Sunday, August 15, 2010

Health and Safety in the Office Environment

Ensuring that employees do not injure themselves at work is something which is prioritized by all businesses in modern times. Is it because the owners of the businesses deeply and genuinely care about the welfare of their employees? Perhaps it is more likely that business owners are concerned that a less than intelligent employee will injure themselves and then sue the company.

This growing fear that employees might injure themselves at work has cause health and safety to take priority in all working environments and has arguably created some outrageous health and safety rules.

One such example of an outrageous rule is how in certain offices across the UK workers are told not to move office chairs if they are found in the wrong position. In this case if someone breaks the rule and moves your chair to the other side of the room you should not move it back to your desk.

More outlandish rules are being applied in some schools across the UK such as students wearing goggles when handling blue tack and teachers being given a five page booklet about the dangers of Pritt-stick.

Ridiculous rules such as these have turned health and safety into somewhat of a joke, however some aspects of the practice are very important as hundreds of potentially serious accidents are avoided every year by following simple health and safety rules.

The primary safety hazard in any office is fire. Proper fire safety protocol and fire exits are standard in all offices whether it is Office Space Bracknell, office space Cardiff or Office Space Oxford.

All offices across the UK must have the correct regulations in place so that if a fire does ignite in the office building all staff members know how to react and will be safe. In the rather rare case of a fire breaking out in an office building following correct procedure can save lives

Another less dramatic hazard in the office working environment is the common trip hazard. Trip hazards account for a large amount of injuries that occur in office environments across the UK and also account for a large number of compensation claims taken out against companies.

There are several items which are classed as trip hazards from wires running along the ground to uneven stairwells. It is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that employees are aware of trip hazards and that all hazards are fix as quickly as possible.

Whilst health and safety in offices may seem trivial to some there are hundreds of hazards in which employees need to be made aware of. Fire safety and trip hazard awareness are just two of the simple ways in which accident and injury can be avoided. Health and safety does not need to become ridiculous as it has in some cases, it just needs to be managed properly.

By : Nikki_Maidment

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