It almost goes without saying that crucial workplace appliances and systems (particularly those of an electrical nature) must always be in efficient working order, and maintained to the highest standards. Have you the right protocols in place at your organisation to make sure that is the case? We examine why this facet of Health and Safety management (as well as others) is so vitally important.
When it comes to Health and Safety management, there's one truism that perhaps stands tall above any other consideration. That is that regular maintenance will always be required for all manner of equipment and appliances at your workplace that have the potential to cause harm to any member of staff. The most obvious example, of course, would be electrical equipment.

No surprise, then, that many organisations have introduced a system whereby all such equipment is rigorously checked before use. Meantime, others have devised protocols dictating that no personal items of equipment should be used unless they are supplied or checked over by designated managers.

From a wider Health and Safety perspective, managers must ensure that there are sufficient traffic routes around the building that are of sufficient width and headroom to allow both people and vehicles to circulate with ease. In this case, a 'traffic route' would be defined as "a route for pedestrian traffic, vehicles or both, and including any stairways, fixed ladders, doorways, gateways, loading bays or ramps".

Floors and traffic routes should be sound and strong enough for the loads placed on them, and the level of traffic expected to use them. Their surfaces should be free from holes, shouldn't be uneven or slippery and should be kept free of obstructions at all times. Any restrictions should be clearly indicated by effective signage. Wherever sharp or blind bends are unavoidable, or vehicles need to reverse, measures such as one-way systems and visibility mirrors must be considered. Of course, speed limits must also be set for any vehicles using the complex.

For stairways, a handrail should be provided on at least one side of every staircase (and on both sides if there is a significant risk of someone falling). Additional handrails may be needed along the centre of wide staircases. Wherever the sides of staircases are open then railings must be present to ensure user safety. Have a word with your company's architect if remedial building work is necessary.

After all, a high standard of protection is required to ensure that falls do not occur, particularly since the consequences of falling from heights or into dangerous (sometimes highly toxic) substances are so serious.

To prevent falls from significant heights, make sure that secure fencing is provided. Alternative measures could include the use of limited access areas, and specifying a limited amount of personnel who are able to enter those designated areas.

Patrolling in dangerous areas
Slips and trips that may well be trivial at ground floor level could result in fatal accidents if they happen on higher floors or the roof of the building. If security officers are tasked with patrolling rooftop areas, take precautions wherever there is a risk of them falling over the edge (or, indeed, through glazing if there is a central atrium space). Such precautions might include standard fall-arrest devices and crawling boards. In any event, all fragile roofs or surfaces should be clearly identified (in particular if a contractor is being used).

Again, this will sound obvious to those of you who are Health and Safety conscious, but any storage shelving must be of adequate strength and stability to accept the loads placed upon it. Injuries may well result in placing items on the shelves by using the wrong lifting techniques or by climbing up ladders without assistance. These can be alleviated by training and by ensuring that correct and operational equipment (and/or personnel) are available.

Appropriate precautions in stacking and storing include safe stacking on sound pallets, banding or wrapping to prevent individual articles from falling, setting limits for the height of stacks in order to maintain stability, regular inspection of those same stacks to detect and remedy any that may be unsafe, the instruction and training of employees in stacking techniques and special arrangements for any objects which may be difficult to store.

To ensure that installations and other equipment is effective, checks should be carried out regularly to identify damage and any necessary remedial action.

Managers should encourage members of their security steam (not to mention all members of staff) to report any damage to vital pieces of machinery, systems or the building fabric – however minor that damage may be – so that the risk can be assessed and safety procedures put in place. In this way, any consequential correction or improvements may be carried out according to the greatest risk.

Looking out for transparency
As a general rule, windows, transparent or translucent surfaces in walls, partitions, doors and/or gates should be made of safety material or protected against breakage (that is particularly true if there is a danger of people coming into contact with these parts of the building fabric). Precautions that can be taken include marking or incorporating features that make it apparent there is a partition in view.

At the end of the day, managers will need to consider whether there is a foreseeable risk of people coming into contact with the glazing and being hurt. If so, they'll need to make sure that all the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act are met in full.

Ultimately, windows and skylights should be designed so that they can be maintained and cleaned safely. That's a task for the architect, but there's no reason why the security manager shouldn't have a say here. Don't forget that the siting of windows is a key security issue, and you should be involved at the outset of the building design process.

When considering if they can be maintained safely, account may be taken of equipment likely to be used in conjunction with that window or device fitted to the building. Windows, skylights and ventilators that can be opened must be capable of being opened, closed or adjusted safely. When open, they should not present a possible source of danger.

Similarly, doors and gates should be suitably constructed and fitted with safety devices where necessary. Those gates and doors that swing both outwards and inwards – so too conventionally-hinged doors on main 'people traffic' routes – should have a transparent viewing panel. Power-operated doors must always have safety features to prevent people being struck or trapped.

Where necessary, a readily-identifiable and accessible control switch or device (to enable the door to be stopped quickly in an emergency) should be fitted.

For their part, any upward-opening doors or gates ought to be fitted with an effective device to prevent them from falling back. Provided that they're properly maintained, counterbalance springs and similar counterbalance or ratchet devices to hold them in the open position would be acceptable.

Any escalators and moving walkways on the premises should function safely, be equipped with any necessary safety devices and be fitted with one or more emergency stop controls. As before, such devices should be easily identifiable and readily accessible. In a similar vein, all lifts provided for use in work activities and owned by the employer must be examined by a competent person at regular intervals (as provided for in the Lifting Operators and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998).

Taking care of staff welfare
All sanitary conveniences and washing facilities must be suitable, sufficient and provided at readily accessible places. They and the rooms containing them should be kept clean, adequately ventilated and be well illuminated.

An adequate supply of drinking water (with an upward drinking jet or suitable cups) should always be available to members of staff. This is particularly so for security officers working in Control Rooms or Alarm Receiving Centres (ARCs). Water ought only to be provided in refillable, enclosed containers where it cannot be obtained directly from a mains supply. Those same containers should be refilled at least daily (unless, of course, they're chilled water dispensers and the containers have to be sent back to the supplier for refilling).

Suitable and readily accessible rest facilities must be provided. Again, this is crucial for staff working in Control Rooms with display screens, etc, in which case breaks at regular and set intervals are a legal requirement.

Facilities for eating meals should also be provided for employees, and must include provision for preparing or obtaining a hot drink. In those situations where hot food cannot be obtained in (or reasonably near to) the workplace, members of staff may need to be provided with microwaves as a means of heating their food. As electrical appliances, they would need to be checked in line with the points made at the outset.

Canteens or restaurants may be used as rest facilities provided that there is no obligation to buy food. Whatever the scenario, suitable rest facilities must always be provided for pregnant women and nursing mothers. They should be near to sanitary facilities and, where necessary, allow occupants to lie down. Rest areas and rest rooms away from workstations should include suitable arrangements to protect non-smokers from discomfort caused by tobacco smoke.

At the end of the day, this is but a snapshot of the main provisions covered by the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. Ensuring that the points listed here are adequately addressed can reduce the amount of time employees need to take off work due to illness.

Don't forget, either, that where employees are comfortable within their working environment, this will normally result in increased productivity.

Source

SMT

Postscript

Carole Ferguson is a barrister specialising in health and safety litigation at national law firm Eversheds