In many work places there is a real risk of people coming into contact with hot surfaces. These could be simply radiators, pipework and even hot water. How many times have you touched your radiator, or accidently touched the hot water pipe at home to find that it is a lot hotter than you expected?

We all know that contact with hot surfaces can cause serious scalding or third degree burns and many radiators and pipework operate at temperatures that could potentially burn someone if they come into contact with it. So if you are required to work around hot surfaces on a regular, if not daily basis, it is important that you are aware of all the risks posed to yourself and others, while working with heat.

Whether you are working with hot equipment, including fry vats and grills, it is important that you have received the correct training before attempting to operate such dangerous machinery. This also implies to people who are required to work around hot pipework and hot water, if you have not received the appropriate training, do not carry out the task!

Before you undertake any task involving a hot surface in the workplace, be sure to have completed a risk assessment.  Many work place injuries involving hot surfaces occurs because people have either fallen or are trapped against the surface and are unable to move. These incidents often occur in situations where there is a lack of supervision.  Completing a risk assessment will help prevent these accidents from occurring.

If your work place requires people to have prolonged contact with heated surfaces it is important that the risk of injury is controlled and minimised effectively. This includes, where possible, covering the hot surface so that the surface temperature does not exceed 43 degrees Celsius, providing low surface temperature heat emitters, and using labels to warn people of the hot surface.

Using signs and correctly labelling hot surfaces significantly reduces the risk of injury caused by hot surfaces by creating awareness of the hot surface. Here at Label source we have a range of Hot Surface labels including hot surface symbol labels and hot surface warning labels. These sigsn are availabe in 2 differnent sizez. cant find the exact sign and size that you require? Get in Touch either be telephoning (freephone) 0800 3761 693 or emailing info@labelsource.co.uk

Dame Judith Hackitt, of the Health and Safety Executive has criticised the increasingly excessive worries over health and safety in schools, which she describes as “nonsensical”.

The phrase “its health and safety gone mad!” is a regular saying these days, as more and more companies, work places and schools make the decision to ban a seemingly harmless activity or item. For instance, one school in the UK has a ban on their students wearing frilly socks because they are a trip hazard. In one out of four schools, traditional playground games “tig” and British bulldog are now banned, and in some schools even throwing snowballs are banned!

Dame Judith argues that these ludicrous bans are undermining the efforts of the HSE to improve safety in dangerous industries, such as construction and farming.  So much so, she has said that children should be allowed to climb trees and play games that have a risk of injury, going on to say that not allowing children to learn to handle risk will lead to young adults who are poorly equipped to deal with realities of the real world.. The will become a liability in any workplace if they don’t have the basic skills, to exercise judgement”.

In the most part we agree with what Dame Judith is saying. Health and safety management is not about ruining peoples fun, it’s about managing and preventing serious risks.

Instead of worrying about what type of sock your students are wearing, schools should be concentrating on managing real risks such as Fire Safety Procedures and asbestos management.

Asbestos Management in Schools

As it stands at the moment, government policy states that if the asbestos is in good condition and is unlikely to be disturbed, they will not remove the asbestos that in the school, instead opting for safe management of the material for its remaining life. This means that a majority of our schools, here in the UK, still have asbestos present in the building. This policy of not removing asbestos unless it is truly necessary often leaves schools with asbestos that is either in bad condition, unsealed or hidden.

 Some of the schools in the UK have developed an effective asbestos management system; however, a majority does not.

A nationwide study conducted in 2010 of 600 school safety representatives highlighted the shocking fact that only 28 per cent of schools had the presence of asbestos clearly marked, and perhaps even more shockingly, when they were asked if they had an accurate register of where the asbestos was located in the buildings, only a third of the representatives where aware of the register, and only 20 per cent said that the register was shown to contractors before they began building work.

There seems to be a common trend here, which is the serious lack of awareness about asbestos. Over the years inspections have been carried out which has highlighted that many schools have an inadequate management system in place and/or the school safety representatives are confused by where the responsibility lies when it comes to managing asbestos. This has forced the authorities to have to provide advice or even enforcement action against some schools.  

Shockingly, inadequate surveys have been conducted and the presence of asbestos has not been identified because it is located in a hard to access area. Inadequate surveying and inefficient management systems has led to the Asbestos Consultants Association to conclude that, in many schools, asbestos management is ineffective, and at times dangerous.

The fact of the matter is, asbestos can be disturbed through normal school activity, and this can cause the fibres to be released over a period of years, meaning that children and teachers could be at risk of contracting asbestos related illnesses.

It is important that schools start managing asbestos correctly, and label any asbestos risks present in the building correctly.

Summary

We are fully aware that there are hundreds of serious risks that are managed successfully on a day to day basis by schools and for that we are grateful; however, wrapping a child up in cotton wool isn’t going to help with developing their own risk judgements. If a girl trips over her frilly sock and hurts her knee, it is very unlikely she will wear that pair of socks again.

We believe that schools should allow children to make their own judgements, and focus on putting into place health and safety management systems that will really make a difference, not only for the children but for the staff as well.

The amount of schools that are reported to be managing asbestos correctly is incredibly low. We believe that this is unacceptable, and more must be done to help raise awareness of asbestos in school buildings and how to manage asbestos correctly. This includes labelling any area of the school that is known to hold asbestos, keeping fully comprehensive records of the location and condition of the asbestos, and passing this to any contractors who are going to be undertaking any work on the building.

Here at Label Source we are proud to offer a comprehensive range of asbestos signs. However, if you can not find the exact sign you require, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.