Phoenix Blog

Imagine you’re an alien, new to Planet Earth and visiting a construction site for the first time. One of the first things you’ll notice is the overwhelming emphasis on health and safety. Signs and notices on the subject come at you from all angles. Hi-vis clothing and hard hats are everywhere. But who’s in charge of all this health and safety activity? And how do courses and qualifications such as SSSTS (the Site Supervisors Safety Training Scheme) and SMSTS (the Site Management Safety Training Scheme) fit into the big picture?

As every business owner or manager knows, being an employer brings a lot of responsibilities. One of the biggest is the legal obligation to manage health and safety in the workplace. This involves controlling risks, but before risks can be controlled they have to be identified.

The catering industry is one of the most fast-paced working environments, and with that, comes a number of health and safety dangers. These include, slips and trips, working with knives, potential musculoskeletal disorders and dermatitis.

Using any type of industrial saw can pose many health and safety risks, and the woodworking industry has one of the highest accident rates. This kind of machinery should always be well maintained and have the correct safeguards.

Undertaking a risk assessment correctly before working from a height is imperative to ensure employees are not in any danger.

Many hazards are apparent when working in a warehouse, so it’s no wonder companies are handed a hefty fine when health and safety codes are ignored.

Health and safety practitioners, also known as health and safety officers, managers, advisers or consultants, seek to minimise the risk of injury and ill health at work. The role of a health and safety practitioner is to provide advice on planning, implementing, monitoring and reviewing protective and preventative health, safety and welfare measures.

If you are seeking to contract with an external consultancy or employ an internal advisor, how do you know what role and function the competent person should take and what capabilities, knowledge and skills they would require to be effective.

Organisations have a legal duty to ensure arrangements for a competent person are in place, that the competent person is able to conduct their duties and has sufficient training and experience to perform their role.