Health & Safety Policy

Ensure that health and safety policy are complied with always
Ensure that Health and Safety is discussed at management meetings and that duty managers are provided with appropriate training and undertake their duties as required.
Ensure that all accidents, dangerous occurrences, diseases, near misses and property damage are reported and that their cause is investigated and that all reasonably practical steps have been taken to prevent its re-occurrence.
Ensure the maintenance and repair of machinery, plant and equipment is carried out as appropriate, by a competent person.
Ensure that adequate First Aid provisions are made and sufficient staff members are trained to administer First Aid.
Ensure that all employees including new employees receive adequate health and safety information, instruction and training to enable them to work without undue risk.
Be available to any member of staff to discuss and attempt to resolve the health and safety issues not resolved through established arrangements.
Ensure that where required, staff are provided with and use protective clothing and safety equipment, which must be properly maintained and reviewed when required.
Ensure effective arrangements are in force to facilitate the evacuation of buildings in case of fire or other emergencies and that firefighting equipment is readily available and properly maintained.

The Management Team shall:

Ensure that the Health and Safety policy is complied with and shall report deficiencies to the Health and Safety Lead.
Ensure an annual health and safety inspection of the work area is undertaken and submit a written report to the Health and Safety Lead.
Undertake where practicable, or ensure appropriately trained individuals undertake risk assessments in accordance with the management guidelines.

Training

All new employees shall be provided with induction training appropriate to their health and safety needs.
In the case of volunteers or placement support, it will be the responsibility of the departmental manager to ensure that appropriate information is passed on to them.
All employees, volunteers and placements shall, on their first day of employment be informed of what to do in the event of fire and what first aid arrangements are in place.
Refresher training and training in new areas of responsibility will be arranged for members of staff, either at their own request or at the direction of the Health and Safety Lead.
Training of Health and Safety issues will be provided. Staff will be given full access to the information on health and safety, which they have a right to under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974

Emergency Procedures

All staff, volunteers, placements and learners are to be informed of emergency procedures and the evacuation drill during their College induction.
The fire alarm shall be tested weekly and those staff not hearing the alarm shall report the fact to the duty manager. The fire alarm shall be tested once a week as follows:

Day: Tuesday Time: 10.00 am Duration: 2 minutes

The fire evacuation drill shall be carried out once every 6 months as instructed by the Health and Safety Lead.
Staff are required to report defects or missing firefighting equipment to the Health and Safety Lead immediately.
Fire exits, route and firefighting equipment shall not be obstructed at any time.

A list of trained first aides and the location of first aid boxes will be posted throughout the College.
A nominated staff member responsible for first aid shall ensure that the contents of the first aid boxes are replenished as necessary and comply with the contents laid down within the regulations.
All first aides and staff shall ensure that accidents are reported as outlined below and that the staff member responsible for first aid is informed if items from the first aid box are used
Accidents and Health Reporting
All staff are required to ensure that all accidents are reported and entered in the accident book which is kept in reception. Incidents and near misses are reported to reception, who should then ensure that serious incidents are reported to the Health and Safety Lead to ensure appropriate action is taken.

The Health and Safety Lead will ensure that where practicable testing, inspection and maintenance of equipment as required. Portable electrical appliance tests will be carried out every three years by trained staff or external contractors
Day to day inspection of all equipment to detect visible signs of damage, obvious faults or deterioration rests with the user. Equipment found to be serviceable, or of doubtful serviceability shall be taken out of service, adequately labelled, locked away and the defect reported to the Health and Safety Lead who will arrange for repair, replacement or disposal.
The Management Team will ensure that all electrical equipment brought into the establishment/team from other sources, e.g. on loan, or during a letting, shall have the appropriate test certificate and is formally visually inspected in accordance with the Electrical Safety Management Guidelines.
A member of staff who may disturb the fabric of the building shall refer to the log book before commencing work.

Work station assessments will be made on a regular basis. Learners with a medical condition i.e. epilepsy will be risk assessed.
Manual Handling
All staff shall undertake manual handling tasks in according with training and the manual handling assessments.

The Designated Manager shall ensure that the management guidelines regarding contractors are adhered to at all times.

All staff must ensure that their areas of responsibility are checked frequently and record any health and safety hazards present. Once a hazard has been identified they are required to ensure that the risk of injury is eliminated or reduced to an acceptable level.
The Health and Safety Lead should be advised of any hazard/issue on the appropriate forms obtained from Reception /HR.
In addition, all staff have a health and safety responsibility to ensure that they are safe in what they are doing and their actions/activities do not cause harm/injury to others.
Accordingly, all staff shall ensure that they comply with the College’s Health and Safety Policy, training or instructions.