, but it is really important to make sure that your health and safety system is robust and that all aspects are demonstrable to a third party. For example, could you prove that you have trained your staff and that they know what they are meant to do?
Nigel Mair is a WAMITAB assessor and verifier and runs the North West Regional Assessment Centre, delivering WAMITAB qualifications and other H&S, waste and environmental training. If you have any questions for Nigel, please email them through to nigel@theskip.net
