RISK REDUCTION IS EVERYONE’S BUSINESS
Paul Thrupp asks why it takes a horror fall, or an operative winning compensation, to get the issue of safety within cleaning on the mainstream agenda?
Last month in this column I highlighted the central role health and safety is set to play in this April’s Cleaning Show conference programme in Manchester, and referenced two high profile incidents where cleaning accidents at work had hit the national headlines.
This issue, especially with regards to working at height, is especially close to my heart as a proud representative of the Federation of Window Cleaners, which this year is celebrating its 70th anniversary.
Clearly there have been massive improvements in safety kit and procedures since the late 1940s across all cleaning sectors. But despite this, a lot of people still consider our industry, and in particular the work at height element, high-risk.
Indeed, when first undertaking risk assessments and considering safe systems of work for the task in hand, there are many differing environments and conditions that can throw up a whole catalogue of complex health and safety issues and challenges.
However, when carried out by highly skilled assessors and well trained, experienced cleaning technicians, the high-risk elements of these jobs can be mitigated against – ensuring the safety of not just the operatives undertaking the work, but other cleaning staff, the client and their personnel, and the general public.
In fact, our industry has some of the most highly qualified staff in any sector when it comes to work at height and other challenging maintenance tasks, and we have a rigorous qualifications and standards framework delivered through the IPAF, IRATA and other health and safety platforms.
Many of our management and supervisory staff are also well qualified and recognised by the highest certification models such as
28 | FEATURE
IOSH and NEBOSH, and are experts at planning and organising work at height. The latest British Cleaning Council research into health and safety in cleaning also reveals that we as a sector have a very low level of accidents at work when compared to other, similar maintenance industries.
For this reason, myself and my BCC colleagues were disappointed in
“There is still a lot of work to do to
promote the industry as a professional career which offers
plenty of employment pathways.”
how the mainstream media chose to report on the two aforementioned accidents. Much of the coverage focussed on the shocking and ‘scandalous’ detail and giving no wider context about the cleaning sector being a highly responsible and safety-conscious industry.
Regardless, for us in the cleaning sector health and safety remains a key priority, and we continue to work with many organisations – both public and private – to constantly improve our risk profile at every possible level, and this in turn can hopefully help us to further improve the image of the profession.
I say that because there is still a lot of work to do to promote the industry as a professional career which offers plenty of employment pathways. Whilst we are working tirelessly as an industry to enhance the image and perception of others, we need the support of our clients, influencers, other industries and of course the media to support us.
They need to understand how we are a leading national sector with regards to health and safety standards, and that we work closely with the HSE on the Cleaning Industry Liaison Forum (CILF) where we have established a section just for the cleaning industry which includes a specific focus on work at height.
We have also worked with HSE to improve the amount of information available to people both within and outside the industry, with advice and examples of assessments for all types of risk, PPE, access, chemicals and equipment.
If you’re interested in finding out more and can’t join us at The Cleaning Show in Manchester to join in with our special Health & Safety seminar programme on 12 April 2018, you can visit this website for details of the work being done in this area.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/cleaning/index.htm www.britishcleaningcouncil.org twitter.com/TomoCleaning
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70
