This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), and the organisation is using this auspicious occasion to appeal to businesses in Wales and the rest of the UK.
In a press release - published earlier this week - the HSE stated that worker wellbeing should be the "top priority" for businesses in 2015, citing the following statistics:
- 7 people in Wales lost their lives at work over the course of 2013/14
- A further 4,291 people in Wales suffered worked-related injuries over that same period
- Some 56,600 people in Wales were made ill through their work over the same period
- 2013/14 statistics for the entire UK: 133 deaths at work, more than 79,500 work-related injuries, and over 1.1 million people made ill through work
These numbers are actually an improvement on the previous year, but while the world of work does appear to be getting safer, the fact remains that too many people are being put in unnecessary danger.
If you are an employer, we urge you to follow the HSE's advice and put the health and safety of your workers ahead of all other concerns. Here are a few ways in which to do this:
- Put up the correct safety signs where necessary. Ensure that the signs are as visible and as easy-to-read as possible.
- Have any electrical installations tested regularly by a certified inspector to ensure their continued safe operation.
- Think carefully about hygiene, particularly in bathrooms, toilets and kitchen areas. Ensure that all employees practise good hygiene.
- Familiarise all employees with emergency procedures - what to do if there is a fire, who to call in the event of a medical emergency, etc. We supply of health and safety posters for this purpose.
Health and safety, for the most part, is nothing more than common sense, but employers must be cautious and attentive to keep their employees safe. Don't let your company add to the HSE's injury total for 2015!
Almost every business has a portable appliance which is required by health and safety legislation to be regularly tested to ensure it meets health and safety standards. The correct terminology for this procedure is Portable Appliance Testing or PAT. Once tested, each appliance must be identified and labelled with a Portable Appliance Test Label or Sticker or PAT labels/stickers. PAT test labels are applied to identify whether or not an appliance has passed a standard portable appliance test as required by health and safety legislation, andsome of these PAT test stickers can even state when the appliance's next test is due.
Label Source's extensive range of PAT test labels and stickers are extremely durable and though we believe you simply can't put a price on health and safety measures, they are very reasonably-priced indeed! Our range of PAT test labels can be divided into the four following categories:
Electrical Plug Labels
Electrical Cable Wrap Labels Electrical safety tested, failed cable wrap label
Portable Appliance Test Record Card Portable appliance test card
Electrical Test Equipment Labels Out of compliance, do not use test required label equipment label
If you're not sure about which of your appliances are required to undergo a PAT test, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 have detailed portable appliance regulations.
Some of the appliances which need to be tested and will require PAT test labels (if used on industrial, commercial, distribution or retail premises) are the following:
- Computers, printers and other IT equipment
- Fridges/Freezers
- Kettles
- Microwaves/Cookers
- Irons
- Vending Machines
- Table Lamps
- Telephones
- Cables associated with any of these electrical items
If you have an appliance which falls under any of these categories, then make sure you get your PAT test labels or stickers from Label Source today.
If you can't find the PAT testing stickers that you need, simply call one of the Label Source team now on 0800 3761 693.
As suppliers of health and safety labels, signs and tags, it is well within our interest here at Label Source to be on top of health and safety news. In the past few month there's certainly been some questionable 'health and safety' decisions that have made the press! For example, a Grimsby fish and chips establishment was featured in the news for supposedly refusing to allow a customer to put salt on her own fish and chips due to health and safety reasons. Does this seem a little far fetched to you?
Well, that's because it is. In 2012, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) set up a 'myth busting' panel who work to ensure health and safety rules and legislations are not used irrationally, and that health and safety is not to be used as an excuse for decisions made by various establishments. The HSE myth-busters concluded that this was not, in fact, a breach of their health and safety rules - but rather they weren't sure where their customers hands had been!
The HSE called for 2015 to be the year that we stop 'blaming health and safety for poor or over-the-top decisions'.
In the press yesterday was the story of Mango, the much-loved tabby cat who lived in the Tesco in Tiverton, Devon for four years before he was apparently 'ejected' and carreid outside in the rain to his new plastic kennel. There are rumours online about Mango having breached Tesco's health and safety regulations, which is why he was removed - but a spokesman for the store has completely denied this claim, stating "Mango is very welcome and much loved by our customers in Tiverton. He is often seen in our foyer and we have invested in a kennel for him to make him feel more comfortable." This is just another example of the health and safety blame game - though Tesco themselves didn't claim Mango breached their health and safety regulations - others were quick to dismiss the decision as another silly health and safety rule.
As providers of health and safety signs, we must agree with the HSE's plea to cut down on using health and safety as an excuse. After all, health and safety regulations are put in place to help save lives and protect people - not by any stretch of the imagination to stop people living them. Make sure your business is sticking to health and safety regulations without going over the top by having the correct safety signs in place to avoid confusion. What are your thoughts on this situation? We'd love to hear them! Tweet Label Source and let us know.
Where can a non-adhesive hazard tape be used?
When we say 'hazard tape', you probably think of self-adhesive tapes, which are mainly used for floor marking purposes. However, we do sell another type of hazard tape here at Label Source: our non-adhesive barrier tape, suitable for a wide variety of applications and available in many different designs.
Here are some of the ways in which our non-adhesive hazard tapes are most commonly utilised:
Barrier tape is a common sight in the construction industry. This particular product is designed to warn of underground sites - manholes, dug-up roads, et cetera - but we also stock a variety of non-adhesive hazard tapes for overground construction sites.
Police forces and other authorities often use non-adhesive hazard tape to cordon off crime scenes and prevent unauthorised personnel from accessing the site in question.
A non-policial equivalent of the above. Where the police tape is used to restrict access to crime scenes, this non-adhesive hazard tape can be used for more informal purposes: for example, a security line can be used for crowd control purposes at sporting matches and promotional events.
All of these non adhesive hazard tape products (and many more) can be found in our Printed Barrier Tape section. We also sell plain barrier tapes and chevron barrier tapes.
The Carrick Times - a weekly newspaper covering the town of Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland - ran a story last month that rather struck a chord with the team here at Label Source. The report stated that walkers had been ignoring safety signs that were put in place by the local council to keep people away from a dangerous coastal path that had recently seen a series of rockfalls:
"Signage has been erected to warn the public of the danger and barrier fencing has been installed to physically prevent public access...the path currently represents a very real and present danger"
It is hard to know what goes on in the mind of somebody who ignores warning signs and wanders into such a hazardous area. Standardised safety signs are designed to be as visible as possible, and so - unless the Carrickfergus council are positioning them out of sight - we can only assume that people are wilfully flouting the restrictions and hopping the barrier that would otherwise keep them out of harm's way.
This, sadly, is not the first we've heard of people ignoring safety signs and putting themselves at risk. We as a nation seem to think that health and safety is something we can afford to disregard, but measures like this are designed to keep you safe (whether from rockfalls or other hazards).
It's even worse when you realise that people in other parts of the world are going out of their way to get signs like these put in. Consider the story of the Australian woman whose granddaughter stepped on a venomous stonefish on the shore of a local river; ever since this incident, she has been battling to get a safety sign placed near the river, but the local authorities have so far been of very little help, it seems.
Clearly, we should be thankful for the health and safety laws that get safety signs where they need to be in the UK. Ignoring those signs is foolish and potentially very dangerous - if you've ever walked straight past a hazard warning without taking any notice, make sure it doesn't happen again!
