Doing A Health & Safety Risk Assesment For The Office

[Reck B]

Of all the pointless, over the top, beurocratic nonsense you have to put up with when running a business, the HSE really takes the biscuit.

Some examples of what i'm doing doing today.....

VDU WORKSTATION CHECKLIST

3a Mouse, trackball etc

is the device suitable for the tasks it is used for? YES/NO (if the user is havng problems, try a diffeent device. the mouse and trackball are general purpose devices suitable for many task and available in a variety of shapes and sizes. Alternative devices like touch screens may be better for some tasks (but can be worse for others).

3b Is the device positioned close to the user? YES/NO (on this question, they have helpfully included 2 pictures explaining what 'close to' actually means)

and so on and so on......

I cannot believe people are paid to come up with this shit.

[Monkey]

tell me about it, its an absolute joke. i got told i could no longer have a 2 screen setup as both screens are not directly in front of me, and that i have to rotate my head a couple of degrees to see the second screen, this can cause neck injuries etc later in life.

there was no alternative, they could not come up with a feasable sceanrio where 2 screens would be compliant with H&S at all, non, all the guidelines are geared up for is 1 screen.

i still use 2 screens.

[Reck B]

tell me about it, its an absolute joke. i got told i could no longer have a 2 screen setup as both screens are not directly in front of me, and that i have to rotate my head a couple of degrees to see the second screen, this can cause neck injuries etc later in life.

there was no alternative, they could not come up with a feasable sceanrio where 2 screens would be compliant with H&S at all, non, all the guidelines are geared up for is 1 screen.

i still use 2 screens.

Presumably you're not allowed to disagree with anything at work as shaking your head from side to side could also damage your neck muscles.

[GBdamo]

Of all the pointless, over the top, beurocratic nonsense you have to put up with when running a business, the HSE really takes the biscuit.

Some examples of what i'm doing doing today.....

VDU WORKSTATION CHECKLIST

3a Mouse, trackball etc

is the device suitable for the tasks it is used for? YES/NO (if the user is havng problems, try a diffeent device. the mouse and trackball are general purpose devices suitable for many task and available in a variety of shapes and sizes. Alternative devices like touch screens may be better for some tasks (but can be worse for others).

3b Is the device positioned close to the user? YES/NO (on this question, they have helpfully included 2 pictures explaining what 'close to' actually means)

and so on and so on......

I cannot believe people are paid to come up with this shit.

Bollux legislation to over encumber smaller business.

As long as you've risk assessed it your alright, to get a risk assessment wrong is incompetence to not do one is neglect.

Same as cGMP in the pharma business. It's best practice led so the big boys do something, hugely expensive, that makes a minor difference and all the rest are expected to follow.

All it is is divisive legislation.

[200p]

tell me about it, its an absolute joke. i got told i could no longer have a 2 screen setup as both screens are not directly in front of me, and that i have to rotate my head a couple of degrees to see the second screen, this can cause neck injuries etc later in life.

there was no alternative, they could not come up with a feasable sceanrio where 2 screens would be compliant with H&S at all, non, all the guidelines are geared up for is 1 screen.

i still use 2 screens.

My station causes me pain...

[SNACR]

We've been asked on more than one occasion whether or not staff have received training in using the stairs.

My retort is usually 'we haven't finished the breathing in and out technique training yet, one step at a time for god's sake'.

[Pole]

Of all the pointless, over the top, beurocratic nonsense you have to put up with when running a business, the HSE really takes the biscuit.

It' sall BS right until that moment when you have an accident and start looking for someone to blame.

The h&s legislation is here to protect companies against the compensation culture.

It costs very little compared to how much an employer has to fork out if they haven't covered their backs.

[frozen_out]

I've worked at both ends of the spectrum, one place that takes its EHS very seriously, and one that doesn't. I know where I'd rather be.

[libspero]

I've worked at both ends of the spectrum, one place that takes its EHS very seriously, and one that doesn't. I know where I'd rather be.

Which out of interest?

I could see that going either way..

[200p]

Employees would like more H&S.

Entreprenuers at the frontier (think wild west) would like less H&S.

Monopolies and cartel business owners, in developed markets, more H&S. Keeps out the competition and barriers to entry high.

[porca misèria]

Is your mouse/trackball/etc suitable?

It's a valid question. But what matters is the person using them. Repetitive strain type injuries can be crippling, for example. A useful exercise would be to ensure a choice of devices are available, and every regular user is advised to try different devices and to discuss it with management if they start to get pain.

But box-ticking about the devices without the context of the users' needs looks like an exercise in futility.

FWIW, I took to using a mouse left-handed after developing severe pain ("tennis elbow") in the right arm. Being my own boss and not under the beady eye of some PHB office manager helped with that: noone was complaining about my doing something different.

[Daft Boy]

We've been asked on more than one occasion whether or not staff have received training in using the stairs.

My retort is usually 'we haven't finished the breathing in and out technique training yet, one step at a time for god's sake'.

Just passed my NVQ level 2 in breathing. I was the only student who passed level 1 . The other 8 students all passed out so they should get something awarded

[Darkman]

My station causes me pain...

I want one of those!

[Darkman]

I work for a well known company that hit the headlines recently for it's draconian health and safety rules.

It's like a disease, and the Nazi faction in any company just love it.

[Bruce Banner]

Of all the pointless, over the top, beurocratic nonsense you have to put up with when running a business, the HSE really takes the biscuit.

Some examples of what i'm doing doing today.....

VDU WORKSTATION CHECKLIST

3a Mouse, trackball etc

is the device suitable for the tasks it is used for? YES/NO (if the user is havng problems, try a diffeent device. the mouse and trackball are general purpose devices suitable for many task and available in a variety of shapes and sizes. Alternative devices like touch screens may be better for some tasks (but can be worse for others).

3b Is the device positioned close to the user? YES/NO (on this question, they have helpfully included 2 pictures explaining what 'close to' actually means)

and so on and so on......

I cannot believe people are paid to come up with this shit.

A couple of years before I retired completely, I'd subcontracted all product manufacturing and was working alone in my office, taking orders, packing and despatching goods, doing the paperwork and paying lots of tax.

One day there was a knock on the door. I opened it and there were two 'children' with clipboards who said they were from the Health and Safety Executive and wanted to make sure that my health and safety systems were compliant with the law. I told them that it wasn't applicable as I was alone in the office and had no employees, to which they replied that as it was a limited company, I was required by law to conduct a health and safety audit and implement a documented health and safety policy to protect me from hurting myself .

I took a deep breath and said rather a lot in a short space of time, which boiled down to them going away and telling their boss that if they ever came back I would wind up the company and retire, leaving HMRC out of pocket for the corporation and income tax. I never heard another thing from the HSE after that .

[frozen_out]

A couple of years before I retired completely, I'd subcontracted all product manufacturing and was working alone in my office, taking orders, packing and despatching goods, doing the paperwork and paying lots of tax.

One day there was a knock on the door. I opened it and there were two 'children' with clipboards who said they were from the Health and Safety Executive and wanted to make sure that my health and safety systems were compliant with the law. I told them that it wasn't applicable as I was alone in the office and had no employees, to which they replied that as it was a limited company, I was required by law to conduct a health and safety audit and implement a documented health and safety policy to protect me from hurting myself .

I took a deep breath and said rather a lot in a short space of time, which boiled down to them going away and telling their boss that if they ever came back I would wind up the company and retire, leaving HMRC out of pocket for the corporation and income tax. I never heard another thing from the HSE after that .

That's almost a believable story.

Which out of interest?

I could see that going either way..

The one that takes it seriously. Some people try to use it to block you and kill ideas off, but you just need to know how to handle them.

I cringe now at some of things I've done in the past in the name of cutting corners. Put myself and others at serious risk.

[Bruce Banner]

That's almost a believable story.

I should hope so because it's exactly what happened.

[libspero]

The one that takes it seriously. Some people try to use it to block you and kill ideas off, but you just need to know how to handle them.

I cringe now at some of things I've done in the past in the name of cutting corners. Put myself and others at serious risk.

Fair do's

I'll presume you were working in some kind of heavy industry as opposed to an office where you used to seriously risk the health of co workers by sabotaging their mouse balls and giving them an extra computer monitor

Things like H&S always seem to start off as a good idea.. like, lets check that all factories using stamping presses and big circular saws don't have some easy way an employee could fall into them.

Then people with too much time on their hands start adding more rules and paper work and tape until people get fed up with it and complain.

Then somebody else with too much time on their hands sits down and embarks on a mission to make the whole thing more accessible by re writing it.

Before long another bored soul decides to have a go at a few more amendments and the whole thing doubles in size again. And so on. And so on.

It's all very well and good to keep digging holes and then filling them up again.. but there must be something more productive these people could be doing than checking mouse balls and monitors

Infact I'd be interested to see a graph of the number of industrial fatalities over the past 50 years.. I don't know anyone who's had a serious industrial accident. Most of the HSE is probably completely superfluous now.. they must be if half of the anecdotals on this thread are to be believed.

[SNACR]

I've worked at both ends of the spectrum, one place that takes its EHS very seriously, and one that doesn't. I know where I'd rather be.

I'd rather be at whichever had the least number of careless and incompetent employees.

I always find the HSE are always more interested in seeing a shelf groaning under the weight of training and safety manuals and not very interested in whether or not real measures are being taken to protect workers.

Training doesn't stop people being careless and incompetent. Employees are much safer if you keep idiots away from things they can injure themselves and others with.

Employers still get clobbered with failing to provide a safe working environment when an employee brings a spanner in from home and removes the safety guard from a machine. There needs to be a raising of the bar of what level of responsibility the whole workforce can expect from individual members.

[stormymonday_2011]

I'd rather be at whichever had the least number of careless and incompetent employees.

I always find the HSE are always more interested in seeing a shelf groaning under the weight of training and safety manuals and not very interested in whether or not real measures are being taken to protect workers.

Training doesn't stop people being careless and incompetent. Employees are much safer if you keep idiots away from things they can injure themselves and others with.

Employers still get clobbered with failing to provide a safe working environment when an employee brings a spanner in from home and removes the safety guard from a machine. There needs to be a raising of the bar of what level of responsibility the whole workforce can expect from individual members.

So all deaths are down to in employyes and never greedy, careless employers.

I will email your post his poor sods family so they can enjoy your warmth and human sympathy

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/nov/08/education.students

[juvenal]

I'd rather be at whichever had the least number of careless and incompetent employees.

I always find the HSE are always more interested in seeing a shelf groaning under the weight of training and safety manuals and not very interested in whether or not real measures are being taken to protect workers.

There's danger here! Please ensure that shelf is bracketed every 6 inches. Employees could be killed by those H&S manuals if it collapsed.

[SNACR]

So all deaths are down to in employyes and never greedy, careless employers.

I will email your post his poor sods family so they can enjoy your warmth and human sympathy

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/nov/08/education.students

Look what some greedy bosses have made these poor downtrodden workers do:

Oh look, and these:

[Captain Cavey]

A few years back I had to get a Chinese Contractor to prepare a risk assessment for some mining work. They were completely bemused by this decadent western concept but eventually complied.

When I eventually received it they had categorised the various hazards & risks, but in their assessment, only when there was more than 2 deaths could the incident be described as “serious”.

Can’t recall if they had included computer mouse misuse as a risk

[guitarman001]

It's viewed as a joke by our work. But I bet the HR folks are on bigger salaries than a lot of our engineers!

[frozen_out]

I'd rather be at whichever had the least number of careless and incompetent employees.

This is a cultural thing

I always find the HSE are always more interested in seeing a shelf groaning under the weight of training and safety manuals and not very interested in whether or not real measures are being taken to protect workers.

Training doesn't stop people being careless and incompetent. Employees are much safer if you keep idiots away from things they can injure themselves and others with.

This is a cultural thing and it starts at the top.

Employers still get clobbered with failing to provide a safe working environment when an employee brings a spanner in from home and removes the safety guard from a machine. There needs to be a raising of the bar of what level of responsibility the whole workforce can expect from individual members.

Again, this is a cultural thing. You can change it and it's not particularly difficult.

Aside from that, I'm almost certain what you've said isn't quite true. If the machine and tasks have been properly risk assessed and your operators are appropriately trained then you have fulfilled your obligations.

If anyone removed a machine guard at our place without authorisation they'd be out of a job. It's gross misconduct. We had a guy recently who removed an interlock so he could clean as machine whilst it was still switched on. It cost him a seriously broken arm and his job. It's just not worth it.