Review of 2016 Seminars
Review of 2016 Seminars
Slips, Trips and Falls (STF) Manual Handling
The Health and Safety Laboratory provided the speakers for both of these subjects. Although these subjects have been used before we thought that a refresher session was needed after all they still figure prominently in cause of accidents/incidents within our membership. We also chose this seminar for January due to the increased probability of wet slippery floors etc and STF being quite a prevalent form of injury. We had used the HSL before and they proved to be very informative and well received speakers.
HSE and Environment Agency legal updates
Jan Willets, HM Inspector of Health and Safety, gave a presentation reviewing HSE activity during 2015 and also developments planned for 2016. Key health and safety statistics were also discussed as well as significant prosecutions. She outlined the HSE Business Plan for 2015/16 as well as the Fee for Intervention scheme. This year we included the Environment Agency which reported on recent changes in its own legislation. As a Group we are trying to include environmental issues within our seminar sessions because we feel these are applicable to most of our members. The Seminar concluded with a presentation from 3M of their SafeTea Toolbox Talk initiative.
Safety 24/7 & HSE Myths
Safety 24/7 was about educating people about the importance of applying H&S knowledge and skills to stay safe on the road, at leisure and in the home environment since this also reduces injury related absence from work. . This was in support of the RoSPA campaign on accident prevention and public health. HSE Myths was presented by a member of the HSE ‘myths team’ who reviewed some of the myths and the way HSE dealt with these stories.
Social Evening
Our mid-summer seminar was a social evening where members were invited to meet for a curry and network. It was attended function with representatives from nearby Groups also present. It was a very successful evening which those attending thought very worthwhile.
Control of Contractors
We organised this seminar following events at Didcot Power Station. We felt that members should be reminded of best practice when selecting and managing contractors. The seminar looked at control of contractors from both the contractors and clients’ point of view. The contractor’s point of view was presented by Balfour Beattie (contractors to Herefordshire Council) and the clients’ view by Kerry Foods, one of our members.
Visit to Waste Recycling Centre
This visit, to the largest recycling centre in Herefordshire, looked at how waste was dealt with from the moment it arrived on the site to how it was sorted, segregated and prepared for recycling. Emphasis was placed on ensuring waste followed correct disposal methods. Our members were reminded that when disposing of waste on their sites to make sure it was put into the correct disposal skips as it means less possible contamination and therefore more waste recycled.
Safe for Life
This was an all-day seminar with the main ‘take away’ points listed below:
| Speaker/facilitator | Main ‘take-away’ message | Where to find out more |
| Young people’s health and safety and the law – Roger Bibbings MBE, President HHSG | Additional risk assessment because young people lack experience and trained judgment. Right supervision is key. | HSE: Young people at work
http://www.hse.gov.uk/youngpeople RoSPA: Young workers website |
| Lessons from recent accidents involving young people – Chrissy Doherty ex Health and Safety Adviser Learning and Skills Council | Engage young workers themselves in risk assessment. Develop supervisors’ skills. Learn from near misses. | Accident case studies |
| Young workers’ health and well-being – Dr Arif Mahmood and the Herefordshire Council Public Health Team | Make health education at work a key part of young people’s development, including healthier lifestyles | Wellbeing information and signposting for Herefordshire |
| Health and safety and apprenticeships – Stephen Penn Compliance Manager Wessex Engineering & Construction Services | Build health safety development into apprenticeships, working creatively with colleges and teams across the business | RoSPA report on health and safety of apprentices |
| Ensuring safe placements: School off-site visits and risk assessment – Sean Taylor Herefordshire Council Outdoor Education | Don’t second-guess risk assessments. Don’t wrap young people up in cotton wool. Look at the providers H&S management competence and advise. | School trips and outdoor activities |
| Working with safety educators in the UK – Caroline Booth, The Resource Bank | Develop effective safety and risk education within the curriculum as a key thread within PHSE. | Why educate children and young people about safety and risk?
http://www.rospa.com/school-college-safety/teaching-safety/why-safety-and-risk-education PHSE Association |
| LoCHER (Learning Occupational Health by Experiencing Risk) – Tony Sage, Safety Sage | Engage and empower young workers to find novel ways to learn about long latency health risks and to explain these to their peers. | About LoCHER
http://www.safetygroupsuk.org.uk/campaigns/locher Health risks at work, do you know yours? |
| LASER schemes – Carol Morgan, Safeside Manager, Eastside and Handsworth | Every child should have at least one visit to a safety centre. Spread the word about Safety Centres! | LASER Alliance: http://www.lasersafety.org.uk/background/laser.htm
Personal safety of young people |
| Young Drivers – Nick Lloyd, RoSPA Road Safety | Work with your young drivers to help them develop their attitudes and skills so they safer when driving for work and at all other times | Young drivers at work
http://www.rospa.com/road-safety/advice/young-drivers/young-drivers-at-work |
| Safety in outdoor activities – Juliet Parker-Smith, ex Trewern Centre. | Outdoor education is a fundamentally important part of all young people’s development, including understanding and negotiating risk. | School trips and learning in outdoor activities
http://www.hse.gov.uk/services/education/school-trips.pdf Campaign for adventure |
| Young people and first aid – Claire Greenhouse, British Red Cross Cross Youth Education Team | All young people need essential first aid skills. | Young people and first aid |
Sentencing Guidelines Update/Directors Responsibilities
This seminar was a follow-up to our successful event in 2015 which was before the guide lines became law. We reviewed what has happened since with regard to penalties imposed and what members could do to mitigate any possible exposure. We coupled this subject with director’s responsibilities. Our speaker was an IOSH approved trainer in director’s responsibilities and the audience included representatives whose main discipline was not health and safety.
