Series editors' preface - Wood Tools

430 Conservation of Furniture
proper risk assessment made for them.
Recurring hazards or short-falls in performance
should be recorded along with the date of the
inspection in the Health and Safety Log. Once
you have decided what action to take, set a
date for completion and transfer a record of
your decision to your action plan. Every so
often, it is very helpful to have independent
checks made by others who can look at the
situation with a fresh eye.
Checklist for health and safety review
Items to include on a checklist for use during
health and safety inspections can be grouped
under headings of workplace, people, safety systems
and environment. Workplace items include:
cleaning and housekeeping; structural safety;
machinery safety; fire protection; chemical
safety; electrical safety; internal transport; access
equipment; internal storage. Personnel issues
include: personal protection; chemical handling;
manual handling; information; training; safe
behaviour. Safety systems should embrace: policy
statement and plan; safe systems of work;
accident reporting/costing; sickness absence
reporting/costing; hazard reporting; cleaning
schedules; emergency procedures; safety monitoring
procedures and documentation.
Environmental issues include: environmental
control; noise control; welfare amenity provision.
9.7.10 Inform, instruct and train
Employers should provide their staff with comprehensible
and relevant information on the
risks to their health and safety identified by the
assessment, the preventive and protective
measures, the emergency procedures, the identity
of people appointed to assist with health
and safety matters and the risks associated with
shared workplaces. In entrusting work to an
employee, the line manager must take account
of the individual’s capability to do the job
safely and must provide adequate health and
safety training both on recruitment and on
being exposed to new or increased risk
because of change in responsibilities, introduction
of new technology or equipment, or introduction
of new or altered systems of work.
Shared workplace and visiting workers
Where people from outside organizations are
present to do work the manager must give
them appropriate information on health risks
and the precautions that are to be taken. In situations
where the workplace is shared, every
employer must co-operate with other employers,
assist in the coordination of safety measures
and inform other employers of risks
arising out of the work. Temporary staff and
those with fixed-term contracts must be supplied
with health and safety information before
starting work.
Duties of employees
Every member of staff must use the machinery,
equipment, dangerous substances, transport
equipment, means of production and safety
devices provided properly and in accordance
with instructions and training. Staff must inform
their line manager or any specially appointed
person of any situation which represents a serious
and immediate danger to health and safety
and any matter which could be considered a
shortcoming in the protection arrangements for
health and safety. Managers should keep a
record of information, instruction and training
they have provided and their staff should keep
a record of information, instruction and training
they have received.
Labelling and signage
Labelling and signage are vital aspects of providing
health and safety information. All hazardous
substances should be labelled with the
name of the substance, the appropriate hazard
warning symbol, the risk phrases, the safety
phrases and information about the supplier.
9.7.11 Audit
Audit is the final step in closing the feedback
loop that is the essence of improving performance
in the management of risks to health and
safety. At a predetermined fixed time interval
(say once a year), an independent adviser
should review the health and safety systems in
the workplace and communicate the results to
the employer or a senior person in the management
line for appropriate action to be
taken.
9.7.12 Accidents and emergencies
Procedures for first aid and medical emergencies,
accidents and incidents, fire, chemical spills