Making sure that your employees benefit from good health and safety policies and practices is good business. For example, according to HSE statistics:

• There were 555,000 workplace injuries in 2017/18
• 7 million working days were lost due to work-related illnesses and workplace injuries in 2017/18
• The estimated cost of work-related illnesses and workplace injuries in the UK was £15 billion in 2016/17

If one of your employees is injured at work, the financial cost could be huge. First, there is the loss of productivity due to absence from work. On top of this, you may have to pay compensation, fines and court costs if you are discovered to be liable for the injury.

There is also reputational risk: people don’t want to work for companies that have poor health and safety track records, and customers could be deterred from awarding you contracts or spending money with you, too.

Whatever way you cut it, poor health and safety policies and procedures are a huge cost to British businesses. Which is why good companies do all they can to eliminate hazards and risks – starting with a health and safety audit in the workplace, working through risk assessments, and, if a hazard cannot be eliminated, employing appropriate working practices to reduce risk further.

As a last resort, it may be necessary to insist that your employees wear (or use) appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).

When do your employees need PPE?

There are many situations when PPE may be needed. Typical examples include when employees are at risk of:

• Contact with chemicals or hazardous substances that could cause burns or other injuries or illnesses
• Being struck by falling or flying objects
• Breathing contaminated air
• Receiving electric shocks
• Exposure to excessive vibration or excessive noise
• Eye injuries caused by flying debris or chemicals
• Cuts, abrasions and punctures to hands, arms and legs

What PPE may be needed?

A risk assessment will determine what type of PPE is needed to protect employees from the effects of workplace risks. PPE items might include:

• Safety glasses
• Gloves
• Ear defenders
• Respiratory equipment or masks
• Hard hats
• Overalls
• High-visibility jackets

The PPE provided should:

• Be of a safe design and construction and meet legal safety standards
• Be well maintained and stored correctly
• Fit well and be as comfortable to wear as possible
• Be replaced according to manufacturer’s recommendations or if damaged

Finally, it is your responsibility to provide employees with any and all necessary PPE, and ensure that it is worn and used correctly.

How do you ensure that your employees use PPE properly?

If you don’t supply appropriate PPE and ensure that it is used properly, you could face legal action should an employee experience an accident or suffer a work-related illness.

However, some employees will baulk at wearing PPE, or decide not to wear it because of comfort or speed-of-work issues. Therefore, you should train your employees with respect to PPE, so they understand:

• Why PPE is necessary
• When it is necessary
• Where it must be worn or used
• The limitations of the PPE – what it doesn’t do (eliminate the risk)
• How to wear and use PPE properly, how to store it and maintain it
• When PPE must be replaced

Those responsible for health and safety in your organisation should choose PPE so that it protects against the hazards and risks that have been identified. They will also be responsible for ensuring that your health and safety policies and use of PPE is monitored, and that they remain effective (though many companies use external health and safety consultants to do this work for them).

What if your employees refuse to use PPE?

In rare circumstances, an employee may refuse to use PPE. This is putting them at risk – and you and your organisation, because it is your responsibility to ensure that PPE is used when, where and how necessary. To avoid this liability, you should take measures to enforce PPE use:

• Make the use of PPE a contractual obligation
• Ensure that your employee handbook makes plain that non-use of PPE is a disciplinary offence
• Take disciplinary action if PPE is not used

Clauses in contracts do not absolve your responsibility to ensure that PPE is used as stipulated. However, they do give you the option of taking disciplinary action, including considering it as gross misconduct and dismissing the employee.

Not all refusals are disciplinary actions

There are always exceptions that prove a rule, and the regulations governing PPE are no different. An employee may refuse to use or wear PPE for three very specific reasons:

1. A medical condition that makes wearing PPE either uncomfortable or harmful
2. The PPE does not fit properly and may compromise safety

• Religious grounds – Sikhs who wear turbans are exempted from wearing hard hats

In cases I and II, the employer becomes responsible for finding alternative PPE so the employee may do their task more safely. If this is not possible, then the employee cannot be asked to do that task.

In all three cases, if you cannot find alternative PPE or an alternative position within the company for the employee that does not require the PPE to be used or worn, you may dismiss the employee without the fear of discrimination.

PPE is a no-brainer, but not simple

Protecting your employees is a no-brainer, but this doesn’t mean that maintaining good health and safety practices is easy.

Laws, rules and regulations change constantly. Integral SM is here to help you keep your employees safe, and make sure that you stay within the law as you do so. We provide a full range of consultancy services, including health and safety audits, risk assessments, and health and safety training. Contact Integral today to discuss all your health and safety requirements.

In this article, you’ll learn about the most common injuries caused by machinery in the workplace, and the responsibilities of employers and employees to minimise risks – as provided for in the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER).

When do the regulations apply?

PUWER applies to all equipment supplied by the employer in the workplace. Crucially, it also applies to equipment that the employer allows the employee to use. Therefore, you will need to ensure that an employee’s own equipment complies with PUWER. For the sake of PUWER, workplaces that are covered by the regulations include all those where the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 applies – including factories, offices, shops, construction sites, hotels, offshore installations, etc.

What types of injuries are caused by machinery?

Common injuries caused by workplace machinery include:

• Amputation
• Crushing
• Electric shock
• Hearing loss
• Broken limbs
• Cuts and abrasions
• Burns

Machinery causes such injuries by:

• Cutting
• Shearing
• Puncturing
• Tearing
• Stretching
• Entangling
• Burning

Why does machinery cause injuries?

Evidence as to why machinery so often causes injuries is readily available in the HSE news pages. At the time of writing this article, seven of the first 10 press releases detail fines handed out to employers because of injuries or deaths caused by machinery in the workplace – all of which could have been avoided.

Typically, reasons why machinery causes injuries include:

• Inadequate or no guarding on machines
• Guards not properly fastened or removed for maintenance
• Opening in guards that allow operators to put their hands into the machine
• Interlocked guards that open while the machine is running
• Mechanisms from switches have been removed
• Single-light beam safeguards have been switched off
• Ineffective power isolation systems

All of the above are mechanical deficiencies, and many of them are perpetrated by the employer or employee. Worryingly, accidents caused by such inadequacies are commonplace. Fortunately, there are strategies an employer can put in place to minimise the risks of accidents in the workplace caused by machinery.

How can employers minimise machinery accidents in the workplace?

The best way to deal with risks of injury in the workplace is to manage the hazard that causes the risks.  The key is to first identify all machinery hazards and conduct health and safety risk assessments. You should then seek ways to eliminate the risk (e.g. ensuring guards are fitted, checked and used correctly), and if this isn’t possible, then to minimise the risk. Strategies to minimise risks include:

• Ensuring safe working practices are used
• Training of employees in machinery use and health and safety issues
• Using PPE to help protect against risks
• Monitoring employees for adherence to health and safety at work and operational processes

The employer’s responsibility for the use of machinery

As an employer, PUWER places many responsibilities on you for the health and safety of your employees and others when either using machinery or in an area where machinery is being used. You will need to ensure (as far as is practicably possible) that you:

• Identify hazards and risks and manage them
• Train employees so they can carry out their jobs safely
• Ensure work is carried out safely, and supervise employees when and if necessary
• Provide adequate personal protective equipment
• Ensure accidents are reported and investigated, and procedures are updated to help avoid similar accidents in the future
• Have procedures for dealing with emergencies

Training and supervision – a workplace obligation

If you don’t provide adequate training to employees who use machinery and they are injured while operating that machinery, it could cost you thousands in fines and a loss of productivity due to absenteeism (plus a hit to your reputation as a business and employer). For example, in 2017, a Birmingham-based packaging company was fined £100,000 for a lack of guarding on a machine and a lack of training and supervision which led to an accident in which the operator had two fingers partially amputated.

Training on machinery must include:

• Explanation of actual and potential hazards associated with the machinery
• Safety precautions that must be taken
• Health and safety processes and procedures

The employee should be able to show that he or she can:

• Check and adjust the machine before operating it
• Stop and start the machine
• Recognise faults
• Correctly use and adjust machine guards
• Use all machine controls

In addition, the employer must:

• Have an inspection and maintenance regime in place, with work carried out by a competent person
• Take reasonable precautions to ensure that the machinery has stopped when maintenance or cleaning is carried out
• Ensure that any modifications made are completed by a competent person, and validated to meet set standards

The employee’s responsibility for the use of machinery

The employee also has health and safety responsibilities when using machinery. These responsibilities include:

• Their own health and safety
• Not harming others because of their actions or omissions
• Complying with the employer’s procedures
• Identifying and reporting hazards
• Using all PPE as needed and stipulated by the employer
• Reporting any faults

In summary

Health and safety is a joint responsibility between employer and employee. However, the buck will always stop with the employer. To ensure you comply with current health and safety regulations and that your machine operators are not put at risk unnecessarily, you should:

• Carry out an inspection and audit of your workplace
• Conduct workplace risk assessments
• Provide health and safety training to your employees

Whatever your H&S needs, we can tailor our consultancy services accordingly to help ensure your employees stay safe and the risk of injury when operating machinery is fully minimised.

To learn more and discuss your specific requirements, contact Integral Safety Management today.