19 February 2019

11 years of Health and Safety excellence at Databac Group

In 2008 Linda Richards, who is a Director at the Databac Group located in Kingston upon Thames, was tasked with finding a service supplier for health and safety support for the business as the contract they had with another supplier had lapsed.

The first stage under the business membership with BPIF was to arrange for a visit by Tom Rayer who is a BPIF Health, Safety and Environment Adviser to come in and conduct a Health and Safety Healthcheck.

The Healthcheck asks a series of questions linked to the requirements of current legislation and combined with the walk around of the premises would provide a snapshot in time of the condition of health and safety at Integra.

A business decision was made to implement a health and safety management scheme through the BPIF, which would make Tom Rayer the competent person for health and safety under the requirements of the Management of Health & Safety Regulations 1999. A weight was taken off their shoulders as they now had Tom to put their procedures into place and to conduct our risk assessments.

The business also wanted to be able to ensure that any changes to current legislation would be highlighted and an action plan put into place to ensure continued compliance.

The next stage was to produce a business health and safety policy, which was tailored to fit their operations exact requirements with their people being consulted at all stages during its production.

The risk assessments highlighted that the staff had not received any training in the required techniques for manual handling; therefore training was given on our premises and certificated for training record purposes.

They conducted a planned evacuation required by the fire safety regulations with Tom Rayer standing back evaluating the outcome and efficiency of the operation.

Once back in the office, a brief meeting was undertaken with the fire wardens to discuss what went well and what needed to be improved. A special assessment was required as one member of staff walks aided by a walking stick and would need the ‘buddy' system to be implemented to aid evacuation.

Another point raised was the need for a first aid grab bag to be located in the office so that it could be taken outside when an evacuation happens so that first aid can be given even for minor injuries if they occurred.

What they have found useful is that they have complete health and safety support from the BPIF when required and that their personnel are given encouragement and support for any issues raised during visits or by phone and e-mails etc.

Having these disciplines in place allows them to tick all of the boxes when conducting quotes for all of the requested health and safety questions being posed by potential new and existing clients.

Now 11 years down the road Databac Group still has a BPIF H&S Management Scheme in place and is delighted with the support given under this scheme. Following the last visit a new H&S Healthcheck was conducted and the business are extremely pleased as the score was 100% for Health & Safety compliance.

Tom Rayer BPIF H&S Adviser stated, "This score has been achieved by a team effort and H&S training we have conducted on site over several years with Databac Group staff members."

The business is happy that they are now conforming to the latest health and safety legislation requirements and that they continue to provide their people with a happy and safe environment to come to work in.

To find out how the BPIF could help you with your H&S please click here.