B. DIY COMPANY CAR DRIVER ASSESSMENT KITS

STANDARD CONTENTS: 3 MODULES.

It is essential now to be able to demonstrate that you are safely as well as efficiently managing your Company vehicle fleet, and, indeed, manage all employees who use their own vehicles on company business, whether or not they receive payment for this.

Employers often fail to appreciate the “worth” of employees and especially the financial costs of trying to replace a trusted and experienced surveyor, engineer, salesman or manager, assuming that a replacement can be found at all, who measures up to the one who has left through stress or serious accident or even death.

Whilst most companies can boast of not having suffered a fatality or serious injury at work, many cannot hold their hands up to one or more of their staff not having been involved in a serious or even fatal accident on the road.

In addition, the HSE is now taking a renewed interest in the safety performance of large fleet operators, and what efforts any employer is actively taking to monitor and reduce road accidents.

It is only by monitoring your Company drivers that you can both help reduce financial losses and discharge the duty of care that you owe to them under Common Law & HASAWA 1974.

You need to monitor both the condition of the vehicle as well as that of its driver, irrespective of whether the vehicle is Company owned, leased or belongs to the employee.

The three separate but related Assessment forms will enable you to exercise this function and demonstrate, in the event of an accident, that you are exercising “due diligence” in caring for your staff.

1. COMPANY DRIVER ASSESSMENT FORM – 4 pages. Use this form for each employee who drives any Company vehicle, whether a pool car or a car or van issued personally to them. Include all drivers, from the lowly rep’s Ford Focus to the MD’s Jag or Merc.

2. EMPLOYEES DRIVING THEIR OWN VEHICLES ON COMPANY BUSINESS - 4 pages. This form should be used to analyse the driving performance of each employee using his or her own car on Company business; just because you do not own their car does not mean that you don’t still have some responsibility for its use and even condition; tyres, MOT, insurance, exhaust etc., as it becomes a temporary extension of Company assets & responsibility when used for Company business.

For example, if they were not insured, then in the event of an accident occurring, you probably would attract unwanted liability for any third party claim as the driver was working in your time and on your business.

3. FLEET OVERVIEW ASSESSMENT FORM – 6 pages. This form is used to analyse and to monitor changes in fleet user’s accidents, to be able to detect any new trends and apply remedial action before costs begin to spiral and difficulties are experienced in obtaining fleet insurance cover.
   
   Price: £60.

C. CONSTRUCTION SITE RISK ASSESSMENT KITS

STANDARD CONTENTS: 8 MODULES.

Construction Site DIY Kits are aimed at principal contractors or developers having overall responsibility for running either new-build construction sites or rebuilding or refurbishing existing buildings.

The system & structure are closely related to the factory & office Kit, but, of course, the modules are completely different.

Each module has a fully worked example, and in the case of PUWER Assessments, there are several examples to set the necessary standards and save time.

• General Risk Assessments for Main Site Activities – 7 pages.
• Risk Assessments for Work at Height Regulations 2005 for common access shared with one or more contractors – 5 pages.
• The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 - 8 pages.
• Portable Building Risk Assessments – 5 pages.
• Plant and Machinery Assessments, (PUWER); 7 pages, covering mobile plant, fixed plant & machinery, static woodworking machinery, corded electric tools, cordless electric tools, pneumatic tools, steam tools; each copied for each different item of plant, machine or tool.
• Workplace Traffic Movements 5 pages, covering hazardous movements of mobile plant, (FLTs, tractors, tugs, LGVs & JCBs etc) coupled with segregation from pedestrians.
• PPE Assessments; 2 pages plus notes, copied for different processes, as required.
• Manual Handling Assessments; 1 page, copied for each new assessment.

NB. If you experience any really tricky problems, if you email me with the details, I will do my best to provide an answer or point you in the right direction.

Price: £150.

NB. I am able to devise Risk Assessments for specific trades such as ground workers, bricklayers, plumbers, electricians, tilers & roofers. Please contact me for details & prices.

D. WRITTEN SAFETY POLICY KITS

Both general and specific, (for the Foundry, Motor or Metal Recycling Trades), Safety Policy Kits are available, over 30 pages in total, including brief application notes. Your own Policy will end up shorter than this as the Kit is necessarily expanded to give various options for some sections, a few of which may not even be required. The policy is progressively shortened as each option is deleted.

There is a Preface along with 3 main Sections, which are set out so that you can easily size up your requirements and produce the Policy with minimal effort and to a high standard.

• Firstly, there is ‘The Statement of General Policy’, 2 pages long; all you have to do, if you agree with it, is to assign a member of staff to be your Safety Co-ordinator, and the Chairman, or MD, (or, partners), sign along the dotted line at the end.
• Secondly, there is the "Organisation Section", covered in over 7 pages, where health and safety duties and responsibilities are assigned for all employees, from the Chairman, MD or Partners down to the shop floor workers and sub-contractors. Here, once the family tree is devised, (not part of the Kit), it is easy to set out your health and safety structure, adding, combining, or omitting sections to reflect your organisational structure.
• Thirdly, there is the "Arrangements Section", covering over 15 pages, where varying options can be omitted, or copied and set out in your Policy. The sub-sections can be worded to reflect what you intend to do, "We will carry our Risk Assessments of etc", or what you have achieved, " Risk Assessments have been completed for…….."

Price: £80. (The RTF version can be loaded into virtually all PC word processors as there is no complicated formatting). NB. Some consultants charge over £1000 to produce a safety policy……..!

NB. WRITING A SAFETY POLICY FOR YOU

If you prefer, I will be able to devise a full Safety Policy for you for a total cost of £300; if you have already paid for a Safety Policy Kit but are unable or do not have the time to produce this policy, I will undertake the task for you for an additional fee of £220, making the total fee payable the same.

We will need to spend some time on the phone or by email to complete a 5 page questionnaire, as to keep the cost down, I would not normally visit you to obtain the necessary information & discuss matters or issues with you on site. However, if a site visit is preferred, it can be arranged for a small additional fee.

The fee includes printing and posting two copies of the policy to you or the policy can be emailed to you to print out instead.

E. MOTOR TRADE COSHH ASSESSMENTS

There are two separate modules supplied as standard; one for mechanical workshops and the other for body and spray shops.

Around 13 pages of comprehensive notes give all the background knowledge to understand what COSHH is about, explained in an easily comprehensible way. There is an explanation and list of ‘R’ and ‘S’ phrases, together with suggested procedures to lighten the Assessment burden.

These notes allow you to follow and understand the structure of my specimen Assessments and to enable you to devise any other Assessments not already covered in the Kit. There is also a list, (now outdated as the HSE will not divulge more than a few names at any one time), of occupational medical and nursing staff in East Anglia and the Home Counties, some with occupational hygienists, able to undertake medical examinations, including lung function tests for persons exposed to isocyanate or other fumes or dusts.

However, I have taken the chore out the Assessment task as the bulk of the Kit comprises specimen Assessments that cover virtually all garage materials or substances used. You only have to list the substances still used, (omit those materials or substances that are not used), group them in logical types, say, all lubricants together & download the latest MSDS from the makers or distributors or ring them for the information.

Armed with these MSDS, you will see whether the substances fall under COSHH, & if not, an assessment is not required.

You will have to change a few details concerning the constituents of each substance, the number of people involved, their exposure periods, effects on the body, substance names etc, and the Assessments are complete and accurate!

There are currently 12 different groups of COSHH Assessments, covering fuel, exhaust fumes, lubricants, other work shop materials, valetting products, MIG welding, body filler, discing, paint spraying, gun wash etc. However, as each Assessment module includes several different products, the total number of substances and materials covered is much greater.

There are 2 Appendices giving advice on preventing health hazards associated with spraying 2 Pack PU paints and on the design of spray shops. If this advice is adopted, any risk of developing respiratory sensitisation will be almost eliminated, and fire or explosion risks will be overcome without resorting to the use of expensive and unnecessary explosion proof electrical equipment.

Price: £90. (The RTF version can be loaded into virtually all PC word processors, as there is no complicated formatting).

KIT ORDERING PROCEDURE

• Please ring me on 01842 811435 or 07932 066952 or email me with your needs.
• Once we have agreed what you want, please send me a cheque made out to Andrew W Kapherr for the necessary total amount. Alternatively, you can pay online: sort code 11- 07- 77 & account no. 00278493; if paying this way, please email me to let me know.
• I will acknowledge your interest or order, &, according to your wishes, I will email you the required Kit(s) or post you the requisite CD or a pre-printed paper type Kit, usually within 7 working days. This may take a day or so longer if a special module has to be devised specially for you.
• In all cases, I will either email or attach an order payment receipt.
• Feel free to contact me at any time about your order or if you have any special Health and Safety Assessment needs. I will be happy to devise any special modules to suit your needs, either from scratch or by mixing elements from different modules.

TRAINING TO USE THESE KITS

Finally, I offer a dedicated Kit training service for any company within 70 miles of Brandon that would appreciate staff training & reassurance on how to use these Kits or on particular modules, say, fire safety or PUWER. Normally, this training is on a 1:1 or 1:2 basis as it is advisable to limit the number of persons responsible for devising & writing up safety management systems. Each trainee will need access to a PC at the visit.

Training can be requested at any time following purchase of the Kit(s) so that you can try the Kit out first & only request training if help or reassurance are needed.

I can also discuss & check the reports, leaving any suggested changes up to the client to write up, (but not for me to write up except for Safety Policies for which I make a charge of £300 alone or £220 if a Safety Policy Kit has already been purchased).

I charge a flat fee of £250 per day spent on site in addition to the Kit cost; often, only one day’s training is necessary. Follow up visits or long discussions over one hour are costed pro rata. The fee includes all mileage & other costs. However, the client is normally expected to print off copies of all forms on which it wants staff to be trained at the visit; this should not be a problem as I normally email or post the Kit in advance.

SAFETY POLICIES

As mentioned above, I can produce a dedicated Safety Policy for companies for a flat fee of £300 or for £220 if a Safety Policy Kit has already been purchased. In order to produce these policies, I need to liaise with the client to complete a 5 page questionnaire.