Unit 23 - Task 2 - Health and Safety

COSHH

COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations) was put in place to ensure companies comply with the regulations and where necessary, they take action. Employers are supposed to do the following:

• Check whether chemical substances could be dangerous and pose a risk to health and see what could be done to control it. For example, labels on containers etc.
• Enforce the rules they create, making sure employees abide by them.
• Be sure the rules do their job and work properly.
• Make sure employees are aware of any risks to their health and are well informed.
• Give the employees proper training, so they can deal with any issues.

Provisions and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER)

PUWER was put in place to ensure companies comply with the regulations in regard to work equipment. Meaning companies have to make sure equipment is safe to use, whether they own it or not. They have to do the following things:

• Make sure equipment is suitable for use.
• Make sure equipment is safe to use, maintained properly and is inspected to check whether it's installed correctly and doesn't deteriorate.
• Make sure equipment is only used by people with the correct training, information and instruction.
• Make sure equipment comes with suitable health and safety measures. This means it should come with the right protective gear and controls, ranging from emergency stops to proper isolation and protection from sources of energy. They also need to ensure things are clearly marked and warning devices are in place.
• Make sure equipment is used according to specific requirements. This counts for mobile work equipment and power presses. They have another set of health and safety legislation in addition to PUWER that they have to comply with. An example would be lifting equipment with its LOLER regulations.

Display Screen Equipment

People working with a VDU (Visual Display Unit) have to take care that there are no risks attached. VDU, VDT, Monitor and DSE all mean the same thing: A display screen.

VDUs are often wrongly accused for causing a wide range of health problems to its users. However, these problems can often be avoided by designing your workplace and job the right way and using your workstation and VDU correctly.

Aches are often caused by screenglare, poor image quality, the need for different spectacles, stress from the pace of work, anxiety about new technology, not taking regular breaks, poor posture or a combination of any of these.

Employers should analyse the workstations. Assess the risks and reduce the risks. They're supposed to look at the full workstation. This includes the equipment, furniture and the work environment. They should also look at the work that's being done and make sure each individual staff member's special needs are fulfilled.

Employees can look at making sure they're comfortable, meaning the position of their chair is right, the position of their screen is right etc. They need to make sure the equipment they use is right for them, such as the mouse and keyboard, and make sure they're in the correct position for them.

Risk Assessments

Risk assessments make people think about what risks are attached to, for example, a photo shoot. They can then do their best to prevent them or minimise them. Risk assessments follow the following basic principles:

1. Identify risks.
2. Decide who might be harmed.
3. Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions.
4. Record findings and implement precautions.
5. Review the assessment and update if necessary.

Here are my risk assessments for 3 past briefs.

Risk Assessment #1 - Exterior Brief

Assessment #2 - Studio Brief

Assessment #3 - Interior Brief