In this article, we will explain what safe systems of work are, how to design and implement them in your workplace and how they work to reduce the risk of harm, as well as providing some examples of safe systems of work in the workplace.

What are Safe Systems of Work?

A safe system of work (SSoW) is a procedure, or set of procedures, that explains exactly how a work task should be carried out, to make it as safe as possible for the person completing it and those around them. It is a legal requirement for employers and must be put in place whenever a work task involves hazards that cannot be eliminated, thereby posing a risk to the safety of the employee. 

SSoWs should be based on the findings of a workplace’s risk assessment. An effective risk assessment identifies the hazards and risks in a workplace and evaluates whether they can be sufficiently controlled through engineering measures, or if a SSoW is required. While SSoWs are not a replacement for the other control measures included in the hierarchy of control, they are necessary when these measures alone do not provide adequate protection from risk. 

A SSoW should be completed by a competent person, meaning they have the knowledge, training and experience required to understand the nature of the task being considered for a SSoW. 

The specific requirements for designing a SSoW will depend on an organisation’s needs and industry regulations. The higher risk the activity being performed, the more detailed a SSoW should be. For very low risk activities, it may be sufficient to distribute a SSoW orally, though it is best practice to have all SSoWs in writing. If a task is particularly high-risk, a permit-to-work may be required. 

Safe System of Work vs Permit-to-Work

A permit-to-work is a type of SSoW that allows only certain individuals to carry out a specific task within a defined time frame. 

The following work tasks are considered to be high-risk and would therefore require a permit-to-work: 

• Hot work.
• Cold work. 
• Chemical work. 
• Working at height.
• Working in confined spaces. 

This list is by no means exhaustive and a competent person is needed to determine whether a task requires a permit to work.

Like a standard SSoW, a permit to work is based on the findings of a risk assessment and establishes the safety precautions needed to carry out a task safely. However, it also requires declarations from a number of individuals, including those authorising the task and those carrying it out. The person carrying out the work must also complete a request form which must then be approved by a competent person. 

A permit to work should include: 

• The type of work carried out. 
• The location of the task. 
• Details of the hazards that are present. 
• Proposed methods for completing the task safely. 
• Who can authorise the task.
• Plant and equipment used. 
• Safety precautions required. 
• Length of time required to complete the task. 
• Conditions that must be met on completion of the task. 
• PPE requirements. 

Safe System of Work vs Method Statement

A method statement is a written document that sets out the step-by-step process for completing a task safely, as determined by a SSoW. It includes risks identified through the risk assessment and the measures that will be taken to manage those risks. A method statement is intended for use by the person carrying out the task, meaning it should clearly and concisely explain how that task is to be carried out. 

A SSoW contains additional information to the method statement that is not required by the person carrying out the task for them to complete it safely. For example, as well as outlining the process for safely carrying out a task and emergency procedures, a SSoW should also include information on the procedures for monitoring and updating the SSoW. 

This extraneous information could create confusion in the person carrying out the task and increase the risk of human error. For this reason, the method statement is useful because it only contains information the person completing the task needs to know to be safe. 

An effective method statement should outline:

• The location of work.
• A step-by-step description of the work and method to be used. 
• Specific hazards relating to the task. 
• The plant and/or equipment to be used. 
• Control measures, including any PPE required. 
• Emergency procedures (including entry and exit procedures).

You should avoid using complicated ‘jargon’ when writing a method statement as it is essential that anyone who may perform the task can read, understand and follow it easily. This reduces the likelihood of misinterpretation or misunderstanding that could lead to harmful errors when completing a task. 

A method statement can be presented in a variety of ways, depending on what best describes the task at hand. Some examples include: 

• Step-by-step instructions. 
• Decision aids.
• Checklists. 
• Diagrams. 
• Flow charts. 

When deciding on the best format for a method statement, you should consult those who will be completing the task to find out how they prefer to receive information and direction, as they will be the ones using the SSoW and need to understand it. It’s important to monitor whether method statements are actually being used in your workplace and if they aren’t, then they may need to be revised. 

Unlike SSoWs, method statements are not a legal requirement for employers. However, because they make SSoWs clearer and more accessible to workers, method statements are a vital tool for ensuring health and safety in the workplace. It is therefore good practice for all SSoWs to be documented in a method statement, though this is particularly important for higher-risk activities. 

If you’d like to learn more about method statements, including how to write one, why not check out our article ‘What is a Method Statement and How Do I Fill it in?’ which includes a free, downloadable method statement template. 

Safe System of Work Examples

Safe systems of work are used in a number of different industries, particularly those where high-risk work is regularly carried out, such as the construction industry. However, they may also be needed in industries where the hazards are not as obvious, for example in supermarkets or restaurants. For this reason, completing a risk assessment is essential for identifying where SSoWs are needed. 

A safe system of work is a combination of physical controls, procedures, plans, training and information that provides a safe work environment or a safe work activity for all employees. For example, SSoWs include:

• Safe Place of Work. The work environment should be safe and not pose risks to health or safety for the work activities that will be undertaken. For example, there should be adequate lighting, access, and ventilation. 
• Safe Work Equipment. The safe system of work should include the selection of the most suitable type of work equipment and/or substance by an experienced manager, with the advice of a specialist company where necessary.
• Safe Substances for Use at Work. The safe system of work should only allow the safest substances possible. This may mean substituting dangerous, flammable, or toxic substances, such as chemicals or gases, for safer alternatives. 
• Safe Management, Supervision, and Monitoring. Managers, supervisors, those who plan the work, and other duty holders should be competent in their duties. This includes an understanding of the hazards and risks involved with the work activities and work environment, and how to safely supervise and monitor activities.
• Safe Workers. Employees and any others undertaking work activities must be fully trained in the safe system of work, including any work equipment, use of substances, and rescue arrangements. For example, workers are given training before using a dangerous piece of machinery, such as an excavator. 

This list is by no means exhaustive. Whenever there is a risk of harm involved in performing a work task, regardless of what that task is or the industry it is taking place in, a safe system of work should be put in place to keep workers safe from harm. 

Why Does My Business Need a Safe System of Work?

It is a legal requirement for employers to implement SSoWs in their workplace where there is an unavoidable risk of harm. The Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974 requires employers to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of their employees at work. This includes providing and maintaining systems of work that are, as far as is reasonably practicable, safe and without risk to health. 

If a high-risk task is performed incorrectly because there is not an effective SSoW in place, this may not only put the person completing the task at risk of harm, but others as well.  Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, employers are also required to ensure that their activities do not harm the health, safety and welfare of anyone not in their employment that may result from their employees’ work activities, as far as is reasonably practicable.

Employers also have a moral responsibility to ensure safety in their workplace, both to their employees and others in the environment. If an employee is not fully informed on how to perform tasks safely, despite how hard they may try to do so, there is still a significant risk of human error leading to incidents and harm. Employers must do all that they can to provide employees with the tools and information they need to be safe at work. 

Looking to Learn More?

Safe systems of work are just one of the ways to manage workplace risk. We offer a range of health and safety courses that provide employers and employees with the knowledge required to effectively manage risk by implementing the appropriate control measures for the activity at hand. These include our Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) course, our Working at Height course and our Working in Confined Spaces course.

How to Develop a Safe System of Work

There are a number of key requirements for an effective safe system of work. They should: 

• Include a brief description of the scope of the task to be undertaken. An effective SSoW should only look at one specific task or activity. 
• Identify all potential hazards involved in performing each step of the task, as well as the task as a whole. 
• Provide step-by-step instructions for how to complete the task that cover the task from beginning to end. 
• Outline the safety measures in place to protect against each hazard identified – for example PPE. 
• Be readily available and accessible for anyone who needs them. 

When it comes to developing a SSoW for a task, there are a number of key steps involved. These are outlined below. 

Step 1: Assessing Tasks and Identifying Hazards

The first step of creating a SSoW is to identify work tasks where the risk of harm cannot be eliminated. This should be achieved by performing a risk assessment of the whole workplace and the activities taking place there. 

While a workplace risk assessment should be carried out by a competent person, meaning they have the appropriate knowledge, experience and skills, it is vital that the employees are consulted during this process. As they are the ones most often carrying out the tasks, they are best placed to know exactly how the task is performed and, therefore, what the associated risks are, some of which management may not be aware of or could overlook. 

When looking at individual tasks, it can be useful to consider the following: 

• The equipment and/or materials used for a task – considering whether the resources used are safe, or if they could be substituted for safer materials. 
• Who performs the work – looking out for foreseeable human error that may relate to gaps in knowledge and/or skill. 
• Where the task is performed – looking for environmental hazards that may need to be eliminated. 
• How the task is performed – looking for risks that may arise in the established process for completing the task, that may require a change in the process. 

After assessing each task, with input from the workers, you should be able to recognise the hazards and associated risks involved in performing it. Make a list of all potential hazards involved in each task. 

For each task, you should determine: 

• Possible causes of harm. 
• The likelihood that this harm will occur. 
• What safeguarding measures can be taken to reduce the risk of harm as far as is reasonably practicable. 

Once the hazards have been identified, you should try to eliminate them as far as possible. A SSoW should not be implemented where a hazard could instead be eliminated or avoided, it should only be used when elimination of the hazard is not reasonably practicable.

Step 2: Defining Safe Systems of Work

The best way to manage a risk is to eliminate, or, where this is not possible, to substitute the hazard or implement engineering controls to physically protect workers it, effectively removing the hazard. Where none of these can be achieved, and therefore the risk of harm from the hazard can’t be eliminated, safe systems of work must be established to manage this risk as far as is reasonably practicable. 

SSoWs are less effective than the other safety measures mentioned above for managing risk because SSoWs do not stop a worker coming into contact with a hazard and its associated risks. However, they are intended to reduce the level of risk posed to workers when interacting with hazards. 

A certain task may have a number of possible precautions that could be put in place to make it safer and identifying the most effective can be a challenge. This is why it’s important to consult with your workforce when establishing SSoWs. It’s important to consider which precautions your employees find most practical, as well as what will be most practical to implement logistically and financially. However, you must remember that safety is always the priority.

The process of defining a SSoW includes: 

• Determining whether authorisation is required for individuals to perform a task.
• Considering any preparation required to set up the task and conditions that must be ensured. 
• Defining a step-by-step procedure for completing the task, including identifying the hazards involved. 
• Identifying safe work methods. 
• Outlining safe means of entry and exit, including escape, where necessary. 
• Considering procedures required after a job is completed, such as dismantling equipment, disposing of dangerous materials or locking machinery. 

Step 3: Implementing the Safe System of Work

SSoWs cannot be effective safety measures in and of themselves, rather, they need to be understood and implemented fully by those carrying out the work. Some individuals may be tempted to ignore SSoWs if they are overly complex, so it’s essential that they are easy to read and concise, and only containing the key information workers need to know to complete a task safely. 

There is no one specific way to introduce and implement a SSoW in your workplace and the process can be formal or informal, depending on the level of risk involved in the task. A formal implementation may involve producing documentation which is then distributed among employees, such as a standard operating procedure (SOP). A less formal implementation may involve putting diagrams next to machinery to explain exactly how it should be used or putting on training for specific processes. 

It is good practice to provide employee training every time a new SSoW is introduced to ensure that employees understand it and can implement it effectively. If employees are struggling to understand any part of the SSoW, this also gives you the opportunity to make changes or provide additional upskilling. Any training undertaken by employees in relation to SSoWs should be recorded and competency tests performed where appropriate. 

It’s vital that your employees understand why SSoWs are being implemented, otherwise they may be inclined to ignore them or not complete them properly. For this reason, your training may include an explanation of how exactly SSoWs contribute to workplace safety. Toolbox talks are an effective addition to formal training for cementing health and safety knowledge in the construction and trades industry. You can learn more about toolbox talks in our article, here. 

It is equally important that your managers and supervisors are trained on SSoW procedures, as they are the ones who will be implementing and maintaining the SSoWs so must understand them fully. 

It is also helpful to give each of your SSoWs a unique reference number so that they can be easily written into risk assessments and workers know which SSoW to refer to for specific tasks. 

Step 4: Monitoring the Safe System of Work

You should monitor your SSoW as soon as it is implemented to identify whether it is having the intended effect – i.e. managing risks and increasing safety. It’s also vital that this monitoring is continual as, while a SSoW may be effective when it is first implemented,certain factors may cause it to lose effectiveness, meaning it no longer manages risk as it once did. 

For example, if you need to introduce a new material to a process due to changes in industry regulations, this may introduce new hazards and associated risks that the existing SSoW is not designed to manage. This would require a change to the SSoW to ensure that it can manage those risks. 

Effective monitoring of SSoWs ensures that: 

• Employees continue to find the SSoW usable. 
• Employees are performing the SSoW properly and it is still effective for managing risk. 
• Changes in the nature of the task (or other circumstances) that necessitate a change to the SSoW are identified and implemented as soon as possible. 

Particularly when performing a task they do often, employees may be tempted to ignore the SSoW in place for that activity, thinking that they know exactly how to do it already. As well as ensuring employees understand a SSoW, it is also vital that you can ensure they are complying with it, including every step and detail. This is best achieved through a combination of monitoring, regular inspections or checks and supervision. 

Monitoring SSoWs allows you to identify when changes need to be made to the SSoW so they can continue to effectively manage risk. The following list outlines some circumstances where changes to SSoWs may be required: 

• If a step in the process needs to be changed for any reason. 

• When new machinery or equipment is introduced to an organisation and/or process. 
• When new materials are introduced or the formulation of a product changes. 
• If an accident or incident occurs during work – this indicates that your SSoW is ineffective or that employees are not using it correctly or at all, meaning changes are necessary. 
• When there are changes to working patterns or staff involved in a SSoW. 
• There are relevant changes to legislation or industry regulations.

Even if a change seems minor, it is important to always consider if it may affect the effectiveness of your SSoWs.

The details of how a SSoW should be monitored and by who should be stated as part of the SSoW documentation, as well as communicated to and understood by the individuals responsible for monitoring. 

Having effective safe systems of work in place ensures that employees perform tasks in the safest way possible each and every time. This drastically reduces the risk of accidents and incidents occurring that could lead to harm. Effective safe systems of work, that are regularly maintained and updated, are therefore an essential part of any safe and healthy workplace.

Further Resources:

• How to Conduct a First Aid Needs Assessment: Free Template
• Working in Confined Spaces Hazards and Control Measures 
• Electrical Safety Training

The post What are Safe Systems of Work? appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

All companies and places of work must have a qualified first aider, although the number of first aiders required will depend on the number of employees. If you are considering training to become a first aider, this article will offer some information about the role, highlight some of the responsibilities of a first aider and explain the desirable qualities of a good first aider.

Responsibilities of a First Aider

The role of a first aider is to provide initial medical assistance to someone who is sick or injured. Depending on the circumstances, they may be able to provide sufficient care to the casualty themselves, otherwise they would continue to provide aid until the casualty is well enough to seek further treatment themselves or until the emergency services arrive. They also ensure that they and anyone else involved in the situation is kept safe.

A first aider is someone who has received practical training in first aid so that they become qualified to provide emergency first aid to someone who has become injured or ill at work. 

Employers will determine how many first aiders their workplace needs by doing a first aid needs assessment. If a low-hazard workplace has fewer than 25 employees, the HSE recommends that having one first aider may be enough, or that you may not need one at all. However, it is good practice to have at least one trained first-aider in any workplace as you never know when a life-threatening injury or illness could occur or what could cause it. 

If you’d like to learn more about first aid needs assessments, check out our article, How to Conduct a First Aid Needs Assessment. 

Being a first aider, therefore, carries a range of different and incredibly important responsibilities. If you are a trained first aider and you think someone needs your help, you have a number of responsibilities to adhere to. 

The main responsibilities of a first aider include being able to:

1. Assess a situation quickly and calmly to get an understanding of what happened. This involves determining whether anyone is in danger, the cause of the situation, and how many people are affected.
2. Protect yourself and others from any danger. You should look for any danger in the casualty’s environment and always protect yourself first, only moving the casualty if leaving them would cause more harm. If you are unable to remove a danger yourself, call 999 for emergency help before approaching the casualty.
3. Reassure the casualty and keep them informed. If the casualty is responsive, you should introduce yourself to them, explain what’s happening and why, and explain what you’re going to do before you do it.
4. Prevent infection. You should try to wash your hands or use hand sanitiser or disposable gloves before administering first aid. The personal protective equipment (PPE) you use will depend on the nature of the incident and what is available in your workplace’s first aid kit. Check out our article on what should be included in a first aid kit, here. However, if a casualty has a life-threatening condition and you do not have protective equipment to hand, administering first aid should take priority over looking for it. 
5. Assess the casualty. You should perform the primary and secondary survey to determine what may be wrong with the casualty and the most appropriate first aid response, including identifying any life-threatening conditions that must be treated first. 
6. Administer first aid treatment, such as CPR or applying pressure to bleeding wounds. If a casualty has a life-threatening injury or condition, this should be priorities before treating less serious ailments. 
7. Arrange further assistance, if necessary. Call 999 for an ambulance if it’s serious, or take/send them to a hospital if it’s serious but unlikely to get any worse. For less serious conditions, suggest calling 111 for further advice or that they see a doctor if they are concerned or if the condition worsens. You should always stay with them until they have received the necessary care or medical professionals take over.

Looking to Learn More?

Our Workplace First Aid course will teach you how to identify different illnesses and injuries using the primary and secondary survey and provide the appropriate first aid response, including life-saving care, giving you the confidence to act quickly in emergency situations. 

Qualities of a Good First Aider

There are a whole range of skills that are beneficial for a first aider to have that will allow them to deal with medical situations quickly and in the best way possible. 

Some qualities that make a good first aider include: 

• Communication skills: you must be able to communicate effectively with the injured person so they feel they can trust you and are reassured. By calming their panic you will make the situation a lot easier for you both. You also need to be able to communicate relevant information about the casualty to the emergency services to make their job as easy as possible. 
• The ability to work under pressure: the demands placed on a first aider can range anywhere from something small, like a nosebleed, to something a lot more serious, like a cardiac arrest. As a first aider you need to be prepared for any possibility and have the confidence to react quickly to the situation, while remaining calm – panicking will only make a situation worse. 

• Initiative and leadership: in an emergency situation, particularly a medical emergency, time can play a crucial role in the outcome. Being able to act quickly, take the lead, use your initiative and trust your judgement are all vital skills for providing effective first aid. 

• The ability to work in a team: as well as being able to lead, you must be able to work effectively as part of a team. You may need to work alongside the emergency services to ensure the casualty gets the correct care so being able to cooperate with them is vital. 
• Positivity: someone who always sees the glass as half-full, rather than half-empty is a prime candidate for a first aider. Positivity will help you to reassure the injured or unwell person and prevent you from becoming mentally drained by the job. 

While this list is by no means exhaustive, it is essential to consider your personal qualities alongside any technical abilities when considering whether or not to become a first aider. 

Illnesses or injuries can happen at any time, often without warning, which is why trained first aiders are an asset to every workplace. However, first aiders hold a great deal of responsibility and if you are thinking of becoming one, it is vital that you are committed to the role, the responsibilities you will need to undertake and the qualities you may need to develop. 

Further Resources: 

• Workplace First Aid Quiz
• Guidance for First Aid Kits in the Workplace 
• Workplace Health and Safety Quiz 
• First Aid Qualifications: The Difference Between FAW and EFAW
• How to Support Individuals After Giving First Aid Assistance
• Online First Aid Courses

The post What are the Responsibilities of a First Aider? appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

With so many potential risks to workers, it is essential that you put safety precautions in place to eliminate or manage them to reduce the risk of grinding related incidents and accidents. In fact, as an employer, you have a legal duty to identify and apply appropriate control measures in your workplace to reduce the risks to health and safety created by grinding. 

In this article, we will explain what grinding safety precautions are and how they can be identified and implemented using a grinding risk assessment and provide you with grinding safety tips to keep your workers safe and healthy. This article also includes a free, downloadable risk assessment template that you can use to identify grinding hazards and control measures in your specific workplace.

What are Grinding Safety Precautions?

Working with any kind of moving machinery is hazardous and can cause damage to property, injuries, illness and even death when operated incorrectly or without appropriate safety precautions in place.

Safety precautions, also known as control measures,can be implemented to reduce the risk posed by a certain hazard, mainly by reducing human exposure to that hazard.

The aim of a control measure is to eliminate a hazard completely but this isn’t always possible. For example, an abrasive wheel can break despite numerous safety precautions being taken. However, implementing these measures will greatly reduce the likelihood of a wheel breaking, and therefore,  the risk for those involved.

When implementing control measures to minimise workers’ exposure to grinding hazards, there is a priority order in which you need to apply these controls. This is called the hierarchy of control and the order is based on which control will most effectively prevent workers from being exposed to a hazard, thereby keeping them as safe as possible. 

You should aim to achieve the highest level of control on the hierarchy of control but if you cannot achieve this, then you should aim for the next level of control until you can implement one suitable. While the first two steps on the hierarchy aim to eliminate a hazard altogether, the final three are about reducing the risk a hazard poses. 

The hierarchy of control is: 

• Elimination – removing the hazard altogether. 
• Substitution – substituting the hazard for something else – for example, using a less dangerous machine instead of a grinding machine. This can be difficult if you are performing a specialised task that only one type of machine can perform. 
• Engineering controls – this may involve isolating, enclosing or guarding the hazard to keep workers safe. 
• Administrative controls – this involves changing the way people work to restrict their access to a hazard or how they interact with it and should involve employee training. 
• Personal protective equipment (PPE) – this is when workers are provided with specific equipment to protect them against hazards and is the least effective control method for preventing harm. 

The use of abrasive wheels is regulated by the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations act 1998 (PUWER) which legislates how machinery should be handled and operated to keep workers as healthy and safe as possible. 

As an employer, you are legally required to conform with these regulations if abrasive wheels are used in your workplace.

Under PUWER, you must ensure that all machinery used in your workplace, including grinding machinery, is: 

1. Suitable for its intended purpose.
2. Safe for use. 
3. Properly maintained and regularly inspected by a competent and trained individual. 
4. Operated, supervised and managed by competent and trained individuals, only. 
5. Accompanied by suitable health and safety measures and controls. 

We will go into more detail about some of the health and safety measures you can put in place to control grinding hazards in your workplace later in this article. However, you first need to identify the specific hazards relevant to your workplace that need to be controlled.This can be achieved through carrying out a risk assessment. 

Looking to Learn More?

If your job role involves grinding and the use of abrasive wheels, our Abrasive Wheels Training course teaches you about the risks of using abrasive wheels and how to work safely with them, according to legal requirements, by putting the appropriate control measures in place.

Grinding Risk Assessment

PUWER requires employers whose employees use grinding machinery to carry out a risk assessment of the machinery and processes involved. 

An abrasive wheel risk assessment should identify any potential and existing hazards associated with grinding in your workplace and the control measures that should be put in place to eliminate or reduce the risk they pose to workers. 

There are five key steps to performing a grinding risk assessment, including: 

1. Identifying hazards 

Make a list of any hazards that could arise from grinding in your workplace. You can take a look at our article on the hazards of grinding for a list of common workplace grinding hazards, here. Just remember that this list is not exhaustive, your workplace may have different hazards that also need to be controlled and the risk assessment should be tailored to your specific needs

2. Determine who may be harmed by each hazard 

You next need to decide who is most likely to be harmed by each of the identified hazards and how this could happen. For grinding, this is most likely to be the person operating the machine, but other workers in that environment could also be harmed – for example, by dust in the air, sparks or projectiles. 

3. Evaluate the level of risk and decide control measures 

You then need to determine the level of risk – low, medium or high – that each hazard poses. Use this ranking to decide which control measures are appropriate to eliminate or reduce exposure to that hazard. 

4. Record findings and implement control measures 

If your workplace employs five or more people, then legally you must record the findings of your risk assessment. It is also essential that you implement the control measures you have identified in your workplace as soon as possible, including training staff on these changes. 

5. Regularly review your risk assessment 

Your risk assessment should be reviewed regularly to identify any new grinding hazards or hazards that are not being effectively managed by the existing control measures. If these are identified, the risk assessment must be updated and new controls decided. This is necessary, for example, if new grinding machinery or processes are introduced or you have new staff. 

Below we have provided a free risk assessment template that you can download and adapt for use in your workplace to help you identify and control the hazards of grinding. 

Grinding Safety Tips

Control measures must be put in place to manage the risks posed by grinding to the health and safety of workers. The following list outlines some health and safety control measures that can be put in place in your workplace to reduce workers’ exposure to grinding hazards and keep them safe at work.

Employee Training

Under PUWER, employers must ensure that anyone they employ to use, repair, modify or perform maintenance or servicing on abrasive wheels is sufficiently trained to do so. This will ensure that workers understand the risks involved in using abrasive wheels and can implement the appropriate health and safety precautions at all times. 

As an employer, you are responsible for ensuring your workers have this level of training, which should cover, at a minimum: 

• Any hazards and risks that can arise from using abrasive wheels and the precautions that can be taken to control these. 
• The marking system for abrasive wheels. If you’d like to learn what the markings on abrasive wheels mean, consider reading our article, here. 
• How to transport and store abrasive wheels. 
• How to inspect and test abrasive wheels for damage. 
• The functions of each component used with abrasive wheels, such as flanges or blotters. 
• How to assemble an abrasive wheel correctly to ensure they are balanced correctly 
• How to dress an abrasive wheel.
• How to correctly adjust the work rest on a grinding machine. 
• Use of appropriate grinding safety PPE.

Appropriate Equipment

Using inappropriate equipment for grinding is a hazard. Machine operators must ensure that the abrasive wheel they use is fit for purpose, meaning it is compatible with both the grinding machine being used and the task being performed. Different wheels perform different functions depending on their properties, and using the wrong wheel can lead to fractures and breakage. 

If you want to know more about the different classifications of grinding wheels, take a look at our article, here. 

You should also make sure that any grinding machinery in your workplace has the following safety features: 

• Suitable operating controls that are easy to see and use and which don’t allow the machine from being switched on by mistake.
• An emergency stop function that is easy to locate and use.
• A failsafe function for if the machine malfunctions. 

Storing, Handling and Installation

The way your abrasive wheels are stored, handled and installed prior to use in grinding machines can make them more or less hazardous when operated.

Some measures for reducing this risk include: 

• Ensuring anyone who installs grinding machinery in your workplace is qualified to do so, meaning they can recognise signs of damage to the wheel and know when a wheel is unfit for purpose.
• Storing grinding tools as close to the grinding location as possible, in a dry location protected from excessive vibrations. This reduces the risk of damage and eventual breakage. 
• Handling wheels carefully to avoid dropping or bumping them and avoiding rolling wheels wherever possible. 
• Transporting wheels using conveyors with adequate support, particularly for large wheels.

Safe Systems of Work

One of the main causes of harm while grinding is improper operation of machinery. This is why employee training is so important.

To reduce the risk to health and safety when operating grinding machines, operators should: 

• Check the wheel is balanced before applying the workpiece. An out of balance wheel will emit strong vibrations, increasing the risk of HAVS and the wheel breaking. Redressing a wheel can improve its balance in most cases and wheels should be lightly dressed on a regular basis. 
• Never apply excessive force to the wheel with the workpiece. This could cause the operator to slip and make contact with the wheel or cause the wheel to develop stresses and flat spots, making it vulnerable to breakage. 
• Apply gradual, even pressure to the wheel with the workpiece, rather than hitting it with force. 
• Only grind on the outer surface of the wheel. Never grind on the side of the wheel unless advised to do so by the manufacturer. This can lead to wheels bursting or workpieces becoming stuck between the wheel and work rest. 
• Ensure the work rest is always adjusted as close as practicable to the wheel and kept secure.
• Make sure that the speed of the wheel does not exceed what is marked on the wheel by the manufacturer. Overspeeding causes wheel breakage. 
• Never use a grinding machine, or any moving machinery, under the influence of illegal drugs, alcohol or some prescription drugs. 
• Take regular breaks from grinding and exercise their hands during breaks to reduce the risk of HAVS. 

The Working Environment

There are some changes that can be made to the environment where grinding work is being carried out to reduce exposure to hazards for the operator and other workers.

These include: 

• Ensuring the environment is spacious enough that the machine operator is not at risk of being bumped while working, particularly if they work with portable grinders. 
• Making sure the environment is well ventilated so that grinding dust is removed from the air, protecting workers from health issues. 
• Making sure the space where grinding is taking place is uncluttered, particularly from anything flammable as abrasive wheels produce sparks that could easily cause a fire or explosion.
• Using a machine guard to reduce the risk posed by offsets from grinding, such as sparks, abrasive particles and projectiles and reduce the risk of the operator making contact with the machine. Make sure the material used for the guard is strong enough to withstand the potential forces on it. 

Where practicable, grinding machines should be restricted to the person using them to reduce unnecessary risk to other workers. This is the best way to protect them from health hazards like noise and dust. 

Inspection, Testing and Maintenance

Often, a visual inspection of an abrasive wheel before use can help to identify hazards. To manage these hazards, you should:

• Visually inspect the wheel before every use to make sure it has not become damaged through handling, storage or use. Damaged wheels are more fragile and prone to breaking.
• Ensure wheels are inspected and tested regularly by a trained person to identify any maintenance or cleaning needs. 
• Label wheels with the date you received them, making sure to use older wheels before newer ones. 
• Ensure new or refitted wheels are tested by the operator for one minute before being used. This gets the wheel up to speed and allows the operator to sense if anything is not quite right before using it. 

Remember, cracks in abrasive wheels aren’t always visible to the eye. One way to test for cracks is the ring test. This is where you suspend a wheel from a bore and tap it with a light, non-metallic tool. If a wheel is solid it will emit a clear, metallic ringing.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

As we have already established, PPE should be used as a last resort, after all other control measures have been implemented to manage risks. Employees should be provided with appropriate PPE to protect them against any unavoidable hazards of grinding. 

Depending on the type of work and machinery and as determined by your risk assessment, this may include: 

• Protective footwear to protect against anything, including the workpiece, being dropped from the machine onto their feet. 
• Respiratory protective equipment (RPE) including a face mask to prevent any dust that cannot be removed through ventilation from being inhaled by the operator or those in the vicinity. 
• Eye protection to protect against any projectiles, abrasive particles and dust that cannot be prevented using a machine guard, for example when using a portable grinding machine. 
• Hearing protection to protect against noise.
• Gloves to improve blood circulation and reduce the risk of HAVs. 
• Tight fitting overalls with cuffed sleeves.

As well as using PPE, there are some things that workers should avoid wearing while grinding, as a safety precaution against being drawn into the grinding machine. These include: 

• Long hair untied. 
• Long sleeves or loose clothing.
• Things worn around the neck, such as necklaces, ties or scarves.

With the number of potential hazards posed to workers using grinding machinery and abrasive wheels in the workplace, it is essential that you can identify these hazards in your workplace and put the appropriate controls in place to reduce risk. Performing a risk assessment is the best way to certify and maintain the health and safety of workers. 

Further Reading

• Ten Common Construction Site Hazards 
• RIDDOR: How to Report an Incident or Accident at Work
• 15 Workshop Hazards and How to Avoid Them
• What are the Consequences of Poor Health and Safety Procedures? 
• Health and Safety Training for Employees Course 

The post Grinding Safety Precautions and Control Measures appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

In this article we’ll outline what gypsum is and the important role it plays in the construction industry. We’ll also explain the risks associated with gypsum powder and the relationship between gypsum and asbestos in construction.

What is Gypsum?

Gypsum is a soft sulphate mineral with a white or grey colour, known scientifically as calcium sulphate dihydrate. It has the chemical formula CaSO4 2H2O, meaning it’s made up of calcium, sulphur, oxygen and water.

It is a naturally occurring mineral found in sedimentary rock layers and forms when water evaporates in mineral-rich marine soil environments. As time passes, more water evaporates, more minerals are brought to the surface and a solid deposit forms – this is gypsum. 

Gypsum deposits are found and mined worldwide, from the US and Brazil to Russia and Thailand. It is most commonly extracted using surface mining, then crushed using industrial machines and screened to sort it into different-sized pieces with different commercial uses. 

The mineral has been used in society for thousands of years. For example, alabaster – a solid form of gypsum – was used by ancient civilizations to create sculptures, while gypsum powder was used as a building material for the Egyptian pyramids. 

Today, gypsum can be found in the walls, floors and ceilings of many buildings, in fertilisers, as a food additive, in toothpaste, in medicine for creating casts and in many other places. Gypsum is hugely beneficial in our modern society, but it has its most significant uses in construction, where its properties, such as sound insulation and fire resistance, have improved the safety and efficiency of construction projects. 

Types of Gypsum in Construction

If you haven’t heard of gypsum before, you may be surprised at the number of building materials made from, or containing, gypsum. When added to building materials, gypsum improves that material’s functional and structural properties, meaning gypsum-based materials are used widely and frequently in construction. 

When used in building materials for construction, some of the properties gypsum transfers to that material include:

• Heat resistance. 
• Moisture resistance.
• Sound absorbency.
• Fire resistance.
• Strength and durability – including crack resistance. 
• Fast setting and hardening. 

What is Gypsum Powder?

In construction, gypsum is most often used in powder form. When solid, natural gypsum is heated up, it loses some or all of its water molecules, turning it into a powder. In the construction industry, this is known as plaster. Depending on how much heat is applied to the gypsum, you can create different types of gypsum plaster with varying construction uses. 

When water is added to the plaster, it sets and becomes solid gypsum again. This allows the gypsum to be moulded into almost any shape or smoothed flat for surfaces, providing many uses for construction. 

How is Gypsum Used in Construction?

Some of the main uses of gypsum in construction today include, but are not limited to: 

• Plasterboard: Also known as drywall or gypsum board, plasterboard is made from a gypsum core, which sometimes contains additives to improve its structural qualities. The core is sandwiched between thick paper called a backer and facer. Plasterboard has fire resistant and sound proofing properties, is light, quick to install and cheap. This makes it a popular choice of material for building interior walls, including partition walls and ceilings, meaning most modern residential, industrial and commercial buildings will contain gypsum. 
• Decorative plaster: When gypsum is heated to make plaster, this is known as plaster of Paris. Plaster of Paris is useful for creating moulds, models and casts in construction and decorating. It is also quick drying and usually shrink and crack resistant once dry. 
• Concrete: Gypsum is added to cement to increase the time taken for the cement to dry and harden, this improves the stability of the resulting concrete. 
• Gypsum fibreboard: Similar to plasterboard, gypsum fibreboard is used to line walls, ceilings, roofs and floors. It has soundproofing qualities as well as being shock and humidity resistant. 
• Building plaster: Gypsum plaster is used in walls and ceilings. It is easy to apply and sets quickly making it a popular choice of building material. 
• Plaster block: This comes in the form of gypsum tiles which are used in ceilings and gypsum blocks which are used for partitions in buildings. Their fire resistance makes them useful for projects like public buildings or buildings with a high fire risk. 
• Gypsum-based self-levelling screed: Used for ground levelling in buildings, this is a self-levelling mortar that can also be used as a base for ground decorative materials. It is stronger, more thermally stable and less prone to cracks than cement mortar. 

It’s clear that building materials containing gypsum are used at some point during the construction of most buildings, showing just how useful and effective it is for the industry. However, because gypsum has been used in construction for so long, there’s a risk that some of these gypsum-based materials could also be contaminated with asbestos. 

Does Gypsum Contain Asbestos?

The simple answer to this question is no, in its natural form gypsum does not contain asbestos. However, according to the Health and Safety Executive, there is a risk to health when working with gypsum-based plasterboard, if gypsum dust becomes airborne, as the dust may contain asbestos fibres. With this warning in mind, it’s unsurprising that people may believe gypsum contains asbestos. 

Although this is not the case, there is a link between gypsum and asbestos in the construction industry which means that asbestos control measures must be taken in some scenarios when working with gypsum-based building materials.

Does Plasterboard Contain Asbestos?

In the 1930s, gypsum plasterboard became a popular building material in the construction industry. At the same time, another mineral was becoming a popular addition to construction building materials – asbestos. Construction workers, and the wider population were unaware of the serious health risks we know about today, that come from inhaling and ingesting asbestos fibres. 

Asbestos was viewed in the same light as gypsum – as a useful substance which could improve the properties of building materials and the efficiency of construction projects. Like gypsum, asbestos was an effective insulator and strengthener, had fire resistant and sound proofing properties and could protect against corrosion. For these reasons, asbestos was used as an additive in various building materials – including in plasterboard. This means that in buildings constructed between the 1930s, when using plasterboard became popular, and the 1990s, when the use of asbestos was prohibited, there’s a chance that the plasterboard in the walls and ceiling will contain asbestos. 

When plasterboard is painted, the asbestos becomes sealed inside and the risk of harm is greatly reduced as asbestos fibres need to be airborne to reach the lungs. However, if that plasterboard were to be disturbed or damaged, then the asbestos fibres could be released and become dangerous. This means that if you are looking to do construction on a building which was built during this time period, it’s extremely important that the area is tested for asbestos and a risk assessment is carried out first. If you’d like more information on how to carry out an asbestos risk assessment, check out our article, here.

It has become common environmental practice in the construction industry to recycle old gypsum plasterboard into new plasterboard. To do this, the boards are broken down to a powder, at which point the powder is tested for asbestos. As it has been illegal since 1999 to use asbestos, if the tests identify asbestos in plaster then it cannot be reused. 

It isn’t just plasterboard produced during this time that poses an asbestos risk – in fact, one of the most common materials asbestos was used in during this time was joint compound which supports plasterboard. Joint compound is made primarily from gypsum powder but when using asbestos was still legal, asbestos was often also included in the mix. Again, in its solid form it isn’t necessarily dangerous to you, but as soon as dust or powder is produced, allowing asbestos fibres into the air, there becomes a serious risk of long-term harm. 

As well as the risk of gypsum-based building materials containing asbestos as an additive, asbestos-free building materials can also become contaminated if installed in a building with materials containing asbestos. So, even if a gypsum-based material didn’t contain asbestos when it was made, it can still become contaminated after being installed. 

Want to Learn More?

Our Asbestos Awareness course teaches you about what asbestos is and where you might encounter it, as well as the dangers of working with asbestos and what to do if you discover it, helping you to keep yourself and others safe from harm.

Can Gypsum Cause Harm?

Although natural gypsum doesn’t contain asbestos, there is a risk that gypsum-based building materials will be contaminated with asbestos if made before asbestos was banned in 1999. However, it is the asbestos fibres and not the gypsum itself that poses the most severe risk to your health.

According to the Health and Safety Executive, asbestos is the biggest occupational disease risk to construction workers. 

Despite gypsum being nontoxic, if ingested or inhaled regularly, any construction dust can cause serious harm to health, including gypsum dust. There should be control measures in place to protect workers in the construction industry from construction dust and the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations sets strict legal limits on the amount of construction dust someone can be exposed to. 

In this article, you’ve learnt what gypsum is and how important it is for the construction industry, as well as the risks associated with gypsum powder and its relationship to asbestos. We hope you’ve found this article helpful and informative, whether you work in the construction industry or just want to learn more about a substance around us. 

Further Resources: 

• What is Asbestos Awareness Training & Who Needs it?
• What is Asbestos?
• How to Conduct an Asbestos Risk Assessment
• Asbestos Quiz

The post What is Gypsum in Construction? appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

There are six main types of asbestos and they are often characterised by their colours. In this article, we’ll outline each of the asbestos colours that you may encounter in the course of your work, look at which are the most dangerous asbestos colours and explain what they were used for before their use was banned.

What are the Different Types of Asbestos?

There are two main groups of asbestos: amphiboles (dark-coloured asbestos) and serpentines (light-coloured asbestos). Within these groups are six different types of asbestos, known as chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, actinolite, anthophyllite and tremolite – we’ll look at the colours of each type of asbestos in this article.

Top Tip

The three most common asbestos colours that you’re most likely to come across whilst working are chrysotile (white asbestos), amosite (brown asbestos) and crocidolite (blue asbestos).

Whilst the most common asbestos types have colours associated with their names, it’s important to note that the asbestos-containing material itself is unlikely to appear to be any of these colours. In fact, in the majority of cases, asbestos cannot be distinguished by colour at all, even in its mineral form, and accredited testing must be carried out to ensure that the type of asbestos is correctly identified.

All types and colours of asbestos have the potential to cause significant harm to health if they are disturbed, as is often the case when carrying out any sort of maintenance, building or demolition work on a building built before the ban on asbestos in 1999. If you work in a trade that may disturb ACMs, then it’s important that you’re aware of the symptoms of asbestos exposure and what to do after recent exposure to asbestos, as breathing in air that contains asbestos dust and fibres can lead to asbestos-related diseases.

Looking to Learn More?

Need to know more about asbestos for work? Take a look at our articles on ‘Who Needs Asbestos Awareness Training’ and the ‘Three Types of Asbestos Training’, or visit our Asbestos Awareness (Category A) online training course to update your knowledge.

White Asbestos: Chrysotile

Chrysotile, also known as white asbestos, is the most commonly used form of asbestos. It’s estimated that over 95% of the asbestos used around the world was chrysotile before it was banned as a building material in the UK in 1999. Chrysotile is a serpentine asbestos, meaning that its fibres appear curly.

Chrysotile is called white asbestos because, in mineral form, it appears pale in colour – from grey-white to grey-green. Due to this variance in colour, however, note that the presence of chrysotile cannot be identified simply by its colour and specialist asbestos testing is required in all situations.

Pre-1999, white asbestos was used to make things such as cement, insulation, pipe lagging, roofing materials, gaskets and brake pads.

Brown Asbestos: Amosite

Amosite, also known as brown asbestos, is a particularly strong and heat-resistant form of asbestos. Amosite is an amphibole asbestos, meaning that its fibres appear needle-like. Its use was banned in the UK in 1985 because it’s considered one the most dangerous asbestos colours, as its crystalline structure makes it more likely to be inhaled if disturbed.

Amosite is called brown asbestos because, in mineral form, it appears to look brown, though it can also be coloured pale grey or green. Due to this variance, note that the presence of amosite cannot be identified simply by its colour and specialist asbestos testing is required in all situations.

Pre-1985, brown asbestos was used to make things such as cement sheets, insulation (chemical, electrical, thermal and plumbing), fire protection, pipe lagging, tiles and gaskets.

Blue Asbestos: Crocidolite

Crocidolite, also known as blue asbestos and sometimes referred to as riebeckite, is a particularly strong type of amphibole asbestos, meaning that its fibres appear needle-like in structure. Its use was banned in the UK in 1985 due to how dangerous crocidolite can be to inhale if disturbed.

Crocidolite is called blue asbestos because, in mineral form, it appears grey-blue or green-blue in colour. Due to this variance in colour, however, note that the presence of crocidolite cannot be identified simply by its blue colour and specialist asbestos testing is required in all situations.

Pre-1985, blue asbestos was used for insulation boards, spray-on insulation, thermal insulation, fire protection, electrical wires and ceiling tiles.

Actinolite Asbestos

Actinolite is a less commonly used form of asbestos. It is a type of amphibole asbestos, meaning that its fibres appear needle-like in structure. Its use was banned in the UK in 1985 due to how dangerous actinolite fibres can be to inhale if disturbed.

Actinolite is a dark-coloured form of asbestos and is generally green, grey-green or green-black in colour. Due to this variance, note that the presence of actinolite cannot be identified simply by its colour and specialist asbestos testing is required in all situations.

Pre-1985, actinolite was used in lightweight forms of insulation, concrete materials, structural fireproofing and many gardening products.

Anthophyllite Asbestos

Anthophyllite is a rare type of asbestos that has a brittle mineral structure. It is a type of amphibole asbestos, meaning it has needle-like fibres that can be dangerous if inhaled. Its use was banned in the UK in 1985 along with all other amphiboles.

Anthophyllite is a dark-coloured form of asbestos and can be brown, grey-brown yellow-brown in colour. Due to this variance, and due to its similarity in appearance to other amphiboles, note that the presence of anthophyllite cannot be identified simply by its colour and specialist asbestos testing is required in all situations.

Pre-1985, anthophyllite was rarely used as a building material, but can sometimes be found in cement products, insulation, flooring and roofing materials.

Tremolite Asbestos

Tremolite is a particularly strong, flexible and heat-resistant form of asbestos that can be spun and woven into cloth. It’s a type of amphibole asbestos, meaning that it has needle-like fibres that are hazardous if disturbed and inhaled. Tremolite is also prevalent in talc, which puts talc miners at particular risk. Its use was banned in the UK in 1985.

Tremolite is a dark-coloured form of asbestos and can appear grey, grey-white or grey-green in colour. Due to this variance, and due to its similarity to other amphiboles, note that the presence of tremolite cannot be identified simply by its colour and specialist asbestos testing is required in all situations.

Pre-1985, tremolite was used in fireproof fabric, paints, sealants, plumbing materials, roofing materials and insulation.

In this article, you’ve learnt about the main asbestos colours and the building materials they were used for before their use was banned in the UK in 1999. We hope that you’ve found the information in this article helpful, but don’t hesitate to get in touch with High Speed Training or take a look at our Asbestos Awareness (Category A) course here if you need to know more.

Further Resources: 

• Can You Remove Asbestos Yourself?
• How to Conduct an Asbestos Risk Assessment
• Answering Your Asbestos Awareness Questions
• What is Gypsum in Construction?
• Asbestos Quiz

The post Asbestos Colours: What is the Most Dangerous Asbestos Colour? appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

HACCP is an internationally recognised food safety management system that stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point. A HACCP system is based on seven key principles, which aim to assess and control the risks to food safety.

In order for any food business to be successful, there needs to be an effective food safety management system in place. A food safety management system enables you to comply with food hygiene law and ensure that the food you handle is safe for your consumers to eat. 

In this article, we will look at each of the seven HACCP principles and why they are essential to a food business. We’ll also look at how to implement a HACCP system in your workplace.

• What is HACCP?
• Why are the HACCP Principles Important?
  • Food Safety Hazards
• What are the 7 Principles of HACCP?
  • Principle 1: Conduct a Hazard Analysis
  • Principle 2: Determine Critical Control Points
  • Principle 3: Establish Critical Limits
  • Principle 4: Establish Monitoring Procedures
  • Principle 5: Establish Corrective Actions
  • Principle 6: Establish Verification Procedures 
  • Principle 7: Establish Documentation
• How to Implement the Principles of HACCP

What is HACCP?

As we’ve explained, HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point and is a food safety management system that helps businesses identify, evaluate and control the hazards that pose a significant risk to food safety. 

HACCP is a system based on seven key principles. These are:

1. Conduct a hazard analysis.
2. Determine the critical control points (CCPs).
3. Establish critical limits.
4. Monitor the CCPs. 
5. Establish corrective actions if a CCP is out of control.
6. Establish verification procedures.
7. Keep accurate documentation and records of each stage.

Food safety management is a fundamental requirement for all food businesses in order to ensure that the food produced is safe for consumption. The HACCP principles involve taking a preventative approach by looking at what could go wrong at each stage in the food production process and implementing controls to prevent problems from occurring.

Why are the HACCP Principles Important?

Following safe food hygiene procedures is not simply good practice, but something that you must do by law. One of the laws that you must follow is the Food Safety Act 1990.

The Food Safety Act 1990 is a piece of legislation concerned with food standards. This Act makes it an offence to:

• Produce food that’s dangerous to health.
• Produce food which fails to comply with food safety requirements.
• Produce food that is not of the nature, substance, or quality expected by the consumer.

Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 – which has been retained within GB law – states that: ‘Food business operators shall put in place, implement and maintain a permanent procedure based on the Codex HACCP principles.’ 

Therefore, having a food safety management system in place which is based on the HACCP principles is a legal requirement. Alongside ensuring your compliance with food safety law, successfully implementing the HACCP principles will help to:

• Avoid costly product recalls.
• Protect the reputation of the business.
• Increase customer and consumer confidence.
• Reduce the likelihood of contamination.
• Establish a good traceability system.

While it’s usually the food business owner’s duty to implement the HACCP system, all employees are responsible for maintaining it. Failing to process and store food in a safe way can lead to a number of dangerous consequences, including fines, loss of business, and serious health risks for consumers.

Looking to learn more?

For everything you need to implement effective food safety management systems, check out our range of HACCP courses, including Level 2 HACCP for Manufacturing for employees and Level 3 HACCP for Manufacturing for food business owners and managers in the food manufacturing industry.

Food Safety Hazards

Without a thorough understanding of food safety hazards, it’s difficult to establish effective controls and create a successful HACCP system. 

Food safety hazards can be placed into four categories:

• Physical hazards – This refers to physical items in food that should not be there. Examples include: jewellery, hair, feathers, or bones. Physical contamination can be caused by people, packaging, products, pests, the premises or machinery (the plant).
• Chemical hazards – Chemical hazards can contaminate food at any stage in the manufacturing process. For example, this could include residue of chemicals left in equipment after cleaning or the misuse of fertilisers or pesticides on vegetables. 
• Allergenic hazards – As the smallest quantity of an allergen has the potential to cause such life-threatening consequences, it’s essential that your food business has a system in place to prevent allergenic ingredients from contaminating foods that are stated to be allergen-free. You can find a free poster to download on the 14 named food allergens in our article, here. 
• Microbial contamination – Microbial contamination of food is the most common reason behind outbreaks of food poisoning and food spoilage. It can arise from a number of different causes, including incorrect food handling, and not cooking a product to the correct high temperature. You can learn more about food poisoning in our article, ‘What are the Different Kinds of Food Poisoning?’

Need to implement food safety controls?

For more information on food safety control, check out our range of food hygiene and safety courses, including Level 2 Food Hygiene and Safety for Manufacturing and Level 3 Food Hygiene and Safety for Manufacturing.

What are the 7 Principles of HACCP?

As we’ve established, a HACCP system is based on 7 key principles, and we’ll look into each of these in more detail below.

Principle 1 – Conduct a Hazard Analysis

Principle 1 of HACCP involves conducting a hazard analysis. Similar to a risk assessment, this involves considering all of the procedures and processes within a business that could pose a risk to food products, and therefore cause harm to the consumer. This includes looking closely at the physical, chemical, allergenic and microbial hazards.

Once all of the hazards have been identified and listed, they need to be graded according to how likely they are to occur and the severity of the consequences if they did occur.

Principle 2 – Determine Critical Control Points

Principle 2 of HACCP involves determining the critical control points in the food handling processes. A critical control point (CCP) is the last step where you can intervene to eliminate or reduce a hazard to an acceptable limit.

Unlike Control Points (CPs) – which is any step in the flow of food where a physical, chemical or microbial hazard can be controlled – at a CCP, a loss of control would lead to an unacceptable level of risk if an appropriate control is not implemented to eliminate or reduce it as quickly as possible.

Examples of critical control points could include:

• A point where the temperature reached is critical to the safety of the food, such as pasteurisation.
• A point where if the cooling time of a food is too long, pathogenic bacteria are likely to develop.
• A stage where there is the risk of allergens contaminating food.

To help you decide whether a hazard control point is a critical point or not, check out our article: ‘What is a HACCP Decision Tree?’

Principle 3 – Establish Critical Limits

Principle 3 of HACCP involves establishing critical limits. A critical limit is the maximum or minimum value for the control measure at a CCP in order to prevent, eliminate or reduce the hazard to an acceptable level.

To establish critical limits, there needs to be a criteria that determines when a product changes from being safe to unsafe. This criteria could be physical, chemical or procedural including:

• pH values.
• Salt content.
• Sugar content.
• Temperatures.

Principle 4 – Establish Monitoring Procedures

Principle 4 of HACCP states that the food safety system must have a way of determining whether the CCPs and critical limits are under control. This can be achieved through consistent and continual monitoring. 

CCPs should be monitored at all times in order to efficiently detect any loss of control, identify any deviations and ensure that corrective actions are carried out where necessary.

Principle 5 – Establish Corrective Actions

Principle 5 of HACCP involves establishing corrective actions, which is any action that must be taken when the results of monitoring a CCP indicate that a critical limit has been breached.

The aim of corrective action is to:

• Make the product safe.
• Prevent recurrence of the problem.
• Maintain a chain of documentation for audit purposes.

There are 3 levels of corrective action that need to be put in place:

• Immediate action to regain control of the process.
• Short term action to identify and deal with the affected product by placing it under control.
• Long term action to investigate the cause and prevent it happening again.

Principle 6 – Establish Verification Procedures

Principle 6 of HACCP involves establishing verification procedures. This includes regularly reviewing the HACCP system to ensure that the food safety management system is working effectively. This can be confirmed through internal audits, validation and verification procedures.

Validation is the process of collecting evidence to show that the HACCP plan is effective, particularly at the points of critical control and critical limits, in order to prove that the HACCP system will effectively control the hazards.

Verification and internal auditing take an overview of the whole HACCP system rather than individual activities. Verification looks to check that each element of the HACCP system is working correctly, in accordance with the HACCP plan and to ensure that the system is up-to-date.

Principle 7 – Establish Documentation

Principle 7 of HACCP requires accurate records to be kept for each stage of the food safety system. This documentation should verify that the controls in place are working as planned.

Types of documentation that support a HACCP plan include:

• Details of the hazard analysis.
• CCP determination.
• Training records.
• Procedures, such as corrective action procedures, glass breakage procedures and standard operating procedures.
• Cleaning schedules.
• Pest control reports.
• Supplier documentation, such as lists, specifications and audit records.
• Records, for example CCP monitoring including deviations and corrective actions, modifications to the HACCP plan, visual inspection reports and daily checks such as temperature checks.

Documentation is also essential for a due diligence defence should it be needed. For this reason, it’s essential that information, documentation and resources are maintained and kept up-to-date. For more information on this, check out our article: What is Due Diligence in Food Safety and How Can I Evidence it?

How to Implement the HACCP Principles

Before a HACCP management system can be implemented in your business, there are mandatory food safety control measures that must be in place. These essential procedures are known as ‘prerequisite procedures’ and detail the basic conditions that are needed in order to produce safe food. Without having these prerequisites in place, the HACCP system will not be effective. 

Examples of prerequisites include, but are not limited to:

• Ensuring only approved suppliers are used. You can find more information on this in our article ‘How to Choose a Reputable Supplier’. 
• Implementing pest control procedures. To test your knowledge on these, check out or Pest Control Quiz.
• Following personal hygiene procedures. You can find a free poster to download, along with advice and guidance on handwashing, here. 
• Having a stock rotation system (First-In-First-Out) in place. For more information, check out our article ‘Using a FIFO Food Storage System’.

The HACCP plan must be reviewed if there are any changes to the formulation, process or procedures to ensure it is up-to-date and still fit for purpose. 

All food business operators have a legal responsibility to ensure that:

• Food handlers are supervised and instructed and/or trained in food hygiene matters that are commensurate with their work activity.
• Those responsible for the development and maintenance of the HACCP procedures have received adequate training in the application of the 7 HACCP principles.

A HACCP system can be implemented ‘in one go’ which can be the faster approach, or in stages by department to make the task more manageable.

We hope you’ve found this article on the 7 Principles of HACCP useful and informative. If you have any further questions, or wish to find out more information on the topics covered in this article, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at High Speed Training!

Further Resources

• Level 2 HACCP for Manufacturing
• Level 3 HACCP for Manufacturing
• Food Hygiene Courses
• 28 of your HACCP Questions Answered
• 5 Key HACCP Considerations for the Bakery Industry
• HACCP Quiz
• Food Allergen Risk Assessment & Checklist
• What are the Different Kinds of Food Poisoning?
• Food Product Recall Procedure Template – Free Download

The post What are the 7 Principles of HACCP? appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

By helping to prevent accidents, injuries, and any work-related illness, health and safety officers support their employer to ensure that staff are provided with a safe and secure environment to work in. Alongside the responsibility of the employer and employees to uphold health and safety at work, this role is centred around managing risks.

In this article, we explore how to become a health and safety officer, providing guidance on the roles and responsibilities involved, and tips to help you get started. We also look at which policies and procedures should be implemented in accordance with current legislation, so that you are able to make informed decisions when it comes to everyone’s safety.

Want to become a Health & Safety Officer?

Learn about common workplace hazards and discover how to keep everyone safe with our accredited Health and Safety training courses, designed to equip you with the knowledge required to recognise potential risks in your business.

What is a Health and Safety Officer?

A health and safety officer is a qualified individual responsible for monitoring and controlling health and safety compliance in an organisation. As a health and safety officer, you continuously promote safety awareness by ensuring accident prevention and the correct health and safety measures are followed at all times.

Constant vigilance is a vital asset to any organisation in order to prevent any foreseeable accidents or injuries from occurring. It is imperative that health and safety officers are familiar with the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 and other relevant health and safety legislation. They should be aware of general duties, regulations and approved codes of practice, enforcement, obtaining and disclosure of information, and provisions.

In this role, you will need to maintain safety information, shape new protocols, and strengthen existing policies. Health and safety officers play a very important role in helping to protect people from harm, supporting a more efficient and productive place of work. 

By familiarising yourself with current legislation, you are one step closer to ensuring a constant safe environment to work in. Whether you work in an office, on construction sites, or even in a school, becoming a health and safety officer is a rewarding career. 

As a health and safety officer, you have the opportunity to specialise in one specific area, such as first aid or fire safety, or you may want to provide guidance on any safety related issues. Whichever route you take, you will be responsible for supporting your employer to maintain a high standard of health and safety and ensure employees’ welfare and well-being is protected at all times.

Health and Safety Officer Roles and Responsibilities

Both you and your organisation have certain responsibilities to uphold when it comes to protecting those at work and who may be affected by the business’s work activities (e.g. members of the public). As a health and safety officer, your principal responsibility is to ensure the safety of all individuals at all times, and you will have a wide range of duties to accomplish this. Officers should be aware of their roles and responsibilities in order to support their employer in ensuring the ongoing effectiveness of control measures put in place by the competent person (who may be the employer, the health and safety officer, or someone else).

Typically, health and safety officers focus on inspecting the workplace areas to ensure compliance with relevant legislation. It is part of their duty to familiarise themselves with common workplace hazards and understand how to manage these if they become risks. This can help you to make informed decisions when it comes to developing and supporting effective policies.

In general, health and safety officers could be responsible for:

• Constantly monitoring and assessing hazardous or unsafe situations.
• Creating health and safety policies tailored to the specific work activities.
• Implementing health and safety procedures. 
• Carrying out risk assessments.
• Testing electrical equipment.
• Assessing previous accidents and determining what went wrong and how this could be prevented.
• Maintaining contact with those off work due to illness or injury.
• Distributing relevant information on accident prevention. 
• Identifying which individuals need protecting from potential hazards
• Consistently communicating with employees.
• Supporting employees and arranging training where necessary. 
• Communicating with the first aider and/or appointed person on provision, such as first aid kits.
• Undergoing relevant health and safety training to keep knowledge up to date.

Health and safety officers are responsible for leading health and safety practices through policies which utilise plan, do, check, and act. 

• Plan – set the direction for effective health and safety management. 
• Do – introduce practices that ensure risks are dealt with sensibly and responsibly.
• Check – monitor and make recommendations.
• Act – carry out a formal review of health and safety performance.

By following these four steps, no matter where you work, you are ensuring that health and safety is effectively managed in the workplace at all times. 

As a health and safety officer, your principal responsibility is to ensure all individuals are kept safe and healthy at all times. However, remember that it is the employer’s duty to create this work environment and for you to support them in achieving and maintaining this on their behalf.

All employees are entitled to work in an environment where any risks to their health and safety are properly controlled and they will be safe and healthy. Although it is the health and safety officer’s duty to help maintain these measures, workers have a duty to take care of their own health and safety, and that of others, too. They must cooperate with both those they work with and their employers and follow all instructions and their training at all times. If they have any specific queries or concerns relating to health and safety in their workplace, they must talk to their health and safety officer immediately. These actions help to ensure the work environment is a safe and healthy one at all times.

Depending on the environment you choose to work in, your responsibilities as a health and safety officer may differ. For example, a health and safety officer working on a construction site will have varying responsibilities compared to those who work in education, healthcare or an office.

Is Health and Safety a Good Career?

No matter what industry or environment you choose to work in, unfortunately accidents do happen. In your role as a health and safety officer, you will have the opportunity to work with employees to control risks and promote a positive working environment. With this in mind, a health and safety officer could be an incredibly fulfilling role if you are keen to help others.

Not only do you have the potential to save lives, with the flexibility of working in a range of industries for businesses of all different types and sizes, you have the ability to work all over the world. If so, you need to be aware of the relevant legislation and laws of the country in which the business is based. With the right knowledge and skills, you can reap the benefits whilst promoting a positive health and safety culture in your workplace.

For example, promoting positive health and safety in a school is important to a number of people, from pupils to teachers, governors and parents. Therefore, it is a health and safety officer’s duty to be the focal point for the school’s health and safety management arrangements.

A health and safety officer is an essential role in every organisation, whether you opt to work as part of an in-house team, independently, or for a larger organisation. Becoming a health and safety officer is a job in which anyone with the right skill set and qualifications can undertake effectively.

How to Start a Career in Health and Safety

It takes either a university degree, apprenticeship or training through a professional body to become a health and safety officer. The level at which you are entering this occupation determines the steps you should take in order to fully prepare for the role. From gaining the relevant qualifications to applying, the process of becoming a health and safety officer can typically take somewhere between one to five years.

Skills Required

• Good communication skills.
• Good knowledge base on health and safety.
• An eye for detail.
• Problem solving skills.
• Writing skills.
• Organisational skills.

College Courses and Apprenticeships

Usually, you are required to have 2 to 3 A Levels or the equivalent for a qualification if you choose this pathway. Or, for an apprenticeship you typically need 5 GCSEs at grade 9-4 (A*-C). 

Other Qualifications

Whilst an in-depth knowledge and understanding may help in getting you started, there are also certain training qualifications required. This can vary depending on the setting in which you wish to work, however, either way, it is crucial to keep your training regularly updated. 

Our health and safety training courses may act as evidence of industry-related training for accreditation applications, offering a gateway towards a hugely enriching career. The recommended renewal period for health and safety training will vary depending on industry best practice guidelines, but is typically between one to three years depending on the type of training.

If you wish to become a health and safety officer having already pursued a different career path, there are other routes you can take whilst working. For example, you could study for a health and safety qualification part-time or online alongside your day-to-day job.

Becoming a health and safety officer comes with huge responsibilities. Supporting employee well-being and managing workplace risks can make all environments a safer, more successful place to work. A health and safety officer is an essential role in every organisation, whether you opt to work as part of an in-house team, independently, or for a larger organisation. Becoming a health and safety officer is a job in which anyone with the right skill set and qualifications can undertake effectively.

Further Resources:

• What are the Roles and Responsibilities of a Health and Safety Manager?
• What is the Difference Between Hazard and Risk? 
• Health and Safety Signs Quiz
• Health and Safety Quiz
• Health and Safety Training

The post How to Become a Health and Safety Officer: Key Roles and Responsibilities appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

Employers have a legal duty to ensure that risks in their workplace are assessed, controlled and monitored so that their employees remain safe from harm – including those from hot work. Employers must identify the hazards in their workplace and implement suitable controls to reduce the risks to as low as is reasonably practicable.

What is Hot Work?

The HSE defines hot work as the: ‘use of open fires, flames and work involving the application of heat by means of tools or equipment.’ Common types of hot work include:

• Welding, brazing, and soldering.
• Grinding and cutting.
• Thawing pipes.
• The use of open flames, blow-lamps, and torches.
• Using bitumen and tar boilers.
• The use of hot air blowers and lead heaters.

This is not an exhaustive list, but it does include the most common examples of hot work. All hot work can pose significant health and safety risks when carried out without proper controls.

Want to Learn More?

Our Hot Work course examines the different types of hot work and the risks associated with them. It also explains the legal duties on employers and duty holders, and the responsibilities employees have to ensure their safety and the safety of others. 

Common Hazards of Hot Work

Hot work can present numerous types of hazards to workers and the environment around them. However, the most common and significant risk of hot work is fire and explosions. Without the proper safety procedures, all types of hot work can easily ignite a fire.

Fire hazards posed by hot work include:

• Flying sparks. This is the main risk posed by hot work. Sparks can easily get trapped in cracks, pipes, gaps, holes, and other small openings, where it will potentially smoulder and start a fire.
• Flammable swarf, molten metals, slag, cinder, and filings. The debris and residue that hot work creates are often highly combustible and/or hot.
• Heat conduction when working on pipes. Hot work can cause a pipe to heat up substantially and this heat can easily transfer through the process of conduction to another, potentially flammable surface and cause a fire.
• Hot surfaces. If you don’t properly remove flammable materials or substances from the area before you start hot work, they could come into contact with a surface that has become hot during the work and easily start a fire.
• Explosive atmospheres. In certain environments, there may be vapours or gases in the air that are highly combustible and could ignite when exposed to hot work. Similarly, the hot work could generate fumes that create an explosive atmosphere.

The consequences of these hazards can be severe and costly for any business. Injuries can result in workers taking time off work, while a serious fire could damage the building irreparably. Both of these could even lead to legal consequences under certain circumstances. Therefore, it’s crucial to understand how to implement appropriate safety controls.

Further hazards include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Exposure to fumes and gases: Hot work can expose workers to hazardous fumes and gases that can result in severe health and safety impacts. This exposure may be a direct result of the hot work activity, such as welding fumes, or a result of the environment where the hot work is being undertaken. For example, carrying out hot work to repair a silo without proper removal of previous residues could result in serious adverse reactions, such as generating toxic fumes or an explosive atmosphere.
• Exposure to electrical hazards: Depending on the type of hot work being undertaken, live electrical circuits may be used to generate heat, which results in a risk of electric shock.
• Heat exposure: Hot work involves ‘use of open fires, flames and work involving the application of heat’, which can expose workers to dangerous elevated temperatures and heat build-up in the body. Excessive heat exposure can result in heat stress, heat stroke and unconsciousness.
• Exposure to improper isolation of equipment: Improper isolation of equipment being worked on can result in hazards including entrapment, crushing, asphyxiation, explosive environments, etc. For example, failure to correctly chocking moving equipment is in place or not isolating pipework that could carry gases, vapours or fumes into the workplace.

It’s important to note that the hazards associated with hot work will depend on the specific work activity and the environment in which it is being undertaken.

Hot Work Control Measures

A variety of industries may require hot work in their premises as part of routine work activities, though it is also frequently carried out as part of contractual work. However, no matter the reason for, or duration of, the hot work being undertaken, it’s essential that the hazards have been assessed and appropriate controls have been enforced.

As previously mentioned, employers have a legal duty to ensure that risks in their workplace are assessed, controlled and monitored so that their employees remain safe from harm, including the risks from hot work activities. Control methods must be selected in line with the hierarchy of control which is outlined below:

1. Elimination – Elimination means to avoid carrying out hot work activities. This can be done through a number of ways. For example, if a tank requires hot work to repair it, completely replacing the tank instead of repairing it.
2. Substitution – The second step in the hierarchy involves substituting for a safer or less hazardous alternative, such as using cold cutting or cold repair methods rather than hot work.
3. Engineering controls – This involves using physical solutions to reduce risks, such as using general mechanical ventilation (ducted air with fans) or local exhaust ventilation (to remove fumes from the point of origin).
4. Administrative controls – This involves altering the way the activity is undertaken to make it safer, e.g. the use of safe systems of work, permit-to-work systems and training.
5. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) – The final stage of the hierarchy of control is the use of PPE to reduce any residual risks. Examples of PPE include respiratory protective equipment (RPE), hearing protection, eye protection and anti-static clothing and boots. PPE must only ever be used as a last resort and only when all other stages in the hierarchy of control have been considered.

Avoiding hot work altogether

Hot work must be avoided, so far as is reasonably practicable. ‘So far as is reasonably practicable’ means that, for any risk that is more than negligible or insignificant, then the duty holder has to weigh the risk against the time, money and trouble required to control it. The level of action should be proportionate to the risk. So, where risks are higher, such as hot work, then the actions taken must be more comprehensive. Therefore, you should consider every possible alternative for completing a task before deciding to proceed with hot work.

The need for hot work can be eliminated or substituted for safer alternatives in many ways. For example, replacing tanks and silos instead of repairing them, substituting welding for bolting methods, or substituting torch cutting for the use of hand-held hydraulic shears.

In some situations, hot work will be unavoidable. If this is the case, the duty holder must ensure that an effective safe system of work is enforced and used, to ensure that the work activity will be carried out safely and without risk to health.

Safe systems of work (SSoW)

Safe systems of work are part of the risk assessment process. The information contained within an SSoW should reflect and build on the information developed in the risk assessment process. The key information contained in a safe system of work are outlined below:

• Safe Place of Work – The work environment should be safe for the work activities to be undertaken.
• Safe Work Equipment – The safe system of work should only permit the use of the safest work equipment possible.
• Safe Substances for Use at Work – The safe system of work should only allow the safest substances possible. This may mean substituting dangerous, flammable or toxic substances such as chemicals or gases for safer alternatives.
• Safe Management, Supervision and Monitoring – Managers, supervisors, those who plan the work, and other duty holders should be competent in their duties. This includes an understanding of the hazards and risks involved with the work activities and work environment, and how to safely supervise and monitor activities.
• Safe Workers – Employees and any others undertaking work activities must be fully trained in the safe system of work, including any work equipment and use of substances, and in rescue arrangements.

What is a permit-to-work?

A permit-to-work system is a written procedure to ensure that specific work activities are adhered to. Key information about permit-to-work systems is outlined below:

• A permit-to-work is a document created to control and communicate the key control measures that are needed for work activities where hazards are increased due to the work to be undertaken or by the nature of the location where the work is being carried out. Permits-to-work form part of the safe system of work for those more hazardous work activities.
• The main purposes of a permit-to-work is to act as a single communication tool for a specific and time-bound activity that can cause increased hazards and risks if the additional controls and checks are not included.
• A permit-to-work is a formal written system that makes up part of the risk assessment process and contributes to the safe system of work. It is not a replacement for either of them.
• Only a competent person in a position of authority, for example, a senior manager, can decide whether a permit-to-work is required.
• Where a permit-to-work is needed, it must only be completed by a competent person in authority, such as an experienced supervisor, consulting specialist advice where necessary, and must be signed off by the competent person in charge of the work. The permit-to-work is a suitable way to record authorisations, document findings, and to permit work to proceed.
• A permit-to-work must be specific to the work being carried out and the environment where it is being undertaken. Once the work activity has been finished, the permit-to-work must be cancelled in writing by the senior manager and supervisor, and a new assessment undertaken for any new work activities.
• Anyone carrying out work must be fully informed and instructed in the risk assessment, safe systems of work and the permit-to-work before any work is carried out.

It is essential to note that a permit-to-work, alone, does not make a work activity safe. It is an extension of the safe system of work and must not be used as a replacement.

Need Permit to Work Training?

Our Permit to Work Training explains the duties of everyone responsible for the permit, from the point of issue to the work’s completion. If you work in an industry that often carries out high risk work, it’s crucial that you know what a permit should cover.

What information does a permit-to-work cover?

As previously mentioned, a permit-to-work system is a written procedure to ensure that specific work activities are adhered to. A permit-to-work will usually contain the following information:

1. Permit title.
2. Permit reference, including other relevant permits to work.
3. Job location. This must include a clear and accurate description of the area in which the work will be undertaken.
4. Date and duration of permit. It’s important to note that a new permit will normally be required for different work shifts.
5. Plant or equipment to be worked on. This should include the specific identification number or location where the work will be undertaken.
6. Description of work to be done. This section should include sufficient detail to clearly identify the work being done.
7. Hazard identification, including detailed information on the hazards arising from the work and other associated hazards, for example, work at height.
8. Precautions required, for example, safe equipment, isolation of power required and by whom, etc.
9. Emergency arrangements, for example, requirements for firefighting and rescue, details of rescue equipment, etc.
10. Monitoring equipment, for example, air monitoring.
11. Details of PPE required for the work.
12. A signature from the issuing authority, such as a/the manager, to confirm that isolations have been made and precautions taken.
13. A signature from the supervisor of the work, to confirm understanding of the work to be done, hazards involved and precautions required, and that the permit information has been explained to all permit users.
14. Extension and shift handover. The signatures of the authorising authority, manager, and supervisor for the permit to confirm the necessary checks have been made to ensure that the plant remains safe to be worked on and that all precautions remain in place. The new supervisors’ signature is also needed to confirm acceptance and confirm that the permit information has been explained to all permit users.
15. Hand-back. A signature from the supervisor of the work certifying the work has been completed and the area has been made safe, including any required tests.
16. A signature from the manager to confirm that the permit has been cancelled, all work under the permit has been completed and the area is safe.

Emergency Arrangements

After avoiding the risks associated with hot work and implementing safe systems of work, it’s important to set up and maintain any necessary emergency arrangements. Emergency arrangements must be well planned and set out by a competent person, and must be appropriate to the hazards generated by the specific work activities and environment.

Emergency arrangements must make up part of the risk assessment process and safe systems of work – no work should be commenced until the appropriate emergency arrangements are enforced. The complexity of the emergency arrangements will depend on the specific hazards identified.

Essential components to consider when deciding on emergency arrangements include:

• Raising the alarm. Employees must understand how to raise an alarm and communicate effectively during an emergency rescue. An effective, reliable method of communication that is regularly tested before work is commenced must be in place.
• Where deemed necessary by the risk assessment, suitable rescue and resuscitation equipment must be provided and those required to use it must be competent and fully trained.
• Safeguarding any rescuers. All rescuers must be competent in their duties, they must understand their role, be contactable and readily available at all times when on rescue duty and must understand that they should never put themselves at risk to enact a rescue. All emergency rescuers must be provided with the information, instruction and training necessary to ensure they are competent in their duties.
• Hot work activities pose a very significant risk of fires and explosions which must be assessed and suitable precautions taken. It’s important to consider all the hazards in the work environment and posed by the work activities and ensure that firefighting methods do not pose any additional risks – such as displacing oxygen in confined spaces.
• Whether plant may need to be shut down in the event of an emergency. For example, because the plant is the cause of an emergency or it is not possible to carry out an emergency rescue without plant shut down.
• Suitable first aid arrangements are in place.
• Arrangements for contacting and working with the emergency services in the event of an emergency. Employers must not rely on emergency services alone when setting out emergency arrangements. However, it’s important to consider how the emergency services would be informed in the event of an emergency, who is responsible for contacting them, and what information they might need on their arrival to ensure they can carry out their duties safely.

As described in this article, hot work can present significant risks. Employers have a legal duty to ensure these risks are assessed, controlled and monitored to keep their employees safe from harm. Where necessary and used properly, a permit-to-work is an extension of the safe system of work and risk assessment carried out for your work activities. It must never be considered a substitution for a safe system of work or a risk assessment, and must be followed by everyone involved.

What to Read Next:

• Hot Work Training Course
• Permit to Work Training Course
• Permit to Work Quiz
• 15 Workshop Hazards and How to Avoid Them
• What Is Arc-Eye? A Guide To The Dangers Of Arc Welding
• Welding Hazards in the Workplace: Safety Tips & Precautions
• How to Avoid Electrical Hazards at Work
• What Are the Key Differences Between Flammable and Combustible Materials?

The post What is Hot Work and Do I Need a Permit? appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

However, supplementing formal training with regular toolbox talks is incredibly effective for cementing people’s knowledge and promoting a solid safety culture.

This article will explain what toolbox talks are and why they are beneficial for developing your workplace’s awareness of health and safety. It will provide some examples of important topics you could cover in construction toolbox talks, as well as some tips for maximising each session’s effectiveness.

What are Toolbox Talks?

Toolbox talks are short presentations or discussions with a group of workers about a specific health and safety topic. They are usually designed to refresh people’s knowledge and then start the work day with safety at the forefront of everyone’s minds.

Taking this proactive and frequent approach to reinforcing safety information has proven to be effective at improving health and safety in the workplace. In fact, a 2017 report found that companies who conduct toolbox talks daily had a 64% reduction in total incident rates and those who carried them out weekly had a 20% reduction, as compared to those that conducted them only monthly.

As mentioned earlier, toolbox talks are useful for reinforcing people’s health and safety knowledge and helping to build a safety culture in the workplace. They are effective because they actively engage workers with the information in bitesize amounts and, ideally, on a frequent basis, which promotes knowledge retention. 

All of this combined can help with complying with the CDM Regulations (Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015) – see the relevant extract below – and most importantly keep people healthy and safe.

How are Toolbox Talks Carried Out on Construction Sites?

The following points provide guidance and tips on how to carry out toolbox talks on construction sites effectively.

• Senior or experienced members of the team typically lead toolbox talks on construction sites, such as supervisors or the crew leader, with a small group of workers (usually around 10 people). Running them with a small group ensures people have the opportunity to ask questions in the time available.
• Using presentations, videos, or PDFs is useful to help convey the information clearly and engagingly to workers. You may also use handouts if you have additional information and don’t want the session to run too long. Alternatively, you could save the information for a follow up toolbox talk another time.
• Toolbox talks should ideally be run at the start of the work day. This puts the safety considerations at the forefront of everyone’s minds while they get started on work.
• They should be run frequently, such as once a week or daily if doable. Doing so will maximise their effectiveness and help to create a strong safety culture.
• They should typically be around 10 to 15 minutes, but could also be up to 30 minutes. The aim is for them to be brief and to the point, so people receive all the key information they need and don’t lose focus.
• They should each be about a single health and safety topic. As they are short sessions, multiple topics would be spread too thin and difficult for people to retain. We’ll look at examples of topics to cover later in this article.
• Records of toolbox talks should ideally be kept. It’s not legally required, but doing so is great for keeping track of your business’s training and so you know what you have and haven’t covered recently. Pass around an attendance sheet during the session, or make a note yourself, and include this with some brief details of what you covered. Sitemate provides a good example template.

A particularly important consideration is that toolbox talks should be relevant and relatable to the audience.

For example, if workers will carry out a lot of manual handling tasks that day, refresh people’s knowledge about the risks and safe techniques of manual handling in a toolbox talk first thing before work. Likewise, retention and engagement will be better when you put it into context, such as by tailoring it to the specific equipment and loads that people will have to handle on site that day.  

You should also focus on proactivity and prevention, rather than reacting to past on-site incidents or those you’ve seen in the news, which can come across as fear-mongering. Focus on the positive aspects of people following health and safety on your site, rather than making them afraid of what could or has happened.

9 Examples of Topics that Construction Site Toolbox Talks Could Cover

Toolbox talks can cover a huge range of health and safety topics, especially for construction sites, though keep in mind that they should focus on one topic at a time. The important thing is that they are brief and provide clear, actionable guidance to workers, based on subjects that are relevant to their work activities and the risks they face.

Here are 9 examples of toolbox topics for construction, as well as some further resources:

1. Asbestos Awareness

Asbestos-containing materials are still present in many buildings that were built before the year 2000. Construction workers may come across these during their work, such as when demolishing old buildings, and it’s absolutely vital that they know how to work around it safely. Exposure to asbestos fibres can lead to lung cancers, and despite the fact that asbestos use was banned in 1999, people are still developing conditions due to past exposure – two decades after its discontinuation.

If people need to carry out work around asbestos-containing materials, your toolbox talk first thing that day could involve refreshing their knowledge of asbestos risks and what they should or shouldn’t do to prevent exposure. For example, if they are not qualified to remove it, you could cover where any known asbestos-containing materials are on site and what the risks are of disturbing them, and how they should avoid doing so. 

Need an Asbestos Course?

Our Asbestos Awareness (Category A) course provides guidance about asbestos risks and how to prevent people from being exposed to them, which may be useful for those looking to run toolbox talks, as it will help to refresh your knowledge and you can use the information to inform your toolbox talk.

2. Fire Safety

It’s crucial that people understand how to minimise fire safety risks on your construction site, and that they understand how to follow evacuation procedures in an emergency.

A toolbox talk for fire safety could refresh people’s knowledge about how fires start, what type of fire hazards are present on your site, and how people should control these – for example, with proper management of rubbish on site and safe practices when using tools that could create sparks. You could also refresh people’s awareness of how to evacuate during a fire and where the assembly point is on site, as well as remind fire wardens what responsibilities they have.

Need a Fire Safety Course?

Our Fire Safety course provides guidance about how fires start and how to minimise the risks in workplaces, which may be useful for those looking to run toolbox talks about this topic. It will help to refresh your knowledge and you can use the information to inform your toolbox talk.

3. Preventing Slips, Trips, and Falls

Slips, trips, and falls from the same height are one of the biggest causes of work-related accidents and injuries every year. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) states that several thousand construction workers are injured each year following a trip or slip whilst at work on a building site.

Your toolbox talks on slips, trips, and falls could cover the common hazards on your site that people should look out for, as well as what actions they should take to help minimise these risks, such as watching their step and properly managing materials and waste around the site. 

The HSE has a dedicated booklet about this topic and provides a video for use in toolbox talks.

Need a Slips, Trips, and Falls Course?

Our Slips, Trips, and Falls course provides guidance about common slips, trips, and falls risks in workplaces, which may be useful for those looking to run toolbox talks about this topic. It will help to refresh your knowledge and you can use the information to inform your toolbox talk.

4. Working at Height Safely

Working at height is an incredibly high-risk work activity and may be common on your construction site, so it’s vital that everyone knows how to do so safely, whether they’re a few feet off the ground or several. This includes the use of ladders and scaffolding.    

A toolbox talk for working at height could cover common areas of risk on your site and remind people of what procedures they should follow, including the safe use of any equipment to help them work at height, such as scissor lifts. It could also explain the risks posed by ladders and how to set up and stand on them safely. Likewise, you could cover the risks of working on scaffolding and emphasise the importance of correctly setting it up, e.g. with suitable guardrails.

Need a Working at Height Course?

Our Working at Height and Ladder Safety courses provide guidance about how to work at height and on ladders safely, which may be useful for those looking to run toolbox talks about this topic. We also have a LOLER course if you use any equipment on site for lifting people who need to work at height. These courses will help to refresh your knowledge and you can use the information contained in them to inform your toolbox talks.

5. Mental Health

Discussing mental health openly and having suitable support in place is vital for any workplace, but is particularly so for construction sites. The construction industry has one of the highest rates of suicide in any industry. Studies show that 75% of suicides in the UK are committed by men, and male construction workers are 3 times more likely to commit suicide than the average man in the UK.

Work-life balance, unrealistic expectations, and a culture of feeling unable to voice concerns are frequently cited as reasons for poor mental health amongst construction workers. It’s therefore vital that senior staff on construction sites pay close attention to people’s workload and that they help to break down the barriers that men (and people in general) often face with opening up about how they feel.

Use toolbox talks as an opportunity to emphasise that there is nothing wrong with opening up and that workers shouldn’t feel afraid to talk to colleagues and senior staff about work concerns. The charity Mates in Mind, which aims to help businesses improve mental health awareness and break the stigma associated with it, could help to inform the contents of your session. You could also promote it as a resource for people to educate themselves about mental health further beyond the talk.

For further advice about mental health in construction, which could help to inform your toolbox talk, check out our dedicated article: Managing Occupational Health in Construction

6. Manual Handling

Manual handling is often a central part of working on construction sites, but this physical aspect of the job can pose a real risk to workers’ wellbeing if not effectively controlled. As the HSE states, injuries associated with manual handling are not just an inevitable part of work – they can be prevented with good planning, safety practices, and control measures.

Use toolbox talks to remind people of the risks posed by manual handling activities, which is primarily musculoskeletal disorders. These develop over a prolonged period of time, so people may not realise they’re overdoing it until the damage is already underway. You could remind people of what weight limits they should follow, how to adopt good techniques, and how to use manual handling aids.

Need a Manual Handling Course?

Our Manual Handling course provides guidance about the risks that manual handling activities can pose to the body, such as musculoskeletal disorders, and explains how to adopt good techniques when carrying out manual handling activities, as well as how to use any manual handling aids safely. This may be useful for those looking to run toolbox talks about this topic. It will help to refresh your knowledge and inform any toolbox talks you wish to run.

7. Hazardous Weather and Night Working

All sorts of unfavourable weather conditions can pose risks to construction workers, from cold and hot temperatures, to heavy rain and lightning, to high winds, to low visibility and night working. For example, hot weather can cause health issues if workers are continuously exposed, from a mild sunburn to more serious, long-term conditions like skin cancer. High winds can affect the stability of equipment and low visibility, such as when working at night or when there is heavy fog, can make operating vehicles dangerous.

You should cover the control measures that are in place to combat these issues in a toolbox talk for hazardous weather and night working. Make people aware of the risks to their health that they may face and what they should do while on site to protect themselves and others, including procedures for postponing work if weather conditions are too hazardous.

You can find further guidance about outdoor working on the HSE website.

8. Hazardous Substances

Construction work can involve or generate numerous hazardous substances that can harm workers if inhaled or touched. This includes harmful dusts, cement, lead, solvents, and more. For example, frequent exposure to cement can cause occupational dermatitis, while solvents from paints can put workers at risk of occupational asthma. Silica is a particularly noteworthy hazardous dust, which workers may be exposed to when sanding, drilling, and grinding and can cause serious damage to the lungs.

Use a toolbox talk to remind workers of the hazardous substances they may be exposed to, or that work activities may generate, while they’re working on site. Reinforce the importance of following safety procedures to protect themselves and others from exposure to these, including wearing PPE where necessary, such as respiratory protective equipment (RPE) and gloves.

Need a Hazardous Substances Course?

Our COSHH course provides guidance about common hazardous substances risks in workplaces and how to control them. The course may be useful for those looking to run toolbox talks about this topic. It will help to refresh your knowledge and you can use the information to inform your toolbox talk.

9. Environmental Awareness

Construction sites generate waste and can impact the environment in a variety of ways. Work should be carried out with consideration of any environmental impacts it could have on the surrounding area and wildlife. Likewise, you should be conscious of any impact work could have on the local populace, such as noise or material pollution.

You could use toolbox talks as an opportunity to remind workers of the procedures you have in place for minimising the work’s environmental impact, as well as processes for accidental spillages and how to minimise the consequences. Another example of a control you could remind people of is to turn off noisy vehicles and machinery when not in use if you are near a public area, to reduce noise pollution.

Remember to also ensure people understand construction waste disposal rules, as there are legal requirements around this. You can find guidance on construction waste in our dedicated article: How to Dispose of Construction Waste

There are so many more topics you could cover in construction toolbox talks beyond these 9 examples, like first aid; vehicle and traffic safety; confined spaces; using equipment, tools, and appliances; personal protective equipment; electrical safety; falling objects hazards; emergency and rescue procedures; excavations; noise hazards; and tons more. You can find examples online of what to contain in a session, for example at this site and on the HSE page for toolbox talks.  

After reading the above examples, and the advice for how to run them effectively, you should now be in a good position to host toolbox talks regularly on your construction site. Remember to always tailor the topic to your specific site and put the information into the context of your site’s activities and risks. This will aid retention and will support your overall aim of promoting health and safety.

What to Read Next:

• Managing Health and Safety Training
• Accident and Incident Investigation Training
• PPE in Construction: Safety Guidance and Checklist
• Pollution from Construction: What are the Types & How Can We Prevent It?
• Dust Hazards in Construction: Importance of Managing Risks and RPE
• How to Build Relationships in Construction
• LOLER Inspection Checklist Sheet
• Banksman Signals: Free Poster
• Safely Securing Ladders: Guidance & Procedure
• Ten Common Construction Site Hazards
• What is Effective Communication in Construction?
• CDM Regulations Quiz

Search ‘construction’ in our Hub search bar to find more articles for you.

The post Toolbox Talks in Construction: Guidance on Meeting Topics and Resources appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

This article will look at one of the most common risks in the construction industry: dusts hazards. It will explain what construction dusts are, why it’s important to control exposure, and what actions employers should take to appropriately manage the risks posed by dusts in their workplaces and associated with their work activities.

What are the Dust Hazards in Construction?

One significant hazard that those working in construction are exposed to is dust. Exposure to construction dust can result in a range of serious ill health impacts, in permanent disability, and even death in those affected. These health hazards include asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), lung cancer, and silicosis. Therefore, it’s essential that risks from construction dusts are properly assessed and controlled.

Construction dust is the generic name given to dust that is found on a construction site. It usually refers to three main types of dusts:

• Silica dust. Silica is a natural substance present in many commonly used construction products, like bricks, tile and mortar. Silica dust is produced when construction and mineral processing activities are carried out on silica-containing materials, including sanding, cutting and drilling. These activities release very fine silica dust particles, known as respirable crystalline silica (RCS), which are fine enough to penetrate deeply into the lungs when breathed in. More information on RCS dust can be found here: What is Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS) Dust and Why is it Dangerous?
• Wood dust. Wood dust can be created when carrying out work activities on hardwood, softwood and wood-based products.
• Lower toxicity dust, also known as non-silica dusts. These types of dusts are created from work activities on materials containing very little, or no, silica. For example, construction activities carried out on marble, limestone and gypsum.

Why is it important to Manage the Health Risks of Construction Dust?

Exposure to construction dusts can have serious ill health impacts on anyone exposed. These include:

• Occupational asthma. Occupational asthma is an allergic reaction that certain individuals experience when exposed to ‘respiratory sensitisers’. Respiratory sensitisers are substances in the workplace, such as dusts, which, when an individual is exposed, can cause their airways to go into a ‘hypersensitive state’. When the airways become hypersensitive, exposure to even very small quantities of the substance can induce an attack. 
• Occupational cancers. Long and short-term exposure to dusts can increase the risk of workers developing several different types of cancer, including lung cancer and cancers of the nose.
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD). COPD is the collective name for the group of lung diseases that result in breathing difficulties, including emphysema and bronchitis. Those with COPD often experience symptoms such as shortness of breath, wheezing, persistent coughing, and recurring chest infections. COPDs can occur as a result of prolonged exposure to fumes and dusts, and symptoms usually worsen gradually over time. However, individuals with COPDs can experience stages where their symptoms significantly deteriorate, very rapidly.
• Silicosis. Continuous, long-term exposure to RCS dust, or extensive exposure over a shorter period, can result in silicosis, a long-term lung disease. When RCS dust is inhaled into the lungs, the particles are attacked by the immune system, which causes inflammation. Repeated inhalation of RCS dust over a long period of time will result in fibrosis (areas of hardened and scarred tissue in the lungs) from the resulting attacking and inflammation that occurs. Silicosis impacts the lungs’ ability to function correctly, causing those with the disease to often experience a persistent cough, breathlessness and tiredness.

Construction Dust Exposure and the Law

Exposure to construction dust can have serious impacts on anyone exposed. Therefore, there are three main regulations that regulate exposure to dusts in the workplace. These are the Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974 (HSW Act), the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (MHSWR) and the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH). These regulations place key duties on employers to control exposure to hazardous substances in their workplaces.

Note: Some hazardous substances are not covered under COSHH as they have their own specific regulations, such as lead and asbestos.

Therefore, as an employer, your legal responsibilities include:

• Ensuring the health, safety and welfare of your employees so far as is reasonably practicable. Employers and self-employed are required to ensure that their work activities and workplaces operate in a way that does not pose risks to others.
• Carrying out a risk assessment to identify, assess and control the risks in your workplace.
• Recording the results of your risk assessment, if you have 5 or more employees. However, it’s good practice to record your risk assessment, no matter how many employees you have.
• Choosing appropriate controls to eliminate or manage exposure to hazardous substances as a result of your workplace or work activities.
• Sharing the results of your risk assessment with anyone impacted by your work activities, including employees, contractors and cleaning staff.
• Ensure that your work activities don’t expose workers to levels of hazardous substances above the Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL). WELs represent the legal safe maximum concentration of hazardous substances in the air, averaged over a certain time frame. There are around 500 substances that have WELs assigned to them. You can see a complete list of WELs in the HSE’s guide: EH40/2005 Workplace exposure limits. The only way you can measure exposure is by carrying out exposure monitoring. As an employer, you must measure exposure in your workplace and ensure that any WELs are not exceeded.
• Provide health surveillance for employees where necessary.
• Ensure employees are provided with adequate training in their duties and any control measures, so that they can work safely and effectively.

It’s important to note that this list of responsibilities is not exhaustive and that everyone involved in construction activities has legal responsibilities placed on them.

Need a Course?

Our Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS) will provide you with more information on the legal responsibilities posed on various parties.

Managing Construction Dust Hazards

It’s important to remember that everyone involved in construction work has legal responsibilities to manage the hazards associated with their work activities. This includes principal designers, principal contractors, designers and contractors, small builders and employees.

The HSE recommends that you use the ACR model to assess the hazards associated with your work activities and to effectively manage the risks.

The ACR model involves three key steps:

One: Assess the risks – identify the hazards associated with your workplace and work activities and assess the risks. You must consider:

• The task itself. For example, consider the type of tools and materials that are being used to carry out the work activity.
• The conditions of the work environment.
• The duration and frequency with which a task is carried out.

Two: Control the risks – select controls to effectively eliminate or reduce the risks associated with your workplace and work activities. You must consider controls in line with the hierarchy of control. The hierarchy of control is outlined below:

1. Eliminate the hazard. Consider ways in which you can eliminate the hazards. For example, you can eliminate dust-creating processes by ordering materials that are pre-cut, pre-prepared or pre-finished.
2. Substitute for a less hazardous alternative. Consider if you can change the process or materials used to reduce the risks. For example, choosing wet methods over dry methods, such as using wet coring instead of dry coring, or using no-drill fixings.
3. Engineering controls. Consider how you can alter or change the equipment used to reduce the risks. For example, could you use on-tool dust extraction, general mechanical ventilation or water suppression systems?
4. Administrative controls. Consider how you can amend your work procedures to reduce the risks. Types of administrative controls include ‘designing out’ hazards, installing warning signs, enforcing job rotation and safe systems of work, and ensuring employees are appropriately trained in their responsibilities.
5. Personal protective equipment (PPE). PPE should only ever be used as a last resort to reduce any residual risk to below an acceptable level. There is a legal duty on employers to consider the first four methods of the hierarchy of control to eliminate or reduce exposure to dust to below the workplace exposure limit (WEL). However, there are some situations where the use of one or more of the above controls can’t reduce dust exposure to below the WEL. Where this happens, suitable respiratory protective equipment (RPE) should be considered and used, alongside other controls, to reduce the risks to below the acceptable level.

Three: Review the controls – regularly review the controls used to eliminate or reduce the risks, to ensure they are in good working order and are effective.

Types of Respiratory Protection for Construction Workers

It’s vital to understand that respiratory protective equipment (RPE) should only ever be used as a last resort. It should never be your first consideration when deciding on controls to eliminate or reduce the risks associated with dusts in your workplace.

There is a legal duty to use methods of elimination, substitution, engineering and administrative controls to eliminate or reduce exposure to dusts. However, there will be situations where using one, or a combination, of those won’t reduce exposure to below the relevant workplace exposure limit (WEL). If this is the case, adequate and suitable RPE should also be used to reduce exposure to below the WEL.

There are two main types of respirators:

• Powered respirators. These respirators use motors to pull air through the filter and supply the user with a flow of clean air.
• Non-powered respirators. These respirators rely on the wearer’s breathing to pull air through the filter and supply the user with a flow of clean air.

Respirators can be either tight-fitting (these have to be face-fit tested to ensure that they can make a good seal with the wearers face) and loose-fitting (these do not require face-fit testing).

It is essential to note that there are very important conditions for RPE use. Any RPE has to be selected carefully to ensure it is adequate and suitable for specific hazards posed by a work activity, suitable for the work environment and specific to the user (e.g. the correct size). More information can be found in the following HSE guidance document: Respiratory Protective Equipment at Work

Construction dust exposure poses significant hazards to workers. As described in this article, it’s important that you effectively manage the risks in your workplace. You can find more information on your legal responsibilities, common health hazards, suitable control measures and the ACR model in our Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS) Awareness Training Course.

Further Resources:

• Ten Common Construction Site Hazards
• Health & Safety Training
• PPE in Construction: Safety Guidance and Checklist
• PPE Quiz
• What is Gypsum in Construction?
• Toolbox Talks in Construction: Guidance on Meeting Topics and Resources
• Respirable Crystalline Silica Awareness Training

The post Dust Hazards in Construction: Importance of Managing Risks & RPE appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.