Unit 06

Health and safety in the workplace is extremely important, as this does not just effect you but everyone else who works there, it only takes one small problem to go wrong for serious and possibly life threatening injuries to occur. These small things could be something as stupid sounding as just making sure all trailing wires are tucked to the side, underneath carpeting etc, and not out in the middle of walk ways with proper cable tidying tubes. Other safety tips are leaving proper signs out such as slippery surface if some one spilled something on a smooth surface etc.

When you start work in a new place, if the owners do not already do this, then try and familiarise yourself with your surroundings, and try and find out where things are, such as fire exits and extinguishers just incase of emergency. It is also important to learn where any kind of medical equipment is such as first aid kits. As well as emergency equipment it is also good to know how to prevent these problems, the most common problems that occur in an office are; trailing wires, electrical fires caused from either spilling drinks on electrical equipment or overloading sockets and plugs.

It is not just physical components that can cause health and safety issues, it can also be things such as the temperature and size of the room and/or workspace, as well as time related issues. Depending on the type of workspace will depend on what temperature is acceptable to work in, for example an average office space will need to be heated to at least 16°C for people to work comfortably in, but it will be 13°C if the job requires a lot of physical work, also if the office has insulated walls then the company that owns the office is legally obligated to provide some form of cooling system, such as air conditioning units or coolants, and fans for hot days if needed. Another issue is about the size of the workspace, If an employee is particularly tall he may not be as comfortable sitting in a chair that was designed for the average sized person, it is the job of the company to provide a comfortable work environment for any of its employees. One other factor is based on time, All employees who work over a certain amount of time a day are entitled to a break at some part of the day; an employee who works up to six hours a day is entitled to at least 20 minutes of an uninterrupted break, and is also entitled to a minimum of 11 hours rest before he next has to start work.