Health and Safety Flashcards
(24 cards)
What are the provisions of the RICS Professional Standard ‘Surveying Safely - Health and safety principles for property professionals’ 2nd Ed. 2018 (effective Feb-19)?
Sets out basic, good practice principals for the management of health and safety for RICS regulated firms / members.
Keys areas of advice:
Regulated firms must…
1. Ensure they provide a safe working environment
2. Safe work equipment & systems
3. Competent staff, that individuals accept responsibility for their own actions, advice on health & well-being, how to address fire safety, and legal considerations and duties.
How is Surveying Safely structured?
- Personal Responsibilities
- Assessing hazards and risks
- Workplace health and safety
- Occupational hygiene and health
- Visiting premises & sites
- Fire Safety
- Residential Property Surveying
- Procurement & Management of Contractors
What are the provisions of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974?
Duty to every employer to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of all employees.
Policed by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as a criminal offence (with fines / imprisonment).
Must report injuries and dangerous occurrences, undertake, record, and review risk assessments.
What is a Methods Statement?
Document detailing the way a work task or process is to be completed and prior approved. It should outline the hazards involved and include a step by step guide on how to do the job safely. Must detail which control measures have been introduced to ensure the safety of anyone who is affected by the task or process.
PPE at Work Regulations 2022?
Employers duty to ensure provision of appropiate PPE for employees and contractors
Fire Safety Act 2021 & Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and its requirements?
Came into effect Jan-23
All residential premises in England and Wales
Requires responsible principle to assess, manage and reduce fire risks posed by structure / external walls
Appraisal: FRAEW (Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls)
This Act amends the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Applies to all premises in England and Wales
* Requirement for FRA which must be regularly updated.
* Requires a responsible person to assess, manage, and reduce the fire risks posed by the structure, external walls & common areas.
* Allows Fire Service to take enforcement against responsible persons who fail to comply.
* Additional requirements for high rise blocks.
* Regular inspections of lifts to be reported to fire and rescue services.
* Ensuring evacuation plans are regularly updated.
* Ensuring residents are provided with suitable fire safety instructions.
* Ensuring flat entrance doors comply with current standards where the external walls have unsafe cladding.
What is Colliers’ Health and Safety policy document?
- Sets out Colliers’ commitments to health and safety
- Colliers’ H&S structure, roles and responsibilities
- Risk assessment
- Planning, implementation of H&S measures
- Refers to Health and Safety at Work 1974
Do you know anything about External Wall Systems?
F&S Act requires that buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises include an assessment of their external wall system in their fire risk assessment.
EWS1 Form - for block of flats, PBSA, HMOs, Senior Living, Mixed Use Blocks
EWS1
* Not designed for hotels
* Enables a qualified professional to confirm that an external wall system on residential buildings has been assessed for safety.
* Valid for 5 years
* Not every building requires
What is considered?
* Height of building
* Type of cladding
* Presence of balconies / combustible material
What is included in a risk assessment?
It’s a legal requirement for organisations employing more than 5 staff to carry out documents H&S risk assessments for all significant hazards, which outlines:
- Identity of hazards present
- Identify people at risk from hazards
- Evaluate the risk, considering the severity of any accidents.
- Record the finding on a suitable form.
- Review risk assessment regularly.
- Advise those affected of the outcome and methods of work / precautions to minimise / eliminate the risk.
What is the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO)?
- Risk assessment with emphasis on fire prevention by a responsible person
- Must have fire precautions in place following risk assessment
- Regular review
- Emergency plans
What is the ‘six pack’ of H&S Regulations 1993?
Clarifies how employers must comply with the H&S at Work Act 1974:
1. Management of H&S at work
2. Display screen equipment
3. Manual Handling Operations.
4. PPE at work
5. Provision and use of work equipment.
6. Workplace health, safety, and welfare.
What is the trigger date for reporting injuries at work?
Reporting Injuries, Diseases, and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013
Trigger date for reporting injuries is over 7 days incapacitation. Must be reported to HSE within 15 days from date of accident.
All employers must keep a record of all 3-day plus injuries.
What does the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 state? What about the 1984 update?
A duty of care on occupiers / landlords extends to all legal visitors, with the 1984 extending the duty of care to include trespassers.
Why would you have Public Liability Insurance?
A copy of the contractor’s all risks and public liability insurance is needed before work is commenced. It protects business owners, covers the cost of legal action and compensation claims made against your business.
What is Asbestos?
Asbestos is an insulating material which can cause serious health problems and fatal diseases. There are three types:
1. Brown (amosite)
2. Blue (crocidolite)
3. White (chrysotile)
Legislation to manage existing asbestos in commercial buildings - The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012:
- Non-compliance is a criminal offence.
- Obligations to the duty holder (owner / tenant) and an employer.
What are the types of asbestos surveys?
- Management Survey:
* To locate, assess, and advise on its management during occupation and use of the premises.
- No sampling or analysis ids undertaken. - Refurbishment / Demolition Survey:
* Required where the premises (or part of) needs upgrading, refurbing, or demolishing
* Samples of materials taken and analysed.
* Recommendations are made regarding management.
What steps should be taken if a building was suspected of containing asbestos?
- The Duty Holder must assess whether the premises contains asbestos. If so, where it is and what condition it’s in. If in doubt, materials are presumed to contain asbestos.
- Assess the risk & produce an asbestos management plan - is encapsulating / removal needed?
- Produce an asbestos register.
- Make the register available to all relevant parties who might disturb it.
- Review the register regularly.
What is the Duty Holder required to do in relation to asbestos?
The Duty Holder must undertake a risk assessment - express obligation to manage the risk and a written plan prepared and implementation & reviews recorded.
All work must be done by a licenced contractor.
Asbestos register must be produced and regularly updated - must contain a ‘priority score’ to triage remediation.
Newly constructed buildings require an architects certificate confirming there is no asbestos present.
What are the penalties relating to asbestos offences?
Health & Safety (Offences) Act 2008 enables fines to a max of £20,000 and possibly 12 months imprisonment. Also enables more serious offences to be tried in higher courts where there is no limit on fines.
Defence - that the person took all reasonable precautions & exercised all due diligence.
What are the statutory obligations of a commercial property owner?
- Asbestos management.
- Contamination.
- Equality Act 2010 compliance.
- EPCs
- Fire Safety
- Health & Safety
- Legionnaires disease
- Occupiers Liability
- PAT testing
- Waste management
What provisions are within the Construction (Design and Management) (CDM) Regulations, 2015?
Criminal offence policed by the HSE to breach CDM regulations.
H&S during the design and management of all commercial building projects which aims to improve the management and coordination of H&S at all stages of a construction project.
Main Duty Holders are the Client, the Principal Designer, and the Principal Contractor.
HSE to be informed if a project lasts longer than 30 construction days with 20+ workers on site, more than 500 ‘person’ days, or involves demolition.
CDM file must be maintained during construction and passed to the building occupier / owner, containing H&S info.
Explain your understanding of the term HSE?
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the UK National Authority for managing work related health, safety, and illness issues.
They act in the public interest to reduce work related injuries and incidents.
Their aim is to protect people’s health and safety by ensuring that risks are properly managed.
Also support businesses to change and adapt to remain compliant with occupational health and safety legislation.
What should you do first if you find an injured person on site?
- Assess the situation first without putting yourself in immediate danger.
- Call the emergency services if serious.
- Raise the alarm and call for help.
What would you do if you needed to inspect but the client could not provide PPE?
Use a ‘real’ example where you’ve gone out and bought PPE, say a hard hat - “Screwfix nearby”
