Updating your Health & Safety measures

I was saddened to read last week about the tragic loss of life at a Sheffield metalwork company. 

The Health & Safety Executive reported that the man lost his life as a result of a tragic accident at work, which in itself is terrible.  What shocked me just as much was that the employer was identified by the HSE as not having reviewed it's health and safety risk assessments or safe systems of work for nine years, that employee training had not been refreshed or updated for between 6 and 10 years and that new starter's training was inadequate.

The simple procedure of reviewing, refreshing and updating your health & safety documents is necessary in all areas of work, because the nature of work at a workplace tends to drift over time.  What I mean by this is that a process that was set up a decade ago naturally changes over time as new equipment, new people, new products etc. are introduced to the process and the working environment around the process changes too.  

Don't let your existing health & safety measures become out of date before it's too late - get an expert to review and update them to fit your current work processes. 

The rate of change in your health & safety processes can often far outstrip the rate of change achievable in your written procedures.  Please don't be caught out - be fit, competent and business ready!