What is a zoonosis? It’s a disease that can be transferred from an animal (or bird) to a human. Think of ‘Mad Cow Disease’ (BST) and Bird Flu – both zoonoses. Catteries, kennels, equestrian centres, zoos and farms are all places where care needs to be taken. People who look after any animals need to [...]
Young people don’t understand risk!
Risk management is based on following a formula – inform; instruct; train; supervise. When you have children you use this all the time when they’re young. As they get older and able to understand the implication of their actions supervision gets less and they are expected to take more responsibility. However, the move from the [...]
XRay ‘vision’
If your industry requires the use of industrial radiography or encompasses a unit where staff are involved in conducting XRays for medical purposes, it’s important to protect the people who are involved or may be working in the adjacent areas. Knowing the key things you need to be aware of will ensure that your staff [...]
Working at height
You may have seen scary videos on YouTube with people skipping around 10 floors up without any apparent safety equipment, but, if you’re an employer condoning that kind of thing will only end in court. We’ve already covered stepladders at some length, but there are many other situations where people have to work at height [...]
Vicious vibration
Whilst vibration can be beneficial and is often used during relaxing massage sessions – constant vibration can do considerable damage, Most injuries that result from vibration occur over a period of time so what starts as minor discomfort turns into a long term chronic injury. If you (or people who work for you) handle equipment [...]
U is for UV rays
If you’re wondering how UV could possibly affect your workplace – UV scanners are used to check out currency for fakes and to check for faults in metals used in construction. Anyone who works outside may be affected by UV rays from the sun on those bright days. It’s often the bright, but not actually [...]
Training for a safe workplace
Many people think that, in order to train people, they must attend a formal training session in a classroom environment, however, that isn’t really true. People learn by many different methods from reading a poster to learning by doing. People learn from reading posters, signs and written procedures. They can learn by working with an [...]