GENERAL SAFETY INFORMATION

At Premier Safety Training we believe that complying with compulsory Health and Safety Regulations, such as Manual Handling and First Aid Training should be affordable for all business types not just the large industrial sector.

In order for any employer to comply with their duties under Health and Safety legislation they must first be aware of them. Here are some general (but important) employer duties for your information:

Duties of the Employer under the 2005 Health, Safety & Welfare Act

»   Manage health and safety – be aware of both the employer and employees duties and comply

»   Bring the safety statement to employees’ attention at least annually

»   Provide training information and instruction in a form, manner and language which employees are reasonably likely to understand

»   Train new employees upon recruitment

»   Train employees on transfer or change of task

There are many more employer duties regarding Health and Safety, some of which are only applicable to certain types of industries. If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact us for information.

Manual Handling

Health & Safety 2007 Regulations Part II state that it is the employer’s duty to:
»         Provide Information and Training on manual handling by a qualified instructor.
»         Manual handling training must be completed by all employees - (full course every three years—refresher yearly)

First Aid

Q. How many first aiders should be present in a workplace?
A. The best indicator will arise when carrying out a risk assessment, identifying the hazards and assessing the risks arising in the context of the Safety Statement. Consider the numbers employed, the nature of the work, the degree of hazard, the level of accidents arising, the size and location of the workplace, the distribution of the employees, shift working, availability of an Occupational Health Service with the workplace and the distance from external medical services etc

Please note: “Best Practice” is what all companies follow when the legislation is vague on what needs to be done in order to reduce risk. One first aider in a work place at one time is sufficient in a low risk environment with 1 to 50 employees present. An employer also has to take into account that when the trainer first aider is on annual leave / sick leave etc. it is still their duty to have a qualified fist aider on site. So best practice would be to have more than one qualified person within the place of work.
This also applies to persons whose work involves them to be mobile—working on other sites etc. For example, if 5 people work on a mobile team in a medium—high risk area one person should be qualified in first aid. Cover should be available for this person should they be absent on annual leave / working a separate site etc.

Q. How long is a First Aid Training Certificate Valid For?
A. Occupational First Aid Certification is valid for 2 years (as per new HSA guidelines valid from 1st June 2008) at which point re-certification is required.