Health and Safety is a very important part of any organisation – but how people view it depends on the culture within the organisation. Different organisations, indeed different sites within the same organisation, will have a different culture and outlook on Health and Safety. Cultures are driven by Directors and Managers. Take for example a Transport Yard with a site rule that all pedestrians MUST wear High Visibility clothing and use the marked walkways. If the Managing Director is seen to walk straight from the…
The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) is currently carrying out targeted inspections on refurbishment projects – and Working at Height is likely to be high on the list of enforcement. HSE figures indicate that 45% of deaths on construction sites in Britain last year were as a result of falls from height and 581 workers suffered major injuries as a result of such a fall. Good working practice and legislation requires employers to plan work at height and to give information to employees who are…
Most HR professionals will know that when a business changes owner, its employees’ rights, duties and liabilities are directly transferred under the TUPE legislation. But it turns out this is not necessarily true if they are on long term sick leave, according to a recent case. TUPE, or Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment), was designed to introduce three basic concepts into UK employment law when a business is sold. Employees employment rights remain intact Employees have protection from dismissal if they are dismissed due…
Every year, there are over 5000 accidents involving transport in the workplace. About 50 of these result in people being killed, according to HSE statistics. The main causes of injury are people falling off vehicles, or being struck or crushed by them. Workplace transport is any activity involving vehicles used in a workplace. Vehicles driven on public roads are excluded, except where the vehicle is being loaded or unloaded on a public road adjacent to a workplace. We often take traffic movement around our work…
The controversial question of what to include in holiday pay has taken another turn against employers. So what’s changed and what do you need to include in your calculations for holiday pay? Commission… Employers may have to change their payment arrangements for employees who earn a high proportion of their salary as commission, following a recent case. In the case of Lock v British Gas, the courts held that failing to include commission in holiday pay calculations meant that employees earned significantly less for periods…
The Government has now published its draft trade union bill – if passed, this bill could see some significant changes to Employment Law…. Here are some of the most important points about the draft bill you need to know… Notice period of strike action & agency cover The most important proposed change for employers to note is that if the bill is passed. Trade Unions will have to give employers 14 days’ notice of strike action and in addition, businesses will be allowed to bring…
In the UK, almost 9.5 million people in employment are over the age of 50. This equates to over 30% of the UK workforce. In the not-too-distant future, a major proportion of these employees will retire, taking their skills and experience with them. The problem is that the demographic change over recent years means that the number of young people coming into the workplace will be less than the number that will be needed to replace those who have permanently left work. Recent transformation of…
In the summer, it seems wrong think about servicing your heating systems. However, inspection and servicing of Gas Appliances and other types of heating now can prevent issues in the winter. Summer and autumn are the ideal time to have your heating systems checked in particular checks for Carbon Monoxide. Often employers wait until the winter for these tests and then discover that their heating system either doesn’t work or has to be switched of until repaired. This then leaves a cold workplace and a…
A staggering 59% of the UK population have active social media accounts, with 32 million using a mobile device to access. According to a We Are Social article, the average daily use of social media amounts to 2 hours and 13 minutes - more than half the time that people in the UK spend on the internet. Facebook is the top active social platform with 43% on the network. With the high level of access and usage of Facebook on a daily basis, it is…
The Government has announced its review of Employment Tribunal fees, which is expected to conclude towards the end of this year. The review will consider how effective the introduction of fees has been at meeting the original objectives, while maintaining access to justice. The original objectives were: to transfer some of the cost from the taxpayer to those who use the service, where they can afford to do so to encourage the use of alternative dispute resolution services, for example, ACAS conciliation to improve the…
