Background
Health and safety at Blackburn with Darwen Borough council is only dealt with reactively, depending on the seriousness of the accident.
Employers of businesses are required to report any work related incidents/accidents to the local authority. The guidance and reporting requirements can be found under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR). The Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations 1998 determine which premises fall within local authority’s jurisdiction.
On the 21st of July 2014, Mark Mellodey approached me regarding being involved in an incident that had occurred at TCB Carpet Centre, Bolton Rd, Blackburn. Mark explained that the local authority has access to the HSE
…show more content…
Acquiring Information
Whilst in the office Mark and I referred to the HSE LAC 22/13 ‘Incident Selection Criteria Guidance’. This is used to determine whether to investigate an accident or not. Certain investigations are deemed mandatory; others are at the discretion of the local authority.
Mandatory investigations involve a variety of accidents, including fatalities, amputation, fractures, burns and asphyxiation. The full list of mandatory categories can be found on the Health and Safety Executive website.
At this point, to assist me with making my decision I completed the councils Accident Investigation Selection Form (Appendix 1). The outcome was that it was at our discretion as to whether to investigate the case.
This lead me to the HSE’s Enforcement Policy Statement, which suggests that when determining whether to investigate a discretionary incident, the authority should give regard to:
• Health and Safety Executive Enforcement Policy Statement (EPS)
• Severity and scale of potential or actual harm
• Seriousness of any potential breach of the
…show more content…
The trip resulted in the member of staff receiving a strain to his wrist. I checked on the HSE’s website to ensure this did not fall under the accidents which require a mandatory investigation. A strain to the wrist was not listed.
I checked the database ‘Flare’ to determine whether accidents of a similar type had occurred at this premises before. There had in fact been two other cases in the last 12 months.
The EPS states that I must give regard to the ‘duty holders past health and safety performance’. Other accidents of a similar kind had occurred recently within the same premises which could argue that the health and safety performance is potentially poor. I also took into consideration that on this occasion the accident occurred on the shop floor, which suggested to me that the general public may be exposed to the same risks.
With this in mind and the outcome of the accident investigation form, I felt that it was at our discretion and we should at least pay a visit to obtain some further information.
My main aim and the reason for visiting the site was to:
• Gather information and establish the
The appeal was heard in The NSW Supreme Court, Court of Appeal. The appellant appealed the issue of “blameless accidents” therefore providing new evidence, with the view that the preceding judge made an error recognising the content and scope of duty of care. He also noted the breach of duty of care and causation .
RIDDOR RIDDOR standard for Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995. These regulations puts roles on employers, the self-employed and people in control of work premises (the Responsible Person) to report certain serious workplace accidents, occupational diseases and specified dangerous occurrences (near misses). RDIDDOR is carried out so that HSE can see if it is a safe working area or not. If an accident occurred, details of the accident must be logged in the organization's accident book so they can look at the way they work and to see if they can do any changes to make workplace safer keeping suitable and accurate results helps you to identify patterns in accident and injuries and this will also help you
Greer, M. E. (2001, October). 90 Years of Progress in Safety. Professional Safety, 46(10), 20-25. Retrieved April 22, 2014, from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=5367632&site=ehost-live&scope=site
The refinement of this definition has significant legal implications, as it broadens the scope of those who can sue within blameless accidents. Prior to this, such victims would also face being labelled with “fault”. Supporting the findings of Axiak, by establishing non-tortious conduct as separate from “fault”, similar, future cases are more likely to proceed despite the plaintiff’s contributory
‘Health and Safety at work act 1974’ is a very important Legislation when working in healthcare as this is here to keep everybody involved as safe as possible. This has a huge contribution to health care provisions as it involves mainly everything with the job, it will include providing the right training for the certain job they do, carrying out risk assessment for service uses and the equipment used. Making sure there is a safe environment to be working and providing the correct information on health and safety. There are many policies under this one legislation for example, First Aid. Every staff member working for the NHS and in health care should all have this basic training in case needed in an emergency. The...
This Act of Parliament is the core part of UK health and safety law. It places a responsibility on all bosses and managers to make sure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and well-being at work of all their staff and workers.
Section 8 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act (2005) puts the onus on the employer to ensure systems of work that are planned, organised, performed, maintained and revised as appropriate so as to be, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe and without risk to health. Section 19 of the Act requires the employer to conduct a risk assessment of work activities and Schedule 3 of the Act provides the general principles of prevention to ensure the safety of employees in the workplace.
This turned out to be a serious safety hazard with the expected loss of life. But they labelled it as an Acceptable risk, instead of finding a solution.
In our organization we have had many revisions to our safety process. Originally, it was at our hospital that the 1996 well known “Willy King” incident, about the amputation of the “wrong” leg occurred. As a response to the incident, we were required to develop a root-cause-analysis and develop a plan to avoid similar situations in the future. We were one of the first hospitals to establish a “safety process” in the surgical environment. Through inter-disciplinary collaborati...
In rare occurrences workplace injury leads to death while the majority of injuries are minor. The national OHS strategy 2002-2012 by the Australian government has set a target to reduce fatality rate by 20% over the decade. The data from Safe Work Australia statistical report 2009-2010, shows a 10% decrease over 5 years to 2008, an increase in 2009 and a decrease in 2010 (Graph 1). The increase in 2008-2009 was among 15-24 years age group with 95% being male workers.
The OSHA examination began not long after the fall and included interrogating with witnesses, taking photos and asking for specialised data from the general contractor. Upon the arrival of the occurrence, the OSHA Regional Administrator
In any major accident, it is important that everyone involved in the co-ordinated planned response liaise with all Health services, Traffic control, Police, Fire services, ambulance and hospital. The action at an accident starts as: assessing the situation, in the management of an incident one of the most important steps is evaluating the scene accurately.
As for employees, it is essential for them to work together and cooperate with one another to prevent any accidents from occurring and to not carry out any actions that may be reckless and bring harm to their fellow colleagues. They are ultimately responsible for the safety of their colleagues and themselves. Failing to do so will not only cause mishaps but it may also result in parties being convicted for breaching this act.
A candidly of risk occurs in every organisation. Governance principals and the occupational health and safety urge that the organisations take reasonable measures to hinder loss, charge or rage to the organisational and all stakeholders/management. Injury and accidents can even happen ultimately with stringent OHS and the fact that an accident when occurs, does not mean that someone is liable if all responsible steps for prevention or minimisation has been taken.
Accidents at work can occur at any time and there are a lot of consequences and considerations, especially for the injured worker. Industrial workers or people who deal with heavy objects are not the only one at risk of getting into