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Healy Kelly Turner & Townsend -> Services
Health, Safety, Environmental Consultancy
The importance of Health & Safety can never be underestimated
and more recently issues such as Quality Management and
Environmental considerations have developed even greater
importance in all aspects of projects. Our core services
include:
- Health and Safety Consultancy
- Health and Safety Policy Development to OHSAS 18001
or HSW(G) 65
- Access Consultancy
- COSHH Assessment
- Strategy and Policy Development
- Environmental Management System Implementation
- Design and development of Integrated ISO based EHS
Systems
- Health and Safety Audit
- Workplace Health and Safety Inspections
- Fire Risk Assessment
- H&S and SMS Development
- Principal Contractor
- Internal and external EMS Auditing
- Environmental Training and the CIRIA Easy Access Programme
- Sustainability in Construction, Green Procurement and
BREEAM
Consultancy
Our health and safety professionals are drawn from a wide
range of industries enabling our expertise in almost
all sectors
to be well established. The team includes Registered Safety
Practitioners (RSP) and Corporate Members of the Institute
of Occupational Safety and Health (MIOSH). Our services
can be provided on short or long term agreements - several
members of the team are seconded to our clients on a full
time basis for 12 month periods while others require
hourly
rates. The scope of our consultancy services is as wide
as our client base.
Health and Safety Policy
All employers with five or more employees must by law record
their health and safety policy in writing and draw it to
the attention of their employees. We provide assistance
with drafting, reviewing or amending your company health
and safety policy in compliance with the requirements of
the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Health and Safety Management Systems
Effective management is the key to ensuring health and safety
– a fact that has long been recognised by the Health
and Safety Authority. Recent high profile cases have re-emphasised
the cost of failure, millions of euros worth of damage and
irreparable human injury. Our consultants work with our
clients to develop Health and Safety Management Systems
which are specific to that company thereby ensuring the
client retains ownership throughout. “Off the shelf”
products cannot by their nature be as relevant and are more
likely to gather dust in an unused storage cupboard. By
ensuring health, safety and welfare are managed effectively,
our clients can demonstrate compliance with all relevant
aspects of health and safety legislation.
Workplace Health and Safety Assessments and Audits
In addition to assessing the risk from work activities
and management policies, the workplace itself must be
inspected
regularly to ensure any hazards are identified and remedial
action taken. Different working environments pose different
risks and each is assessed with reference to relevant legislation
and guidance – even offices can pose hazards from
faulty electrical equipment, torn carpets or loose
stair
treads for example. In multi occupied buildings the
head lease holder, landlord or managing agent must
ensure
risks are assessed in any common areas under their control.
Our consultants carry out workplace inspections on
behalf
of clients, usually on at least an annual basis, combined
with an audit of essential workplace procedures such
as
the keeping of accident records, statutory inspections
of lifting equipment, COSHH assessments and so on.
The Workplace
Assessment and Audit is therefore an effective management
tool offering re-assurance to the client that their
workplaces
are being maintained in a suitably safe condition.
Health and Safety Training
There are probably very few, if any, pieces of health and
safety legislation that do not specify the need for adequate
information, instruction and training to be given to all
employees at a suitable level of detail. People are often
the greatest accident preventors since we respond instinctively
and adapt quickly to overcome problems. It is therefore
essential that all employers recognise the need to make
sure their employees have the correct information relating
to their working practices, emergency procedures, accident
reporting and general health and safety arrangements. Training
must be adapted to suit the level of seniority in the business.
Directors and Managers are responsible for directing the
actions of others and must therefore be aware that this
can attract additional health and safety responsibilities
as well as liabilities. Courses include:-
- Health and Safety for Senior Executives
Managing Safely
- Working Safely – Health and Safety for Employees
- Health and Safety Induction Training for New Starters
- Risk Assessment in Practice
- Fire Safety Awareness
- Duties of Fire Wardens
- Investigating Accidents/Incidents and Near Misses
- Consultation with Employees – Safety Committees
Explained
- Training the health and Safety Representative in Audit
Technique
- Environmental Management Systems
We offer health and safety training courses which are specific
to the client’s business and targeted to the correct
employee/manager/director audience. Our team of training
consultants are Members of the Institute of Occupational
Safety and Health (MIOSH) and include Registered Safety
Practitioners (RSP).
Risk Assessment
As required by the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act,
Safety, Health & Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations
and other legislation all aspects of work must be subject
to a suitable and sufficient assessment of risk to ensure
the health and safety of employees, non-employees, visitors
and members of public. Our professionally qualified Health
and Safety Consultants will assist you with this often bewildering
but surprisingly straight forward process. We can be involved
as much or as little as the client requires to guide and
direct the completion of comprehensive risk assessments
covering all aspects of the business from the work activities
themselves, to employing young persons, to using mobile
phones.
Audit of Health and Safety Systems
A key feature of successful Health and Safety Management
is the regular review and audit of the system. Even the
best systems can become outdated if work methods, equipment
or standards change. Our consultants carry out systematic,
structured audits of clients’ health and safety management
systems either at a global level or of specific items within
it such as their risk assessment process or the management
of contractors, in order to critically review the effectiveness
and continuing relevance of the process. This will highlight
areas needing improvement in addition to reinforcing the
value of systems that are succeeding thus adding to the
pro-active with recognised guidance from the HSE.
Contractor Assessment and Audits
Outsourcing has become an effective way of maximising resources
and profits for many organisations. However, it is not the
“health and safety liability sump” that is frequently
assumed. A fundamental principle of health and safety law
is that you can delegate duties but you cannot easily delegate
responsibility. Any company that employs the services of
a contractor to carry out work on their behalf (whether
for cleaning, catering, construction or anything else) has
a duty under the law to take reasonable steps to ensure
that person is competent.
Our experience in the construction industry allows our
clients to benefit from an unrivalled level of expertise
in contractor assessment and monitoring. Our services in
this area include:-
- Provision of Pre-Qualification Assessment
Questionnaires
- Vetting of responses
- On site monitoring and feedback to the client
- Audits of contractors’ health and safety management
on client sites
Access Consultancy
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) covers all disabilities,
not just those associated with mobility. The legislation
applies to all employers who will have a duty to provide
reasonable adjustment when a disabled person applies for
a job, is employed or it becomes apparent that an existing
employee requires some form of accommodation adjustment.
The full scope of DDA legislation places duties on all
service providers and further and higher education
establishments
to undertake accessibility audits on their premises and
develop implementation plans which will remove any
physical
barriers associated with their premises which prevent
access to people with disabilities as far as reasonably
practicable.
It is also likely that professional opinion will have to
be sought through the design stage on new and refurbishment
building works. This advice should follow into the construction
and life of the building via Access Statements.
Our team can provide Policy Review, Audits on existing
premises, Design Reviews and Access Statements via our In-House
NRAC and CAE qualified Access Consultants.
COSHH Assessment
All employers must assess the risks to health and safety
posed by the use of hazardous substances at work under the
Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (UK)
and the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Acts/Regulations
(Ireland). Such substances may include toxic, irritant,
harmful or corrosive chemicals, biological agents, carcinogens,
dusts, fumes or vapours. Wherever possible such substances
must be replaced by less hazardous ones. Where this cannot
be achieved, a hierarchy of control measures must be in
place to reduce the risk.
We will carry out these (COSHH) risk assessments and provide
recommendations for suitable control measures where substances
cannot be replaced. In addition our report includes an inventory
of hazardous substances and a management system for regularly
reviewing the assessments to enable ongoing compliance.
Legionellosis Risk Assessment
Legionnaires’ disease in a pneumonia type illness
which can be fatal to susceptible people or if left untreated.
Each year 100-200 cases are reported in England and Wales
but it’s prevalence in Ireland has been minimal. An
outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease can be extremely
damaging to the companies involved in addition to the human
tragedy.
The causative organism is usually Legionella pneumophila
and as a pathogenic bacterium. Employers and those in control
of premises are required to carry out and review legionellosis
risk assessments under UK Health and Safety at Work Regulations
and the recent outbreaks of MRSA, greater appreciation of
Aspergillosis, etc has brought the control of bacteria in
water systems, etc. to the forefront.
Our qualified consultants provide our clients with comprehensive
Legionellosis Risk Assessments, etc. encompassing all relevant
building water systems, etc. independent of any water treatment
or engineering contractors. Our report gives clear guidelines
on how to manage any at risk systems effectively to minimise
the risk of bacterial growth.
The assessments include all relevant systems such as:-
- Domestic water services including
storage tanks and calorifiers
- Cooling towers
- Evaporative condensers
- Humidification systems
- Showers
- Whirlpools/spa pools
- Industrial water systems
Any samples taken are analysed by independent accredited
laboratories ensuring impartial and independent results.
Our assessments include a review of current system management
regimes to assist clients in ensuring they are appropriate
and effective.
Environmental Consultancy
Managing the impact your business has on the environment
is no longer an option, but a legal, moral and economic
imperative. A growing number of companies now regard this
requirement not as an additional burden, but as an opportunity
to involve their staff, supply chain and customers in a
commitment to sustainable development (SD), responsible
environmental management and cutting and reducing environmental
and operating costs.
UK Government has progressively increased business costs
associated with poor environmental performance to encourage
and reward responsible performance. For example, the climate
change levy that came into effect in April 2001 is a 15%
tax on energy use. Most organisations are unaware that
it
takes 300kg of coal to provide the electricity to light
each 100w light bulb 24/7 for a year. If we did, more of
us would practice energy efficiency.
It is also likely that similar measures will be introduced
in Ireland and preliminary investigations of the possibility
of imposing a Carbon Tax, for example, are currently underway.
In addition, in order to address the growing waste disposal
and landfill crisis, the cost of waste disposal has risen
dramatically and is set to continue to rise for the foreseeable
future. This has and will continue to have a significant
financial impact onto all businesses, particularly those
that directly take their waste to the local landfill or
use contracted skips to do the job.
We have assisted and supported numerous clients in developing,
implementing and monitoring SD and environmental management
system; the following sections detail our best practice
approach.
EMS and ISO 14001
ISO 14001 is the international specification for Environmental
Management Systems (EMS). The specification details the
minimum requirements for a verifiable EMS. ISO 14001 is
designed to be integrated with the ISO 9000:2000 Quality
and OHSAS 18001 Health and Safety Management Systems as
they are based on the same set of management principles.
There are three broad phases in the HKTT approach to the
design and development of an EMS.
- the identification of an organisation’s key cost,
compliance and reputation related environmental risks
and issues
- the development and implementation of procedures and
works instructions to manage the main issues, and
- the binding together of procedures into a business
focused, simple and useful management system
HKTT focuses on EMS implementation and training. From experience,
we have shown that development and implementation of an
EMS is not a technological intervention. ISO 14001 is a
business and human resources intervention to improve environmental
and overall business performance. Effective implementation
is based around employee retraining related to the organisation’s
cost and environmental risks and opportunities.
Environmental Inspections and Audits
HKTT prefers a risk based hands-on approach to environmental
monitoring and auditing. We help clients develop personnel
to be competent and confident in undertaking multi-disciplinary
inspections and audits. Typically monitoring is broken down
into:-
- Frequent tours by Senior Management to demonstrate
EHS commitment
- Periodic inspections by Supervisors and Line Management
to assure conformance
and compliance
- Scheduled audits by parties independent of the site
operations to assess
management system effectiveness and performance
- The structured and tiered approach has proven effective
in both identifying strategic and operational issues
and
involving management personnel in a representative
sample of day to day operations.
Our other sustainable development and environmental management
services include:-
- Strategy and Policy Development
- BREEAM Strategies
- Waste, Energy and Resource Audits
- Executive briefings on current and forthcoming environmental
legislation
- Environmental Procedure and Works Instruction Development
- Internal Procedure Writing Course
- Environmental Inspections and EMS Auditor Training
- Staff Awareness Training
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