Career Opportunity – CDM Advisor/Principal Designer

Ref: PD1809
Job Type: Flexible
Salary Range: £30 – 40k

There’s currently an opportunity for a Principal Designer/CDM Advisor to join our team in Glasgow, helping to deliver our services across Scotland. We’re an established specialist health and safety consultancy, with clients in a wide variety of industries, for both public and private sectors.

The role will involve acting as Principal Designer/CDM Advisor on a range of construction projects, and we need a candidate with a strong working knowledge of the CDM 2015 regulations, with proven experience. There is flexibility regarding the role, including the option for it to be part time, or delivered on a sub-contractor basis.

Candidates must:

Be a member of IOSH and APS;
Hold NEBOSH Construction Certificate as a minimum;
Have recent experience as a Principal Designer/CDM Advisor, with sound knowledge of the CDM 2015 Regulations.

We’re also looking for the following qualities/skills:

Experience of working within a busy, customer-focused environment;
Ideally hold a degree in a construction or design-related field;
Able to engage with colleagues and clients at all levels;
Develop strong working relationships;
Pragmatic and customer focused;
Hold a full UK Driving License and be willing to travel as required

Our Equal Opportunities Policy affirms our belief that noone should be discriminated against on the basis of their race, sexuality, gender identity, age, parental status, disability, or other characteristic. We’re also committed to Fair Working Practices – we always pay above the Living Wage, and offer a flexible working environment.

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

Grenfell Tower Update – Dame Judith Hackitt’s Report

It has been just over a year since the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the worst residential fire in the UK since World War 2. It has also been just over a year since, in response, Dame Judith Hackitt – former chair of the HSE – was asked to undertake an independent review of the effectiveness of building and fire regulations on high rise buildings.

Unlike the public enquiry launched at the same time, which will investigate the causes of the Grenfell fire and the type of cladding used, Hackitt’s purview was to assess the system of safety regulations regarding high rise buildings. According to Hackitt, the call for evidence that her report instigated made it clear that the current regulation system is weak and ineffective because it is confusing, inconsistent, ineffectively applied, and too easy to find ways around.

Hackitt’s report reveals several flaws in current regulations. She discusses the fact that at the moment there are two parallel sets of regulations which come into play with regard to high rise buildings: CDM, which is focused on the safety of workers and does not apply to residents, and the building and fire safety regulations, which apply to occupants. She argues that this overly complex and impractical system needs to replaced by a much simpler version. She notes that there are currently different regulations for common parts of high rise buildings and individual residential units, and suggests that fire prevention and fire control can only be truly effective if the entire building is treated as an integrated system. She argues that there is an obvious conflict of interest in companies being permitted to pay an inspector to regulate them when these inspectors have no power of enforcement and their only recourse is to make a report to the local building control. Finally, she contends that the current sanctioning system for those who do not comply with regulations is inadequate, as prosecution cases are generally not pursued as the cost of the case tends to be higher than the penalty.

The solution, according to Hackitt, is an overhaul of the whole system, and her report makes 53 recommendations to create a simpler but more robust framework for high rise buildings. In these recommendations, she advocates for a stronger and tougher regulatory regime, with a stronger enforcement and sanctioning package so that failures to comply are met with criminal sanctions and large fines. She recommends the creation of a new regulatory body that will produce simpler, detailed guidance on how to meet regulatory standards. She advises that the current permissioning regime in Scotland, in which only buildings demonstrated to be safe are allowed to break ground and to be occupied, be enforced throughout the UK. She argues that there must be a clear duty holder at every stage of the construction process and that competence needs to be increased throughout the construction sector. Having repeatedly heard during her investigation about the difficulties residents had often faced in raising their concerns, she also emphasises the importance of empowering residents to report any dangerous occurrences and providing a clear means for them to do so.

Her report, then, suggests actions to be taken both by the government and by the construction industry. The legislation will take time, and it won’t be until early Autumn when we will know exactly how these new processes will be put in place. The changes are coming though, and they will apply to both new builds and buildings that are currently in use. Hackitt’s recommendations will, at least at first, only apply to high rise buildings with 10 floors or more, which some are suggesting is too limited. However, this already means that when the new regulations come into force 2000-3000 buildings will have to be reviewed.

Until legislation comes into force, it is suggested that construction companies should implement the suggested changes to their systems when constructing or refurbishing high rise buildings as good practice, to avoid having to do additional work later.

If you would like advice on how to adapt your building or fire safety systems to be in line with the recommendations in Hackitt’s report, contact us on 0141 244 0181 or email info@amalgamate-safety.com.

SaveSave

Beginner’s Guide to Occupational Health Services

The Benefits of Occupational Health Services to Employers

Each year in the UK approximately 137 million working days are lost due to sickness absence, costing UK businesses in the region of £16 billion per year. This averages out to about 6 days off per person per year due to sickness, but the reality is that some of these are longer-term health issues resulting in employees taking weeks or even months off work. These absences can have a significant impact on businesses, especially SMEs. Occupational Health services can help organisations by reducing sickness or injury absence, while also improving staff productivity and morale.

Amalgamate can provide Occupational Health services at your workplace, for preventative, health surveillance or treatment plan purposes. Our OH Practitioners can assess staff for Fit to Work certification, to confirm if they are able to perform standard and/or safety-critical roles. They can also monitor health issues for preventative care, including vision and hearing tests, lung function testing, blood pressure and BMI monitoring.

Where an employee has a serious or ongoing health problem, our specialist practitioners can conduct an Occupational Health Assessment. This will assist in the development of a plan to help them continue or return to work safely, and to establish any adjustments that could be made to help them to work, while protecting their health. It also offers reassurance to employers that they have a good understanding of the state of their employee’s health.

All these services can contribute to improved levels of employee wellbeing, as well as reducing absence levels and their associated costs.

Benefits to Employees

The aim of Occupational Health Services is to promote and maintain the health and well-being of employees, ensuring a positive relationship between an employee’s work and their health. This means not only coming up with preventative and health surveillance plans to try to make sure that employees’ physical and mental health is safeguarded as much as possible, but also offering additional support to employees if it is needed.

If an employee undergoes an Occupational Health Assessment, this can help their employer to better understand the problems they’re experiencing and how they affect their ability to work. Our expert advice can help remove barriers to a successful return to work or, if they’re still at work, ensure that they can continue to work safely.

Occupational Health Services can reduce the likelihood of work-related illness or injury, and can improve the experience of employees dealing with sickness absence or the return to work process.

More details of the Occupational Health Assessment process can be found here.

Getting Help with Occupational Health Services

If you’d like to learn more about the Occupational Health services we provide, call us on 0141 244 0181 or email health@amalgamate-safety.com.

Beginner’s Guide to Preventing Fire in the Workplace

A fire in the workplace is the kind of risk that many businesses put off thinking about. It is a fairly rare occurrence, but if one happens, the effects can be extremely grave and hard to recover from. Consequences could include death or severe injury, as well as loss of property, data, plant or machinery, severely impacting your organisation. The Civil Contingencies Service states that 80% of businesses that suffer a major disaster, such as fire, go out of business within 3 years.

So reducing the risk of fire to the lowest possible level is critical. There are several different elements which combine in order to do this, from assessing your workplace and checking that all fire-detecting and fire-fighting equipment is functioning, to drafting evacuation plans, and training staff in evacuation procedures and the use of fire extinguishers.

That can be a lot of work, and it requires a lot of specialist knowledge, which is why using a health and safety company, like Amalgamate, can help to put your mind at rest that you are doing everything you need to.

The Fire Risk Assessment

The first vital step to prevent fire in the workplace is to conduct a Fire Risk Assessment. This will establish where danger lurks at your property, and what specific risks are relevant to the premises. It must be conducted by a competent person and reviewed regularly to make sure that nothing is being missed.

Amalgamate have provided FRAs to a wide range of clients, including for A-listed buildings of national significance, commercial buildings, hotels, offices, leisure facilities, breweries and hospitality venues. So whatever your line of business, we’re ready to help.

We provide you with a clearly laid out report which will give you all the guidance you need to make the changes that will protect your organisation, as well as keeping you in line with all your legal obligations.

Our assessors are true experts – they’re all former fire officers, with experience and qualifications in a range of specialist subjects, including fire regulations, human behaviour in fire situations, and fire alarm systems. They have a thorough understanding of the contributory factors that allow fires to occur, and the means of preventing them.

The Fire Safety Plan

Equally important to the prevention of fire in the workplace is your Fire Safety Plan, which should consider how you can reduce the likelihood and spread of a fire, how warning will be given in the case of a fire, what equipment is, or should be, provided to fight a fire, the action that should be taken in the event of a fire, how to safely evacuate all employees, visitors, and vulnerable people, and what fire safety training staff require.

Amalgamate, with the help of our fire safety experts, can help you to develop your Fire Safety Plan.

Staff Fire Safety Training

Finally, staff training plays an often underestimated role in preventing fire in the workplace.

Companies are required by law to have enough designated Fire Wardens to cover the size of the building, its number of occupants, and the risk level of the business. Amalgamate would always recommend that you have at least two trained Fire Wardens to help ensure that holiday and sickness absence are covered.

We offer Fire Warden training courses that are delivered by highly experienced professionals, who have worked for many years in the UK Fire and Rescue services as operational firefighters and fire safety educators. This means that they have the knowledge and experience to deliver courses that are relevant, realistic, and interesting.

We run practical sessions, where the trainees head outside to take part in live fire training under controlled conditions. This gives them the opportunity to extinguish a real fire, using the same extinguishers that are used in your workplace. The instructor will work with the trainees to ensure the best, most realistic experience in a safe environment.

The more staff members you have who are well-trained in fire safety strategies – who have been shown how to use fire extinguishers (and, crucially, know when it is appropriate to try to tackle a fire themselves), who ensure that escape routes are kept unobstructed, and who know by heart the procedures to follow – can make the difference between a small incident, and a potentially tragic event.

Unfortunately, companies often have a Fire Safety Plan that sits in a folder, fulfilling legal requirements, but that staff members are unfamiliar with.

Ensuring that Fire Safety Plans are communicated to employees, fully understood, and actively integrated into working practices, requires a pro-active approach that includes regular staff training/instruction and fire drills.

How to Get Help with Preventing Fire in the Workplace

If you would like to know more about fire safety or to enquire about our range of services, call us on 0141 244 0181 or email info@amalgamate-safety.com.

Horrible Health and Safety Histories: Erethism or Mad Hatter Syndrome

When the Huguenots (Calvinist French Protestants forced to leave France after the Edict of Fontainbleu, which made Protestantism illegal in France) arrived in Britain in the late seventeenth century they brought with them a new method for making felt, and a new occupational disease – erethism, or mad hatter syndrome.

The new method involved the treating of fur from animals such as rabbits, hares and beavers with a diluted solution of mercuric nitrate. The skins were then dried in an oven before being stretched over a bar in a cutting machine. The pelts were then sliced off in thin shreds and layered onto a conical mould, where they would be pressed and shrunk with steam and hot water. The resulting felt could then be dyed and made into fine hats. The method was referred to as carroting as the mercuric nitrate solution turned white fur a reddish brown colour.

The advantage of this method was that it made the outer stiff hairs on the pelt soft and limp, and twisted and roughened them so that they matted together more easily. The problem was that the treated felt released mercury as a vapour, and felt-making tended to be done in small, confined and poorly ventilated spaces.

As a result, hatters began to present the symptoms of mercury poisoning. These included physical symptoms, such as slurred speech, headaches, weakness and tremors; and neurological problems, such as personality changes – irritability, anxiety, low self-confidence, depression, apathy, and shyness – as well as memory loss, delirium, and hallucinations.

These symptoms were known to be caused by mercury, which had long been prescribed as a cure for syphilis by being rubbed on the skin, injected or taken orally. A night with Venus, it was said, was followed by a lifetime with Mercury. However, there were no laws to regulate the use of mercury in industry, meaning that the symptoms of mercury poisoning in hatters were prevalent enough that the expression ‘mad as a hatter’ emerged in 1829, the same year a report on the syndrome was published in St Petersburg.

In 1860 a report was published in the Transactions of the Medical Society of New Jersey by J. Addison Freeman on ‘Mercurial Disease Among Hatter’s, and in 1869 the French Academy of Medicine also described the health risks associated with hat making. In France this led to a law being passed in 1898 to protect hatters, however in the United States mercury was used in hat making until 1941, despite the fact that in 1888 a new method using hydrochloride was patented.

In Britain in the 1890s, factory inspectors began taking note of any deaths and illnesses linked to working with mercury. Their evidence led, in 1899, to mercury poisoning becoming a disease that must be reported under the Factory and Workshop Act of 1895. While the aim had been to try to assess the scale of the danger from exposure to mercury for hat makers and the makers of scientific equipment, the new regulations demonstrated that mercury was used in a wide variety of industries.

In the twentieth century in Britain the problem of mercury poisoning continued to be discussed and investigated, however, little changed in terms of legislation. An article in the medical journal the Lancet in 1912 speculated that the continued use of mercury in hat making may pose a risk to the wearers of felt hats, as ‘a “hat body” may contain as much as 0.138% of mercury’. In 1919 at the International Labour Organisation conference, the question was raised as to whether the use of mercury in hat making should be banned as it had been demonstrated in France that it was not needed. However, the suggestion was not taken any further.

Since the end of the nineteenth century, however, mercury had been used less and less in hat making anyway, and ventilation had significantly improved, meaning that from the beginning of the twentieth century the number of cases reported was low enough that it was never considered a big enough problem to require specific legislation and so it simply remained monitored. From the 1940s hydrogen peroxide became used to create felt instead.

Many have argued that the Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland (1865) is meant to be suffering from mercury poisoning due to his occupation. Others have objected that the Mad Hatter does not demonstrate the shyness and difficulty socially interacting with others that characterised mad hatter syndrome, arguing that the Mad Hatter was based on the real life furniture dealer Theophilus Carter, who was often called the mad hatter due to his eccentric character and the fact that he always wore a top hat. In either case, the strong links between hat making and aberrant behaviour in the nineteenth century are evident.

These associations have been built into many later depictions of Carroll’s character. In Tim Burton’s movie adaptations of Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Through the Looking Glass (2016) the orange marks on the Mad Hatter’s skin and the orange colour of the Mad Hatter’s hair recall the symptoms associated with carroting and Johnny Depp said of his interpretation of the character that he had been ‘poisoned […] and it took effect in all of his nerves. It was coming out through his hair and through his fingernails, through his eyes’.

SaveSave

Beginner’s Guide to Occupational Health Assessments

What is the Purpose of an Occupational Health Assessment?

If you are experiencing a long-term or serious health issue, your employer may request an Occupational Health Assessment for you. The purpose of the assessment is not to add to or replace your appointments with your GP, but to help your employer to understand the problems you’re experiencing, and how they affect your ability to work. Following the assessment, we’ll give your employer expert advice on what help they can give you in order to remove barriers to your successful return to work or, if you are still at work, ensure that you can continue to work safely.

If you’re suffering from back problems, for example, we might advise that your employer conducts an assessment of your work station to consider if there are any adjustments that could be made, or if any kind of specialist equipment is required. If you’re returning from a long-term absence, we’d be able to give your employer recommendations about options such as phasing your reintroduction to work or offering flexible hours so that you can make any necessary doctor’s appointments.

What Does the Occupational Health Assessment Process Involve?

The process varies slightly in the UK and Ireland due to Irish privacy laws. In the UK, the process starts with a company sending us a referral in which they tell us why they’re referring someone for an Occupational Health Assessment. Amalgamate then contacts the employee to obtain consent to go ahead with the assessment, and arrange a time for a consultation with an Occupational Health Practitioner. This consultation can be done face-to-face or over the phone, depending on what is most suitable for the specific situation.

During the consultation, the employee is asked questions in order for the Occupational Health Practitioner to understand the background of their case. The practitioner is aiming to understand what problems the employee might be having at work, or what barriers they might be facing that are preventing them from returning to work.

Based on this consultation, the Occupational Health Practitioner writes a report that outlines the background of the case as they have had it described to them. The report includes their interpretation of the case, and their recommendations for reasonable support or adjustments that the company could make. What is discussed in the consultation is protected by doctor/patient confidentiality, so the Occupational Health Practitioner will only include in their report the personal information that the employee has said they are willing to have included.

This report is then sent to the employee to read through so that they can check that it is an accurate representation of their consultation. If, for example, something the employee said has been misunderstood, or some factual detail is wrong, the employee can request a change. In this case the Occupational Health Practitioner would look over any possible alteration and check whether this has any impact on their recommendations.

The finalised Occupational Health Assessment report is then sent to both the employer and the employee. Sometimes we might also suggest that it would be beneficial to have a follow-up consultation with the employee to check their progress or assess whether their situation has changed at all.

How do I find out more?

If you’d like any further information on our Occupational Health Assessment process, call us on 0141 244 0181 or email health@amalgamate-safety.com. For more information on our range of Occupational Health Services, visit this page.

Sun Safety for the Summer

Most of us are probably pretty delighted with the current heatwave. It makes a lovely change from the usual rainy UK summer! But if there’s one thing British people are famous for, it’s getting over-excited at the sight of the sun. You know the drill – at the first sight of a bright blue sky, the men are getting their shirts off, everyone heads to a park, beer garden, or outdoor cafe, and pretty soon the streets are filled with sweaty sunburned faces. The fact is, when it comes to sun safety, we’re just not as savvy as our European counterparts. The novelty value of seeing real live sunshine at home overcomes our logic, and then our body suffers.

So what are the risks, and what should we be doing differently?

By now we should all be aware of the risks of skin cancer. But still, every year in the UK, more than 100,000 new cases of skin cancer are diagnosed, and over 2,100 people die. So sunscreen is a must if you’re going to be outside in the sun. You should be using at least factor 15, and a lotion that protects against UVA and UVB.

Something that is often disregarded is how important it is to ensure that you’re using enough lotion. To cover your face, neck and arms, you should use around 2 teaspoons worth. For a full body, it should be about 2 tablespoons. And if you’re outside for an extended period of time you need to re-apply it frequently too. Covering up with loose fitting clothing and a hat is a great idea, as is making sure you get in the shade for at least part of the hottest time of day, from 11-3.

In high temperatures, especially if you’re not used to them, it’s easy to get dehydrated. And there’s also the risk of heatstroke – which is deeply unpleasant. If your body starts to overheat it can cause headaches and vomiting, and in severe cases delirium, seizures or loss of consciousness. To reduce the risks of sunstroke/heatstroke, spending time out of the sun will help, as will making sure you’re drinking enough water. So make sure you’re getting those recommended 8 glasses a day when things heat up.

Sun Safety for Outdoor Workers

Sun safety is particularly important for people who spend a lot of time outdoors. This includes road and construction workers, delivery staff and gardeners, among many others. UV radiation is classed as an occupational hazard for outdoor workers. This means that their employers must include sun protection advice in their health and safety training.

Depending on the type of work environment, there are various steps they could take, like encouraging staff to use adequate sun protection, wear a hat, and take breaks in the shade. They could also consider scheduling work to reduce sun exposure, and provide rest areas and water points that are shaded. As always, consulting employees and safety representatives is a good way of keeping people involved in health and safety, and getting new ideas.

Staying safe in the sun is pretty straightforward, you just need to get into some good habits. We hope you take the time to put these steps into action and protect yourself, and any employees you are responsible for. Now go enjoy the summer!

We offer a range of services that include guidance on all your H&S responsibilities as an employer. For more information, contact info@amalgamate-safety.com or call 0141 244 0181.

Beginner’s Guide to COSHH

An important health and safety element for many companies is dealing with COSHH requirements – the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health. In 2017, 13,000 deaths were estimated to be due to past exposure to hazardous substances at work. Occupational lung diseases accounted for 12,000 of these. Additionally, there have been 18,000 new cases of work-related breathing or lung problems per year for the last three years. An estimated 200-300 new cases of occupational asthma are seen by physicians each year, a figure that has stayed the same for the last decade.

While there are many substances that people can be exposed to in the workplace that they’re likely to realise may be hazardous to their health (such as acids, alkalis, and lead), there are many others that people might not think so much about.

Examples of Hazardous Substances

Many cleaning chemicals can cause both short and long-term health problems. Accidentally inhaling acetones – found in paint thinners and removers, detergents, and polishes – can irritate the nose and throat. They can also irritate the skin and cause dermatitis. At high concentrations, they can harm the nervous system, cause headaches, nausea, dizziness, and even unconsciousness. Caustic soda – found in drain and oven cleaners – causes severe burns, blistering and swelling, and can result in permanent scarring. If it comes into contact with eyes it can cause permanent damage. Accidental ingestion can burn the mouth, throat and stomach, and induce nausea, vomiting, and potentially even death. Bleach – found in many household cleaners – is corrosive to the skin, lungs, and eyes. It can cause chemical burns, and increases asthma and allergy symptoms.

Cleaning chemicals are just one kind of hazardous substance that people may unwittingly be exposed to at work, there are many others. For example, adhesives can contain many different chemicals, including acetone, which can cause skin irritation and be dangerous when inhaled. MDF, made up of very small particulates of wood, is harmful to the lungs. Paints can contain solvents or volatile organic compounds (VOCs). When solvents are inhaled they can be absorbed into the bloodstream and cause headaches and dizziness. Recent research has shown that long-term exposure can also cause a condition called ‘painter’s dementia’. When VOCs are inhaled they can irritate the eyes, nose and throat. Concrete, which when wet has an alkaline pH one billion times higher than skin, can cause severe burns, dermatitis and dry skin. Even natural substances, such as flour, can cause coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and, after long-term exposure, asthma.

Reducing Risks from Hazardous Substances

While all of these substances can harm health, if used properly they don’t have to. In order to ensure that companies are aware of the hazardous substances their workers are exposed to, and the levels of that exposure, companies are required to carry out a COSHH risk assessment. Based on this, companies must decide what control measures they will implement to minimise risks. This can include looking into whether there are safer forms of certain products, reducing the amount of workers who may be exposed, and providing personal protective equipment and proper training.

The COSHH risk assessment and your plan for control measures must be done by a competent person with the necessary expertise. They must make sure nothing is missed, and control measures are adequate. While products that are ‘dangerous for supply’ will have a label showing hazard classification symbols, and suppliers are required by law to provide you with a safety data sheet outlining the risks associated with a particular substance and the personal protective equipment required, these can be difficult to understand. In addition, knowing when substitutions of one substance for another can be made requires a detailed knowledge of the industry.

Getting Help with COSHH

If you need advice on COSHH risk assessments, Amalgamate can help. We can review your hazardous substances for you, produce a COSHH register, and undertake COSHH assessments on your behalf. We can also provide guidance on what control measures you need to put in place and how to maintain them. Contact us on 0141 244 0181, or by email at info@amalgamate-safety.com.

Horrible Health and Safety Histories: Child Labour

Child labour was common long before the industrial revolution. Working class children were required to work in order to help support their families, even if this was only by helping their parents to tend their land. With the industrial revolution, however, the amount of jobs that children could be hired to do grew exponentially.

In 1821, approximately 49% of workers were under the age of 20. In the early nineteenth century, the average age that children started work at was 10, however, in industrial areas many started work at the age of 8 and a half if not younger. Some of the jobs that children found employment doing from the beginning of the nineteenth century were in factories and textile mills, in coal mines, in households as servants, or as chimney sweeps.

In cotton mills children might start as scavengers, crawling beneath working machinery to clear away dust, dirt and anything else that might cause problems for the mechanism, and to gather any cotton to prevent wastage. Crawling among the moving parts was extremely dangerous, and accidents and fatalities were common. Children might have their hair ripped out, their fingers and arms broken or cut off, their heads squashed, be decapitated, or, if they got stuck, have their entire bodies crushed by the machinery. When they were older and too big to fit below the machines, they might become piecers, working at spinning machines repairing breaks in the thread.

Child labour was used In matchstick factories, were children would be employed to dip wood in a phosphorus concoction, after which they would be dried out, cut into sticks and packaged. The phosphorus in the air would cause the inside of the factory and the workers themselves to glow a blue-green colour. Inhalation of the phosphorus fumes caused inflammation of the lungs. In addition, about 11% of those exposed to phosphorus fumes would develop ‘phossy jaw’, an infection of the mandible that caused the bone to decay, resulting in facial disfigurement and treated by amputation.

There were many other less dangerous jobs types of child labour in factories. For example, after his father went to debtors’ prison in 1824, a 12-year-old Charles Dickens was forced to take a job in Warren’s Blacking Warehouse, where he worked 10-hour days sticking the labels to pots of boot polish. Even in these environments, however, working long hours indoors where they didn’t get enough sunshine to produce the vitamin D necessary for proper bone growth meant that the children employed were likely to develop rickets.

This was also a problem for many children employed to work in coal mines. The darkness underground also caused long-term visual loss. The coal dust and lack of proper ventilation resulted in respiratory problems and in a condition called ‘black lung disease’ . In addition, having to work stooped over in small areas caused some children to develop spinal deformities.

It was mainly girls who were employed as household servants, as there was a servant tax on male domestics. Families with an annual income of £150 would take on a girl of about 13 or 14 as a general maid. In 1891 it was estimated that 1 in 3 women between the ages of 15 and 20 were in domestic service.

Until 1788 children as young as 4 years old could be put to work as chimney sweeps, and even after the passing of a law in 1840 that made it illegal to allow anyone under the age of 21 to climb a chimney in order to clean it, children continued to be used for this purpose. Chimney sweeps were often orphans, and when they grew too big to be able to crawl through the chimney, at around 9 or 10 years old, they would be put back on the street. In order to prolong the amount of time children could work as chimney sweeps they were frequently underfed by their bosses. The children’s skin would be scraped raw by climbing down the chimney, eventually developing calluses as a result. Falling or getting stuck often resulted in death, and the constant inhalation of soot caused lung damage. This form of child labour was not only cruel, but completely unnecessary as there was no advantage to having a child crawl through the chimney to clean it than to use brushes.

The first piece of legislation passed that began to curtail child labour was the 1833 Factory Act. This banned children under the age of 9 from working in textile factories and limited children between the ages of 9 and 13 to working 9 hours a day and 48 hours a week, and between 13 and 18 to working no more than 12 hours a day and 69 hours a week. Furthermore, nobody under 18 was allowed to work at night (from 8.30 pm to 5.30 am). Factory inspectors were appointed to make sure the law was being obeyed, however, as there were only four inspectors meant to enforce the act, children continued to work longer hours than they were meant to. This law only applied to children working in factories, however, and it wasn’t until 1842 that the Mines Act was passed which banned children under the age of 10 from working underground.

After this a series of laws were passed which gradually raised the minimum age for working and limited the number of hours a day that children could work. In 1844 a law banned all children under 8 from working. Then in 1847 a Factory Act said that women and children could only work 10 hours a day in textile factories. This was then extended to all factories in 1867. 1875 saw a law passed which required all chimney sweeps to be registered with the police, finally putting an end to the practice of using children in this profession. Then in 1878 it became illegal to employ any child under the age of 10.

Alongside these laws that began to reduce the level of child labour, others were passed which increased the amount of education they were entitled to. The 1833 Factory Act required employers to provide 2 hours of schooling every day to all the children in their employ. It wasn’t until 1870 and Forsters Education Act, however, that the state began to take responsibility for education. It decreed that schools would be provided for all children between the ages of 5 and 13 and that the state would pay the fees of the poorest children. In 1880 school was made compulsory for 5 to 10 year olds, however, by the early 1890s only 82% of children in this age group were in school as many families depended on the income their children could provide. Fees for elementary education were abolished in 1891 and from 1899 children were required to go to school until they were 12.

In 1901 it was estimated that 300,000 children worked outside school hours, and it wasn’t until 1918 that labour was restricted to 3 hours a day for children under the age of 14.

When we compare this to our current situation it is easy to see how far we have come. Not only are children required to receive schooling until the age of 16, but children under 13 are generally prohibited from any kind of employment. Children between 13 and 16 are not permitted to work full-time, or to work in places like factories or on construction sites unless this is as part of a work experience. Young people, those between the ages of 16 and 18, must have their own risk assessment done, receive special training, and be supervised by a competent person.

If you currently employ young people, or are considering employing young people, and want to make sure that you are meeting your legal obligations and reducing the level of risk in your workplace as much as possible, give us a call on 0141 244 0181 or visit our consultancy page.