Your questions answered by The British Safety Council

Should my employer be providing me with safety footwear as part of my Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)?

UK law states that employers must protect workers from health and safety risks at work. This includes providing free PPE if a risk assessment shows it is needed. 

The list of PPE includes safety helmets, gloves, eye or hearing protection, high-visibility clothing, harnesses, respiratory equipment and, yes, safety footwear. 

Before choosing the proper slip-resistant shoes employers must first assess the work environment. The behaviour of the materials changes depending on the surfaces or substances to which they are exposed. For example, the terms “oil-resistant” and “slip-resistant” denote different features.

Supplying proper slip-resisting footwear, appropriate to the specific hazards in your workplace can go a long way towards cutting risk. High quality safety shoes that fit well and stay comfortable during long working hours have the potential to increase safety but also promote workers’ general health and efficiency.

Always ensure that the footwear meets safety standard EN ISO 20345:2011. 

I’m driving more and more often for work. What are the key points I should be looking for in my company’s driving for work policy?

Many employees and employers underestimate the risks and responsibilities involved in work-related driving — treating it as routine travel rather than a managed workplace activity.

Even though driving for work is one of the leading causes of workplace fatalities, it’s often not covered by the same level of risk assessment or supervision as on-site tasks.

Many companies fail to treat vehicles as “workplaces” under health and safety law, and this may result in some employers failing to assess driving routes, fatigue risks, or vehicle condition with the same rigour as they might other workplace hazards. Many policies don’t include refresher training on safe driving, hazard perception, or regular vehicle inspections (particularly if vehicles are employee-owned cars used for work).

Ensure that all of these points are covered by your company’s risk assessments, and make sure that these assessments are specific to each individual.

We recently had a ‘struck-by’ near miss, with some tools falling from an overhead platform, how can we improve our processes to avoid these in future:

We call an incident ‘struck-by’ when a worker is hit by a moving object, such as falling tools or other equipment, or by a moving vehicle, for example. This type of incident can occur in many workplaces, though are most common in construction, manufacturing, and transportation sectors.

Avoidance of these incidents always begins with a thorough risk assessment, to ensure that no matter what equipment is being used workplaces are safe and employees are protected. As part of your risk assessments, include regular site-specific review: for example, in agriculture or construction, different hazards occur throughout the job.

As well as the risk assessment, ensure that mitigation aids are also provided, such as PPE (for example, hard hats, safety glasses, high-visibility vests), and barricades and warning signs are in place, and flaggers escort moving vehicles or equipment, wherever necessary.

In an incident such as yours, it should be remembered that tools and materials are secured when working at height – and these are inspected regularly. Think about the communication around the area: make sure workers understand site hazards and operation zones, and that they maintain an appropriate distance.

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