Does your business work with asbestos? If so, your employees may be required to be under surveillance by a doctor. A new law, which came into force in April 2015, states that any employee or self-employed contractor undertaking “Notifiable Non-Licensed Asbestos Work” must be subject to Health Surveillance by a doctor. However, this level of surveillance does not only apply to people undertaking licensed work. What type of work does this apply to? Notifiable Non-Licenced Asbestos Work includes (but is limited to): Large-scale removal of textured decorative…
Summer is almost upon us and we can all enjoy hot sunny weather... but beware it has its dangers. During a prolonged heat wave there are health risks. The very young, the elderly and the seriously ill are groups who become particularly at risk with health related problems (sun stroke, dehydration). "In the 2003 heat wave, there were 2,000 to 3,000 excess deaths [more than usual] in England. Across Europe, there were around 30,000 excess deaths." If you are an employer or responsible for external…
It can be tricky to keep up with the day-to-day HR needs of your workforce. Paperwork, approvals, requests for information and staying compliant – they all take away from the main objectives of your business. Cloud-based HR systems can help remove the administrative stress from your growing HR needs and allow you to concentrate on your business. You already use the cloud…and may not even know it Over 75% of businesses are in, or are looking to move to, The Cloud for a variety of…
As a country, we lose 131 million working days and £15 billion every year from sickness absence, according to recent figures. This is clearly a huge problem and employers should take whatever steps they can to manage both short-term and long-term absences effectively. Absences of 4 weeks or more is classed as a period of ‘long-term’ absence. It is estimated that long-term sickness absence makes up 20% of all total absences and 70% of the cost to employers. Steps to Managing Sickness Absence… The following measures can be taken…
Could your workers’ attitudes towards Health & Safety be causing accidents in your business? A large number of accidents in the workplace are caused by employees behaving in careless or unusual ways. Since the 1974 Act, businesses generally focused on managing safety in practical terms - i.e. guards in place, edge protection checklist etc. However, Health and Safety professionals are now looking into understanding the thinking behind the actions that result in accidents. Attitudes to safety can be difficult to manage – but current studies…
News reports and social media sites have been filled with views on Jeremy Clarkson following his alleged attack on a colleague. Love him or hate him, everyone seems to have an opinion on whether he should have continued in his employment or not. Jeremy Clarkson’s behaviour, both on and off the Top Gear camera, has seen him fall from one controversy into the next, before his employment came to an end in March 2015. Clarkson is said to have attacked a producer following a dispute…
New legislation has been introduced which tightens the law on drugs and driving. That means it is now more important than ever to have a clear policy in place. The law on drink driving has been around for a long time now but the law on drugs and driving is comparatively new. The Drug Driving (Specified Limits) England & Wales Regulations 2015, introduced in March, sets limits on the amount of prescribed and non-prescribed drugs in the bloodstream of a driver. At present, the law…
Social media now plays a key role in many businesses as well as in the personal lives of most employees. Employees can, and often do, stray outside of purely personal use and this overlap can cause problems for employers and, of course, provides them with the challenge of monitoring and controlling information. Two very recent decisions provide some help and guidance for employers. Threatening messages on Twitter In Game Retail Limited v Laws, Game have a chain of retail outlets and Laws was a senior…
The Government has introduced new regulations in order to protect UK businesses from potentially damaging underpaid Holiday Pay claims. The Regulations will also apply to most claims of unlawful deductions to two years before a Tribunal claim is lodged. The move comes in reaction to an Employment Appeal Tribunal's (EAT) decision in late 2014, which caused a significant level of concern amongst employers over the potential impact and cost of the decision to employers. In the Bear Scotland v Fulton case in late 2014 the…
We are all looking forward to enjoying the summer months - but working in a warm office can be very uncomfortable for some employees. Heat stress occurs when the body fails to control its internal temperature.The effects of heat stress can vary from person to person, likewise some people are more susceptible to it than others. Naturally the body will react to heat by increasing the blood flow to the skins surface and then begin to perspire; the combination of the increased blood flow to…
