Over 200 people suffer fatal accidents every year in the workplace, and more than one million are injured. Some industries are more dangerous than others but, in all of them, it’s crucial that risks are minimised – and as the business owner, you have a great deal of responsibility in ensuring that this happens.
If your business deals with work at height, especially aided by machinery, you will want to make sure that you are aware of what you need to do to promote health and safety.
Assessing Risks
It’s crucial that you, as the employer or manager, assess every single possible risk in your workplace. This ‘duty of care’ ensures that all health and safety hazards are spotted and evaluated – and, of course, dealt with. Taking measures to secure the workplace is key, but before you can do that you need to know where to focus your attention.
Your employees also need to be made aware of possible hazards in their place of work, which includes letting them know how they are protected against them.
Ensuring Workplace Safety
One of the main responsibilities of any business owner is to ensure the provision of a safe work environment for their employees. Not only that but you must also guarantee that each worker has the necessary tools, equipment and knowledge to do their job in a safe manner.
This is where you implement safety measures after analysing risks. Obeying regulations, making sure there are regular site inspections, ensuring that all equipment is updated, as well as guaranteeing that your employees are working with the appropriate tools is important.
Offering Training
When it comes to MEWPs, regulations say that all potential hazards need to be controlled, such as falling or becoming entrapped in the basket. The law is clear on this.
Just in 2016, there were 66 MEWP-related fatalities in the workplace. Controlling risks through MEWP training, in order to prevent accidents, injuries and deaths is crucial. Training your employees (as well as managers), especially in high-risk areas, so that you can minimise or remove the risk of injury, is a priority when conducting work at height.
Workers need MEWP training for specific situations so that they know how to avoid danger and how to properly act when in the face of it. From knowing where to place the machine before performing work at height to knowing how to report injuries or spotting hazards, training can contribute to a safer workplace and, of course, to higher productivity levels.
IPAF training courses are designed with this in mind. Your employees and managers will gain a deeper understanding of how to prevent injuries and fatalities through the assessment of risks and the proper use of machinery. IPAF doesn’t provide training themselves; this training is offered by centres such as Boss Training’s.
If you would like to learn more about your health and safety responsibilities as a business owner or want to book a MEWP training course for your managers or employees, don’t hesitate to contact us. Alternatively, call us on 01422 358184 or email us at enquiries@bosstraining.co.uk.