Workplace safety is essential for maintaining a healthy
and safe working atmosphere. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has strict
guidelines to ensure that proper safety measures are followed.
Health and safety consultants are to deliver training to building owners and managers. Each day, a large
number of people spend time in commercial buildings and owners of those
buildings need to understand that safety arrangements in those premises should
be apt.
People in commercial premises are exposed to risks, which
could be caused by air, Legionella and fire. Improper maintenance of air
conditioning system, fire equipments and water systems could cause severe
injuries and even death. The building manager would be held responsible for
such accidents and may have to undergo prosecution. That’s why, it is important
for them to make sure that the building is free from health and safety risks.
For minimizing risks from fire, Legionella and air
conditioning, health and safety consultants could provide help. These
consultants could guide building owners to install safety measures in
accordance with HSE guidelines, so that risks could be avoided.
Legionella bacteria could colonise the water system if
temperature is between 20°c and 50°c. So, building managers need to make sure that hot water is at or above 50°c and temperature of cold water is at or below 20°c. If temperatures of hot and cold water are above or
below these stipulated levels, then accredited professionals should be called
in for carrying out risk assessment. Those professionals will check hot and
cold sentinel taps, cold storage tank, calorifier and showers and then record
all findings into a logbook. Based on the level of the risk, they may prescribe
some remedial actions.
In order to make fire risk assessment compliant with
procedures, mandated by HSE, workplaces with flammable and non-flammable
substances are surveyed. Commercial buildings without flammable substances are
inspected to identify individuals, prone to risk and whether fire equipments
are installed and fire escape exits are positioned properly. Commercial
premises with flammable substances are inspected to gather fire incident data,
identify key risk parameters and review effectiveness of fire safety guidance.
Air conditioning inspection in commercial buildings must
be done according to TM44, an article by Performance of Buildings Directive or
EPBD. EPB regulations 2007recommend inspections for systems with rated output
of more than 12KW at interval of not over five years. Health and safety
consultants also prescribe looking after energy efficiency, electricity
consumption rate and emission of certain greenhouse gases, while carrying out
air conditioning inspection.
James Bayly is the editor of a renowned risk
management company. James likes to share his knowledge and ideas on security
systems. You can check his latest articles: water quality testing, health and safety consultants etc.
