The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires Employers to undertake "suitable and sufficient" Risk Assessments of their operations to quantify the risk to Employees and other people affected by the operations (such as Employees, Contractors, Visitors, General Public etc.).

MD Safety Management undertakes Risk Assessments by a number of methods including observation, digital recording, interviews and a review of existing documentation.

In producing Risk Assessments MD Safety Management follows the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) 5 Steps to Risk Assessment methodology:

• Identification of Hazards.
• Identification of persons at risk.
• Evaluation of Risks arising from Hazards (using a 5 x 5 matrix).
• Recording of Assessment findings.
• Monitoring and Review of Assessment.

Risk Assessments can be generic in their nature or specific to a particular site or operation depending on Client requirements.  Increasingly owners (or controllers) of premises require more detailed information and assessments relating to any work undertaken on their sites.  This is increasing the burden on our Clients.  Therefore, we have also developed a custom-designed template to allow our Clients to create Specific Risk Assessments.  This approach allows those hazards specific to a particular site that our Clients are working on to be identified and assessed to ensure that suitable information is presented.

The Risk Assessments will help to:

• Identify control measures to reduce the level of risk associated with tasks.
• Provide information to Employees relating to the risks that are presented to them and the risk control systems in place to protect them.
• Demonstrate to Clients that risks are controlled in such a way that contributes to a Safe System of Work (SSoW).
• Demonstrate to Enforcing Authorities (e.g. Health and Safety Executive (HSE), etc.), the Company's commitment to ensuring compliance with Health and Safety Legislation.

Get in touch for a no obligation consultation to discuss your specific requirement for operations Risk Assessments.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires Fire Risk Assessments of premises to be undertaken.

MD Safety Management undertakes detailed Fire Risk Assessments to comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the "relevant Statutory provisions" within the meaning of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

Assessments involve a premises inspection to include:

• Identification of the Responsible Person (the person who has control of or a degree of control of the premises).
• Identification of existing and potential Fire Hazards.
• In the event of a fire decide who (e.g. Employees, Tenants, Visitors, etc.) might be in danger (the latter relates to the workplace and escape routes).
• Evaluate the risks arising from the Hazard and judge whether existing fire precautions are adequate or need to be improved.
• Record the process and the resulting "Requirements" (e.g. Assessment Report).

The Fire Risk Assessment will:

• Identify the fire hazards from the premises and processes.
• Identify the existing fire precautions.
• Identify requirements for training and risk control (via an Action Plan document).
• Provide information to Employees relating to emergency escape.
• Assist in avoiding costly business interruption as a result of a fire.
• Demonstrate to relevant Authorities (e.g. Fire and Rescue Service, Building Control) the approach to effective Fire Risk Management.
• Demonstrate the Company commitment to ensuring compliance with Health and Safety Legislation.

Get in touch for a no obligation consultation to discuss your specific requirement for Fire Risk Assessments.

The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) requires Employers to assess the risks from the use of Hazardous Substances from their operations.

It is important to ensure that Substances used by the Company do not present unacceptable risks to Employees and to identify reasonable methods by which unavoidable exposures can be controlled.

MD Safety Management undertakes COSHH Assessments following the following procedure:

• Gathering information about the Substances, the work and the associated working practices.
• Evaluating the risks to health.
• Preventing or controlling exposure.
• Recording the Assessment.
• Reviewing the Assessment (where necessary).

In conjunction with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) publication EH40 - Workplace Exposure Limits, the MD Safety Management library and each Substance's Materials Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), we review and produces the necessary "suitable and sufficient" Assessments for those Substances used.

Initially MD Safety Management ensures that current copies of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for ALL Substances are obtained.  We then liaise with Clients to ensure the creation of an inventory of Hazardous Substances believed to be in use prior to undertaking the Assessments.

The process also includes an assessment of the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) currently issued to Employees in an attempt to control levels of risk presented although the first priority is to eliminate the use of Substances where possible or to reduce the volumes used.

The COSHH Assessments will help to:

• Eliminate or reduce the volume of substances in use.
• Identify control measures for working with Hazardous Substances.
• Identify requirements for emergencies and accidental exposures and spillages.
• Provide information to Employees relating to the Substances they are expected to use.
• Demonstrate to Clients that Substances brought on to their premises are being controlled and used in a way that contributes to a Safe System of Work (SSoW).
• Demonstrate to Enforcing Authorities (e.g. Health and Safety Executive (HSE), etc.), the Company's commitment to ensuring compliance with Health and Safety Legislation.

Get in touch for a no obligation consultation to discuss your specific requirement for COSHH Assessments.

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 require Employers to assess hazardous lifting operations for Employees.  These are those activities where Employees are at risk of significant injury from Manual Handling.

We assist Clients in meeting the requirements of the Regulations by undertaking relevant assessments.

We assess the risk of injury to Employees during those moving and handling operations that cannot reasonably be avoided.   Recommendations are then given to reduce the risk as far as is reasonably practicable.

MD Safety Management uses the "TILE" principal in approaching the assessment process.  This makes an evaluation of the:

• Task (moving and handling).
• Individuals involved (Employees).
• Load.
• Environment.

The Manual Handling Assessments will:

• Identify control measures for hazardous lifting and carrying activities.
• Identify requirements for training and risk control.
• Provide information to Employees relating to the lifting and carrying tasks they undertake.
• Assist in avoiding costly accidents and instances of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD).
• Demonstrate to Enforcing Authorities (e.g. Health and Safety Executive (HSE), etc.), the Company's commitment to ensuring compliance with Health and Safety Legislation.

Get in touch for a no obligation consultation to discuss your specific requirement for Manual Handling Assessments.

The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 require Assessments of workstations to be undertaken to ensure that ergonomic and other hazards are not presented to Employees.

MD Safety Management provides a service to:

• Identify "Users" of Display Screen Equipment (DSE) (sometimes referred to as Visual Display Units (VDUs)).
• Undertake the specific Assessments.
• Report on the Assessment process.
• Propose actions to reduce identified issues.

In undertaking the process, we gather data relating to the workstations, the people using them and the environment in which they are used.  This is achieved using a combination of questionnaires, interviews and observation. 

The resulting assessments identify any possible solutions to any identified particular problems.  This is then presented in a detailed DSE Assessment Report.

Where possible the Assessments are also accompanied by annotated plans of the premises and the workstations.

The DSE Assessments will help to:

• Identify control measures for working with Display Screen Equipment (DSE).
• Provide information to Employees relating to the workstations they use.
• Avoid adverse health and postural effects from poor ergonomics and workstation layout.
• Demonstrate to Enforcing Authorities the Company's commitment to ensuring compliance with Health and Safety Legislation.

Get in touch for a no obligation consultation to discuss your specific requirement for DSE Assessments.