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Health and Safety Breaches Resulted in the Death of a Girl in West London, UK

An article published on 23rd November 2013 on 3News – A girl at a water park in the west part of London during 2010 was fatally struck by a Kiwi driver of a ski boat.

A catalogue of health and safety breaches resulted in the death of a girl – of which one of these breaches was an unqualified boat driver.

Princes Sporting Club pleaded guilty to manslaughter at Southern Crown Court and the company was fined 135,000GBP by Judge Alistair McCreath, saying that he was unable to impose a fine greater than the assets of the company. The company is no longer in operation.

 

Comparing IOSH Safety for Senior Executives & CITB Directors Role for Health & Safety Courses

If you are pursuing a career in the health and safety industry or you would like to know how become a health and safety officer, these two courses would both be very advantageous for you. They offer important health and safety instruction which can help to improve your skills and gain you the employment you seek. However, although these courses are somewhat similar they are also slightly different in their content. Let’s examine these courses a little more closely so that we can highlight the differences and similarities between them.

Who Are the Courses Designed For?

These two courses are both higher level health and safety courses designed for those who operate at a certain level within the industry. The IOSH Safety for Senior Executives and Directors course is designed for anyone who is in a senior management position or similar and no previous qualifications are required for the course. The CITB Directors Role for Health and Safety course (as the name implies) has been designed for anyone who is employed as a director. Also, the course is relevant to senior managers and business owners. This course focuses on the importance of health and safety at the highest levels of the organisation.

One difference is that the IOSH Safety for Senior Executives and Directors course is designed for businesses that employ more than 250 employees. The material within this course is designed to give managers and senior executives the skills that they need to manage a workplace of this scale and enforce health and safety rules within the working environment. The Directors Role for Health and Safety course does not specify the number of employees recommended for taking the course.

What do the Training Courses Cover?

These two training courses cover similar material, with a slight variation. The IOSH course focuses on the current legislation around health and safety at work and the penalties involved for violating these. Also, it teaches delegates to know the documents and procedures required and how to instil health and safety practices from the top-down.

The CITB course will focus more on the principles of risk assessment and how unsafe working environments will affect the organisation. Both courses will instruct delegates on how to create a health and safety culture within the workplace.

Similarities in the Courses

When we look at the similarities between these two courses, we can see that they can both be completed within one day of training. This can be done at one of the many different locations where the course is provided throughout the country. Also, your company can choose to receive in-house training for the IOSH Safety for Senior Executives and Directors course if this is more convenient.

The reason why these courses are so short in duration is because many senior personnel and directors have very little time to dedicate to their training. A short one day course will allow them to complete their required training and still be able to get back to work as quickly as possible.

How the Courses are Assessed

When completing the IOSH course, you will need to show that you have understood the elements taught within the course materials by sitting a short assessment. If you are successful in passing this, you will be awarded with the IOSH Safety for Senior Executives and Directors certificate.

When taking the CITB Directors Role for Health and Safety course assessment will be by an exam paper and a trainer review. The examination demonstrates to external bodies that the certificate is only awarded to successful delegates following both an assessment and examination.

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Comparing the SSSTS & CCNSG Safety Passport

The CITB Site Supervisor Safety Training Scheme (SSSTS) and the ECITB CCNSG Safety Passport are both high quality health and safety training courses. There are quite a few similarities in these courses, but there are a lot of differences as well. What are the differences between these two courses? Let’s take a closer look at the details of these health and safety courses and examine their differences and similarities.

The CCNSG Safety Passport

The CCNSG Safety Passport is designed for anyone who is entering the engineering or construction industry, or anyone who is a sub-contractor. This qualification is also ideal for anyone who works within the maintenance and installation sectors. In fact, many firms will not employ any contractors unless they hold this safety passport – so it is ideal if you are looking to gain employment in the industry.

The CITB Site Supervisor Safety Training Scheme (SSSTS)

In comparison, the SSSTS is designed for anyone who works in a supervisory role – so it is suitable if you are considering looking for work as a supervisor in the future.

Similarities in Duration and Course Assessment

One of the similarities of the CCNSG Safety Passport and the SSSTS is that they are both two days long. Both of these courses can be taken at a training centre near you. The courses are offered at multiple locations all across the country. They are offered frequently throughout the year.

These two courses are also similar in their mode of assessment. They are both assessed on a multiple choice exam which is completed at the end of the course. The supervisor course will be graded on a multiple choice exam of 30 questions and the CCNSG course has a multiple choice exam at the end of each of the modules. Delegates taking the course must pass each of the exams with a minimum mark of 80% for each individual paper.

Another similarity is that for both courses, all course materials and work books are provided for the duration of the training. This makes the course price very economical and simplifies the process for the candidates.

What the Courses Cover

These two courses are similar in what they cover, but they also have a few differences. The CCNSG course will cover the outlining of safe working practices for access, exits and scaffolding, as well as describing the procedure for first aid and accidents. It also covers how to define practices and procedures when working with excavations and noise as well as understanding and defining regulations when working with heavy equipment and cranes.

When it comes to the supervisor course, the main element of this course if the importance of risk assessments. When you attend this training, you will learn how to put control measures into place so that you can communicate with the entire workforce in an effective way and ensure that the site remains a safe environment to work within. This course also includes information about what causes accidents, how to conduct risk assessments for the construction industry and the details of the legal system regarding health and safety.

These are just a few of the differences and similarities. If you are looking for a health and safety qualification, it is important to understand the details and requirements of each option, so that you can choose one that suits your needs the best.

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Construction Site Safety First

For anybody taking on a supervisory role in the construction industry safety issues loom large – or at least they should. The latest figures for construction industry deaths (provisional figures for 2012-13) show that 39 workers lost their lives in the industry keeping it top of the table of riskiest industries in which to work. Although this figure is relatively low and represents a downward trend that has been established for over twenty years, it masks the fact that work related injuries in the industry remain high with these figures being in the tens of thousands. Ensuring that you have adequate training to competently perform supervisory tasks is a crucial factor to consider before taking on, or looking for supervisory roles.

Supervising Safely

The Site Supervisor Safety Training Scheme (SSSTS) can offer the necessary training and qualifications for the role. In addition to providing essential Health and Safety grounding for managers and supervisors it can be a useful qualification for those looking for promotion within the industry. Although all employees have a general duty of care to work safely and ensure the safety of others (colleagues and site visitors) the main responsibilities for site safety lie with supervisors and managers. Supervisors, in particular, are responsible for risk assessment, management and limitation.

What Does the Course Involve?

The Site Supervisor Safety Training Scheme is normally presented as a two day course – fees vary and providers can be found across the country. There are two key areas of focus for the supervisory level course; the legal framework of Health and Safety as it applies to the construction industry and training in the preparation of risk assessments. Both of these areas are crucial in understanding the roles of supervisors and in performing necessary safety checks and minimising risks. The course also aims to foster a positive and proactive approach to safety on construction sites and the background and understanding it provides help to develop and enhance safe working practices and attitudes.

Risky Management or Risk Management

One of the key features and benefits of the SSSTS course is that it helps to debunk the myth that Health and Safety is largely red tape, complex and time consuming. Good practice in Health and Safety (in any industry, including construction) is often down to simple, common sense practices. Apart from assessing risks on site, simply ensuring that sites are ordered and well maintained helps to reduce the risks of serious injuries or worse. For first time managers and supervisors the SSSTS course or SMSTS courses are a straightforward, low cost investment, which can help to eliminate avoidable accidents that are often the cause of both accidents in the workplace.

Employer Benefits

For employers the legal responsibilities in relation to the safety of their employees should not be overlooked. Apart from the devastating impact that a fatality can have for employers, colleagues and families of the worker there are potentially huge costs involved if safety has not been as good as it could be. In addition the HSE often conducts spot checks on building sites (which tend to be easy to identify) and where breaches are found they will impose hefty fines. Whatever size of company you run ensuring that supervisors and managers have adequate training is a small investment by comparison.

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‘Completely Avoidable’ and Other Construction Terms

A quick browse of the (numerous) reports of deaths in the construction industry will nearly always contain that common phrase ‘completely avoidable’. According to one HSE Inspector, Graham Tompkins, this was the case in the death of fifty seven year old Nigel Sewell at a building site in Kneesworth in September 2011. The HSE spokesman attributed the accident to the inability to “plan the work properly, to provide appropriate instruction and to ensure there was competent supervision of the operation”. The accident occurred when a tele-handler was asked to ‘push’ a section of a mast under construction in an attempt to get it to fit where it was supposed to. The subsequent accident hardly needed a great deal of ‘competent supervision’ to predict; a one tonne section of mast is never a healthy thing to have land on you. The company, stinting on unpleasant training costs found that the subsequent £125, 000 fine and £40,000 court costs were equally unpleasant.

Unqualified and Unwilling?

One incident in Glasgow involved a single bracket that hadn’t been tightened on scaffolding; this gave way when fifty three year old Kenneth McLean inadvertently leant on it; at Glasgow Sheriff Court the investigation found the accident to be entirely avoidable and that the construction firm had ignored basic health and safety procedures being “unqualified or unwilling to take the necessary action so as to protect employees and other workers on site from accidents that were entirely preventable”. ‘Entirely preventable’, ‘completely avoidable’ and ‘unqualified or unwilling’ are all phrases that pop up in this type of inquest and investigation. So what’s the problem?

Perception and Reality

Perhaps it’s partly the tendency of some firms to view health and safety as politically correct, red-tape filled hoops which they are expected to jump through. Perhaps its unwillingness to invest in the cost of training which are, by some at least, considered ‘optional’. However, fines (which can be imposed by the HSE for poor practice even if no accident occurs) the cost of SSSTS course (for site supervisors) is a very small investment. Financial pressures are almost certainly a key factor, however. Firms and individual workers have come under increasing pressure in recent years to finish projects quickly and at distinctly low cost. The recession has seen many construction workers relying more than ever on short term contracts. The effect is that teams of workers and supervisors have differing levels of expertise and experience. Safety management or supervision can be left in the hands of the less-than-qualified and firms are reluctant to train individuals to supervise for short periods. Of course, that’s a false economy faced with huge legal bills but the “chance it” approach still seems common.

The Obvious Solutions

So what is the solution? Apart from ensuring that adequate training at all levels is provided (the really obvious solution) it’s hard to say. The “chance it” approach needs to be challenged by not only the HSE but also by individual workers and managers. All workers have an element of responsibility for their safety on site (and that of others) but supervisory roles come with an alarming set of responsibilities (alarming to the untrained) which include legal responsibility for safety. SSSTS courses can provide basic good practice grounding and should be a priority for all business owners and individual workers.

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The Supervisors Certificate for Construction Workers

With a range of major new infrastructure projects in the pipeline in the UK, having suitable construction qualifications is essential. For site supervisors the most suitable qualification is the SSSTS course, or the management equivalent. Those who have passed the training successfully will be issued with a certificate to prove it. The CITB certificate demonstrates to employers – or potential employers – that you have the necessary skills to oversee day to day safety and supervision and also conduct inductions and risk assessments. With safety on construction sites frequently in the headlines – and not always in a good way – this qualification is eagerly sought by employers.

What is SSSTS?

SSSTS courses are basically Health and Safety courses for supervisors. They are considered suitable for managers, and most construction managers will take the course before progressing to the higher level management course. Health and Safety on construction sites has long been in the spotlight and partly as a result fatalities have fallen significantly over the last thirty years; however, they remain higher than in most industries and injury levels are equally high. The course focusses on two main areas of Health and Safety; the law and risk assessment. While the legal aspects of site safety may seem daunting, the course is designed to explain clearly the legal framework in which supervisors have to operate, their duties and responsibilities within that framework and how it relates to practical everyday situations. The management level course examines this aspect in more detail, reflecting the greater role managers play in legal compliance.

The Risk Factor

Focussing next on the creation and implementation of risk assessments for construction sites is the more practical element of the course. In nearly every investigation into deaths on construction sites the main contributing factors have been shown to be poor working practices and most accidents are attributed to avoidable causes. Comprehensive risk assessments help to reduce – hopefully eliminate – these issues and can have a significant impact on the welfare and safety of workers, visitors to the site, and members of the public. There are some inherent risks in the industry – working at heights, working with heavy machinery and hazardous substances – but assessed and managed properly these risks can be all but eliminated. In addition, the training qualifies supervisors to conduct inductions for new staff and to ensure that access to safety equipment and information is easily available.

Employability and Safety Combined

The certificate quickly demonstrates to employers that an individual holds the necessary experience and qualifications to safely manage a site and other workers. The CITB (who are the accreditation body for SSSTS courses) have a simple process to allow employers to check the details and ensure that the qualifications are genuine and valid.

Achieving these qualifications can be a significant step to gaining long term employment with construction firms of any size and, just as importantly, can contribute to the gradually improving statistics for death or injury within the construction trade.

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What to Do After Your CITB SMSTS Course

If you have successfully completed the SMSTS course, what should you do afterward? Here are a few steps you can take once you have successfully achieved this qualification:

Talk About What You Have Learned

If there were other managers from your facility who took the SMSTS course with you, you can talk to them about the information that you have just learned. Often when we are learning new things, talking about them out loud with others will really help us to remember them and understand them better. Also, your co-workers might have gleaned insights from the training that you could have missed, so your understanding will be deeper and more complete when you share these insights with each other.

Read Over Your Notes One More Time

Hopefully you will have been taking notes over the duration of the SMSTS course. Afterward, don’t get rid of these notes or stuff them into a drawer and forget about them. Read them over again so that the very important information you have learned will stick in your mind. You might even also want to highlight the most important parts of your notes, or even photocopy them and place them in a prominent area of your office so that you can read them easily.

Think About How You Can Apply the Knowledge to Your Workplace

Now that you have just acquired a vast amount of knowledge about health and safety i.e. – best practices and techniques for reducing the risk of injury or illness in the workplace, it is time to think about how this information applies to your specific work site. It is one thing to understand a theory and another thing to apply it in a practical way so that it actually keeps your workers safe.

The first step to this is to conduct a risk assessment. This means giving your workplace a thorough examination to check for possible hazards of any kind, whether this is a faulty piece of equipment, a leaky storage barrel, an overstocked shelf or a dangerous working procedure. Once you have spotted these hazards, you can find ways to fix the problem or change the process so that the risk is reduced.

These are just a few important steps that you can take after you finish your SMSTS course.

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Study Tips for the Site Management Safety Training Scheme

The Site Management Safety Training Scheme is an ideal foundation for obtaining a basic understanding of health and safety duties and responsibilities for a management position. However, if you haven’t studied or taken a course since you were at school it can be slightly intimidating. Perhaps studying feels strange to you now, or you have forgotten the study techniques that you used to know.

Don’t worry too much about how you will perform in the SMSTS… the course is suitable for people of all types of backgrounds and studying abilities.

Study Tips for Taking the Site Management Safety Training Scheme

  • If you receive coursework to do outside of class, don’t wait until the last minute to do it. The stress is not worth it and you won’t do as good of a job. Instead, try to do it right after class or decide a regular time which you will dedicate to completing assignments.
  • Your brain can get tired when you are concentrating for too long. When you are studying, take regular breaks every 30 minutes to walk around, stretch, get some fresh air or get a drink of water. This will help to keep your mind alert and improve your concentration.
  • Staying hydrated is very important when studying; it helps to keep you alert and also alleviates stress and anxiety.
  • Keep yourself well rested while doing the Site Management Safety Training Scheme course. If you are sleep deprived in class or while studying, you will find it difficult to concentrate and to remember the information you are learning. Go to bed early during the week while you are taking the course and especially the night before the exam.
  • Rewrite important points in your own words. This will help you to understand them a lot, because your brain will be able to remember them better.
  • Everyone has a different learning style. Some people focus better when they are studying on their own and others remember things better when they talk them over with a partner. Figure out your study style so that you can tailor studying toward it.
  • Don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you don’t understand something, ask for clarification from your course instructor until it makes sense.
  • During the exam, stay calm, take deep breaths and don’t panic. When you are in a relaxed and calm state of mind you will be able to perform much better and will have improved memory and concentration.

With these study tips for the Site Management Safety Training Scheme, you should be able to complete your course with an excellent score and receive the qualification you need to further your career.

Re-qualify with SMSTS Refresher

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How to Deal with & Prepare for Emergency Situations in the Workplace

How to Plan for Workplace Emergencies and Evacuation

If you are a business owner or a manager, it is your responsibility to ensure that your employees are safe at work. Do you know how you would deal with emergency situations in the workplace? if you your answer is ‘no’ then you need to know how you would deal with it before it happens.

First Aid Training & Certification

One of the most important things that you can do in preparation for an emergency situation in the workplace is to ensure that all of your staff members have their current First Aid at Work (FAW) certificate. First aid training is very important and if your staff members have expired qualifications, they will not be able to respond with the most effective first aid procedures.

If it has been three years since they have taken their courses, it is time for a First Aid at Work Refresher (FAWR). This is usually a two day course that can be taken at a number of different training centres throughout the country. With this training, your appointed staff will know exactly how to respond in an emergency situation.

Tips for Handling an Emergency Situation in the Workplace

Along with ensuring that your staff members have their up to date first aid certificate, here are some more tips to keep in mind:

  1. Educate your employees on the fire escape route and show them the best possible way to exit the building in the event of a fire. Practice this escape route frequently so that staff members will remember it in an emergency situation.
  2. Keep the emergency numbers on display next to the phone, including numbers for the local police, fire service, ambulance and poison control.
  3. When you contact the emergency responders, make sure that you provide them with all of the information that they need. This includes the address of your building, your name, the telephone number and specific details on what has happened, who is injured and what their injuries are. You don’t want the responders to waste time going to the wrong building or looking for you in the wrong room.
  4. It is a good idea to direct an employee to stand at the main entrance and greet the emergency responders so that they can lead them directly to you.
  5. Make sure that all employees know the location of the eye wash stations, fire extinguishers, fire alarm boxes and first aid kits. Also, make sure that all of your staff members know how to use this equipment if they ever have to.
  6. Give each of your co-workers a small penlight or torch to keep at their workstation. This can be helpful in a power outage so that staff members can find their way to the exit in the dark.
  7. During an emergency situation, stay calm and don’t panic. This is especially important if you are a manager or a supervisor, as your staff members will take cues from your behaviour and you can help them to maintain calmness.
  8. Make sure that your staff members can always contact you in an emergency, by providing them with a mobile phone number when you are off site.

FAQ

Who is responsible for fire safety in the workplace?

It is the legal responsibility of the building owner to implement fire precautions in their building or facility, this includes executing fire evacuation procedures. Below is a list of suitable fire safety training courses to consider sending your staff on:

What types of emergency can happen at work?

  1. Here are some examples of emergency situations that can happen at work:
  2. Fire and smoke
  3. Personal injury or threat
  4. Bomb threats
  5. Suspicious mail or package
  6. Biohazard or chemical spills
  7. Gas leak
  8. Natural disasters

Relevant Training Courses for Emergency First Aid Situations

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Role Play is Essential for Teaching First Aid Qualifications

Some things can be taught with a pen and paper and a worksheet, but other skills demand a hands on learning environment in order to be taught in a full and comprehensive way. In a mathematics class you don’t have to act out the addition and subtraction to understand it – but when taking your first aid qualifications things are a bit different. In order to completely teach first aid skills, it is essential to incorporate hands-on role play scenarios where course participants can act out their skills.

Why is this style of learning so important and so much more effective than learning first aid from a text book? Here are some of the reasons why role play scenarios are so often used in first aid qualifications.

Catching You off Guard

When you are being quizzed and tested with role play scenarios when taking your first aid qualifications, your instructor will try to challenge you by throwing different hazards and complications into the situation. For example, they might let you know that the victim you have come across is lying in a puddle next to some live wires, or that they have a broken arm as well as the fact that they are not breathing. Figuring out how to deal with these hazards and complications will really test your first aid knowledge and give you a better understanding of how to help any victim you might come across.

Getting a Feel for Things

When delivering CPR, you should find the point on the chest that is between the nipples or three fingers up from the xiphoid process – which is a small piece of cartilage at the bottom of the sternum. Then, you should press with firm downward pulses on this point in a steady rhythm. It’s one thing to read this information and understand it, but it is another thing completely to practice it.

What does the xiphoid process really feel like? How hard should you really press down? Should you be standing on your knees? How far do you lean forward while giving chest compressions? By practicing locating the right point on a partner’s chest, then practicing giving real compressions on a CPR dummy, you will get a feel for the sensations first hand.

Embedding It into Your Muscle Memory

Once you have practiced these body movements rather than just reading about them, you will have a much better understanding of how CPR works. If you ever find yourself in an emergency situation when you have to deliver CPR, your body will already have a muscle memory that will come in handy.

Many people who have received first aid qualifications and have been in emergency situations say that they felt their training “take over” and their bodies simply went onto autopilot – following through with the right procedure for the situation. This is a very valuable response, rather than simply freezing or panicking, as it will increase the chances of survival in such a situation.

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