Vikram Kumar asked:


No one really wants to work or be with a place that is hazardous to the health. Employees and clients alike would truly shun away from places that puts their health and safety at risk.  There are working environment that are obviously hazardous for the employees such as building and construction business. Others do not reveal an obvious hazard. Only when someone gets sick or meets accidents, does the company or business realize that it was having unsafe set-up or environment. It is then important that at the start of business operation, companies need to contact health and safety consultant. This way, the company can employ healthy and safe measures for the employee, even before accidents or sickness occurs. 

 

When the employees of the company are open to health and safety risk, it puts the company to the disadvantage. There are many reasons why.

 



First, employees tend to be absent because of sickness. This means less time to work or function in the workplace. The tendency is the work will pile up, or the expectation of the company will not be met because of inefficiency. For this reason, employees should be find health and safety consultancy.

Second, employees will have the tendency to leave the employment. Let’s face it, no one wants to get sick or be exposed to hazards. If employees find a better work with safer environment or tasks that will be less hazardous to their health, then by all means they will leave the company. When this happens, companies will be faced with more hiring and trainings of new employees. This will surely be costly. Plus, the workload will pile up. Sometimes, work will not be continuous. This is another good reason why companies should find health and safety consultant.

Third, companies that expose employees to health and safety risks will not get effective and efficient employees. The company will just be wasting money for salaries and wages with employees that are less motivated. Even if they are really motivated because of some promised rewards, they might not be able to function well because of health reason. Again, company should know the measures for healthy and safe environment, a reason for health and safety consultancy.

Fourth, because of fewer workers or unsatisfied employees, the company will fall behind competitors. If competitors of the particular company employ health and safety to employees, workers would want to get hired with that company. Even the most competent and qualified employees would most likely transfer. This would mean being left with incompetent employees. Eventually, this would lead to unsuccessful business operations.



 

When a company realizes these disadvantages for unhealthy and unsafe environment, it will surely look for health and safety consultant. Fortunately, there are many companies the provide health and safety consultancy. One of which is Proactive Health & Safety. This company caters to different business sectors. They are tasked to evaluate, assess, suggest, and create measures for the businesses to employ healthy and safe environment.

 

The Proactive Health & Safety start with an appointment. Then from there businesses can go all the way to employing the result of the health and safety consultancy. This is how simple the health and safety consultancy work. For the business, all it takes is the trust on the reliability of Proactive and they will get rid of all the disadvantages of having hazardous working environment.



Zachary

amy m asked:


i have tried and tried to start a fire in my fire place using real wood can anyone give me some good tips in starting a fire in my fire place with real wood. could there be something wrong with the wood i got it at a corner shop it was choped down pine.

Marcia

Deborah H asked:


I just bought my husband a fire-bowl type of fire pit for our anniversary (7th=copper). I would like detailed instructions on how to best build a fire. I don’t want to use a duraflame log, since they are not for cooking on. We would like to toast marshmallows on it.

Emily

Maria asked:


I am in Los Angeles California and the City of Los Angeles requires that we put a Fire Separation Wall in the room that we have a 100 gallon water heater for a 15 unit apartment. I dont know what that is. I am assuming its a type of drywall or a paint or something that goes on the drywall that will stop a fire if any from burning fast. If anyone knows what it is and where I can get it. Thanks.

Norma

Kerry Jones asked:


A guide through the Health and Safety Passports Maze

“I need to see your safety passport before you can come on site.” Literally hundreds of thousands of people hear that phrase or something like it everyday in the UK and yet Safety Passports can seem like a black art to some. What are they? Where do I get one and most importantly which one do I get? They are the dilemmas that most people are faced with.

Well, let me see if I can demystify the Health and Safety Passports industry a little for you!

In the UK there are three main players, each having issued over six figures worth of Safety Passports to individual contractors.



The Client Contractor National Safety Group – CCNSG (also known as SCATS

The Construction Skills Certification Scheme - CSCS Card

The Safety Pass Alliance (SPA) – (also known as the Epic card, the UKPIA card, the Food card and The Passport to Safety



So do I need more than one passport?

The problem is that it is down to the Client as to which particular passport scheme they implement on their site. Some passports can be interchangeable with a client like the CCNSG and SPA, the one that is least interchangeable is the CSCS card, but it is always worth checking with the client first.

CCNSG

The CCNSG which was the original safety passport of them all tends to be used most in the Power Generation Industries, the steel, oil, gas, and chemicals industries. It is a generic scheme, which is not industry specific and is therefore open to clients outside of the engineering construction industry.

The Passport is obtained after taking two days basic generic health and safety training and passing a multi choice test.

CSCS Card

The CSCS card is primarily used in the construction industry.  - There is no required training.

To obtain a CSCS card workers are required to have completed a 45-minute multiple-choice test on health and safety in construction. It is a screen-based test and there are a maximum of 40 questions to answer. Workers can choose to attend a construction health and safety awareness course beforehand.

SPA Passport

SPA (Safety Pass Alliance), have a modular passport which has been developed with numerous industry sectors, including Food & Drink, Quarry, Petrol Retail, General Manufacturing, Building Maintenance, Pharma, Construction, Ports, Logistics, Landfill and others.

The passport is usually two days training. The first day is “The Core Day” which provides generic Health & Safety training.  The second day is an industry specific day that addresses the particular safety needs of that sector.  A delegates understanding is assessed by multiple choice.

So what is the Passport?

As evidence that the contractors have successfully completed the training, contractors are generally issued with a “plasticised” photographic pass. This enables the client to restrict entry to those who can prove they have undergone the training by producing their individual passport on site arrival.

One other question I get asked all the time is - So do they work ?

It has always been difficult to quantify the results of implementing a Safety Passport scheme on site, but over the past couple of years the SPA have been publishing results from clients. The full articles can be found on the SPA website but here are a few snippets from articles below:

The introduction of the safety passport at Nestle UK was part of a review and tightening of all our own contractor management safety procedures. This has resulted in a reduction of contractor accident statistics by 68 per cent over the last two years.

Metronet using the SPA Underground Railway Passport as part of the Health and Safety Initiative led to a 75 per cent reduction in accident statistics in only 18 months.

Leicester City Council - The first local authority in England to introduce the SPA Building Maintenance safety passport scheme for its housing maintenance operatives has seen a 32 per cent drop in its accident rates in the last three years.

So there we have it, we train literally thousands of contractors a year and I hope that I have managed to clear up some of the common questions that we get asked by those people every day of the week.



Kristen

Animal Master asked:


What is the breeding weather for fire bellied toads. Is it hot and rainy, cold and wet, hot and dry. I am trying to breed my amphibians and I heard that they have special weather conditions like if they breed in the summer spring what is the weather like.

Vernon

piink318 asked:


What mechanics are inside a fire extinguisher, how do they work to release water or foam or any type of agent to smother or put out a fire? Inside the fire extinguisher, is water already in there? Is foam already in there? Do you have to refill a fire extinguisher with water or foam? Can you run out of water or foam while trying to put out a fire?

Erik

kiera asked:


I heard that the fire departments pays (a lot of money) to burn down your house for practice. Is this true?

Dustin

Lylaj asked:


No doubt! Pets are man’s best friend. But are we also our pet’s Friend let alone Best Friends. “Pet Dogs getting run over by Motorists” is not the news even media is willing to publish. Generally its not that motorists run over dogs or other animals willingly. It’s just that dogs or cats are hard to spot on the roads especially when vehicles are running at high speeds.

Obviously keeping pets in home always is not the solution. So how do we ensure our Pet’s Safety? The easiest and most logical way is to make your pet ‘Visible’ to the motorist or even to you if it wanders off.

What you need is a Safety Light for your pet. Pet Safety Light works on the same principle of making your dog ‘Easier to Spot’. Pet safety lights are bright flashing LED safety lights. These lights when attached to the leash, collar or harness of your pet, would make your pet safe.

Pet safety lights come in bright flashing colors of blue/ white, jade/yellow, orange/ blue, pink/ jade, red/white and red/white/blue. So now you can not only ensure your pet safety but can also choose the color you like or your ‘pet’ likes. You can also make personalized dog collars out of these lights.

Pet safety lights are water proof so it may be worn by pet even while taking a bath or even when he is out in rain. So no fear of damaging the lights even when you forget to take them off. These lights are made of to be sturdy and can absorb damage so as to be your pet’s companion where ever it wanders off.

Pet Safety Lights are visible from about ½ a mile of distance. This ensures better chances of your pet being spotted by the motorists at night. This also increases chances of your pet being spotted when lost.

Pet Safety Lights are effective and affordable. These pet safety lights provide an easy solution to keep your pets safe while not burning a hole in your pocket.

For more details on personal safety / pet safety products please contact:

http://www.lylaj.com/



Leon

Nicole Matthews asked:


1. Policies Just Aren’t Enough

It isn’t enough to have written policies if you let them sit in a folder until it’s time to review them. Policies are the foundations on which your entire safety sits so:

They must be visible.

Easily accessible and.

Staff need to be trained to use them.

Just because your policies cover all legislative requirements, doesn’t give you protection from prosecution in the event of an accident.

You need to prove that you’ve done everything possible to:

Remove the risk.

Substitute another product if possible.

Safety guards etc in place to protect people.

Administrative controls – procedures to keep people safe.

Issued Personal Protective equipment.

2. History Doesn’t Repeat

Just because you haven’t had an accident doesn’t mean you are running a safe workplace.

It actually could put you at greater risk of having an accident due to management or worker complacency. Unless you are actively looking for unsafe situations or problems you won’t find them. And if you don’t find them someone will.

Possibly with tragic consequences.

3. Making Money With Safety

Making money with safety might seem like a strange concept but if you think about it for a while it isn’t.

Think about the costs involved with:

Retraining of staff due to high turnover.

Insurance premium increases due to safety issues.

Decrease in productivity because workers are worried.

It will cost to put a safety system in place but the long term benefits are huge.

4. Healthy Workplace = Happy Workers

Ensuring a safe workplace makes your people feel valued. And employees that feel valued are more likely to stay with the company and want the company to succeed.

Bad employees will tend to leave of their own choice because they won’t fit with your company. Your company will gain a reputation for being a great place to work and you’ll find good employees easily.

So staff turnover decreases and productivity increases which equals increased profits.

5. Accidents Don’t Just Happen

Despite what we have all come to believe accidents don’t just happen. Accidents happen because of things like:

Complacency.

Inaction.

Poor performances in safety programmes.

Lack of training, reporting or listening.

By avoiding trigger factors for accidents we can easily build a workplace that is safe. A commitment to safety first by management will lead to a commitment to safety first by staff.

And only by total commitment will safety be achieved.

6. Show, Don’t Tell

Safety systems have to be clearly understood by all the people using them. From the general manager to the newest apprentice, safety must be clearly understood.

Having policies and procedures that are not clearly understood is a waste of time and money.

The best way to impart the knowledge is with posters, charts and diagrams. Print them off, laminate them and place them in all work areas as well as places like the meal room. Having them displayed prominently instead of sitting in a folder on a shelf will have the effect of keeping the safety culture in your workplace alive which keeps your workers alive.

7. Analysts Help

You’ve done everything right. You’ve got OH&S committees, you do safety inspections, you listen to your employees when they mention safety issues, so you don’t need an external analyst do you?

WRONG.

Having an analyst come in is the same as going to your accountant. A safety analyst specializes in safety. They are able to see things from a different perspective and seeing things through a different perspective is good for your business.

Another benefit of having an analyst is they keep current on all legislative changes. An analyst is amongst the first to know what changes have taken place at a state and federal level. They are able to explain exactly what they mean to your business or industry.

Just like an accountant keeps on top of financial matters a safety analyst keeps on top of safety matters, leaving you free to run your business.



Samuel