ISS Safety

Safety Consultation

Frequent changes and additions to health and safety regulations and standards, coupled with the introduction of new safety technology make it difficult for end users and OEMs to choose the most cost effective and compliant safety control system when building new, introducing new or up-grading existing processing plant and machinery.

Of primary consideration will always be the need to ensure the design and use of plant and machinery is inherently safe, that it is compliant with the relevant Health and Safety Regulations and Standards and that it meets the organisations operational needs.

Health and Safety Regulations place a statutory obligation on machine users and suppliers to provide plant and machinery that is fit for its intended purpose and inherently safe to use. European and international standards enable users and suppliers to demonstrate compliance with the regulations by adopting best design practice. ISS Safety can provide advice and guidance on the interpretation, selection and application of these standards.

Our support services include the following:

• Risk Assessments
• CE Marking
• Advice on compliance with existing and new Safety Regulations and Standards for end users and OEM's
• General & PUWER Health and Safety Audits
• Training

Risk Assessments

Every company is under a statutory duty to carry out an assessment of risks present in their workplace. Users of hazardous machinery and equipment must also comply with the 24 regulations of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER). The regulations require risks to people's health and safety from equipment that they use at work to be prevented or controlled. European machinery safety standards are used extensively to assess compliance with the individual sections of PUWER for example BSEN 953 "General requirements for machinery guards". The recommendations within the standard are used to assess the adequacy of guarding on or around a dangerous machine.

The ISS Safety risk assessment process is a multi-layer exercise in machine risk management. The assessment makes extensive use of the primary European machine safety standards and the 24 regulations of PUWER to assess the level of risk, determine the suitability of existing risk control measures and where appropriate, make recommendations on further risk reduction hardware or procedures. The process incorporates:

• Discussions with machine users
• An extensive hazard analysis of the machine and its working environment
• Numerical and qualitative quantification of risk using BSEN 14121-1
• An assessment of the adequacy of the existing safety control measures
• An assessment of the electrical safety control system using BSEN 13849-1
• An assessment of electrical safety using BSEN 60204-1
• An assessment of compliance with the 24 Regulations of PUWER
• Recommendations and actions
• Assessment priority rating
• Photographic log

A full printed report is issued after the assessment is completed, see example.

For companies with multiple sites or single complex sites we offer an additional multiple access assessment management and monitoring service. Risk assessments are stored on a company specific website created by ISS Safety. This site can host all health & safety information and documentation in a secure manner with access controlled by password protection. SharePoint uses exiting Microsoft software to capture, store, share and disseminate information to the relevant people within an organisation. The service platform is very cost effective because it uses existing Microsoft Office software. Risk assessments can be up-loaded to a SharePoint site where the assessment can be, viewed, reviewed, edited and interrogated to extract useful monitoring and planning information.

Risk Assessment Workflow

In addition the file storing capability of the SharePoint site creates a history log of the machine. A record of machine safety improvements are captured and stored for future reference.

CE Marking

The CE marking of machinery for sale in the European Economic Area is a mandatory requirement of the Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC) and under UK National law through the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008. The CE mark must be affixed to the machine before the product is placed on the market and/or put into service. ISS Safety will undertake, manage or provide advice and guidance on the conformity assessment procedure required under the Supply of Machinery Regulations to CE mark a machine. Support will include help with compiling the technical file, an assessment of compliance with the applicable "Essential Health and Safety Requirements" (EHSR's), identifying and applying the relevant Harmonised European Machine Safety Standards, risk assessments, identifying (where applicable) additional risk reduction procedures and issuing the "declaration of conformity or incorporation".

Advice on compliance with existing and new Safety Regulations and Standards for end users and OEM's

New safety standards are constantly being introduced or revised to take account of developments and changes in technology.

An example of this change is the introduction of BSEN/ ISO 13849-1 "Safety of machinery. Safety-related parts of control systems. General principles for design to replace BS EN954-1". Also the introduction of BSEN/IEC 62061 "Safety of machinery - Functional safety of safety-related electrical, electronic and programmable electronic control systems".

BSEN 62061 is now a Harmonised European Standard and specifies the requirements and makes recommendations for the design, integration and validation of safety related electrical, electronic and programmable electronic control systems for machines.

BS EN 62061/13849 represents a significant change for those companies that are used to working with BS EN 954-1 (Safety of machinery, Safety related parts of control systems, General principles for design), which is far simpler both to understand and implement. The new standards places a greater emphasis on quantitative risk assessment leading to the assignment of a safe integrity or performance level that must be verified and validated throughout the design, installation, commissioning and operation of the machine safety control system.

ISS Safety can provide support on compliance with 62061 & 13849 including risk assessments, SIL/PL assignment to safety related control systems, design of complaint control systems, system installation and commissioning, system validation and documentation.

General & PUWER Health and Safety Audits

In order to establish an effective health and safety management system, the first and most important step is to carry out a review of the key arrangements and procedures already in place. On appointment an experienced safety consultant will meet with your staff to collect existing documents and records, and agree a procedure for undertaking the initial health and safety audit. From this audit we will prepare a report containing details of:

• Current health and safety policies, procedures and documentation and assess their compliance with current occupational Health and Safety Regulations
• The arrangements for implementing the policy
• Current working environment and accepted work practices
• Any uncontrolled hazards
• The adequacy of exiting safety control methods (mechanical and procedural)
• Accident/incident reporting procedures
• Compliance with Workplace Health, Safety and Welfare Regulations 1992 (i.e. heating, lighting, work space, sanitary & washing facilities, rest facilities, eating and drinking facilities)
• Review existing risk assessment procedures, methods of evaluations and documentation
• Review validity of existing risk assessments dealing with:
  • Display screen equipment
  • Manual handling
  • Control of substances hazardous to health (COSHH)
  • Fire precautions and training
  • First Aid
  • Management of Asbestos
  • Control of Legionella
  • Noise
  • Condition of walk ways and stairs
  • Traffic routes
  • Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulation (PUWER)
  • Work transport
  • Electrical installation
  • Electrical equipment
• Use of personal protective equipment
• Review/apply fire certificate (if applicable)
• Review/develop emergency fire plan
• Review of accident reporting and recording procedures
• Review training needs and procedures including induction training

Following consultation with your management team, ISS Safety will present a detailed written report containing details of the organisations hazards, a review of your health and safety policy and procedures, level of compliance required by statutory legislation, an action plan to address any short falls, plus an on-going health and safety maintenance plan.

Training

ISS Safety offer a wide range of training courses ranging from general health and safety awareness to topic specific courses. The training courses are delivered by NEBOSH qualified training personnel who are corporate members of IOSH and experienced safety practitioners. In addition our training personnel maintain up to date knowledge of new developments by undertaking field based projects for our industrial and commercial clients; this means that we have first hand experience of the practical application of health and safety in the workplace. We recognise that you may have specific training needs based on your own operational factors and courses can be tailored to suit an individual company's specification. This flexibility allows clients to have courses personalised to suit their own requirements all at competitive rates. Our standard courses are, but not limited to the following;

• Managing safety in the work place
• Working safely – Safety awareness
• Health and Safety Law
• Safety for Senior Executives
• Risk Assessment
• Manual Handling
• COSHH
• Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulation (PUWER)
• Display screen equipment – training the assessor
• CE Marking
• Stress Management
• Fire Safety

Each delegate receives course material which can be used as reference material to put into practice what has been learned in the classroom.