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Got a question - health, safety or environmental? Just contact us and we'll publish the best in our regular Q&A section.

Recent articles

Q&A: Q

My company has been served with an Improvement Notice by the HSE but the managing director is adamant that the notice is wrong. Can we appeal against the Notice?

November 2011 Volume 34 Number 11

PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT: Q Some of our employees mislay or damage their protective equipment more than others. We know we have to give them the original equipment free of charge, but do we have to keep on providing them with free replacements?

July 2010. Volume 33. Number 7

LOCAL AUTHORITY INSPECTIONS: Q What decides if the local authority has responsibility for workplace inspections?

July 2010. Volume 33. Number 7

Q&A: Q We have a small fleet of cars and vans. Our supervisor says that the vans are subject to a different speed limit to the company cars.
Is this right?

Contractors and Asbestos: We still have asbsestos in our premises. We need to do some service maintenance and although we show our asbstos register to our contractors, my colleague says we should ask if the contractor’s employees have had “asbestos awareness training”. What should we look for?”

How many people does it take to clear up a lightbulb?: A compact fluorescent light (CFL) breaks at work. If it does, what should we do?

Does CDM apply to small construction jobs?: “We had a slightly damaged roof due to the recent heavy rain. When we talked to our contractor, they said the work would be covered by the ‘CDM Regulations’. We only need two or three workers on site for about a week, is this right?”

We know that using mobiles is banned in vehicles, but can we still ring our staff on hands-free kits?: You can ring them, but it might be an offence to talk to them if they are driving ...

“I read that the penalty for driving and using a mobile phone is £1000. Is that right?”: In most situations, the answer is no, although phoning while driving can still lead to a substantial fine, or worse ...

“We collect accident statistics, but I am hearing a lot more about recording ‘near misses’. So what is a near miss?”: Although this is fairly subjective, ‘a near miss’ - which we should really refer to as a ‘near hit’ - could be described as follows ...