Labour Party’s Proposed Plans to the Employment Rights Bill 

Some of you may or may not be aware that this October the Labour Party are planning to introduce the new Employment Rights Bill to parliament. We are still waiting on the exact details to be confirmed, however businesses should begin to prepare for the upcoming proposed changes, including workers’ rights and enhanced protections. Some of the changes we are expecting to see are:

  • Day 1 protection from Unfair Dismissal
  • Right to Disconnect protection
  • 0-Hour Contract bans
  • Day 1 rights for flexible working

With all this in mind, there is no need to panic. We have put together a Risk Assessment of the proposed changes to give you a head start! This Risk Assessment details the proposed changes, what amendments are involved and the expected time to implement. Simplifying the changes, to help businesses stay compliant.

HSE – Work-related stress and how to manage it

The HSE states that employers have a legal duty to protect workers from stress at work by doing a risk assessment and acting on it. This is the same duty you have to protect people from other health and safety risks.

The HSE website defines stress as ‘the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them.’

As you are aware employees can feel stress when they can’t cope with pressures and other issues. Therefore Employers are required to match demands to workers’ skills and knowledge.

Stress can affect people in different ways and what stresses one person may not have the same affect for another person. Factors like skills and experience, age or disability may all affect whether a worker can cope.

HSE Update guidance on RIDDOR

Whilst there have been no changes to legal requirements, the guidance is designed to help understand how and when you should submit a report under RIDDOR.

The improvements are based on feedback gathered from stakeholders who felt the guidance was unclear in some areas, that the online reporting forms were hard to follow and they would benefit from improved guidance.

The Main changes to the guidance include:

  • More direct links to guidance on the various types of reportable incidents to help you decide whether a report is required.
  • Improved guidance on who should, and who should not report under RIDDOR.
  • Improved guidance on what is meant by a ‘work-related’ accident.
  • Information on when an occupational disease is not reportable.
  • Increased clarity on when an ‘over-7-day’ absence should be reported

Main changes to the online forms include:

  • The questions have been re-ordered to bring questions about the ‘severity of injuries’ to the beginning. This will help you quickly decide if your incident is reportable.
  • Pop-up messages will now redirect you if the incident is not reportable.
  • Guidance has been improved throughout the forms to make them easier to use.
  • Injured or affected people now have an increased number of options when completing the gender field.

HSE Manual Handling Guidance

The HSE states that employers must protect their workers from the risk of injury from handling tasks. This includes the transporting or supporting a load by hand or bodily force, and covers lifting, putting down, pushing, pulling, carrying or moving loads. The load can be an object, person, or animal.

The HSE’s advice is that organisations must protect their workers from the risk of injury from hazardous manual handling, which should look at the following.

  • Avoid hazardous manual handling, so far as reasonably practicable
  • Assess the risk of injury from any hazardous manual handling
  • Operations that cannot be avoided
  • Reduce the risk of injury from hazardous manual handling to as low as reasonably practicable

When assessing the manual handling activities, consider the task, the load, the working environment and individual capability.

Some tasks are low risk and don’t need formal assessment. There is a simple filter you can use (see HERE) to distinguish low-risk tasks from those which need a more detailed assessment.

If you require guidance, the HSE offer several tools to assist with detailed risk assessments and includes the following:

  • The Manual Handling Assessment Charts (MAC) tool for lifting, carrying and team handling
  • The Variable Manual handling Assessment Chart (V-MAC) tool to help assess complex manual handling operations where load weights vary.
  • The Risk Assessment of Pushing and Pulling (RAPP) tool.
  • The Assessment of Repetitive Tasks (ART) tool if the task involves repetitive work using the upper limbs

Training

Our professional trainers and Instructors provide classroom instruction with a practical element so that the delegates are fully aware of safe working practices which can be applied to their own place of work.

Great Experience

When completing Health and Safety training with Milne Safety you will find the experience enjoyable and of great value to you and your work place. This will assist you in keeping your workplace safer.

Accreditations

The delegates who have successfully passed the theory and practical elements required will be provided with a certificate to prove their competence and to recognise their achievement.