Health & Safety Update | January 2019
A new year and an opportunity to make your new year’s resolution to review health and safety in your workplace and to make your farm or estate a safer place to work.
Welcome to Strutt & Parker’s Farm Research Group Health & Safety Update. The quarterly Health & Safety Update is to assist you in ensuring that you are thinking about topical health and safety matters on your farm and/or estate. Health and safety is a vital part of any business operation.
A new year and an opportunity to make your new year’s resolution to review health and safety in your workplace and to make your farm or estate a safer place to work. Take the winter months as an opportunity to talk to your team and find out if they have any health and safety concerns and to enrol them onto appropriate training or refresher courses to ensure you are compliant with your legal obligations.
For further assistance or information on the issues discussed below, please call your nearest Strutt & Parker office.
Abrasive wheels
The use of cutting and grinding discs is commonplace on farms and estates. They have the potential to be a very dangerous piece of equipment, as such abrasive wheels are considered to carry such risk that they warrant their own training course, and yet frequently farm and estate workers are not trained to use them.
Inappropriate selection of a cutting or grinding disc for a given task presents a serious hazard to the operator and others as the risk of disc shatter is greatly increased. Discs are designed specifically for cutting or grinding, not both, and where cutting discs are used they should be selected for either stone or metal as required. Cutting discs should never be used for grinding or vice versa, no matter how small the task.
Machines and discs should be checked for defects and damage prior to every use, failure to do so presents a hazard to both operator and others. Where abrasive wheels are being used, ensure that all guards are in place and functioning correctly. Be aware of the direction that debris is being ejected and others working in close proximity. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) should be worn which should include gloves, eye protection and ear protection, if others are working in very close proximity they should also be wearing appropriate PPE. Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) may be caused by the vibration from the operation of grinding and cutting machines over prolonged periods so regular breaks from the machine should be taken.
In this edition, we also cover:
- Battery charging
- Private water supplies
- Machinery guards
- Near miss recording
- Welding
- Preventing falls
