The main Act & the Regulations require you, the Employer, to provide a safe place of work. The workplace therefore must be accident and injury free and without risk to health to your Employees.

 

The goal of Ergonomics is to provide maximum productivity with minimal cost. Ergonomics is essentially the adaptation of the workplace to “fit” the person. In the assessment of workstations the following areas are addressed :

 

The Person

VDUs

Desk / Chair

Peripheral equipment

Environment.

 

Assessments involve setting up the workstation to suit the User to ensure he / she does not suffer any injury while carrying out their duties at their specific work location. Some of the injuries which can occur are Back Pain, Neck Pain, Eye Strain, Repetitive Wrist Injury, Headaches & Tiredness etc…

 

 

YOUR RESPONSIBILITY

Ergonomics is not just an “office” thing. Ergonomics also comes into play where your Employees are involved in Manual Handling of Loads, repetitive work and / or conveyor type work where the back and trunk might be involved. These injuries could cost you money & time where the Employee goes “sick”, quality of work is affected, quantity of work is affected, Employees may consider taking you before the Employment Appeals Tribunal for possibly, “constructive dismissal” or serious injury.

 

Staff Manuals – Health & Safety

 

Under Employment Legislation you are obliged to provide a written Contract of Employment including Terms and Conditions to each of your Employees. In many cases this takes the form of a booklet.

 

Under Health & Safety Legislation you are obliged, under Section 20 of the Act to bring the Safety Statement to the attention of your Employees. This should be done at least annually or when it is amended. This can be time consuming and difficult to undertake. While it can be done over time, why not consider a Staff Manual on Health & Safety ? Such a manual would not replace the Safety Statement but would supplement it and bring the main contents to the immediate attention of your Employees.

 

Contracts of Employment.

 

Q-West Consultants Ltd can write your Employee Contract of Employment for you including your legal requirements, your expressed and implicit terms and conditions.

 

CV Vetting.

 

When you are taking on new Staff / Employees do you ever check their CVs ? You would be surprised at inaccuracies that are included in the Applicants desire to succeed.

 

Occupational First Aid.

 

The immediate treatment of the victim of an accident in your workplace could save lives and prevent the results of an accident getting more serious while waiting for an Ambulance, Doctor or Nurse. Having somebody among your Staff / Employees with the ability and expertise to take control in an emergency would further enable you to comply with your responsibilities under the Safety, Health & Welfare at Work ( General Application ) Regulations 2007 – First Aid Section 165.

 

First Aid Courses can be provided in-house and can take the form of :

 

Basic First Aid.

Occupational First Aid.

Emergency First Aid.