Our Offices will be closing on Friday 15th December for the Christmas / New Year Break. We will be re-opening again on Tuesday 2nd January.
If you need to contact us urgently, please call 078 9466 3565, leave a message and we will return your call.
HMRC take a break from catching tax dodgers to dodge fires!!
HB Safety spent the day with HMRC RFTU Unit yesterday equipping Staff with the skills to fight fires. The training covered both theory and practical elements. Staff spent the first part of the course in the classroom learning about how fires start, how they spread and how they are ignited. After a short break it was all hands on as Staff got to try out what they had learned and had the opportunity to extinguish live fires.
Fire Training is a legal requirement in order to comply with The Fire Safety Regulations (NI) 2010. If you would like any assistance with meeting your statutory obligations, please get in touch and we can offer assistance in all areas.
staff getting some hands on experience with Fire Extinguishers.
Abbey Surestart Get to Grips with Manual Handling and putting out Fires.
Today saw the Staff of Abbey Surestart get together for some Fire Awareness Training and Manual Handling Training. The training delivered by Hayley Burgess was a mixture of theory and practical with plenty of questions along the way!!
Staff learnt the principles of Fire Safety and Manual Handling, critical training to have for the roles they are performing every day.
We hope the Staff all enjoyed the training and found it to be fun and educational!
July Holiday Arrangements
HOLIDAY ARRANGEMENTS.
We will be closed from Monday 10th July to Friday 14th July inclusive.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and safe holiday!
Emergency Contact: If you need to contact us urgently please call 078 9466 3565 and leave a voicemail and we will return your call.
Closed Bank Holiday Monday
Our office is closed on Monday 29th May and will re-open on Tuesday 30th May.
Have a safe and sunny Day 🌞🌞
Happy Easter
We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our Customers a happy Easter
Please note our office will be closed from Monday 17th April to the Friday 21st April, re-opening on Monday 24th April.
We are closed 17th March
Please note our office will be closed on 17th March, reopening 20th March.
BOOK YOUR PLACE TODAY ON OUR HABC LEVEL 2 AWARD IN FOOD SAFETY IN CATERING COURSE
Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering (QCF)
This Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering (QCF) is a qualification aimed at caterers and other food handlers. The qualification is intended for learners already working in catering and those who are preparing to work in the industry.
Learners gaining this qualification will know that food safety is the responsibility of everyone involved in the storage, preparation, cooking service and handling of food. Its topics are regarded by the Foods Standards Agency as being important to maintaining good practice in the production of safe food.
Each student will also receive a handbook to assist your learning throughout the course.
HABC Level 2 Award in Food Safety Learning Objectives:
Firm grasp of the importance of food safety and knowledge of the systems and techniques
Understanding of how to control food safety risks
Food safety hazards
Food poisoning control
Temperature controls
Personal hygiene
Cleaning and disinfection
Food pests
Confidence and expertise to safely deliver quality food to customers
Assessment
Students are assessed by multiple-choice examination.
To Book your place please contact us by:-
Telephone 028 9754 2450
Email margaret@hbscltd.co.uk
New Accreditation
We are delighted to announce that we have now been accredited as an approved Highfield Awarding Body for Compliance (HABC) Centre. This Accreditation allows us to deliver the National recognised qualification Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering and Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering (Refresher).
If you would like further details on any of these courses, please contact us.
Principles of Health and Safety Level 2
Tonight we have the pleasure of training Staff in Greendale Day Nursery, part of the Clear Day Group of Nurseries. Staff are completing Level 2 Principles of Health and Safety which includes training on Risk Assessment, COSHH, Manual Handling, Accident Reporting, Fire Safety and H&S Law. A full night for everyone!!
Joint Build Health, IOSH & HSENI Annual Conference
The Annual Joint Conference is being held today, an excellent event focusing on managing health in the workplace. There was an excellent range of experts speaking including Steve Perkins, CEO of BOHS.
Scott Bell, Chair Build Health
Steve Perkins CEO, BOHS
World Mental Health Day 10.10.16
Monday 10th October is World Mental Health Day.
The theme of WMHD 2016 is ‘psychological and mental health first aid for all’ with the aim of making Mental Health First Aid a global priority on a par with physical first aid. Across the world, in 24 countries, 1 million people have been trained in Mental Health First Aid skills.
What can you or your organisation do??
Please click on the link for ways to get your organisation involved and remember #take10together
http://us7.campaign-archive1.com/?u=0905399ac514e68e483e79b20&id=01ca885724&e=4847a6b6af
Great News For All Our Customers!
We are pleased to announce HB Safety Consultancy Ltd is now a registered Centre with CIEH to deliver accredited Food Safety and Hygiene Courses.
For further information on Accredited Food Safety & Hygiene Courses follow the link
http://www.cieh.org/training/food_safety.html
Contact us today for details on available courses.
Exciting Times Ahead - Stay Tuned For Further Updates!
HBSC are very excited !! We hope to be able to bring you some great news in the next few weeks regarding our training provision. Our good news will be great news for our Customers as we will be able to provide you with a great new range of services.
We have listened to what our Customers want and are doing our best to provide you with what you have asked for.
To stay tuned you can get Social with us by clicking on any of the links below.
Cleaner Suffers Severe Burns After Falling into Deep Fat Fryer
A cleaning company has been fined tens of thousands of pounds after an employee was "seriously scalded" when they slipped and fell into a deep fat fryer while working at a hotel near Gatwick Airport.
A man working at Premier Inn, in Longbridge Way close to the airport's North Terminal, suffered serious burns when his foot slipped and went into the hot oil of a deep fat fryer as he was cleaning above it.
Employer MacDet Hygiene Cleaning Services Ltd was fined £37,500 and ordered to pay costs of £13,002.58 at Lewes Crown Court on August 5 for breaching health and safety rules.
The company had pleaded guilty to failing in its duty [to fulfil the requirements of] the Health and Safety at Work Act at a previous hearing.
The horrific injury was sustained in the kitchen of the hotel when two MacDet employees were tasked with cleaning the extractor system on the evening of September 23, 2014.
One of the employees was cleaning the canopy above the deep fat fryer and its ducting. He stood on one of the filters from the canopy, which was not designed for this purpose, and slipped. His foot went into the hot oil of the fryer causing serious burns to his foot and he then fell to the floor.
This incident was reported by the company, which resulted in an investigation by Crawley Borough Council.
Fire Door Week 26th September - 2nd October 2016
HBSC are pledging our support for Fire Door Week ... Why?? Put simply Fire Doors save life and property.
The Fire Door campaign aims to engage and educate building owners and building users on how to use them properly.
Leading up to Fire Door Week and of course during Fire Door Week, HBSC will be sharing articles on Fire Door Safety and how you can get engaged, so keep checking back for more info!
Our first article is A Five Step Fire Door Check to help you make sure your doors are up to the job.
- Check for certification Is there a label or plug on top (or occasionally on the side) of the door to show it is a certificated fire door? You can use the selfie function on your camera phone or a mirror to check. If there is, that’s good news, otherwise report it to whoever is in charge of your building.
- Check the gaps Check the gaps around the top and sides of the door are consistently less than 4mm when closed. You can use a £1 coin to give a feel for scale, this is about 3mm thick. The gap under the door can be slightly larger (up to 8mm is not uncommon), but if does depend on the door - as a rule of thumb, if you can see light under the door, the gap is likely to be too big. It’s good news if the door fits the frame and it’s not damaged. If not, report it. If the gaps are too big smoke and fire could travel through the cracks.
- Check the seals Are there any intumescent seals around the door or frame, and are they intact with no sign of damage? These seals are usually vital to the fire door's performance, expanding if in contact with heat to ensure fire (and in some cases smoke) can’t move through the cracks. If not, report it - the door may not be properly maintained and in the intensity of a fire may not protect you long enough.
- Check the hinges Are the hinges firmly fixed (three or more of them), with no missing or broken screws? If you see problems, report it - the door is obviously not properly maintained and in the intensity of a fire may not perform and hold back the fire for long enough.
- Check the door closes properly Open the door about halfway, let go and allow it to close by itself. Does it close firmly onto the latch without sticking on the floor or the frame? If not, report it. A fire door only works when it’s closed. A fire door is completely useless if it’s wedged open or can’t close fully.
If you think the building you're living in, working in or visiting has a faulty fire door, don't walk by. Report it to whoever manages or owns the building. You could save a live that day.
Care Home Fined And Left With 400k Bill For Fire Safety Breaches
Shaftesbury Care Group Ltd, which runs Donwell House Care Home in Washington, was fined £380,000, plus costs of £29,222, at Newcastle Crown Court.
This was uncovered when Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Service investigated a blaze in the bedroom of a resident on Saturday 13th September 2014.
Officers discovered that fire doors had been wedged open when they should have been closed, and the company’s appointed contractor had condemned just under half of the building’s fire extinguishers.
Additionally, the company failed to carry out a number of actions identified in a fire risk assessment, including installing electronic devices, which would have allowed fire doors to be held open while enabling them to be quickly closed in an emergency.
During the fire, the bedroom door of an elderly resident’s room was wedged open. As a result, smoke and heat quickly filled the communal corridor and spread into a neighbouring bedroom, which also had its door wedged open.
Also, there was a delay in identifying the room where the fire had started, and as a result an elderly woman became trapped in her bedroom.
Staff were therefore unable to evacuate her from the building due to the amount of smoke and heat in the corridor.
Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus entered the building through a first floor window and rescued the pensioner. She was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead, for treatment.
This seemingly appears to be common faults highlighted on Fire Risk Assessments in Care Homes and were also some of the major fire safety breaches reported at the devastating Rosepark Care Home Fire back in January 2004 where 14 elderly residents died.
Assistant Chief Fire Officer for Community Safety Chris Lowther said: “The breaches found Donwell House care home put the lives of residents and staff at risk. We have around 5,000 interactions with businesses annually, where we work to educate and inform them of their responsibilities to comply with the law.”
“This means that there is seldom the need for prosecution. However, where lives are put at risk and the law has been broken, we will not hesitate to prosecute. This fine imposed by the judge is one of the most significant we are aware of for a case of this kind. It should serve as a warning to businesses, and especially care home operators, that failure to carry out their responsibilities regarding fire safety can and will have serious consequences.”
How can you avoid prosecution in your Care Home?
The answer to this question is simple if you make sure you have the right fire safety strategy in place for your premises.
Since the introduction of the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Services Order (NI) 2006 and Fire Safety Regulations (NI) 2010, fire certificates are no longer issued.Instead onus falls onto the ‘responsible person’ to take appropriate action to prevent fire and protect building users in the event of fire.
The first step is to ensure your fire risk assessment is up to date which will make you aware of the plan of action you need to take in order to comply with the law.
Make sure you use a Fire Risk Assessor who is Third Party Accredited. This means they have been independently assessed and the quality of their work has been verified as being to a high standard. Hayley Burgess holds third party certificated accreditation with the Institution of Fire Engineers. Third Party Accreditation demonstrates competency and specifies that fire risk assessors have the required technical capabilities and our risk assessment staff meet appropriate standards.
If you need help with your fire safety strategy and want to ensure you comply with the law, contact one of our expert team today on 028 9754 2450
Silage Safety Reminder for Farmers
The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) is reminding farmers to take extra care during the silage season.
Working with silage is a potentially dangerous time, particularly as high-powered machinery is being operated at speed.
There are other factors which also increase the chance of an accident occurring. These include, fatigue due to long working hours, poor weather and difficult ground conditions. However, experience has shown there are a number of safety measures around key areas that will help make silage time safer.
Children
No child under the age of 13 should ever be carried in the cab of any machine involved in making silage. Contractors must not allow children to ride in tractor cabs or the cabs of self-propelled harvesters.
Children should not be allowed to play around the farmyard or fields when silage is being made.
credit HSENI
Care Home Resident Dies After Swallowing Bleach Tablet
An investigation is underway into the death of a man who swallowed a bleach tablet at his nursing homeThe Balmoral Court Care Home resident was rushed to hospital but died, after ingesting the toxic cleaning chemical at the home in Byker, Newcastle on Thursday 4, August.
Balmoral Court, which is owned by Crown Care, specialises in the care of older people with dementia.
A spokesman for the home said: “We are very sad to confirm one of our residents at Balmoral Court has died in hospital after an incident at the home.
“A full investigation is under way and we are liaising closely with the family and the appropriate authorities.
“Until that investigation is complete it would be inappropriate to comment further other than to say we are deeply shocked and saddened by this incident.
“We send our sincere condolences to the family.”
The nursing home’s latest inspection report from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), published in March, gave the home an overall rating of ‘Requires improvement’ when CQC inspectors made an unannounced inspection last December.
CQC inspectors said in the report: “All reasonable steps had not been taken to reduce risks and make sure that people’s care was provided in a safe and hygienic environment.”
The CQC report also said staff were “mindful of keeping potentially harmful cleaning chemicals safe and locked away when not in use”.
credit care home.co.uk
Head for Heights!!
Two days are never the same when doing Fire Risk Assessments.
Today we were carrying out a Fire Risk Assessment for a Client who are constructing a state of the art Dried Milk Powder Plant. The new plant represents an investment of £30 million and when finished will double the plant's capacity.
The new drying tower has a area of 30,000 sq ft and stands at over 37m high!!
Pic taken from the top floor of the new milk drying plant
