New European legislation governing workplace safety signs – ISO 70140

Posted on May 21, 2013 by renieshaw
Photo by Jared Earle via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence

Photo by Jared Earle via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence

Under the Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996, employers are required to provide specific safety signs whenever there is a risk that cannot be eradicated by other means.

This signage covers a broad range of purposes, including:

  • Hazard signs warning of potential risks to workers (e.g. fire risk, chemical hazards).
  • Mandatory signs showing actions that must be taken by people working in particular areas of the workplace (e.g. the need to wear eye, ear or hand protection, or personal protective equipment).
  • Prohibition signs showing what is prohibited in certain areas of the workplace in order to ensure personal safety (e.g. no smoking, no mobile phones).

In January 2013, ISO 70140 was written into European law, which means that the UK, as a European member state, will have to adhere to the new rulings when buying any new signage. The new standards, which will replace the existing BS 5499 legislation, and applies to all workplaces, sectors and locations. Health and safety guidance recommends that the two different types of signage should not be mixed in the workplace, although it’s clearly not feasible for all organisations to replace the entirety of their signage in one go.

Safety signage is one of the most important methods of preventing workplace accidents and it is best practice that the latest safety sign guidance is followed. The rationale behind the change is an increasingly mobile workforce within the European Union, and the presence of many workers who may still be learning the language of the country in which they are living. Having standardised signage across the European member states will make workplaces safer for all.

Employers must do all they can to ensure the health of the staff working in their organisations. This means warning staff about potential hazards to health, but also going one step further and trying to reduce risks in the workplace and assess the risks to individuals. Protecting the health of staff may require risk assessments, health screening and, potentially, making workplace adjustments for individuals based on their existing health conditions. For help with all of these matters, or for guidance on any employee health issues, call the free Health for Work Adviceline on 0800 0 77 88 44.

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Equality and Human Rights Commission focuses on preventing discrimination at work

Posted on May 14, 2013 by renieshaw
Photo by Mr. Theklan via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence

Photo by Mr. Theklan via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has been working with smaller organisations to develop a series of guides tailored to the specific needs of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).

Treating people fairly, with dignity and respect, is at the heart of both the Equality Act (the culmination of a range of laws aiming to make things fairer for everyone) and the global standards for organisations’/employers’ responsibilities in terms of respecting human rights. Workplace policies that prevent discrimination and protect and promote people’s rights to an inclusive and safe working environment can not only reduce costs but enable organisations to retain and attract the best staff and improve productivity and performance.

A number of new guides were added in March 2013 on the theme of discrimination and human rights:

Other guides in the collection (published before March 2013) include the following:

Employers have a responsibility to look after their staff. This entails ensuring the equal and fair treatment of all, as well as protecting the health of staff by reducing risks to health in the workplace, supporting staff who have health issues and helping those who are off sick to make a timely return to work (possibly by making adjustments to their job roles). All this can seem quite daunting, especially for organisations that don’t have their own occupational health team, which is why the Health for Work Adviceline (0800 0 77 88 44) offers free, professional guidance to organisations on all employee health issues.

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Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and work

Posted on May 9, 2013 by renieshaw
Photo by JD'na via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence

Photo by JD’na via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence

A survey carried out as part of the Fit for Work Europe research programme (‘Musculoskeletal Disorders and Work’) has evaluated the effects of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) on over 1,500 people living in six European countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and the UK).

MSDs (i.e. pain in the muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones) have a significant impact on a person’s ability to work. According to the IOSH (Institution of Occupational Safety and Health) an estimated 439,000 workers in Great Britain suffered from musculoskeletal disorders during 2011/12 that were caused or made worse by their current or past work, and, on average, each person suffering took an estimated 17 days of sickness absence.

Some headline results from the research carried out by the Fit for Work Europe Coalition include that:

  • almost 40% of respondents said that their MSD has had an impact on their earnings;
  • nearly 55% of respondents with severe MSDs said that their condition prevented them from working or accessing education;
  • almost 93% said that they sometimes go to work despite feeling unwell due to their condition;
  • more than 65% said that the condition had an impact on their decision to retire early.

On the basis of these results, The Work Foundation, an independent and international authority on work and its future, which seeks to influence policy and practice for the benefit of society, has warned that a focus on the employment outcomes for sufferers of MSDs must become a top priority. Employers, who have a legal responsibility to look after the health of their staff, can seek advice from the free Health for Work Adviceline (0800 0 77 88 44) on implementing and reviewing policies intended to manage and support staff who are suffering from MSDs. More information in MSDs is also available on our blog.

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Link between worker health/wellbeing and productivity

Posted on April 29, 2013 by renieshaw
Photo by Alex E. Proimos via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence

Photo by Alex E. Proimos via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence

According to the latest ‘Health, Wellbeing and Productivity’ survey by Towers Watson, only a minority of employers understand the link between worker health and productivity.

The survey revealed that although 69% of respondents claimed that they are planning to develop their health and wellbeing strategies over the next two years, only 11% see productivity as a priority for this development. In addition, 66% of employers see linking health to employee performance as a relatively limited part of their health and wellbeing programme.

This raises the question why organisations are focusing on employee health and wellbeing at all. There has been a surge in interest over recent years in the notion of keeping employees healthy. But perhaps, for many, employee health and wellbeing is viewed as being ‘of the moment’; as something organisations should be seen to be focusing on as part of being a responsible employer?

Focusing on health and wellbeing in the workplace can achieve a number of objectives:

  • The reduction or possible removal of health risks in the workplace.
  • Advice for staff who are suffering from health conditions and a focus on early detection of health issues.
  • Guidance on lifestyle and wellbeing choices, which can motivate staff to keep themselves healthy.

Increasingly, it is being recognised that good health is good for business and that a healthy workforce is a productive one. Good workplace wellness programmes have been shown to offer a number of benefits, including:

  • reduction in rates of sickness absence;
  • reduced medical costs;
  • productivity improvements;
  • happier, healthier and more loyal employees;
  • lower disease prevalence rates.

Staff are an organisation’s key asset and are essential to generating improvements in productivity, profitability, sales, growth and operational performance. Organisations carry out regular maintenance on their tools or machinery in the knowledge that work could not continue if their equipment malfunctions. So, surely an organisation’s human assets warrant the same (if not better) focus? This is where the Health for Work Adviceline comes in. Simply call Freephone 0800 0 77 88 44 to get advice on keeping your employees healthy, or supporting them should illness occur.

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Radio 4 report: sickness absence and return to work

Posted on April 17, 2013 by renieshaw
Photo by A Bear Named Brian via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence

Photo by A Bear Named Brian via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence

Radio 4’s ‘In Business’ programme (Thursday 11 April, 2013) ran a feature on long-term sickness absence. Contributors to the programme included Dame Carol Black (advisor on work and health at the Department of Health) and David Frost (the former Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce).

Dame Black offers an interesting explanation of the problematic nature of long-term sickness absence. According to Dame Black, approximately 11 million people obtain a medical certificate from their GP each year. Of these, some 300,000 on long-term sickness absence eventually end up on benefits and struggle to get back into the world of work. Statistically, those who are off work for more than 20 weeks have a very low chance of returning to work at all.

There are a number of reasons why a person might struggle to get back to work once they are on benefits, some of which aren’t necessarily related to their health condition, e.g.:

  • problems at work or strained relations with colleagues, which can be demotivating and make it difficult to return;
  • personal problems (e.g. relationship breakdown, debt problems or childcare  issues), which may make people feel it would be easier not to work at all.

The programme focused in some length on Leicestershire Fit for Work Service, which is one of seven pilot not-for-profit social enterprise projects currently running across the UK. The Fit for Work Service (FFWS) was developed on the back of the Dame Black and David Frost’s 2008 review of the health of Britain’s working age population (‘Working for a healthier tomorrow’). The FFWS aims to:

  • help those who are at risk of going off on long-term sickness absence stay in employment, and;
  • get people back to work in some capacity much sooner than they would otherwise.

The FFWS acts as an impartial third party to liaise between the various interested parties (GPs, employers, employees and, in some cases, occupational health practitioners) so that informed decisions can be made about a person’s ability to return to work. Some examples of the support potentially offered by the FFWS include:

  • Employees: Supporting employees who have been signed off work due to illness and encouraging them to return to work as soon as possible may help diminish the risk of long-term sickness absence and, potentially, the move onto benefits.
  • GPs: Since the introduction of the fit note it’s no longer simply a question of signing a person off work due to illness. Increasingly, GPs require some understanding of a person’s working environment in order to suggest other activities they might manage.
  • Employers: It is very important, especially in small organisations, for employers to know how long a person might be off work in order to plan contingencies. Or employers might find it difficult to support staff who are suffering from health conditions, particularly when these are of a serious nature. The FFWS can offer guidance on these issues.

The FFWS is generally one that employees go to in the first instance having been referred by their GPs. However, free professional help is also available to employers from the Health for Work Adviceline on supporting employees with health issues and helping them to continue working productively: 0800 0 77 88 44.

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Connect Assist – providers of our multi-channel service

Posted on April 12, 2013 by renieshaw
Photo by zigazou76 via Flickr, under Creative Commons License

Photo by zigazou76 via Flickr, under Creative Commons License

Considerable amounts of information have been disseminated about the Health for Work Adviceline, the organisation that funds it (Department for Work & Pensions) and the organisation that manages it (NHS Plus, now Syngentis). But what about the contact centre that helps us deliver the helpline side of the service and the multi-channel service (‘ask a question’, ‘live chat’, etc.)?

This essential part of our service is provided by Connect Assist, a social enterprise based in Nantgarw (Wales). The managing director, Patrick Nash, has led a varied work life inspired by his desire to combine his commercial skills with his altruistic streak. Before setting up Connect Assist, Mr Nash had been involved in a number of exciting projects, including:

  • setting up a successful whole food wholesale business (Essential Trading), which is now the third largest workers’ cooperative in the UK in terms of turnover;
  • spending 12 years with the Findhorn Foundation building an eco-village near Inverness;
  • running the Dalai Lama’s UK charity for two years;
  • acting as Chief Executive of the Teacher Support Network, a welfare fund for the teaching profession.

He set up Connect Assist after attempting to outsource elements of the counselling service offered by the Teacher Support Network to organisations whose service he found to be lacking. The decision to set Connect Assist up in Nantgarw was based on a desire to create jobs in an area that had talented people but insufficient opportunities for them and the social enterprise is now one of the highest job creators in Wales.

Connect Assist now offers contact centre support for a variety of organisations, mainly charities and public sector organisations, including:

  • The Teacher Support network (welfare fund for the teaching profession);
  • Turn2Us (a charity dedicated to alleviating poverty);
  • The Royal British Legion (support for people formerly/currently in the armed forces, and their families).

Connect Assist and the Health for Work Adviceline have been working in partnership since November 2011. Up until that point, the successful pilot phase had been based on a website offering relevant content and a telephone helpline manned by occupational health advisers around the country. Our collaboration with Connect Assist has allowed us to take the service we offer up to the next level by offering a multi-channel service incorporating:

  • phone contact;
  • online advice (in the form of an online knowledge base);
  • ‘live chat’ (a real-time online conversation with a Connect Assist adviser);
  • ‘ask a question’ (email a question to the Connect Assist advisers).

Where it is deemed necessary, callers will receive a second tier of phone support in the shape of occupational health practitioners who can speak directly with callers. For more information on Connect Assist, see a recent article on their activities that appeared on Wales Online. Or, to see what’s available from the Health for Work Adviceline, take a look at our website or call 0800 0 77 88 44 with any employee health-related queries.

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Could cleaning products and materials be a major trigger for adult/occupational asthma?

Posted on April 3, 2013 by renieshaw
Photo by Jude Doyland via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence

Photo by Jude Doyland via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence

Recent research carried out by Imperial College London’s National Heart and Lung Institute and funded by Asthma UK and The Colt Foundation has found strong evidence of a link between cleaning jobs and the risk of developing asthma.

Researchers at Imperial College London tracked the occurrence of asthma in a group of 9,488 people born in Britain in 1958. Results showed that 9% had developed asthma by age 42 (not including those who had developed asthma in childhood). According to the research, risks in the workplace were found to be responsible for one in six cases of adult onset asthma, even more than the one in nine cases attributed to smoking.

Eighteen job types were found to have a link with the risk of developing asthma, four of which were cleaning jobs and three of which involved exposure to cleaning products and materials. Other materials that were identified in the study as having a link to asthma include flour, enzymes, metals, and textiles.

According to Dr Rebecca Ghosh from the National Heart and Lung Institute:

“Occupational asthma is widely under-recognised by employers, employees and healthcare professionals. Raising awareness that this is an almost entirely preventable disease would be a major step in reducing its incidence.”

Certain substances (known as respiratory sensitisers), which are prevalent in certain working environments, can cause allergic reactions such as asthma when they are inhaled into the lungs. For more information see our guide on respiratory sensitisers or our blog on occupational asthma on the Health for Work Adviceline website. Or for more guidance on employee health issues, speak to one of our professional occupational health advisers for free on 0800 0 77 88 44.

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Pre employment screening

Posted on March 27, 2013 by renieshaw

The results have recently been published of research carried out on behalf of the Equality and Human Rights Commission into recruitment practices in relation to collecting information on applicants’ health prior to a job offer being made.

Under Section 60 of the Equality Act 2010 (Equality Act), recruiters are prohibited from asking applicants about their health during the recruitment process in order to prevent them from sifting out candidates on the basis of health or disability. There are a few exceptions to this rule, however, for example:

  • where it is necessary to find out whether the applicant can carry out duties that are intrinsic to the job (i.e. does a man applying for a job as a scaffolder have a health condition that would prevent him climbing a ladder?);
  • here an organisation is seeking to create greater diversity in its workforce and wants to recruit people from groups that are under-represented (e.g. disabled people).

Some interesting results from this research include that:

  • despite the stipulations of Section 60 of the Equality Act, just over half of applicants (whether or not they have an impairment, i.e. suffer from any physical or mental health conditions that reduce their ability to carry out day-to-day activities) were asked whether they had a disability or health condition at some point in the recruitment process;
  • one third said they were asked to fill out a health questionnaire/form before receiving an offer of employment;
  • almost two thirds of SME employers stated that they collect health information prior to making a job offer, most commonly to ascertain any adjustments that might be necessary in order to the candidate to participate fully in the workplace.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s ‘Guidance for employers on Section 60 of the Equality Act 2010’ provides very useful guidance for employers, including a collection of scenarios with judgements of whether or not the recruiter’s actions complied with the stipulations of the Equality Act.

Employers looking for advice on the employee health issues, or on complying with their legislative requirements in terms of employee health, can call the free Health for Work Adviceline on 0800 0 77 88 44.

Posted in Employee Sickness | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Work is the biggest cause of stress

Posted on March 20, 2013 by renieshaw
Photo by bark via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence

Photo by bark via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence

Research commissioned by Mind and carried out with over 2,000 people has found that work is the most stressful factor in people’s lives with one in three people (34%) saying their work life was either ‘very’ or ‘quite’ stressful (compared to 30% who cited debt or financial problems as the most stressful factor, and 17% who named health).

Some key figures from the research are summarised below, which demonstrate not only the prevalence of work-related stress but the extent to which employees attempt to conceal their problems:

  • Effects of stress on mental health: Workplace stress has resulted in an increase in the number of people having suicidal thoughts (as high as 10% amongst 18 to 24 year olds) and one in five people (18%) developing anxiety.
  • Use of medication, drugs or alcohol as a coping mechanism: 57% of respondents said they drink after work and 14% report drinking during the working day to cope with workplace stress and pressure. Other coping mechanisms people cited were smoking (28%), antidepressants (15%), over the counter sleeping aids (16%) and prescribed sleeping tablets (10%).
  • Coming forward about mental health problems: 19% said they felt they couldn’t tell their boss if they were overly stressed and less than half of the 22% of respondents who had been diagnosed with a mental health condition had actually told their boss about their diagnosis.
  • Impact of stress on employees’ ability to do their jobs: 19% of respondents said they have taken a day off sick because of stress, but 90% of those people cited a different reason for their absence. 9% have resigned from a job due to stress and 25% have considered resigning due to work pressure.

This research demonstrates very clearly the importance of communication and openness between employees and line managers/employers. It is damaging to employees not to tackle their mental health issues and to attempt to carry on regardless. And it’s ultimately damaging for organisations not to support employees who are experiencing issues; staff who are dealing with their own internal battles are unlikely to be working to their full potential.

Worryingly, however, Mind’s research revealed that 46% of managers said they would like to do more to improve staff mental wellbeing but that it is not a priority in their organisation. However, the survey did show that over half of managers (56%) said they would like to do more to improve staff mental wellbeing but needed more training and/or guidance. Luckily this guidance is available for managers from the free Health for Work Adviceline (0800 0 77 88 44).

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Employee burnout – don’t let it take hold

Posted on March 14, 2013 by renieshaw
Photo by Dawn Ashley via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence

Photo by Dawn Ashley via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence

According to research carried out with 200 HR Directors by the recruitment firm Robert Half, 30% of HR Directors surveyed reported that employee burnout is a common phenomenon in their organisations across all pay scales.

So, what were cited as the main causes for this burnout?

  • 67-75% blamed it on ‘workload’ (there was some variance in results based on the size of organisations and whether they were in the public or private sector).
  • 56% cited ‘overtime and long working hours’ as an important reason.
  • 35% named ‘unachievable expectations’ as a cause of burnout.
  • 32% gave ‘economic pressures’ as the main cause.
  •  27% suggested an ‘inability to balance personal and professional commitments’ as a major reason for burnout.

Many organisations are trying out initiatives in an attempt to prevent employee burnout with the aim of taking the pressure off staff who may already be feeling the pinch. These include:

  • promoting a team-based environment;
  • providing flexible working options;
  • restructuring job functions and tasks.

The figures quoted above are troubling and show just how much pressure many employees are under, perhaps because they fear their job may be under threat, they are struggling financially or in their personal lives, or because their employer is putting them under pressure to work longer and harder.

Communication is key. Developing an organisational culture in which staff feel comfortable talking to their line managers about any work/health issues they may be facing will help prevent the build-up of stress and pressure that might eventually lead to employee burnout. Advice is available for employers/line managers from the Health for Work Adviceline (0800 0 77 88 44) on how best to support staff who appear to be struggling, or who are already suffering from some kind of physical or mental illness.

Posted in Depression, Employee Sickness, Mental Health | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments