Coronavirus Update & Resources
This week, the strategy against the coronavirus pandemic was stepped up by the UK government. Working from home is advised to anyone who can and schools are to shut from today for an indefinite period of time, except for the children of key workers. You are also to stay at home for 7 days if you have either:
- a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
- a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
If you live with someone who has symptoms, you’ll need to stay at home for 14 days from the day the first person in the home started having symptoms. If you live with someone who is 70 or over, has a long-term condition, is pregnant or has a weakened immune system, try to find somewhere else for them to stay for 14 days.
Here at WA Management, we know these are stressful and confusing times. We have come up with a number of resources to help guide businesses through this uncertain period:
- A Coronavirus advice poster and toolbox talk to be displayed and delivered at sites/workplaces
- Guidance on Managing Covid-19 at Work
- What To Expect From WA Management During the Covid-19 Pandemic
We have been sending this information out via our newsletters; if you are not receiving our newsletter please let us know HERE and we can manually sign you up or click HERE to sign up via our website. Our social media platforms are linked below.
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If you need any more information, or need any more support in dealing with the outbreak in your business, please let us know, and please circulate this to all in your business who need it. We are here to help!
Online Training Courses
WA Management have a number of e-learning courses that can help support both employers and employees during the coronavirus outbreak.
The courses below can be purchased through our website. We are also currently offering a 10% off discount on these three courses when the code ‘WorkFromHome’ is used at checkout.
- Pandemic Awareness Online Training Course – This course offers information that is designed to support and complement an organisation’s efforts to implement sensible control measures during a pandemic, such as the current Coronavirus outbreak.
- Lone Working Online Training Course – This course details how to protect and safeguard lone workers; this categorisation includes those who are working at home.
- Home Working Online Training Course – This course is designed to provide home workers with the appropriate information and training to meet health and safety requirements when working from home.
The following must be booked through us so please get in touch to learn more or to purchase!
- Coronavirus Online Training Course – This course is designed to help individuals understand more about the Coronavirus and how they can help prevent its spread.
- Homeworker Safety Self-Risk Assessment – This self-risk assessment can be completed online to check employees are working safely at home in terms of an appropriate safe work area.
- Ergowise DSE Self-Risk Assessment – This self-risk assessment can be completed online so that employees can ensure the correct setup and safe use of their computer workstation, desk and chair, to avoid neck, shoulder, back or arm pain, as well as fatigue and eyestrain.
Waste Management Firm Fined £400k After Vehicle Crushes Worker
Waste management company Viridor has pleaded guilty to causing a life-changing injury to one of its employees. On 27 February 2017, an employee of Viridor Waste Management Limited was crushed by a reversing 22.5 tonne shovel loader driven by an on-site contractor at Viridor’s Crayford Materials Recycling Facility site in Crayford. The injured employee was working on foot in the area in his role as banksman, assisting a lorry to manoeuvre into a bay while a shovel loader reversed out of the bay independently, knocking him to the ground and driving over the lower half of his body. He suffered very serious internal injuries and multiple serious fractures, both with significant life-changing effects. Investigating, the HSE found that Viridor Waste Management Limited failed to organise the workplace in such a way that pedestrians and vehicles could circulate in a safe manner. This prosecution is the fourth in four years for this company, two of which related to fatal incidents. Viridor Waste Management Limited of Crayford Creek, Dartford, was found in breach of Regulation 4(1) of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 by virtue of Regulation 17(1). The company was fined £400,000. Speaking after the case HSE Inspector Megan Carr said: “This incident is a reminder to the waste and recycling industry as to the importance of good workplace transport control which can often be achieved by simple pragmatic steps to avoid such incidents from occurring.” In May 2019, Viridor was fined £131,000 after a worker’s hand was seriously injured by defective hydraulic cutters.
Read more on the case from SHPOnline.
Building firm fined after worker injured
Stan England Builders Limited has been fined following an incident when a worker suffered serious injuries after falling from a mezzanine level and wooden platform. Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that on 31 March 2016, Alan Ness was working at a residential property in Banchory. He began taping areas on the ceiling of a mezzanine level. He gained access to this level by a wooden platform which had a ladder propped against it. As he was working close to the edge of the mezzanine level, he lost his footing and stumbled a drop of 18.5cm onto the wooden platform. He was unable to regain his footing and fell a further 2.5 metres head first onto the floor below. He sustained head, back and neck injuries. An investigation by the HSE found that:
- There was no edge protection on the wooden platform
- There was no safe system of work had been put in place
- Mr Ness had received no formal training for work at height or working on ladder and had a lack of knowledge and awareness of the hazards associated with work at height.
- Stan England Builders Limited had failed to supervise appropriately and had not corrected deficiencies, despite visiting shortly before the accident there was no written risk assessments for this task.
Stan England Builders Limited of Raemoir Road, Banchory pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £6,000. After the hearing, HSE inspector, Connor Gibson said: “Those in control of work have a responsibility to devise safe methods of working and to provide the necessary information, instruction and training to their workers in the safe system of working. “Falls from height remain one of the most common causes of work-related fatalities in this country and the risks associated with working at height are well known. In this case a different and simple approach of using edge protection on the wooden platform could have prevented the life-changing injuries sustained by the employee.”
Read more on the case from HSE.