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SMART News page 2
HR managers
targeted on stress
The HSE is promoting its revised online stress-management tools
throughout March, with human-resources managers and directors the
focus of an awareness campaign.
The regulator says it will soon be writing to the chief executive
of every large company in the UK and their HR managers to help
them combat stress in their workplace. An online advertising
campaign will also be launched to warn companies about the costs
of work-related stress, and how it can be tackled.
The public sector is a particular concern, as work-related stress,
depression, or anxiety accounts for 60 per cent of sickness
absence here, compared with an all-industry average of 39 per
cent. The sector lost 1.8 million days during 2006/07 as a result
of this type of mental ill health.
Continuing a similar format to the last two years, the HSE’s work
programme for 2009/10 will see inspectors concentrate on follow-up
inspections of organisations where initial contact has already
been made. The reasoning for this approach is to allow the
Executive to collect data on how effective the implementation of
stress-management systems has been in helping organisations deal
with the issue.
Further information can be found at
www.hse.gov.uk/stress
New awarding body announced
Having formed in 2008, HABC is a new Awarding Body recognised by
Ofqual, DCELLS and CCEA to award accredited Food Safety and Health
and Safety qualifications. Other qualifications, including First
Aid, will follow later this year.
Prior to establishing HABC, members of our team often had
conversations with trainers and corporate organisations regarding
the level of service that they expected from an Awarding Body. We
have listened very carefully to these comments and acted upon
them. The result is HABC; your responsive, customer driven
Awarding Body that will consistently deliver to the high standards
that you deserve.
Whilst HABC is an independent company, we are committed to
providing the same high levels of customer care, value and quality
synonymous with Highfield.co.uk Ltd. If you need to speak to any
member of our team you will be able to do so, no matter how
technical, large or small your query is. Additionally, HABC have
invested in the latest technology which will ensure that our
online Centre registration facility and delivery of examination
results are quicker than ever before. Last but by no means least,
we are confident that you will find that our competitive,
transparent pricing structure represents real 'value for money'.
Further information can be found at
www.highfieldabc.com
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) welcomes the Health and
Safety (Offences) Act 2008 which received Royal Assent yesterday
(16 October 2008).
Welcoming the announcement, HSE Chair Judith Hackitt said: "The
new Act sends out an important message to those who flout the law.
However, good employers and good managers have nothing to fear. In
fact, they have much to gain.
"I want to remind businesses that there are no changes to their
existing legal duties and that important safeguards are in place
to ensure these new powers will be used sensibly and
proportionately.
"Our enforcement policy targets those who cut corners, gain
commercial advantage over competitors by failing to comply with
health and safety law and who put workers and the public at risk."
Summary of current and new penalties under the Act
Current maxima:
£5k or £20k for summary offence in lower courts, depending on
offence; unlimited fine for
indictable offence;
imprisonment not available for most offences (but up to 6 months
in magistrates court / 2 years
in Crown Court for few offences eg failing to comply with a prohibition notice or breaching
a licensing requirement).
New maxima:
£20k fines in lower courts for nearly all summary offences,
unlimited fines in higher courts;
Imprisonment for nearly all offences – up to 12 months
Footnote 1 in Magistrates Courts
and 2 years in the Crown Court.
The Act, which covers Great Britain and Northern Ireland, will
come into force in January 2009.
There are strict guidelines which are observed by the regulators
in their approach to the prosecution of health and safety
offences. The HSE Enforcement Policy Statement. makes it clear
that prosecutions should be in the public interest and where one
or more of a list of circumstances apply.
These include:
where, death was a result of a breach of the legislation;
there has been reckless disregard of health and safety
requirements;
there have been repeated breaches which give rise to significant
risk, or persistent and
significant poor compliance; or
false information has been supplied willfully, or there has been
intent to deceive in relation
to a matter which gives rise to significant risk.
Prosecutions of individuals by health and safety regulators are not undertaken lightly. Any prosecutions of individuals are subject to the same strict considerations set out above and are only taken if warranted, and not in lieu of a case against their employer.
Further information can be found at
www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2008/ukpga_20080020_en_1
Only half of businesses in the UK are prepared for the Corporate
Manslaughter Act, despite the introduction of the legislation on 6
April, say experts.
UK SMART Ltd. has advised SME's in Suffolk and surrounding
counties in the East of England businesses to review the risk
management procedures which they already have in place as they may
not be able to provide adequate protection once the law comes into
force.
Insurance companies have estimated that the new act could cost
businesses an estimated £20 million in legal feevs.
Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007
Insurers are saying: 'With less than 100
days to go until the Corporate Manslaughter Act comes into force,
companies could face prosecution for breach of their duty in areas
they have not previously considered.'
The new law could hold executives to account if corporate
negligence results in a fatality at work.
Criminal convictions and unlimited fines could be faced by
businesses if a failure by managers has been proved to be
responsible.
The future of first aid approvals -
an update on the review of the Health and Safety (First-Aid)
Regulations 1981
A joint statement by the Health and Safety
Executive and the Scottish Qualifications Authority
Introduction
This paper will be of interest to employer duty holders, first aiders and first aid training providers based in Scotland. It supplements a joint statement by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). Readers should refer to that statement for an overview of new training courses for first aiders in the workplace and proposals for approving and monitoring training providers that wish to run these courses.
In further developing those proposals outlined in the HSE/ QCA
joint statement, HSE needs to ensure training providers that want
to run the one day emergency first aid at work (EFAW) course only,
can gain approval for this purpose in England, Wales and Scotland.
The relevant authority for accrediting qualifications in Scotland
is the Scottish
Qualifications Authority (SQA). This statement provides an
update on recent discussions between HSE and the SQA about the
proposals.
Role of the SQA
The SQA is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Scottish Government Education and Lifelong Learning Department. It is the national body in Scotland responsible for the development, accreditation, assessment and certification of qualifications other than degrees. The overall aim of the SQA is to manage the qualifications system to ensure students fully contribute to the economy, society and communities of Scotland.
In general, any training organisation wishing to offer an
accredited qualification/course in Scotland will need to gain
approval from an Awarding Body approved by the SQA. The potential
benefits of accrediting first aid qualifications for the workplace
are outlined in the
HSE/QCA
joint statement.
Proposed accreditation of EFAW by the SQA
It has been proposed that training
providers already approved by HSE to run first aid at work (FAW)
courses will be given automatic approval to run the new training
courses once they are introduced. New providers that want to
deliver the full FAW course will need to obtain approval from HSE.
Any provider based in Scotland that wishes to run the EFAW course
only (and not the full FAW course) will need to gain approval from
an Awarding Body approved by the SQA.
In discussion with HSE, the SQA has confirmed that in principle,
it could accredit the EFAW qualification. In doing so, it is
recognised that the success of such an approach may be influenced
by the overall costs to training providers. This has to be
balanced against the need for external validation of training to
help ensure standards are maintained, promoting public confidence
and the competency of first aiders.
Next steps
HSE will include the proposed approval arrangements in draft revised guidance for employers and training providers. The guidance will be subject to consultation and the views of stakeholder groups will be fully considered before finalising the drafts. HSE should then be in a position to announce a date for introducing the new training courses.
From 1st of July 2007 virtually all enclosed public places and
workplaces in England will become smoke free. A smoke free England
will ensure a healthier environment, so everyone can socialise,
relax, travel, shop and work free from second hand smoke.
Further information was available at
www.smokefreeengland.co.uk
Imagine one of the best things you could do in your life. Making a
complete break from smoking. Think about how great it would be to
leave those health worries behind you. Picture yourself, waking up
and feeling totally fresh. Millions of people in Britain have
already gone smokefree and you can too.
Further information at
www.gosmokefree.co.uk
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