Health&Safety Officer in office based environment

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Bids08

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Hi,

I have recently been appointed as the Health&safety Officer for our offices.
We are a small company with about 12-15 in the offices at one time.

I have no H&S background or qualifications.
I have identified issues that need to be rectified in relation to smoke alarms, trip hazards, fire exits, fire assembly point, servicing fire extinguishers.

I have looked up the relevant sites in order to research what needs to be done.
Even though we work in an office, it can be classed as a low risk environment, however is it still a requirement that we get manual handling training?
The heaviest item any of us would have to move is the box of printing papar.

Also,is it essentail that the H&S officer be trained in some form of First Aid?

Any help with this would be much appreciated.
 

Lot's of questions to which the main answer is unfortunately: it depends.

First thing is that as H&S officer, especially as you're new to the role, you should get some training yourself. OHS is legislation driven and the only real way to wade through this is some education. For a small office and low risk environment, this doesn't have to encompass a degree or diploma. Have a look for some Health and Safety Officer courses. Some are 3 days and depending on your own involvement may be a good place to start.

Your other questions are dependent on risk assessment. When you look at the legislation, it always refers to risk assessments first. Based upon the findings of the assessment, you may (or may not) have to do certain things. This again is why training for yourself is important so you can identify the must dos and nice to dos.

So:

Manual Handling
Despite what may be seen as "common practice" the definition of manual handling eliminates certain lower risk activites. However, you'd need to justify this with a risk assessment. If there is a risk, then there would be an expectation of some training.

Again, despite "common practice" the regulations actually contain no direct reference to Manual Handling training. It is referred to in the Schedule, but not directly.

From your assessments, you would decide whether the task poses a risk, how much of a risk and then from this what training is appropriate. It may not be the full "half day" training that is the most appropriate.

First Aid,
It's grey enough in these requirements, but even for a low risk environment, one trained first aider would be best practice. It isn't a requirement that it is the Health and safety officer. Given the supposed role of the safety officer, there could be an argument of "conflict of interest"...but that's a very loose argument. If you're the only willing person, it may have to be you.
 


1. Get your self some training
2. Put HSA, and HSE.co.uk, IOSH, NISO in your favourites
3. Manage safety- identify the hazards- in an office, fire, access egress, manual handling, machines, chemicals, the old chestnut of trips slips and falls. Do you have vehicles on the road, the car or van is still a work place. Do members of the public access the office? Gauge the level of risk in each, prioritise them and apply controls to the worse first working down to the least.- Budgets wont stretch to fix it all in one go. But having a plan and list of corrective actions to be done by such a date is proof that you are working towards solutions.
4. Develop a plan- 6months out where do you want to be, 1 year 3 year.


Get management support. Make sure MD endorses what you do.If not supported , give it up. Get a small committee even with 12-15 in office a safety committee of 2 or 3 would be good.

Ask yourself - why where you appointed, was there a HSA visit?, Is it linked to insurance premiums.

If funds allow, have a professional attend and give advice. Make sure they are Chartered ( CMIOSH)- at least they will have broad experience, a lot of Construction safety officers out there with less than enough office based experience.

cheers
 
General information on health and safety including legislation and providers of courses in Health & Safety is provided on the HSA website. As health & Safety Officer you are the designated person responsible for safety in the workplace. You seem to have already identified a number of hazards in the workplace. You would be best advised to become fully familiar with the responsibilities of a HSA officer – and what your legal responsibilities are and the responsibilities of the employer. As another poster has said, hazards in the workplace are determined through risk assessment. Risk assessments are a comprehensive assessment of all environments and aspects of employment including the work area and station, toilets, kitchens, fire safety and if travel is involved as part of any persons job, that to. The best advice that I would give you is that there a people specifically trained through firms and consultancies who can conduct a comprehensive assessment that will identify all risks in the place of employment – obviously that comes at a cost for your employer. They will assess the place of employment, including all policies, systems and procedures, and also fire safety. They will identify all hazards – recommend what actions need to be taken to redress and/or minimize any identified hazard. Other companies also provide one day training covering manual handling and fire safety which is a requirement for all – and you will have to keep a list of all persons who attended, and training also needs to be updated. On first aid, best practice is to appoint at least two persons who are willing to carry out first aid if the need arises, and the numbers of persons appointed should ensure cover for the working day. These people will need to undergo a recognised training programme. The names of the first aiders are generally documented within the health and safety policy document as the persons appointed to be a first aider. The companies who will undertake training in first aid will also provide a list of what you will require in a basic first aid box – its advisable that this list is kept in an accessible and visible location listing its general contents (maybe on the door of your kitchen press where the first aid box is kept) – and that track is also kept of the contents as they are used and replaced. Generally, one person can have responsibility for re-stocking and ensuring its contents are within the expiry dates. Again the consultancy should be able to direct you in relation to this.
 
To respectfully disagree on a few points:

annet said:
General information on health and safety including legislation and providers of courses in Health & Safety is provided on the HSA website. As health & Safety Officer you are the designated person responsible for safety in the workplace.
Click to expand...


OP, the Safety Officer is not responsible, this is a duty of the employer. In this context and especially in this environment and due to the low risk, it is more of a co-ordination role. There is nothing within the legislation to apply responsibility to roles such as safety officer beyond an advisory and co-ordination capacity. However, if your current role also includes managerial duties, then you would have some responsibility, though separate from your safety officer role.



I would say the exact opposite. The best advice (and the preference of the HSA) is that you manage this internally. For your small office and low risk environment, it’s a pretty straight forward process and you’ve nothing to gain by contracting it out. The employer will still have to comply with its duties and you would still be the safety officer.
Get yourself on a short training course. The initial work can seem like a huge burden, but its pretty straight forward and there’s plenty of guidance available. In this context, by bringing in a consultant you’ll be paying them to borrow your watch to tell you the time.

annet said:
On first aid, best practice is to appoint at least two persons who are willing to carry out first aid if the need arises, and the numbers of persons appointed should ensure cover for the working day.
Click to expand...


Sorry, but it isn’t best practice at all. It may be what training companies recommend, but is excessive in this case. For such a small number of employees and in such an environment 1 trained first aider is enough. Yes you do need to consider times they may not be available, such as holidays etc, but this doesn’t mean everyone else is trained as a stand-by. It is adequate to have a nominated person who knows what to do in an emergency, if the first aider is unavailable. It doesn’t refer to the person administering first aid, just that they know the procedure for calling emergency services etc, something that could be covered in a policy statement.

If you’re a member of ISME, SFA, IBEC, etc, they’re good places to get some info on where to start. They usually have good guidance and documentation too and some provide training.

My only advice is to not jump into employing a consultant on this, it may prove more costly and it’s not like you’re operating a nuclear power station. It’s a simple, small office.


 
Taking on the role of Safety Officer particurlarly in the absence of any training is a difficult one but can be advantageous..
I would advise you to check out the N.I.S.O. Website.
This may also be a great opportunity for you to get some extra qualifications at your Employers expense. There are several courses in Health, Safety and Wefare at Work which will give you a good general knowledge of the roles, responsibilities of employers and employees. While one could go as far as doing a Diploma over 2 years in a Third Level College there are a number of less formal courses available.
Under the legislation the Employer is obliged to provide training, time off for attending training etc. Most employers are agreeable on this issue as they are obliged by their Insurance Company to have Safety Systems in place. Get the details from N.I.S.O. Check out the Health,Safety and Welfare at Work Act.

Factories, mines etc are obliged to have qualified First Aiders on duty at all operating times. The number of First Aiders is specified in relation to the number of employees. A lot of nurses have taken up this type of work.
A general administration office is not obliged to have a First Aider but it is always advisable. The First Aider must have completed a formal course. I completed one arranged by the Order of Malta.
Health and Safety Courses, First Aid Courses can prove useful as well for inclusion of the C.V. and may be the difference in being chose for redundancy or not !!!!
 
 
annet said:
To offer clarification on a few points:
Click to expand...

While correct, there is a difference again between a safety representative and the safety office. The OP asked about a safety officer, the representative is a completely different role.


You are correct in saying that the Authority recommends that the risk assessment should be carried out within the organisation but this is only if that in-house experience actually exists and where that experience does not exist the HSA clearly recommends that the employer should employ the services of an external competent person to help. Under Section (2) (a) Act, a person is deemed to be a competent where, having regard to the task he or she is required to perform and taking account of the size or hazards (or both of them) of the undertaking or establishment in which he or she undertakes work, the person possesses “sufficient training, experience and knowledge appropriate to the nature of the work to be undertaken”.

I never said that risk assessments were optional and am aware that the 2005 Act asks them to be completed. However, there is no reference to the “competent person” in either completing risk assessments or developing a safety statement. While these are often delegated to such a role within organisations, the Act does not state that they can only be completed by a competent person.

The competent person, or safety officer is primarily an advisory, co-ordination and monitoring role, in a similar capacity to a HR officer. While “competency” is defined, in a small office with a handful of employees, the level of training and experience required to act as the safety officer is minimal.

Why spend up to a few grand on a consultant when the whole thing can be done using internal resources for the sake of a few hundred spent on a training course?


It is not the case that employers have a minimum of two first aiders. It cannot be more clear than this. Unless they’re juggling with nitro-glycerine or experimenting with live electrics, one trained First Aider is more than adequate.


As I stated earlier: the employer is obliged to have access competent advice and the employer is obliged to have a safety statement. However, the 2005 Act does not make specific reference to employing a competent person to draw up the statement and complete the risk assessments.

Those in consultancy may wish it did, or even say to their clients it does, but there just isn’t that reference. Small employers like the OP are allowed to look after their own safety with their own resources without being scared into taking on a consultant.
 
LaTrade, your eloquent use of legal references and quoting the Act is enough in its self to scare the OP in to seeking outside help. (don’t forget the 2007 GA Regs as well)

With close on 18 years experience as both a " safety officer” and a consultant, my view is that the SHE, EHS, H&S industry does its self no favors by using the Act to either minimize or justify its actions. Workers want a safe work place, employers don’t want to be in court , and in house or external resources can use many sources to achieve this. But plain language, simple procedures, planning, co-operation is important.

The HSA took 34 prosecutions and approx 15,000 visits in 2006, the majority against construction companies, they predict making 17,500 visits in 2009, and with the down turn in construction , more factories and offices, shops and small enterprises will be visited. The vast majority of visits will result in an advisory report, a significant number will result in an Improvement notice and a small number in a Prohibition notice.

Original OP, make sure your Safety Statement is up to date, relevant and been implemented. ( And despite what Latrade may say, a novice writing a Safety Statement is similar to having a car mechanic work on a computer, will give it a go but its not his field. You use an accountant to do your figures and sign off, why is H&S suddenly some thing” anyone” can do- ) make sure your colleagues have seen and have access to the safety statement.

The start of the safety statement process is a hazard identification in your work place, and despite “ only been an office” this should identify anything from 10 -100 or more items- again experience is needed to spot them all and even then using a different set of eyes is always helpful. Then a risk assessment of the hazards to assist in deciding which ones need urgent control measures. ( again experience/training is needed to make these decisions) finally apply control measures ( again what ones are appropriate, relevant, cost effective, current , training/experience is needed).

Document and record all this, draw up procedures, audit regularly and amend, correct as you find conditions changing- Now you have a safety management system(SMS), a safe work place, happy employer, even happier insurance company.
( hmm I suppose you should do your normal job in there somewhere as well).

Finally it’s the Health Safety and Welfare Act- don’t forget canteen, rest rooms, water, air, heat, psychosocial issues.
 

Kerak, I never quoted any legislation, that was another poster.

I have stated all along that anyone acting as a safety officer should receive appropriate training before proceeding with that role. At that point an individual is better qualified to evaluate the nature and extent of the role and where external assistance may be necessary.

The general implication I was responding to call in the "experts" when there is no statutaory provision to call for this and when the enforcing authority promotes internal control and resources over external.

With my squandry 13 years in OHS and despite being part of the drafting to the 2005 Act and all subsequent legislation my views may be overriden by your additional 5 years experience. However, health and safety is something anyone can do with appropriate education and with sufficient resources.

A safety statement is not just about listing legislative requirement it is a programme for managing work safely. As a result a significant part of what is reasonably practicable relates to business operations and knowldge of the business, something that comes into the "knowledge and experience" side of competency (it doesn't just mean safety knowledge and experience). This is something only internal resources and internal management structure would have practicable knowledge of, not an external consultant.

You can learn the health and safety aspects, you can't learn the individual business resources, capabilities, context, communication, management, operations, finances, etc, etc, by 1 day on site @ €800 per day and 1 day report writing.
 
The only point we differ on is whether to use an external resource or not, I had indicated that if funds allow bring it an outsider to see how good or bad things are and to give advice. If things are bad ( hardly in an office) then waiting for the OP to become trained would not be an option. I have turned down consultancy work where the hazards are minimal, the risk low and the skills all ready present to deal with them. Then as the firm grew and expanded, I was recalled to assist and have a much better relationship with the client than, a smash and grab once off effort. I also have had to clean up the mess left behind by poor advice and implementation from colleagues in the OHS/SHE/EHS/H&S fraternity.
Cheers.
 
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