Team talk:Safety
Bikeshedding about the safety team here
- Naming: "Safety Team" - NOT "Health & Safety Team" or "H&S Nazis"
- Motto: "Safety 0th" (play on Rule Zero)
- Purpose: -
- education
- being observant
- assessing and mitigating risks
After the meeting on the 27th February 2013 I have conducted research on the HSE website. It's obscure what we have to do legally because we have no employees. Guidance is being sort for volunteer industries but for now we present risks for our members and visitors and so this doesn't remove responsibility. I found these
and would like to list the following links with advise for related activities:
Things that I will do immediately (or nearly so)
- 1. Get permission to order lone worker dongles and telephone point plus signage
- 2. put up high visibility signs HOW TO CALL AN AMBULANCE TO HERE
- 3. Find out about plus order "H&S for Voluntary Organisations"
- 4. Order H&S at Work Act poster
- 5. Promote correct behaviour and use of PPE i.e. challenge those who don't use it. Have it widely available and dispel the myth of "getting it on the cheap".
--Dominic (talk) 18:19, 27 February 2013 (EST)
As posted by Ange
Great to see people getting on with safety issues tonight. To clarify The Duty Of Care is a general legal duty on all individuals and organisations to avoid carelessly causing injury to persons. It requires everything ‘reasonably practicable’ to be done to protect the health and safety of others at the workplace. This duty is placed on:
- All organisations
- Their employees/volunteers/users
- Any others who have an influence on the hazards in a workplace
The latter includes contractors and those who design, manufacture, import, supply or install plant, equipment or materials used in the workplace. The duty is regardless of the size of the organisation, its income or whether the organisation has paid staff.
'Reasonably practicable' means that the requirements of the law vary with the degree of risk in a particular activity or environment which must be balanced against the time, trouble and cost of taking measures to control the risk. It allows the duty holder to choose the most efficient means for controlling a particular risk from the range of feasible possibilities. The duty holder must show that it was not reasonably practicable to do more than what was done or that he/she has taken ‘reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence’
In accordance with our duty of care to individuals at the Hackspace, we should aim to provide:
- A safe environment;
- Information and instruction on workplace hazards and supervision where necessary of users in safe work;
- Monitoring of the necessary record keeping;
- The provision of relevant health and safety advice;
- Monitoring of the conditions/equipment of the space under our control and management.