10 Rules for Food Safety in the Workplace

What is meant by Food Safety in the workplace?

Childrens Safety in this Digital Age

Childrens Safety

​In a world where children are “growing up digital,” it’s important to help them learn healthy concepts of digital use and citizenship. Parents play an important role in teaching these skills of childrens safety.

Media should work for you and within your family values and parenting style. When used thoughtfully and appropriately, media can enhance daily life. But when used inappropriately or without thought, media can displace many important activities such as face-to-face interaction, family-time, outdoor-play, exercise, unplugged downtime and sleep.

Treat media as you would any other environment in your child’s life

The same parenting guidelines apply in both real and virtual environments. Set limits; kids need and expect them. Know your children’s friends, both online and off. Know what platforms, software, and apps your children are using, what sites they are visiting on the web, and what they are doing online.

Set limits and encourage playtime

Media use, like all other activities, should have reasonable limits. Unstructured and offline play stimulates creativity. Make unplugged playtime a daily priority, especially for very young children.

Screen time shouldn’t always be alone time

Co-view, co-play and co-engage with your children when they are using screens—​it encourages social interactions, bonding, and learning. Play a video game with your kids. It’s a good way to demonstrate good sportsmanship and gaming etiquette. Watch a show with them; you will have the opportunity to introduce and share your own life experiences and perspectives—and guidance. Don’t just monitor them online—interact with them, so you can understand what they are doing and be a part of it.

Be a good role model

Teach and model kindness and good manners online. Because children are great mimics, limit your own media use. In fact, you’ll be more available for and connected with your children if you’re interacting, hugging and playing with them rather than simply staring at a screen.

Know the value of face-to-face communication

Very young children learn best through two-way communication. Engaging in back-and-forth “talk time” is critical for language development. Conversations can be face-to-face or, if necessary, by video chat with a traveling parent or far-away grandparent. Research has shown that it’s that “back-and-forth conversation” that improves language skills—much more so than “passive” listening or one-way interaction with a screen.

Their Limit digital media for your youngest family members

Avoid digital media for toddlers younger than 18 to 24 months other than video chatting. For children 18 to 24 months, watch digital media with them because they learn from watching and talking with you. Limit screen use for preschool children, ages 2 to 5, to just 1 hour a day of high-quality programing. Co-viewing is best when possible and for young children. They learn best when they are re-taught in the real world what they just learned through a screen. So, if Ernie just taught the letter D, you can reiterate this later when you are having dinner or spending time with your child.

Create tech-free zones

Keep family mealtimes, other family and social gatherings, and children’s bedrooms screen free. Turn off televisions that you aren’t watching, because background TV can get in the way of face-to-face time with kids. Recharge devices overnight—outside your child’s bedroom to help him or her avoid the temptation to use them when they should be sleeping. These changes encourage more family time, healthier eating habits, and better sleep.

Don’t use technology as an emotional pacifier

Media can be very effective in keeping kids calm and quiet, but it should not be the only way they learn to calm down. Children need to be taught how to identify and handle strong emotions, come up with activities to manage boredom, or calm down through breathing, talking about ways to solve the problem, and finding other strategies for channelling emotions.

Apps for kids – do YOUR homework

More than 80,000 apps are labelled as educational, but little research has demonstrated their actual quality. Products pitched as “interactive” should require more than “pushing and swiping.” Look to organisations like Common Sense Media for reviews about age-appropriate apps, games and programs to guide you in making the best choices for your children.

It’s OK for your teen to be online

Online relationships are part of typical adolescent development. Social media can support teens as they explore and discover more about themselves and their place in the grown-up world. Just be sure your teen is behaving appropriately in both the real and online worlds. Many teens need to be reminded that a platform’s privacy settings do not make things actually “private” and that images, thoughts, and behaviours teens share online will instantly become a part of their digital footprint indefinitely. Keep lines of communication open and let them know you’re there if they have questions or concerns.

Warn children about the importance of privacy and the dangers of predators and sexting

Teens need to know that once content is shared with others, they will not be able to delete or remove it completely, and includes texting of inappropriate pictures. They may also not know about or choose not to use privacy settings, and they need to be warned that sex offenders often use social networking, chat rooms, e-mail, and online gaming to contact and exploit children.

Remember: Kids will be kids

Kids will make mistakes using media. Try to handle errors with empathy and turn a mistake into a teachable moment. But some indiscretions, such as sexting, bullying, or posting self-harm images, may be a red flag that hints at trouble ahead. Parents must observe carefully their children’s behaviours and, if needed, enlist supportive professional help, including the family pediatrician.

Media and digital devices are an integral part of our world today. The benefits of these devices, if used moderately and appropriately, can be great. But, research has shown that face-to-face time with family, friends, and teachers plays a pivotal and even more important role in promoting children’s learning and healthy development. Keep the face-to-face up front, and don’t let it get lost behind a stream of media and tech.

Working at heights can kill you

How working at heights can seriously harm you

If you are in a job where you have to take risks and are working at heights, it is imperative that you are protected. It is your employer’s duty of care but it is also your responsibility too. Your employer needs to make sure that there are certain safety procedures and protocol in place.  To adhere and comply with health and safety regulation.

It is also up to you to be safe and make sure your colleagues are too. Risk assessments needs to be carried out in every place of work in every sector.

There have been many deaths due to falls and collapses in Ireland with 21 of the overall total falls from heights in farming.

There are many work procedures for working at heights and here are some:

• Stairs should not have an excessive pitch or angle
• Each step should have an equal rise in height and width
• The sides of stairs should be protected by a wall or railing of sufficient strength
• Where a railing is used, there should be at least two rails, with the lower rail positioned mid-way between the top rail and pitch line
• To prevent falls, lofts, work platforms and walkways should have a protective barrier at the edge
• Over ground slurry tanks and grain or meal bins should have a secure working platform with protective rails and a safe means of access, such as a caged ladder
• Surfaces of stairs and walkways should be firmly fixed and should not become slippery while in use
• Sighting rails should be installed on silage-pit walls. The purpose of these is to indicate the location of the walls to the machine operator loading the silage when the silage is above the walls. They are not intended to prevent a machine overturning. In addition, sighting rails provide protection against a person falling

Requirements for employers

The Work at Height Regulations require employers to ensure that:

• The risk assessment All work at height is properly planned and organised
• A risk assessment is carried out for all work conducted at height
• Appropriate work equipment is selected and used
• People working at a height are competent
• Equipment used for work at height is properly inspected and maintained
• Risks from fragile surfaces are properly controlled

It should include a careful examination of what harm could be caused from working at height with a view to taking the effective steps to reduce the likelihood of this harm occurring, either through avoiding the activity or, where this is not reasonably practicable, by carrying it out in a safe manner using work equipment that is appropriate to the task and the level of risk.

If you want to know more about risk assessment to decide the best, take our working at heights online course. We will be able to help you to plan and organise, give you the correct legislation and safe work procedures using a ladder, MEWP and work platforms.

Did you know? Hospitality Hand Hygiene

Did you know?

Germs spread more quickly than you think. Most are passed from hand to hand. Careful hand hygiene is the most important means of defence against contagious diseases.

Hand hygiene is so important! Approximately 80% of all contagious diseases are transmitted via our hands – that figure comes from the World Health Organisation (WHO). This includes, for example, diseases like colds, flu and stomach bugs. “The germs themselves do not present a direct health risk on your hands and fingers,” explained Prof. Dr. med. Klaus-Dieter Zastrow, a specialist in hygiene and environmental medicine and Head of the REGIOMED-KLINIKEN hygiene institute in Coburg, Germany. “However, most people touch their mouth, nose and eyes regularly – putting their hands to their face up to five times an hour. This allows the germs to enter the body unimpeded via the mucous membranes.” Many studies have investigated and confirmed that hand-washing truly helps reduce the occurrence of contagious diseases. On the basis of different studies, it is estimated that thorough washing of hands with soap and water almost halves the risk of disease.

In Ireland, The Public Service Sick Leave Statistics for 2017 show the rate of sick leave at 4% and on average 8.8 working days were taken per full-time employee in the Public Service.

The overall cost of sick leave is estimated at €341.5 million for 2017.

German companies incur costs of around €130 billion a year due to employee sickness. That works out about €3,600 per person.

• 90% of colds are caused by viruses.
• Flu viruses can remain active on surfaces for 48 hours.
• 80% of all contagious diseases are transmitted via our hands.

You can slash the risk of catching a cold virus by 50% simply by washing your hands.

Managing Safety, Health and Welfare in Schools

Who is responsible for managing safety, health and welfare in schools?

The board of management is responsible for managing safety, health and welfare of students. All of the members of staff in the school including teachers;

• Special needs assistants
• Ancillary staff
• Students
• Parents and visitors

They all have a role to play in securing their own safety and welfare. Everyone has a part to play.

How does the Board of Management begin the process of managing safety, health and welfare more effectively? By using the guidelines set out by the Health Safety Authority.

The Board of Management might consider taking the following steps

1. 1. Decide who will lead the process on behalf of the Board. This could be the principle or the deputy principal, or an employee or member of the Board appointed to act as a Safety, Health and Welfare Officer.
   2. The Guidelines on Managing Safety, Health and Welfare in primary Schools (The Guidelines). This is both a guidance document and a toolkit to assist schools in managing safety, health and welfare.
   3. This resource is a guide to help school plan, organise and manage a safe and healthy school environment for staff, students and visitors.
   4. All of the members of the school community have responsibilities for their own safety, health and welfare and that of others. The school is charged with informing staff, students and visitors of these responsibilities.

These guidelines do not place any additional responsibilities on schools that are not already in legislation or part of the school’s common lay duty of care.

Read a full copy of the guidelines here

Bullying at work- health and safety issue

Bullying at work is a health and safety issue

Employers have a duty of care to protect their employees both mentally and physically in the workplace. This is a workplace and human relations issue and needs to be treated very seriously. It has been identified as dangerous and can lead to health and safety problems.

Bullying in the workplace can be described differently in various forms. The Health and Safety Authority describes it the following:”repeated inappropriate behaviour, direct or indirect, whether verbal, physical or otherwise, conducted by one or more persons against another or others, at the place of work and/or in the course of employment, which could reasonably be regarded as undermining the individual‘s right to dignity at work.”

Here are some examples of the types of bullying that happen in the workplace

• Purposely undermining someone
• Targeting someone for special negative treatment
• Manipulation of an individual‘s reputation
• Social exclusion or isolation
• Intimidation
• Aggressive or obscene language
• Jokes that are obviously offensive to one individual by spoken word or email
• Intrusion by pestering, spying and stalking
• Unreasonable assignments to duties which are obviously unfavourable to one individual
• Repeated requests with impossible deadline or impossible tasks

Employers need to be vigilant and know that individuals who are accused of bullying have employment rights too. They have to follow the correct procedure.

Bully Culture

Where a bullying culture has been identified, (through a number of complaints being received, for instance)  employers must take reasonable measures to prevent incidents of bullying occurring (through awareness raising and training as well as reacting speedily to resolve issues early/progress investigations and/or initiate control measures). When and if they bullying occurs, employers should prevent the risk of injury to the health of employees worsening by providing and implementing support and assistance throughout the process, and reviewing and monitoring the environment afterwards, as far as is reasonable..

Managers and supervisors have a particular responsibility to promote dignity in the workplace for all. They should be alert to the possibility of bullying behaviour and be familiar with the policies and procedures for dealing with allegations of bullying.  Their behaviour may be modelled by others, as it may be considered acceptable. That’s why managers, supervisors and those in authority should be aware of their own behaviour at work and not engage in improper conduct in any form.

If you are being bullied in the work or want to talk to a someone confidentially, contact us and we can give you help and support advice.

Mental Health & Well Being in the Workplace

We know how much time is spent working with our colleagues in the same environment. So it is very important that we have a safe and healthy with Mental Health and overall wellbeing in the workplace. A place that we feel comfortable and able to communicate in a safe manner. A place where we are not afraid to speak openly. Where we feel valued, satisfied and respected in our jobs. This is the kind of place where we will be more productive and committed. Everybody needs and safe workplace.

Violence and Bullying

This occurs in the workplace in many different forms and can result in devastating outcomes for the person who is getting bullied. This can be a much broader problem consisting of many acts of threatening, abusing, assaulting, intimidation, degrading, or humiliating a person in the workplace.

There are different types of bullying and ways in which to do it and some of them include the internet harassment and cyberbullying and negative interaction.  Click this link to find out what your citizens rights are.

Some forms of bullying

• Spreading malicious rumours, gossip or innuendos.
• Excluding or isolating someone socially.
• Intimidating a person.
• Undermining or deliberately impeding a person’s work.
• Physically abusing or threatening abuse.
• Making jokes that are obviously offensive by spoken word or email.
• Tampering with a persons belongings or equipment.

If you feel that you are getting bullied in the workplace don’t suffer in silence and speak to a friend or colleague.

Businesses urged to heed health and safety warning

Health and Safety Warning

Companies and businesses across Dublin could be facing hefty fines and compensation claims. They could even face imprisonment if they only pay lip service to Health & Safety, an expert has warned.

Shane Lynam, Design Risk Management (DRM) said: “When it comes to Health & Safety management, ticking a box with once-off, limited training doesn’t go far enough to improve safety culture. “Safety training should be ongoing and forming good habits in the workplace,” said Mr Lynam. “Everyone deserves to be able to work safely. No one should be hurt or killed in their workplace. “You can’t expect people to form good manual handling habits if the only real engagement they have with a trainer is a three­ hour session every three years. “There needs to be follow up and support Management.”

Who can help?

Booterstown-based Design Risk Management is one of the leading Health & Safety training companies in Ireland. The company works with major companies such as insomnia, REISS, Dunwoody and Dobson, Tesco, Aldi, Marks & Spencer, Portmarnock Golf Club, Johnny Foxes Pub, Castle Brands,JC Walsh Marble, Purcell Construction, M&P Construction and many more. DRM through its eLEARN series of courses can help business owners and managers stay out of court and avoid big fines and claims for compensation by staff.

In recent court actions taken by the authorities under Health & Safety legislation a company was fined €750,000 at Tralee Circuit Court while in a different case in Mayo a company was fined €300,000 for a fatality in the workplace. “These are typical of the kind of fines employers can face for contravention of Health & Safety regulations,” said Mr Lynam.

Online Training

“That is to say nothing of compensation claims which can be lodged by workers for injuries at work.” DRM has introduced a series of online training courses which will help companies meet their Health & Safety responsibilities while ensuring they stay on the right side of the law. And because eLEARN is online, people in remote locations who can’t make it to central locations for courses, means they can benefit  by just logging in. “Online training is a great way for having people refreshed,” said Mr Lynam. “You are buying a course online but you are also getting the expertise and knowledge that comes with that. “We are the experts in what we do and can make a business owner’s life a whole lot easier if they use our service.”

For further information please call +353 1 693 1421 or email info@elearn.ie. 

A Safety Statement Will Make You Sigh With Relief

Safety Statements in the workplace 

What is a safety statement?

A safety statement is a company’s commitment in writing to a safe and healthy workplace.

The Safety statement is a legal requirement under the Safety Health & Welfare at Work Act 2005.

Section 20 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 requires that an organisation produce a written programme to safeguard:

• the safety and health of  employees while they work
• the safety and health of  other people who might be at the workplace, including customers, visitors and members of the public

The Safety Statement should influence all work activities, including

• the selection of competent people, equipment and materials
• the way work is done
• how goods and services are designed and provided

The Safety Statement must be site specific and be based on a written risk assessment. It cannot be generic and must be communicated in a form manner and language that is likely to be understood by all concerned.

What are the benefits of having a safety statement?

An organisation will see benefits such as,

• Legal Compliance
• Improved safety performance which will lead to a reduction in lost working time
• Improved worker morale
• Reduced chance in insurance premium hikes *
• Reduced chance of legal costs.

* An insurance company may refuse cover if you do not have a valid safety statement

Who should have a safety statement?

All employers, self-employed persons and sole traders

How often should it be reviewed?

At least annually or in the event of changes to the business operations, personnel or working environment.

If you want to get Safety Statement Certified and be complaint with regulations click here