Health and safety legislation and regulation

1a. * The drill is not bolted to the floor so if someone when to use the drill it could fall on him or someone else around the drill.

* The chuck safety guard is broken so if someone tries to drill a hard material for example a mild steel the swarf can fly out of the machine and can injure someone close to the machine and also the swarf will be very hot because the material is so hard so if the swarf flies in to someone eye it can damage it.

* If there is no sign to say which switch is for what than the user will not exactly know where the emergency switch is and they won’t know the start button and other setting buttons. If there are no safety warning signs for example wear your goggles or wear mask or any other hazard signs the person who using the machine won’t be aware of the danger or may for get to wear a goggle and can get his eye blind.

* If there are no markings of personal space the person who is using the machine can have a hard time working on that drill because others can come in to his space and disturb him and they may even come and take his tool without knowing they are do so. Also if someone walking behind the person on the drill the person on the drill can turn a around with a sharp tool and can accidently injure the person behind because the person on the machine can’t see the other person.

1b. They have breached the PUWER (Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1992) legislation because the legislation PUWER wants all the employers to do the following,

* Suitable for the intended use safe for use, maintained in a safe condition and, in certain circumstances, inspected to ensure this remains the case;

* Used only by people who have received adequate information, instruction and training; and

* Accompanied by suitable safety measures, eg protective devices, markings, warnings.

Source: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg291.pdf

Health and safety regulation which has been breached are the following

* Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999: require employers to carry out risk assessments, make arrangements to implement necessary measures, appoint competent people and arrange for appropriate information and training.

* Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992: cover a wide range of basic health, safety and welfare issues such as ventilation, heating, lighting, workstations, seating and welfare facilities.

* Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992: require employers to provide appropriate protective clothing and equipment for their employees.

* Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998: require that equipment provided for use at work, including machinery, is safe.

* The Health and Safety Information for Employees Regulations 1989: require employers to display a poster telling employees what they need to know about health and safety.

The points I mentioned above are the regulations which has been breached by the company.

1c. If the company fail to carry out their role and responsibilities

Someone or there employee can get in to an accident or injury or can have a serious injury for example a broken arm or leg which can result in serious prosecution or compensation this does not only effect the company by finance it will also affect the company by the speed of production because there won’t be enough works to do the job on time and they can’t find someone straight away. It will take time to employee a new staff and give training and they need to finish all the rules for example bank check National insurance check.

Also if the company don’t do the role properly the workers won’t be happy which means the workers will produce poor quality of work which will affect the company Reputation because if the company start to produce poor work piece the customers won’t be satisfied because the part won’t last for long.

And if one of the employee take the case to the court it could cost the employee a lot but the company won’t worry lot about the money and they will appoint a better lawyer which means there is a better change of wining the case but even if they win the case they will still get a bad name because the media will tell everyone about the case but if the employee win the case the company has to pay fine and get it reputation damaged or maybe they even have to close down the company permanently and if the case is taken to the court it will take long time to get a the result.

Or if the employee goes to the Health and Safety origination and complain about the company with strong evidence the Health and Safety inspectors will come and inspect the company by surprise. If they find anything breaching the legislation and regulation they will fine the company or they will even close down the company for good.

2. The five steps of risk assessments and importance of carrying out the five steps.

1. Identify the hazards

2. Decide who might be harmed and how

3. Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions

4. Record your findings and implement them

5. Review your risk assessment and update if necessary

It is important to curry out the risk assessment in five step because one of the reason is by doing it this way the person who is doing the risk assessment will find it easier to fill in all the necessary information and he also will not miss out anything important. And by doing it this way the format will automatically matches with the UK standard which means it can be sent it off to the Health and safety executive to report any hazard or danger, which can be used in future if someone got injured by one of the hazard in the risk assessment to claim the compensation.

This risk assessment can also be used by the health and safety executive to calculate the statistics and by doing the statistic they can improve the control measures or they can invent or place a new control measure. This risk assessment is an ongoing process which I mean if you do a risk assessment you need to appoint another date to do the risk assessment again so it is an ongoing process so you need to have a procedure to flow to make everyone job easier and more effective and fast.

3.  The control measure I would put in the first place is a Danger tape and sign or a notice saying that this machine is danger to use or something similar, these control measure will help everyone from using the machine and also it will be very effective because everyone will know the machine is danger to use. And I would put a CCTV so everyone will know that someone is watching the drill so no one will use the drill even if they need it desperately.

I would bolt the drill to the ground so if someone when to use the drill by accident the drill won’t fell off or cause damage or injuries to the people and tools around the drill. If we don’t do this the drill can fell on someone and can cause a major injury to the person this can cost the company by the compensation they have to pay for the employee.

Than I would put a chuck safety guard to make sure even if someone uses the drill they won’t get hit by the flying sworf which can be very hot and if it makes contact with the user eye it can make the person blind and also if there is no chuck safety guard the user finger or his cloth can make contact with the rotating chuck and can injure him very badly.

Than I would put marking and signs around the drill to make sure everyone stays away from the drill when someone is using the drill because if the drill doesn’t have a personal space marked others in the workshop won’t know it is belong to that drill and other will come in to the drill space which cans upset the employee. Also if there are no signs telling the user and other about the rules and other important factors the user can get injured because if there is no sig telling wear your goggles the user may forget to wear a goggle and can get blinded by the hot swarf.

I would also recommend the company to do a risk assessment on the drill every three month and to insure the drill is maintain properly to minimise the accident and the risk caused by the drill I would also recommend the company to give employers a good training to further minimise the risk.