Advantia Business Solutions Blog

Making sure people are equipped and dressed to do their work safely and healthily should be common sense, but it’s also required by law. The Health and Safety Executive says that people must be protected against any health or safety risks at work. Where health and safety cannot be adequately controlled in other ways, the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 require employers to provide suitable Personal Protective Equipment. When companies provide Personal Protective Equipment they have to make sure it’s properly assessed to ensure it is fit for purpose, that it’s stored and maintained correctly, that users are provided with instructions on how to use it properly and that it’s used correctly. This doesn’t just extend to workers. Customers and visitors also have to be protected whenever they are in any workplace or site with health and safety risks. Personal Protective Equipment reduces workplace accidents and ensures the safety of all site users. It’s essen...

When it comes to recommending the right fire extinguisher, knowing which type is best for which kind of fire is potentially life-saving. Although the number of fires in the UK has decreased significantly since smoke alarms became commonplace from the 1990s onwards, Fire and rescue services (FRSs) attended around 162,000 fires in England during 2015/16. This is 5% more than the 155,000 attended in 2014/15 (Department for Communities and Local Government’s Fire Statistics report.) From a workplace perspective, retail units, cafes, bars, restaurants and manufacturing sites accounted for many of the 22,000 out of home fires attended by the fire services in 2013-14. These non-residential fires resulted in over 1,000 non-fatal casualties and 17 fatal casualties in 2013-14, making advice on fire safety equipment particularly critical to these end-user groups. The type of extinguisher to use depends on what materials are involved in a fire. With the chief causes of fire includi...

If more bystanders performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) quickly and used defibrillators where available, thousands more people could survive cardiac arrests each year. In its new 2015 guidelines, the Resuscitation Council says that as well as calling the emergency services straight away, people could improve a victim’s chances of survival if they gave CPR immediately on recognising the signs of a cardiac arrest. Defibrillators are portable electronic devices that automatically diagnose and treat life threatening cardiac arrhythmias through the application of electrical therapy, allowing the heart to re-establish an effective rhythm. The use of a defibrillator within three to five minutes of collapse can make survival rates as high as 50 to 70%. Fewer than 2% of victims in the UK have a defibrillator deployed before an ambulance arrives and of the 60,000 cases of suspected cardiac arrest each year, less than half of these have resuscitation attempted by ambulan...

Christmas is nearly here, and we all probably have many expensive presents lying around the home or office waiting to be given to your relatives and friends. However, it is important to remember that security isn’t just a case of locking up your premises and keeping the gifts out of sight when you are out partying the night away. Running a business means you should also review the safety of your premises, equipment and confidential information too. The festive season means many offices will be left unoccupied for several days. As much as we all want to rush out of the office and open that first bottle of prosecco, there are many things to remember before we leave. Considering we now live in the digital age, empty offices increase the possibility of laptops, smartphones or confidential information being stolen, especially if they are left lying around on your desk. However, this risk is also magnified when devices and papers are taken away from the office and left lying aro...

As the winter draws closer and closer to us, we find ourselves travelling to and from work in the cold weather. Snow and ice can cause many problems to our journey, from motoring breakdowns and accidents, to lost working time and understaffed offices. Productivity and workplace issues could both arise if any member of staff has an accident while travelling for work, therefore it is a good idea for businesses to inform or even provide equipment to employees before the winter arrives – giving them plenty of time to prepare. From driving kits to workplace policies, there are several examples that can be introduced within businesses to help reduce the aggravation of winter days: Winter work policy Introduce a policy that covers what people should do in the event of snow, ice or storms. Let them know what form of communication you will use to contact them, and vice versa. It might be worth considering if it is more practical for some employees to work from home rather t...

As we all know, the clocks are going back an hour on 25th October . For many of us this now means travelling and working in the dark.  Employee safety has to be a top priority for any employer. While many companies are only aware of the requirement for safety within the workplace, many provide less attention towards safety when travelling or working in the dark. This becomes a more pressing issue in October because of the clocks going back. This difference means a lot of us will find ourselves travelling home, going to meetings or visiting customers in darkness of later afternoon. There are many tips that employers should give to workers for when they travel after dark: Safety garments: High visibility vests and waistcoats are essential for all workplaces, and they can be a life saver out on the road, making people a lot more visible if they are on a bike, next to a broken down car or even walking down a dark road.  If it’s required for a job, employers must pr...