Health & Safety
Always try and anticipate the worst before it happens
ACCIDENTS and illness happen regularly while employees are at work. First aid can save lives and prevent minor injuries becoming major ones. Employers are responsible for ensuring immediate medical attention if employees are taken ill or injured at work.
Employers must make appropriate fi rst aid arrangements for the workplace. The circumstances of the workplace, workforce and specifi c health and safety risks should determine what arrangements are needed.
If a workplace has signifi cant health and safety risks, such as the use of machinery or hazardous materials, then a trained fi rst-aider is likely to be needed.
In order to make a decision on what fi rst aid is required, an assessment of the circumstances of the organisation is required. This assessment should include:
- The workplace, including its location and proximity to emergency services
- The workforce, including the size, shift patterns and any specifi c needs
- The hazards and risks present
The fi rst aid arrangements will depend on the outcome of the assessments, and the particular circumstances in the workplace at any given time. The fi ndings of the fi rst aid assessment should indicate the level of emergency care equipment, facilities and personnel required.
As a very minimum, each employer should provide:
- A suitably stocked fi rst aid kit
- An appointed person to take charge of fi rst aid arrangements
- Information for all employees giving details of first aid arrangements
Where fi rst-aid is involved, workplace issues and health and safety risks need assessment. It is likely a suffi cient number
of appropriately trained fi rst aiders are needed, as well as additional equipment and facilities.
Appointed Persons First Aiders and
A fi rst-aider is someone who has been trained by a competent emergency care training provider in fi rst aid at work, or some other appropriate level of training as identifi ed by the needs assessment.
If a first aid assessment identifies a first- aider is not required, then a person to take charge of the first aid arrangements should be appointed – this would include looking after the equipment/ facilities, and call for emergency services when required.
Additionally, an appointed person is not required to have any formal training.
It is important to ensure someone is always available to take charge of the fi rst aid arrangements, whenever people are at work.
The First Aid Kit
The minimum level of fi rst aid equipment needed is a suitably stocked emergency care box (fi rst aid kit). At least one fi rst aid kit for each workplace should be provided, although more than one might be required for larger workplaces.
Each kit should be stocked with a suffi cient quantity of fi rst aid materials suitable for the workplace. First aid kits should be readily accessible, and the contents should be checked frequently and restocked after use.
The fi rst aid assessment may identify the needs for additional materials and equipment, including foil blankets, additional eye wash solution, or cleansing wipes.
First Aid Facilities
A suitable fi rst aid room may be required in larger premises with hazardous materials. This room should be readily accessible, and a designated person
COMPASS’s Deborah Williams
should be responsible for supervising it. Wherever possible, a fi rst aid room should be used exclusively for the purposes of fi rst aid. The room should:
- Be large enough to hold an examination/medical couch
- Have washable surfaces and adequate heating, ventilation and lighting
- Be kept clean, tidy, accessible and available for use at all times, when employees are at work
- Ideally have a sink with hot and cold running water
- Be positioned as near as possible to a point of access for transport to hospital
Under health and safety law, the employer must report and keep a record of certain injuries, incidents and cases of work- related disease.
For more information on completing a fi rst aid needs assessment, or to book accredited fi rst aid training – please contact Deborah Williams:
dwilliams@compass-ms.co.uk Deborah Williams CMIOSH RMaPS is Principal Safety Consultant at Compass Ltd.
Deborah specialises in assisting private sector organisations within the construction, waste management and extractive industries.
You can contact her on - 01257 482256 or via email:
dwilliams@compass-ms.co.uk 26 SHM March, 2018
www.skiphiremagazine.co.uk
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