Vehicle Safety is a must

There are many factors that are essential for all businesses to consider when it comes to Health and Safety. Therefore, Empire HR would like to raise some topical issues and welcome you to leave your comments and provide us with feedback. In this post we discuss the importance of Vehicle Safety, the indecent of a company being prosecuted for a reversing lorry. We also discuss and offer advice on helping foreign staff improve their English.

VEHICLE SAFETY
There are numerous safety issues to consider and risk assess with the use of vehicles at work. Not only are the licenses, roadworthiness, tax, insurance and safety checks to be undertaken on company vehicles, there is a need to include employee’s own vehicles in the equation when these are used for work purposes. The safe movement of vehicles on work premises, safety of pedestrians, planning of road trips, loading operations of vehicles and weather conditions to name but a few all add up to present a potentially lethal cocktail if not planned and controlled, regularly monitored and reviewed by competent persons.

PROSECUTION FOR REVERSING LORRY ACCIDENT
An Essex based company has been fined £150,000 and ordered to pay £19,000 costs following an accident which resulted in an employee being seriously injured, having his skull crushed by a reversing lorry at the company’s depot.

An articulated 45ft HGV trailer was being reversed into an open loading bay as the warehouse porter waited to unload it. He had noticed a positioning error and put his head around the back of the trailer to shout instructions to the driver. At that moment the trailer reversed further, crushing his head against the brick wall. He received severe head injuries and long term effects but has returned to work.

The subsequent HSE investigation found the company had not assessed, controlled, or properly managed the risks arising from vehicle and equipment movements and had also failed to provide a safe system of work for its employees.

HSE stated “This firm could have put in place a physical separation between the porters, moving vehicles and the loading bays and a safe way for porters and drivers to communicate with each other. None of these measures were evident and so a worker was seriously hurt for no good reason.”

DO YOU HAVE ANY FOREIGN STAFF WHO NEED HELP WITH THEIR ENGLISH?
If you run an international company you will understand the importance of effective communication, dealing with customers on the telephone, writing reports and meeting clients. All these situations require non-native employees to speak and understand English clearly. Do you encounter any of the following problems in your workplace?

• Our employees do their day-to-day duties well but their ability to communicate is poor. We’re particularly worried about health & safety issues.

• My boss keeps asking me to do presentations in English and I’m finding it stressful!

• My English is good but clients don’t understand me over the phone. I need help with my pronunciation! I can speak English well but I find it difficult to write technical reports!

Whatever problems your staff may have with English language, International House Aberdeen can help.
International House Aberdeen, Grampian’s premier English language school can offer tailor-made one-to-one or group tuition for your employees.

Their flexible study programme allows us to offer courses at any time convenient to you or your staff, either at our premises on Union Street or on-site.

If you think the services of International House, Aberdeen would be of benefit to you or some of your staff, please contact IH Aberdeen on 01224 634006 or email directly on info@ihaberdeen.com and quote “EMPIRE HR”. 

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NOTW FIASCO – WHAT CAN BUSINESSES LEARN?

The shock closure of the News Of The World and the phone hacking scandal has left many of the British public shocked. 

Empire is encouraging businesses to learn from the NOTW situation, as it serves as a timely reminder that no business is immune from closure, and very large, successful businesses can be destroyed by the actions of a few employees. In light of the closure Empire has compiled a list of potential learning points for other businesses to take into account. Over a series of blog posts we will highlight the issues that we feel are important to consider.

The most popular English-language newspaper in the world was published for the last time in July, which has left politicians, News International, The Metropolitan Police, and the NOTW employees battling to find out who is to blame. Public speculation, police questioning, political debate, and media coverage is certain to go on for the foreseeable future but, in the meantime, there are lessons the business community can learn from the demise of the NOTW. 

Here are the first two points where lessons should be learned from NOTW:

ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE MUST NOT BE NEGLECTED
Does the culture of your business encourage employees to push the wrong boundaries, go to extremes and turn a blind eye to bad practices?
A journalist deleting the voicemail messages of murder victim Millie Dowler is an extreme example of this, but can you be sure that your employees wouldn’t be tempted to break the law if pressurised?
In the case of the NOTW, serious questions need to be asked about why journalists felt the need to go to such extremes to get a story.
Could the HR department or line managers have prevented this incident by fostering a different organisational culture?

WHISTLEBLOWING CAN HELP BUSINESS
A good whistleblowing policy encourages employees to come forward if they become aware of malpractice or breaches of the law. This allows a manager or HR department to be made aware of the issue as early as possible, therefore preventing an escalation. It is likely that the NOTW did have a policy, but employees did not feel able to use it. The importance of encouraging an effective whistleblowing policy was also demonstrated by the recent care home scandal in Bristol, in which a senior nurse broke the silence of abuse of patients resulting in closure of the home. It is not enough to simply have a policy, it must be circulated and utilised appropriately.

It is important that businesses throughout the UK take on board the lessons learnt, and most importantly ensure steps are taken to prevent the same thing happening to them. We will be posting more pointers relating to the NOTW scandal in the following blog posts.

 
A REMINDER - NEW ARRANGEMENTS FOR REPORTING OF INJURIES AND INCIDENTS TAKE EFFECT FROM 12th SEPTEMBER

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) place a legal duty on employers, self-employed and people in control of premises to report work-related deaths, major injuries, over-three-day injuries, work related diseases and dangerous occurrences (near misses).

Businesses will no longer be able to report incidents by email, post or fax.

Fatal and major incidents and injuries will still be reportable by telephone however all other reportable work-related injuries and incidents under RIDDOR will move to a online system using interactive forms.

Seven forms will be available on the HSE’s website which is aimed at separating the incident type and making the statutory reporting process quick and easy for employers to use.

Further changes will take effect on the 30th September 2011 - the HSE’s Infoline telephone service, which currently provides a basic information service to callers, will end due to the increased use of their website.

We would really like to hear your views on the issues that have been highlighted in this post. Have you had any experience in people within an organisation turning a blind eye to bad practices? What are your thoughts on the whistleblowing culture? Do you think it can help businesses? What are your thoughts on the new arrangements for reporting injuries? Join our facebook page to enter our discussions amongst our online community

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New appointment at Empire...

Gill Hutchinson has joined the team as Health & Safety Manager to support the company’s continuing growth in this area.

Empire currently employs 23 members of staff at their headquarters in Aberdeen.

Gill has been a H&S Professional since 2000, initially as a Health & Safety Manager for a large voluntary organisation in London before taking on a consultancy role with a large Manchester based company.

With her experience in the industry, she brings a wealth of knowledge to Empire, which will be beneficial to their clients across the country.

Her role will see her lead and develop the H&S division of the business and she will be working closely with the company’s wide client base to ensure they are updating and reviewing their policies as required by law.

Gill says: “I made a commitment to make a difference to safety standards in the workplace after being exposed to ill-managed industry related hazards and health and safety is an area which every employer should be managing.  At Empire I am going to initially focus on making that process easier for our clients to understand through updating and reviewing policies to make them more concise and easier to comply with.”

Gill has relocated to Scotland from Cumbria with her 14-year-old daughter to take on the new position.

Here's what Operations Director, Peter-Jon Chalmers had to say about Gill\s appointment: “Gill is an excellent addition to the team at Empire and her expertise in the health and safety arena is excellent and her skills and ability to explain policies in simple terms will be hugely beneficial to all of our clients.”

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Take part in the HSE 'Red Tape Challenge'

If you haven’t already done so…….take a look at the HSE website, www.hse.gov.uk

Your chance to have your say awaits, in an effort to unburden employers of ‘red tape’

The HSE is publishing all the regulations affecting one specific sector or industry, They are inviting you to tell them what’s working and what’s not, what they can simplify and what can be scrapped.

Here’s the best bit…based on your feedback, they will start getting rid of unnecessary red tape!

The challenge is taking on live themes and includes employment law issues so take a look and be a part of the process.  Take the HSE Red Tape Challenge here.

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Age clearly does matter, as recent Employment Tribunal statistics show a 79% rise in claims

Figures published recently by HM Courts and Tribunals Service in its Annual Statistics for 2010/2011 have revealed a ‘dramatic’ rise in the number of age discrimination claims lodged at the Employment Tribunal.

The figures show that, in the year up to 31st March 2011, 6,800 age discrimination claims were filed, a rise of 31% on the previous year’s number. Since 2008/2009, the overall number of claims has risen by 79%.

These figures show a dramatic rise in the number of age discrimination claims in the past two years and emphasise the importance of employers becoming more age-aware.

Against a backdrop of a number of high-profile ageism cases, the ending of the default retirement age and rising levels of redundancy and unemployment, many more people believe that they are being discriminated against. With further job losses expected in the public sector and the lingering idea that older workers are a burden, we would not be surprised to see these figures continue to rise. Remember, age is a unique form of discrimination, as it can affect anyone and everyone as age is something we all have, with young people being equally prone to marginalisation in the workforce.

Even large organisations can run into problems, as illustrated by the recent radio comments of an Aberdeen City Councillor, who whilst addressing the issue of funding from the Scottish Government for Aberdeen City Council asserted “that this was a test for the Council’s Leader,[ 26 year old Callum McCaig] who had to show whether he was a man or still a boy.” It is often ill-advised and inappropriate comments, (no matter how well meant) that can lead to discrimination claims and contribute to these rising figures.

Organisations must have appropriate policies and training in place to deal with all aspects of discrimination, and to ensure that processes like redundancies, recruitment and pay are free from any discriminatory practices.

These recent Employment Tribunal statistics also show that despite a small fall in the total number of claims lodged in 2010/2011, the total number of claims was still up by 44% from 2008/2009.

In short, the Employment Tribunal still continues to be busy and organisations, no matter their size, need to have the best HR policies, procedures and practices in place to combat this trend.

Craig Bennison
Head of Litigation

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First Prosecution Under Corporate Manslaughter Act

The first company to stand trial under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 has been fined £385,000 after being found guilty by the jury at Winchester Crown Court.

The conviction of Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd came after a two-week trial at the court, where the company answered charges by the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to the death of employee

Alexander Wright in September 2008.

In handing down the sentence on 17 February, the judge, Mr Justice Field, confirmed the company could pay the fine over a 10-year period, with £38,500 due every year of that period. The company does not have to pay any costs.

The judge said the fine marked the gravity of the crime and the deterrent effect it would have on companies to adhere to health and safety guidance. He said a larger fine would cause the small scale company to be liquidated, and four people would lose their jobs. “It may well be that the fine in the terms of its payment will put this company into liquidation. If that is the case it’s unfortunate but unavoidable but it’s a consequence of the serious breach,” he said.

Mr Wright, 27, had been left working alone in a 3.5m-deep trench to ‘finish up’ after the managing director of Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings, Peter Eaton, left for the day. A short time later, the trench collapsed on Mr Wright and buried him.

Peter Eaton had originally been charged with manslaughter by gross negligence, as well as a health and safety offence, in his own capacity but these charges were dropped after a successful application by his defence team last October on the grounds of his poor health. The company also originally faced a separate health and safety offence, but this was dropped by the prosecution in January this year after the judge raised the issue of whether the two different burdens of proof for the two remaining charges might confuse a jury.

In convicting the company, the jury found that the company’s system of work in digging trial pits was wholly and unnecessarily dangerous. The court heard the company ignored industry guidance.

Detective Inspector Giulia Marogna, of Gloucestershire Constabulary, who investigated the case with the support of the HSE, described Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings’ approach to health and safety as “cavalier”, and the way it taught and supervised its junior engineers as “inherently dangerous”.

Some commentators have argued that the Act was not designed to prosecute small businesses like Cotswold. However, the case was seen as a test case for the legislation. To secure the conviction,

the prosecution needed to demonstrate that:

• Cotswold’s conduct caused the employee’s death and amounted to a gross breach of a relevant

duty of care owed to the employee (section 1(1)).

• A substantial element of the breach was in the way the organisation’s senior management managed

or organised its activities (section 1(3)).

The successful prosecution of Cotswold demonstrates the importance for businesses to have a

health and safety culture and to ensure that everyone takes responsibility for improving health and

safety.


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Rebranding of Empire HR

Here at Empire HR we have recently launched our new image as part of our rebranding programme to compliment the range of services that we provide. In a brave move, we have decided to drop the HR from the title and will now be marketing ourselves as just Empire. 

The decision to rebrand follows continual growth and expansion for the business in recent years. In the last 18 month we have increased our clientele significantly and have seen a 25% increase in turnover.

The company is now one of the Scotland's leading HR, Employment Law and Health & Safety firms working with a wide range of clients with between 5 to 12,000 employees.

The new branding, name and logo was designed specifically to fully support the wide range of services that Empire has to offer.

Also to coincide with the new branding and image, we have just launched a new interactive website, offering free downloads, networking events and an online discussion board called The Empire Wire.

To find out more or to just simply have a look at the new website please visit http://www.empirehr.com/ or contact them on 01224 701383.

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