The safety of employees at industrial estates across Sunderland in Great Britain came under the microscope recently as the Health and Safety Executive and Sunderland City Council launched a joint inspection on premises. More than 65 businesses were inspected in the crackdown resulting in 15 Improvement Notices being served and only one company received a Prohibition Notice.
HSE Inspectors say these statistics are an encouraging sign that the health and safety message is getting through to businesses, but more needs to be done. HSE served the Improvement Notices demanding additional safeguards be provided within a certain time frame after inspectors identified health and safety concerns at several premises. Further action is also being taken in relation to property owners’ responsibilities under health and safety legislation at several of the industrial estates visited.
A Prohibition Notice was issued to one company in relation to unguarded, dangerous machinery and work was stopped at the firm immediately and will remain stopped until remedial action is taken.
HSE Inspector Jonathan Wills explained serving Improvement Notices is not a decision taken lightly, but was in the interests of preventing potential accidents.
“We’re very pleased to see the health and safety message is getting through in Sunderland and businesses are taking the necessary steps to ensure a safe and healthy environment for their employees,” Wills said. “It’s important to stress though more needs to be done, proved by the Improvement Notices issued. The Notices are used to direct a business to take action to comply with health and safety law.
“If an inspector decides a Notice is necessary, the requirement is discussed with a senior person in the company to try and resolve any issues before serving it. The Notice will say what needs to be done, why, and by when. Preventing an accident occurring is better than dealing with the consequences and we were able to offer constructive, practical advice to many of the companies we visited.” (workersxzcompxzkit)
All businesses were reminded of their duty to manage asbestos on the back of the 2009 ‘Asbestos: the Hidden Killer’ campaign begun in early November 2009.
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers’ Compensation costs, including airlines, health care, manufacturing, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. He can be contacted at: Robert_Elliott@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com or 860-553-6604.
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