Posted: Wednesday 10 March 2010
Which is More Dangerous: an Office or a Building Site?
Which is More Dangerous: an Office or a Building Site?
Apparently offices are potentially more dangerous than building sites. Bizarre but true, according to St John Ambulance.
St John Ambulance’s research suggests that nearly half of first aid incidents in offices involved giving life-saving CPR to a colleague, compared to just 21% of incidents on a building site. These figures show just how important it is for businesses to comply with Health and Safety Legislation.
Unfortunately, though, the same research flagged up the fact that 79% of businesses have times when no first aider is present. This non-compliance with Health and Safety legislation is extremely concerning.
There is even less excuse for non-compliance now, as since 1 October 2009, it is easier for businesses to comply with the relevant regulations. The changes include the following:
- staff taking the main first aid at work qualification will only be away from work for three days instead of four;
- businesses are being given the choice of an even shorter one-day qualification if they determine that less first aid knowledge is needed in their workplace;
- first aiders are strongly recommended by the HSE to attend a three hour annual refresher to keep life saving skills updated; and
- instead of the traditional low, medium and high risk bands which determine how many first aiders a business should have, companies are being advised to carry out a risk assessment to determine what is right for their own workplace.
St John Ambulance has set up online risk assessment tools on their website to guide customers through the changes and help them calculate the level of risk in their business and which courses to choose.
Businesses need to ensure they have an understanding of the requirements and that their procedures comply with those requirements.
