Safe Workplace Solutions was again involved this year in the Safety Institute of Australia Tasmanian Safety Symposium.

This year saw an increased turn out on the day. It was great to be able to chat with people from many different industries on safety.

Many discussions we had with people from a variety of businesses across the day bought up an issue that many businesses seem to be having.

Many people discussed the difficulty businesses are having with dealing with multiple contractors. People are frustrated with trying to keep up with invoices coming in from different companies, people ringing up to book in work. I even had a couple of people advise that they had 2 contractors doing the same job.

Imagine a company that rolls all of your maintenance into one visit. Only receiving one phone call to book in and only receiving one invoice.

This is a reality!

Safe Workplace Solutions can combine multiple services into one so that you can spend more time growing your business or concentrating on other aspects of your business.

Contact us today and we can organise a meeting to discuss how we can assist you.

Recently I have been able to assist a large company in the North of the state to ensure compliance in several areas within their business.

I recently met with a large food processing plant in Burnie to discuss how SAFE could streamline their compliance needs and provide state of the art reporting to reduce the amount of time their staff spend on compliance.

I conducted a site evaluation at no charge to determine what areas within their business could be streamlined. This involved walking around the site to get an understanding of what they did and how they did it. At this time, I was able to get an understanding of their needs and provide a proposal to suit including pricing.

We were initially just looking at completing electrical testing and tagging of all electrical items as well as RCD (residual current testing) of all RCD’s. However during the site evaluation, I noted that their safety showers and eye wash stations were in an area where they could require some assistance in the testing.

Once the proposal was accepted, I attended and got to work.

This was a big job and took multiple days to complete. To minimise disruption to this busy workplace we completed a lot of the servicing after hours. This meant a few 3am starts!
During our inspections of the eye wash stations, it was found that the water on one of the stations was coming out at 80 degrees Celsius when activated. This was in an area where chemicals are used that activate by heat.
This meant that if a staff member had an accident and got some of the chemical in their eyes, the 80-degree water would exacerbate the situation.
Luckily, we picked this up before the station was needed in an emergency.

Safety Showers and Eye Wash Stations are required to be maintained to the Australian Standard which includes Weekly & Annual Testing. SAFE would be happy to include this as part of your essential services routine testing.

The feedback we have been given from this client has been very good. The main reason they chose to go with SAFE to look after these essential services was our systems, client log in and the quality of the same day reports they are provided with.
They were very happy to see that potential problems were picked up due to the attention to detail of our technicians.

Not only was SAFE a cheaper option than having their onsite electrician complete the testing and tagging, but we were able to save them time by providing them with the Asset Record as they no longer needed to have their own tracking system for assets.

Our system automatically creates jobs when assets are due for testing, this streamlines the process for the client as different types of equipment is due to be serviced at different time intervals. SAFE takes care of all of this for the client so they can focus on what’s important to them.

If you would like more information on any of the Essential Services that we look after, get in contact with us today!

We would be happy to complete a free onsite evaluation for you!

Caleb Clark,
Maintenance Expert

It doesn’t matter if you are a large or small business or a landlord of a multi-story building, you are required to be prepared if an emergency occurs on site. Emergencies are inevitable and the more prepared you and your staff are, the better the emergency is handled.

 In my experience over my years as a firefighter, I have seen first-hand the heartache and stress for business owners and staff after an emergency has occurred at their business. Many businesses do not recover from a significant emergency. I have been to incidents at fast food restaurants, schools, opportunity shops, workshops, shopping centres, timber yards and storage facilities. Yes, you might be insured but how long before the insurance is sorted out and you can operate again.

There is several requirements that you should know and understand to ensure you comply.

Emergency Evacuation Plan is required to be in place for any one operating a business. This plan should be reviewed regularly for any changes.

Documented Evacuation Drill is required to be completed every year under Australian Standard 3745. This should be completed involving all persons on site unless an exemption is given. Even if you are a small business with 1 or 2 other people working in the business, you should ensure that all staff participate.

Emergency Control Organisation (Wardens) should undertake a skills retention activity on a 6-monthly basis. There should be at least a Chief Warden trained on site depending on the size of the building and other factors there may be a requirement for more to ensure that when an emergency occurs, there is a trained person in charge to ensure the Evacuation runs smoothly. Safe recommends that Wardens undertake an annual refresher training to keep up to date with any changes and a 6-monthly table top exercise or evacuation drill to keep up to date.

Fire Equipment Training should be completed by staff every two years to ensure that if the emergency can be controlled and it is safe to do so, staff can utilise the fire equipment provided. I have witnessed multiple times that this training works as I have been contacted by previous staff that undertook the training to advise they have used it at either work or home.

General Occupancy Training. This training is not always common. Did you know that it is a requirement for all occupants working at a facility to receive training to enable them to act in accordance with the emergency response procedures? This should occur on an annual basis.

These training and evacuation requirements above are the bare minimum requirements when preparing for an emergency in your facility. Even your local fish and chip shop should have these in place to be prepared for if an emergency strikes.

Complacency is dangerous when it comes to Emergencies. “It has never happened before” or “It will never happen to me” are some terms I hear all the time. Unfortunately, emergencies can occur at any time and it can definitely happen to you.

I ask, anyone that has a business and does have concerns of this occurring to get in contact with SAFE. We are happy to work with you to give you the best possible chance of reducing the risk of an emergency occurring.

Craig Couacaud 

Compliance Expert

]]> http://www.safews.com.au/is-your-workplace-prepared-incase-of-an-emergency/feed/ 0 http://www.safews.com.au/fire-pro-suppression-system/ http://www.safews.com.au/fire-pro-suppression-system/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2017 23:43:02 +0000 http://www.safews.com.au/?p=910 Recently we completed an install of a FirePro Suppression System for a client in a large bulldozer.

What is FirePro?

Unlike other conventional Gaseous Fire Suppression Systems FirePro will not kill you, will not damage your equipment, but will extinguish your fire.

FirePro is the fire extinguishing agent of the future for:

• Total flooding fire protection
• Internal fire protection
• Local/streaming fire protection

It is Ozone Friendly, Cost Effective, Halon Alternative & Environmentally friendly.

FirePro can be utilised in machinery, marine, electrical installations and anywhere that there could be critical infrastructure that could affect your business operations.

FirePro extinguishing aerosol systems use the latest generation of the SBK aerosol forming compound (it does not contain pyrotechnic materials such as nitro-guanidine or nitro-cellulose). Upon activation, the solid compound is transformed into a rapidly expanding, highly efficient and highly effective fire extinguishing aerosol, based on potassium salts.

If you would like more information about FirePro give us a call on 1300 380 490.

One such story is a new client I started working with towards the end of 2016. This client is a large organisation within Tasmania with more than 50 sites. Now imagine having different contractors coming in for different services at different times throughout the year. You are getting invoices, reports, and quotes on most days and are required to keep track of all this……

Sounds stressful!

Safe Workplace Solutions jumped on board ready to help!

After completing our first round of servicing for this organisation, we managed to put our systems and processes into place.

Time Saving – All services lining up so that the client only receives a single visit whereas before the client would have multiple service providers attending at different times.

Electronic Reporting and Client Log In – One of the biggest issues in compliance is having all the records in one place. Our client received all records via email so they do not have to have written paperwork that is very hard to decipher and understand. They can also access their records and invoices at any time by logging on to our system.

Reducing Cost – Instead of having multiple service providers charging call out fees and individual rates, our client now has their services all bundled up in one nice package.’

Not only did we save the client on the above, due to the attention to details from our technicians on the ground, we also found the following:

• At one of our client’s sites, they were having two separate companies monitoring their fire detection system when they only require one. They have been charged by two companies for this. (this has saved my client in excess of $1000)
• Multiple sites had items that have never been tested and have now been rectified to ensure that in an emergency, the lifesaving equipment is in working condition.

The great feedback received shows me that Team Safe is making a difference for our clients and gives me the motivation to continue visiting businesses throughout Tasmania so that I can help these businesses spend more time growing and less time on compliance.

Craig Couacaud

Compliance Expert

During my first few months at SAFE I have been able to help quite a few hairdressing salons become more aware of their safety requirements as a business owner. 

The first hairdresser I visited had recently opened and was not really aware of any of the safety requirements to ensure that the workplace was a safe environment for both their staff and their clients. 

I was able to educate them on what fire equipment they were required to have installed to comply with AS1851 as well as discussing the importance of testing and tagging in accordance with AS3760 of all of the electrical items to ensure they were safe to use. 

After educating the owner and completing a site audit I was able to advise what fire equipment they was required to be installed.

I was given the go ahead to install these straight away while I was on site, as well as complete the electrical testing and tagging of all of the electrical items. 

This only took a couple of hours from the time I arrived on site and I was able to complete the job for them, then and there. I was able to work around the hairdressers and the clients causing minimal disruption to the operation of the salon. 

All of the assets tested have a small tag placed on them neatly with their test result and are imported into our system from which we issue a same day report; this lists information regarding the asset that was tested as well as the test result. 

From here the assets flag in our system when they are due again and we will contact the salon to schedule in a time to complete the service. This means that the client doesn’t have to worry about remembering what service is due and when. 

The owner of the salon was very thankful that I called in when I did and was able to take care of everything for her so she didn’t have to worry. 

I have visited multiple hair salons since and have been able to help them in the same way. 

If you or someone you know is puzzled with what your compliance obligations are please do not hesitate to contact us, we would be more than happy to help you. 

Kane Johansen 

Maintenance Rookie

Recently a local council sent out a letter to all businesses within their area of responsibility. This letter advised that the businesses were required to provide a Form 56 Annual Maintenance Statement.

After receiving this letter, a number of businesses contacted me asking a number of questions as to what it is, why are they getting it and what needs to be done.

Here is some information that you are required to know.

On the 1^st July 2004, a building owner (in accordance with the Building Regulations 2004) must maintain any essential safety and health features of their building and any essential safety and health measures necessary to ensure the safety of persons using their building.  An owner must also publicly display an Annual Maintenance Statement (Form 56) that the features and measures have been assessed by an appropriately qualified person and are performing to a standard to which they were originally designed.

Before we can assess that our features and measures are performing to the standard to which they were originally designed we require a Form 46 Schedule of Essential Safety and Health Features and Measures so we know what features and measures are in our building. The Form 46 Schedule of Essential Safety and Health Features and Measures outlines the requirements and frequency the features and measures are maintained.

Once a Form 46 Schedule is in place, as a business you are required to ensure that the assessments are being completed. A big issue that I come across is that businesses are having checks completed but not keeping documentation for the works.

If no documentation is kept, it is very hard to provide evidence that everything has been assessed and is performing to the required standard.

The following extract will appear on every form 46 that is issued to businesses.

Are you able to provide documentation to show evidence of 3 monthly checks of your building?

If not, then you are technically not able to sign and display your Annual Maintenance Statement (Form 56) as you do not have all the required documentation.

Once you have collated all the required evidence, an Annual Maintenance Statement (Form 56) is filled out, signed and displayed in a prominent location in the entrance to your building.

Why is this Form 56 important? It is important as it provides visitors to your building with the information that you maintain the required features within your building. There are a number of government departments that can ask you to produce the Form 56 and evidence that the features are being assessed as conforming. Local Council, Work Safe and the Tasmania Fire Service to name a few.

Insurances companies may also ask you to produce an Annual Maintenance Statement (Form 56). Did you know that there is a clause in most business insurance policies stating the following:

“You must take all reasonable precautions to prevent destruction, loss or damage to property or bodily injury and comply and ensure your employees, servants and agents comply with, all statutory obligations and by-laws or regulations imposed by any public authority for the safety of property or person.

This paragraph can be used to void an insurance policy if the business owner does not comply.

What can be done to ensure you comply?

Safe Workplace Solutions can provide a solution for your Form 46 and 56 needs. Contact me if you would like to organise a free site evaluation and chat.

Craig Couacaud

Compliance Expert