davidhitchcock
All content © david hitchcock, 2016
David Hitchcock Limited is a private limited company,
registered in England and Wales, registered no. 5814975
Health & Safety
There are three principles underlying our health and safety services:
• We want to help reduce accidents and injuries. According to HSE statistics in 2007-2008, over 2 million people suffered from an illness they believed was caused or made worse by their current or past work, 34 million working days were lost and 229 people were killed at work.
• There is so much confusion and concern about compliance that we would like to offer a realistic and sensible service to help clarify and prioritise things for clients.
• Health and safety covers such a vast range that no one can know everything. We will never pretend that we do, but we believe we have the resources to find out.
Audits and Inspections
Conducting an audit of health and safety performance can assist in setting targets and determining strategy, for example, on an annual basis. Carrying out regular inspections of workplaces and activities can promote a positive safety culture and help keep things on track; this can be especially important in dynamic workplaces such as construction sites. We can provide these services as independent consultants or by representing an organisation as its safety consultant.
Consumer Safety
Our expertise and experience in human factors helps us provide consumer risk assessments in accordance with the General Product Safety Regulations, considering factors such as user characteristics and behaviour and the concept of foreseeable misuse. These risk assessments are particularly important to designers and suppliers of products and equipment for public use.
Display Screen Equipment
One of our most popular services remains that of helping clients comply with the Display Screen Equipment Regulations. We can provide complete compliance packages or just help out with the bits you need. We can help with accommodating those with injuries, impairments or returning-to-work following convalescence. We will conduct the assessments for you or train your own people to do them.
Health & Safety Management
Some companies require occasional expert support to manage their health and safety; for example, helping with policies, protocols, risk assessments and tenders preparation. We offer cost-effective services to help in these circumstances. Other organisations want us to provide a comprehensive management service, overseeing the safety management system and representing them as their appointed safety consultant. We are happy to do this and always begin with an assessment of the organisation’s requirements to agree the resources required and avoid nasty surprises!
Manual Handling
Manual handling related accidents consistently account for around 40% of over-3 day injuries reported to the HSE every year. Consequently efforts to reduce manual handling risks remain a national priority. We can help with training in safe manual handling practice, risk assessment, using the MAC tool, assessor training, and providing expert opinion for individuals or groups with specific manual handling problems. For those who would really like to kick-start their manual handling compliance we can pull all of these together and create a complete bespoke manual handling programme. David Hitchcock co-presents the HSL’s course ‘Manual Handling for Assessors’.
Musculoskeletal Risks
Upper limb disorders and back disorders are a major problem in many workplaces, from the apparently safe office setting to heavy industry. There are many reasons why the injuries occur and the control of risks requires a multi-factorial approach – in practical terms, chipping away at the risks where we can have impact. We conduct the investigations to identify the risks and then recommend ways of tackling them, including; environments and facilities, task design, tools and equipment, and training. In other words we take a holistic approach to assessment and improvement. There is no other way to effectively control musculoskeletal risks.
Risk Assessment
While they can offer a very effective way of identifying and managing hazards, for many organisations risk assessments are a burden. This can result in assessments either being completed half-heartedly or not at all. We provide risk assessment services where we work with the client to produce accurate and meaningful risk assessments which actually make a practical difference.