Practical Health and Safety Management for Small Businesses

Jacqueline Jeynes

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2000
• Print ISBN:
  9780750646802
• eBook ISBN:
  9781136372520
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Small Business
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Looking at the needs of small businesses, this book takes you through all the aspects of Health and Safety management in a small business step-by-step. It takes a straightforward, practical approach to identifying, organising and managing Health, Safety and Fire risks in your business. Whatever your motivation for choosing this guide, it will provide a sound basis for establishing a system or approach that is relevant to the individual business concerned. Practical Health and Safety Management for Small Businesses will help you to identify all the potential hazards, offering advice on how best to look after your employees and how to manage Health and Safety in your business. It has been produced as a direct result of recent research, based on discussions with Health and Safety Inspectors, the Fire Authorities, Insurance representatives, Health and Safety professionals, and of course, Small Businesses themselves. Taking into account the practical issues faced in small business units, this guide takes you through all the main aspects of managing fire, health and safety step-by-step. Practical Health and Safety Management for Small Businesses will help you establish a system that you can maintain, add-to and keep up-to-date as official regulations and your needs change. It is NOT a legal textbook, but IS a practical guide on how to establish an approach to organising and managing these issues. While following this guide cannot guarantee that your business now fully complies with all the relevant legislation that applies to it, it does enable you to demonstrate to others that you have made a reasonable attempt at bringing all these different elements together in a structured, holistic way. Full of practical advice sample Site Plans and Checklists, photographs and industry-specific sections, Practical Health and Safety Management for Small Businesses will prove an invaluable guide for all those involved in running smaller business units, as well as those offering support, advice or guidance to SMEs. The author, Jacqueline Jeynes, has run her own small business for 13 years and has represented the concerns of UK small firms internationally for seven years, through the Federation of Small Businesses' Policy unit. She has appeared in 10 BBC TV programmes on health and safety in small firms and is currently a UK member of the Advisory Committee to the European Commission on Safety, Health and Hygiene.

Part F

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Industry-specific Hazards and Risks

Chapter 16

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Case study examples

This chapter is broken down into individual case study examples that highlight some of the specific hazards and risks you should look out for. Many of these are common to several industries, but are still worth noting separately. It is not an exhaustive list, of course, and you should seek further guidance if there are specific things you are worried about in your own company.

16.1 Office based businesses

Includes solicitors and accountants, or administration centres of other businesses. Generally considered to be ‘low risk’ environments.

Safety

Storage facilities for files, stationery or other materials – overcrowding; inadequate for weight supported; inaccessible corners, cupboards; piled too high so danger of items falling; too high up, especially for heavy boxes or files, so people tempted to stand on chairs etc. to reach.

Minor cuts from paper edges, use of scissors, using wrong tools to open boxes or parcels; injury from use of guillotines, shredders.

Slips and trips – trailing cables and leads; drawers left open in desks and cabinets; boxes stored under and around desks; poor floor surfaces, worn carpet especially at edges; stairs obstructed or poorly lit; wet floors in lobby areas, kitchens.

Electric shock or burns – overloaded sockets; incorrect fuses; damaged or worn cables; electrical equipment not maintained or serviced adequately; kettles on sink draining boards!

Burns from equipment, such as photocopier when open.

Manual handling injuries, from lifting/pulling/pushing heavy or awkwardly shaped items

Violence to staff in firms dealing with sensitive or confidential information.

Figure 16.1 Electrical safety is often overlooked, especially in office environments where this tangled mass of leads, plugs and sockets is not uncommon. Although it is hidden behind a desk so may not cause someone to trip, overloaded sockets and the potential for an electrical fire to start is likely then to be forgotten.

Health

Damage from smoking – d...

Table of contents

• Front cover
• Front Title
• Dedicated
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Glossary
• Part A Context
• Part B Controlling Safety Risks
• Part C Controlling Health Risks
• Part D Controlling Fire Risks
• Part E Effective Management of Fire, Health and Safety Risks in the Business
• Part F Industry-specific Hazards and Risks
• Index