Background

We’ve recently been on site at Ayrshire Tree Surgeons to carry out Covid-19 fogging in some of their offices and corridors. Below, we will give you some information about fogging and how it can help your business as we battle the spread of Covid-19.

What is Covid-19 fogging?

Fogging is a process ensuring that those parts of your workplace which are most often in contact with people are thoroughly disinfected. Disinfectant is sprayed using a fogging machine and is effective in disinfecting hard to reach surfaces, areas often missed or forgotten and confined spaces. Fogging is an additional measure that should be used following general cleaning and disinfection.

You can read more about fogging from BioHygiene here.

We also have a page about our environmental cleaning services you can read here.

To conclude

At Amalgamate, we arrange and provide both preventative and reactive disinfection. We also provide Covid-19 compliance audits, including advice on appropriate signage, risk assessments, safe methods of communication, social distancing and more. These services have allowed us to mitigate the risk of contamination at a number of our clients premises and protect the health and safety of essential staff, visitors and contractors.

If your company could benefit from our fogging services or any of our other Covid-19 compliance services, please get in touch on t: +44 (0)141 244 0181 or e: info@amalgamate-safety.com

Introduction

We want you to meet our two new team members joining us at Amalgamate. A happy, well-knit team is highly important to us and we think that Jay and Lauren will be a perfect addition with their vast skill set and experience. We want to keep you up to date with our team so you know the faces behind the amazing work that we at Amalgamate provide.

Jay Nicholson

Health and Safety Consultant

Jay Nicholson is our new Health and Safety Consultant, he is a self-motivated individual who has achieved an astonishing number of qualifications and certificates throughout his health and safety career. For 8 years, Jay worked as a Managing Director and Trainer for a training company which provided first aid and health and safety courses. From 2007 to 2019, Jay served as an operational firefighter and temporary crew commander. His other roles have included a health and safety compliance manager for a hotel company and a health and safety consultant. These roles make Jay the perfect addition to our team, his vast experience in the health and safety sector as well as his clear dedication to providing excellence make him an invaluable asset to Amalgamate.

Lauren Bell

Training Administrator

Lauren Bell is taking on a new role within our company as Training Administrator. She is a highly motivated and enthusiastic individual and with over 4 years of experience in the service industry, Lauren has a proven ability to adapt to past-paced, changing environments and a dedication to provide first-class customer service, a perfect addition to Amalgamate.

We’re hiring again! Amalgamate is also looking for a part-time office administrator, you can find out more here. If you want to get in touch or have any questions about the services we provide, please contact us on t: +44 (0)141 244 0181 or e: info@amalgamate-safety.com

Who are we looking for

We’re on the hunt for a part-time Office Administrator to join our team. Amalgamate is a vibrant Health & Safety Consultancy & Training Provider looking for an intelligent and self‐motivated person who can support our consultants in providing excellent service to our clients.

We’re a small team which gives you the opportunity to be involved in lots of different aspects of the business, and be confident that your voice is heard. We welcome contributions from all members of the team, in a way that you won’t often see in larger companies.

This is a part time role of 20 hours per week, with flexibility as to how your hours are arranged. Guidance and training will be provided, but prior knowledge/experience of Health and Safety or consultancy organisations would be beneficial.

The role will include:

• Book-keeping, invoicing clients, and dealing with creditors and debtors; 
• Booking transport and accommodation for consultants’ travel and ordering office supplies;
• Communicating with clients, allocating tasks to consultants, scheduling appointments, and case monitoring;
• Proof-reading and formatting of documentation to ensure it is clear, technically accurate and easily understandable;
• Managing contracts and renewals, maintenance of up to date CVs and records of training/qualifications;
• Providing general ad-hoc administrative support e.g. dealing with incoming phone calls and emails, scheduling of appointments, updating and maintaining records on our CRM system. 

It is essential that candidates:

• Have a minimum of 5+ years in a similar environment;
• Have excellent English communication and proof-reading skills;
• Maintain high levels of accuracy and attention to detail in their written work;
• Have great IT skills; 
• Have working knowledge of Sage accounting software;
• Are familiar with Apple software including Pages and Numbers, experience with Office 365, Microsoft Teams, and Adobe Acrobat would also be beneficial; 
• Are able to organise their work‐load effectively, completing tasks to strict client-led deadlines.

Our Equal Opportunities Policy affirms our belief that no one should be discriminated against on the basis of their race, sexuality, gender identity, age, parental status, disability, or other protected characteristic. We’re also committed to Fair Working Practices – we always pay above the Living Wage, and offer a flexible working environment.

Contact us

If you believe that you have the necessary skills, aptitude, and attitude, please send a CV and covering letter over to careers@amalgamate-safety.com

Note: Due to the on-going Scottish Government restrictions, interviews may not be carried out in person. In this event interviews will be carried out via Microsoft Teams.

Introduction

We want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a safe break with family and some friends under these restricted times.

The First Minister in Scotland has confirmed in Parliament on Monday 4th January, that further and immediate restrictions are now being applied in Scotland (you can read her statement here). As the situation surrounding Covid-19 continues to change daily, we would like to give you an operational update. As a business, we’re doing everything we can to ensure we keep our team, and our clients, safe while continuing to deliver the same quality of services expected.

Operational Update

Following the latest  government advice, we’ve put measures in place to ensure that our business can continue to operate efficiently.

We continue to communicate with, and support, both our team and clients through the current situation. Both UK and Scottish Government updates are being constantly assessed and acted upon.

Our IT systems are designed to allow our core team to work from home and we will be encouraging this. As a business, we are geared up for online video conferencing and cloud based telephone calls.

However, with immediate effect to protect the health and safety of our team, all face-to-face/non-critical meetings will be postponed. Our training provision will be restricted to essential training only i.e. First Aid at Work. Safety critical site operations will continue but any non-essential travel will be postponed.

Amalgamate would like to re-assure our clients that we are still operational. Our team will continue to support you through these difficult times and if you require any assistance, please contact us through our normal channels.

We value your business and thank you for the continued support.

Contact

If you’d like to learn more about our Covid-19 support services please click here to find out more. If you would like any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us on +44 (0)141 244 0181 or email info@amalgamate-safety.com

Please stay safe and look after yourselves.

Introduction

Health and Safety is at the core of what we do at Amalgamate. That’s why we keep our website up to date with recent legislation updates and guidance to ensure our clients are aware of what is required of them in managing their company’s health and safety. This post will be detailing the main points from the October 2020 Health and Safety Legislation Update.

Key Health and Safety Legislation Changes 2020

• Brexit
• The Environment Bill
• The Fire Safety Bill
• The Building Safety Bill
• The Health Protection (Notification) (Amendment) Regulations 2020
• EH40/2005 (updated to 4th Edition)
• Environmental Protection England Amendment Order
• Drivers Hours Changes – August 2020
• BS ISO 45003 Occupational Health and Safety Management — Psychological Health and Safety at Work: Managing Psychosocial Risks — Guidelines
• Coronavirus

Brexit

Whatever the outcome of the latest talks between the UK and the EU to finalise ‘Brexit’, it is expected that the fundamental principles of risk management will remain. Under the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018, when the transition period ends, EU laws will initially remain in place. Secondary legislation has been put in place to come into effect at the end of the transition period to ensure that it, and any EU-derived UK legislation, will function correctly at that time.  Areas of relevance include:

• Biocides – from 01/01/2021, applications to make biocidal active substances and products available on the UK market must be submitted to the HSE
• Classification, labelling and packaging of substances and chemicals (CLP)

The Environment Bill – update

The Environment Bill was introduced to Parliament on 30 January 2020 and sets out reforms aimed at protecting the environment once the UK has left the EU. These include:

• a requirement for a long-term environment plan
• the setting of various environmental targets including for air quality
• incorporation of environmental principles into UK law
• a new Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), to replace EU oversight functions
• extending producer responsibility schemes for waste beyond the current waste streams, introducing:
• a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) to encourage consumers to return drinks containers for recycling
• a new tax on plastic packaging which does not contain at least 30% recycled plastic content
• strengthening air quality legislation and increasing powers in relation to enforcement of air quality standards, with mandatory recalls for vehicles and equipment failing environmental tests.

The Fire Safety Bill

In March 2020, the Home Office introduced a new bill to improve fire safety in buildings in England and Wales.  The proposed Fire Safety Bill will amend the Fire Safety Order 2005 to clarify that the responsible person or duty-holder for multi-occupied, residential buildings must manage and reduce the risk of fire for:

• the structure and external walls of the building, including cladding, balconies and windows
• entrance doors to individual flats that open into common parts

The Building Safety Bill 2019-2020

This Bill sets out to ensure that buildings are safe for their occupants and avoid a repeat of a tragedy such as Grenfell Tower. Critical to the Bill is the introduction of the new, statutory role of Building Safety Manager; dedicated to the day-to-day management of fire and structural safety in a building and to ensure residents have a clear point of contact for any issues relating to safety.

Public Health England: The Health Protection (Notification) (Amendment) Regulations 2020

These regulations amended the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010 (S.I. 2010/659). They apply to England only. Regulation 2(2) adds COVID-19 to the list of notifiable diseases in Schedule 1. Regulation 2(3) adds SARS-CoV 2 to the list of causative agents in Schedule 2. (March 2020)

EH40/2005 (Updated to 4th Edition)

The HSE published a revised version of EH40/2005 which detailed some new and revised Workplace Exposure Limits for 13 carcinogenic substances which came into force from 17th January 2020. These revised limits mean that you may need to review your COSHH risk assessments to ensure exposure is controlled to as low as reasonably practicable. (March 2020)

Drivers Hours Changes – August 2020

In August new EU rules came into force regarding drivers hours and tachographs, including:

• A limit of driving 9 hours per day – this can only be increased to a daily limit of 10 hours twice a week
• Requirement for drivers to ‘return home’ every 4 weeks
• New rules relating to rest and break periods

Coronavirus Act 2020

This act saw the introduction of a range of emergency provisions in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The measures included the emergency registration of health professionals, temporary modification of mental health and mental capacity legislation, the power to require information relating to food chains. (March 2020)

Covid-19 Regulations

Employers and employees have a responsibility to follow the specific Covid-19 Secure guidelines set out for their sector or industry. There are 14 guides which relate to different kinds of workplaces, it may be that you need to use more than one guide to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.  As an organisation, you have a responsibility to create and produce a COVID-19 risk assessment.  This should be circulated amongst all staff and you must ensure that it has been read and understood by all employees.  If you employ more than 50 people, you should publish your Covid-19 risk assessment on your website.

The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Collection of Contact Details etc. and Related Requirements) Regulations 2020

If your business is open to the public it is now a legal requirement (from 18th September 2020) to display an NHS QR Code. Businesses include those in the hospitality sector, tourism and leisure, close contact services and local authority run services. You can create a QR poster for your premises by going on the Government website.

BS ISO 45003 Occupational Health and Safety Management – Psychological Health and Safety at Work: Managing Psychosocial Risks – Guideliens

This draft international standard is currently being developed by the international occupational health and safety management technical committee (ISO/TC 283). The Public Comments phase of development began on 26 June 2020; it closed on 4 October 2020. ISO 45003 aims to provide guidance on protecting psychological health by managing psychosocial risk within an occupational health and safety management system. It covers:

• How to identify the conditions, circumstances and workplace demands that can impact the psychological health and well-being of workers
• Identifying primary risk factors and assess them to determine what changes are can be made to limit those risks
• How to control work-related hazards and manage psychosocial risk within an OH&S management system.

Contact

If you would like more information on how to protect the health and safety of your workers, or are interested in any of the services we offer, please contact us on t: +44 (0)141 244 0181 or e: info@amalgamate-safety.com

Resources

• You can read our September 2020 Legal Update here
• To download the Legislation and Guidance Update for October 2020, click here

Introduction

2020 has brought about a whole new set of health and safety challenges in the workplace, whether that might be the office or at home. The HSE have recently published their Health and safety at work 2019/20, Summary statistics for 2020. In this post, we’ll detail some of the key facts and messages that should be taken from this.

Key Facts:

A summary of the Health and Safety at Work 2019/20 statistics

The following key facts refer to dates covering 2019/20 unless stated otherwise

• 1.6 million work-related or ill health cases (new or long-standing)
• 0.8 million work-related stress, depression or anxiety disorders (new or long-standing)
• 0.5 million work-related musculoskeletal disorder cases (new or long-standing)
• £10.6 billion annual costs of new cases of work-related ill health in 2018/19
• 0.7 million workers sustaining a non-fatal injury
• 65,427 non-fatal injuries to employees reported by employers
• 111 fatal injuries to workers
• 38.8 million working days lost due to work-related ill health and non-fatal workplace injuries
• 12,000 lung disease deaths each year estimated to be linked to past exposures at work
• 2,446 mesothelioma deaths in 2019 with a similar number of lung cancer deaths linked to past exposures to asbestos
• £10.6 billion annual costs of new cases of work-related ill health in 2018/19
• £5.6 billion annual costs of workplace injury in 2018/19
• £16.2 billion annual costs of work-related injury and new cases of ill health in 2018/19

A look at 2018/19 and 2019/20

By looking back at the same report from 2018/19, we can see what figures have increased or decreased or even stayed the same. Below, we’ve stated some of the key differences we’ve found between the reports;

• 226,000 more workers suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety (new or long-standing)
• 5.1 million increase in working days lost due to work-related stress, depression or anxiety
• 0.2 million increase in workers suffering from work-related ill health
• 9 million increase in working days lost due to work-related ill health
• £1.2 billlion increase in work-related injury and ill health
• 2 million increase in working days lost due to work-related musculoskeletal disorders

The rise in workers suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety, as well as working days lost due to this, is likely in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic that has dominated 2020. This pandemic has been detrimental to mental health across the world and the UK, and these figures represent that. Covid-19 may also be responsible for the 2 million increase in working days lost due to work-related musculoskeletal disorders, a consequence of the transition to home working.

Conclusion

As a health and safety company, we want to keep you up to date on figures like these and help you understand the trends in data. It’s important, now more than ever, to be proactive about the health and safety of your company and workplace. If you require any of our expert health and safety services, please don’t hesitate to get in touch on t: + 44 (0)141 244 0181 or e: info@amalgamate-safety.com

Further Resources

• Click here for our Managing Covid-19 Q&A
• Click here for our September 2020 Legal Update
• You can also click here for the HSE’s Health and Safety statistics page

Introduction

Managing Covid-19 and all of its many implications is a difficult task, especially when nothing is certain and government guidance is constantly updated. We’ve put together some information regarding common questions being asked about Covid-19 symptoms, isolation and testing.

Q – What do I do if I get symptoms of Covid-19?

If you begin to develop any of the Covid-19 symptoms; a high temperature, a new, continuous cough or loss or change of sense of smell or taste:

• Get a test as soon as possible
• Anyone you live with must self-isolate until you’ve received your test result
• Anyone in your support bubble must self-isolate until you’ve received your test result
• Contact your employer

Covid-19 Symptoms

Q – What do I do when I get my result?

If you test negative:

• Keep self-isolating for the rest of the 14 days from when you were last in contact with the person who has Covid-19 – you may get symptoms after being tested
• Anyone you live with can stop self-isolating if they do not have symptoms
• Anyone in your support bubble can stop self-isolating if they do not have symptoms
• Contact your employer

If you test positive:

• Self-isolate for at least 10 days from when your symptoms started – even if it means self-isolating for longer than 14 days
• Anyone you live with must self-isolate for 14 days from when your symptoms started
• Anyone in your support bubble must self-isolate for 14 days from when your symptoms started
• Contact your employer

Q – What if I don’t have any symptoms?

If you do not develop any symptoms of Covid-19 whilst self-isolating:

• You can stop self-isolating after 14 days
• You do not need to have a test
• Contact your employer

Q – How will I be contacted?

If you have been in close contact with someone who has Covid-19 and need to self isolate:

• An email, text or phone call from the NHS Test and Trace – text messages will come from NHS tracing and calls will come from 0300 0135 000
• An alert from the NHS Covid-19 app
• Children under 18 will be contacted by phone wherever possible and asked for their parent or guardian’s permission to continue the call
• You will be asked to sign in to the NHS Test and Trace contact tracing website – https://contact-tracing.phe.gov.uk
• If you cannot use the contact tracing website, they will you

NOTE – The Test and Trace team will not ask for:

• Bank details or any payments
• Details of any accounts
• Passwords or pins by phone
• You to call any premium rate contact number

Managing Employees testing positive for Covid-19

Q – One of our workers has tested positive, should we close the workplace?

• A worker with a confirmed diagnosis should stay at home with immediate effect and employers should advise them to follow the government’s self-isolation advice and apply for a test
• If a worker has symptoms, however mild, or is in a household where someone has symptoms, they should self-isolate, as should all in their household. Under the test and trace system, they will be asked to disclose the places they have visited in the 48 hours prior to their symptoms starting, which may include their workplace.
• Staff who were exposed to the infected colleague should be sent home. Government advice states those who have been in recent close contact with an infected person should self-isolate, breaking the transmission chain.

Q – If an employee was asked to self-isolate or has Covid-19, would it breach privacy to communicate this to the rest of the employees?

If an employee is asked to self-isolate or has Covid-19 this must be communicated to the rest of the employees. If done correctly, this won’t be a breach of privacy. An employer has both a duty of mutual trust and confidence towards all employees and a duty to take care of all employees’ health and safety.

Employers must keep staff informed about potential or confirmed Covid-19 cases amongst other staff. Data protection does not prevent employers honouring their duty to the health and safety of all employees or sharing data with authorities for public health purposes. There are special exemptions in the Data Protection Act 2018 which enable employers to share information where there are risks to the wider public.

Now that testing and tracing systems are up and running employees will be contacted if they have been in close proximity to a colleague who has tested positive for Covid-19. 

Employees are more likely to trust the employer’s virus management plans if there is openness about infected persons in the workplace so employers should not try to prevent people finding out, although they may wish to instruct employees not to talk to the media about any cases.

Conclusion

To conclude our managing Covid-19 guidance, we recommend that you make an effort to check up on government guidance every few weeks to ensure you are aware of any updates. We will continue to follow these updates and provide guidance regarding any changes made.

If you are interested in any of our Covid-19 support services, or have any further questions about guidance, please contact us on t: +44 (0)141 244 0181 or e: info@amalgamate-safety.com

Resources

• Returning to work support: Covid-19 – click here.
• Working from home during Covid-19 – click here.
• FFP Masks: Covid-19 – click here.
• Government Coronavirus page – click here.

Introduction

September was National Suicide Prevention month and we want to show our support by announcing that we will soon be able to offer training for First Aid for Mental Health. In 2018 alone more than 6,800 lives were lost to suicide in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

At Amalgamate, we understand the importance of mental health. We want to use our company voice to raise awareness about mental health issues and highlight the options of support that are available. Covid-19 has emphasised the importance of mental health and isn’t something that is going to end any time soon.

Two of our trainers will be attending training to qualify them in First Aid for Mental Health. This will allow Amalgamate to begin delivering First Aid for Mental Health from the end of October. 

What will our trainers be learning?

The course will cover a range of subjects including:

We are looking forward to expanding our training abilities and qualifications whilst also being able to promote and support mental health awareness. If you are interested in learning more or booking one of these courses when it becomes available, please contact us on t: +44 (0)141 244 0181 or e: info@amalgamate-safety.com

Related Articles

• http://www.amalgamate-safety.com/2020/05/20/mental-health-in-the-workplace/
• http://www.amalgamate-safety.com/2020/05/22/taking-care-of-employee-and-colleague-wellbeing/

Mental Health Support Organisations/Charities

• https://www.samaritans.org
• https://www.mind.org.uk
• https://www.time-to-change.org.uk