Here at Seaham Safety Services Ltd, we’re always working to expand our range of services, and today we’re pleased to bring you news of a partnership with CSI Drug and Alcohol Testing Ltd, which enables us to support employers in tackling workplace drug and alcohol/criminality issues.

Below, we answer key questions you may have about our new services.

Why is it important to tackle workplace drug and alcohol issues?

A clearly defined drugs and alcohol policy helps to ensure you are able to fulfil your legal requirement as an employer to provide a safe working environment for your employees, contractors and visitors. Drug and alcohol abuse has not only a human cost, but a financial one too. Studies have shown that abusers contribute to overall higher rates of staff absenteeism and turnover, higher rates of criminality and reduced productivity and lower quality end product. read more

Nearly one in five construction sites failed safety inspections carried out by the Health and Safety Executive earlier this year.

Visiting a total of 2363 sites where refurbishment or repair work was taking place, and seeing 2976 contractors, the HSE found numerous examples of poor practice during the unannounced inspections between 18th February and 15th March 2013.

A total of 631 enforcement notices were served in March across 433 sites for poor practices which were deemed to put workers at risk, with 451 notices ordering work to stop immediately until health and safety issues were resolved. read more

Myth – Triangular flapjacks pose a health and safety risk to children

Back in March, an Essex school hit the headlines when, following an incident in which one of its pupils was hit in the face and injured by a flapjack, it banned the treat from being cut into triangles. Dinner staff at the school were instructed that, in a bid to avoid sharp edges, flapjacks must instead be cut into squares or rectangles.

The decision, quite unsurprisingly, was met with widespread derision, with many citing it as yet another example of ‘health and safety gone mad’. Indeed, the Health and Safety Executive issued a statement in which it called the ban ‘over the top’ and highlighted that the real issue of the matter was the discipline of pupils. read more

In our most recent e-newsletter, we highlighted a serious and growing menace to the construction industry – counterfeit hard hats. Leading safety manufacturer JSP has warned that the fake hard hats are of such poor quality, that testers have been able to split them in two with just their bare hands.

Now, in a bid to stamp out the fakes, JSP has launched an online verification system to help identify the authenticity of MK Evolution head protection. By entering the bar code of your hard hat, you will receive the exact location, time and date of manufacture. read more

We’re pleased to announce that from Monday 10th June 2013, we’ll be delivering Temporary Works Co-ordinator Courses.

What are Temporary Works?
“Temporary works” is a widely used expression in the construction industry for an “engineered solution” used to support or protect an existing structure or the permanent works during construction, or to support an item of plant or equipment, or the vertical sides or side-slopes of an excavation, or to provide access. The construction of most types of permanent works will require the use of some form of temporary works. read more

Myth – Teachers, volunteers and carers should not put plasters on children’s cuts.

Many teachers, volunteers and carers refuse to put plasters on children’s cuts, believing that they are following the health and safety guidelines of the HSE. However, this ‘ban on plasters’ is actually nothing but a myth, as the HSE has never implemented such a ruling.

As well as helping wounds to stay clean, plasters can offer children comfort when they’ve had an accident and prevent the spread of blood to others. There’s absolutely no reason why a responsible adult shouldn’t apply a plaster to a child when necessary! read more

At Seaham Safety Services Ltd we are so confident that no other training provider can compete with our prices, that we guarantee to BEAT their training prices!

As well as offering fantastic prices, our training is accredited to various bodies and carried out by fully qualified and experienced tutors. This, we believe, makes Seaham Safety Services Ltd the first choice for all your training requirements.

Terms & Conditions

This price match applies to all accredited courses:

• NEBOSH General and Construction Certificate Courses
• IOSH Directing Safely, Managing Safely and Managing Safely in Construction Certificate Courses
• ConstructionSkills 5 Day SMSTS and 2 day refresher, 2 Day SSSTS and refresher and 1 Day Health and Safety Awareness Courses read more

Last year we brought you news of our accreditation to deliver the NEBOSH National Certificate in Construction Health and Safety. The first cycle of the course proved to be very successful, and we’re delighted to announce that the next will commence on Friday 14th June. It will run every Friday for 12 weeks up until 30th August, with the course examination taking place on Friday 6th September.

We’re also delighted to announce that we now offer the NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety course. This will commence on Monday 17th June and will run every Monday for 12 weeks up until 2nd September, with the course examination taking place on Friday 6th September. read more

During the recent cold snap, many of us experienced this winter’s first significant accumulation of snow. Whilst the white stuff does of course pose very obvious dangers such as hazardous driving conditions, there have been numerous media reports suggesting that one of the seemingly more enjoyable activities of the adverse weather conditions, snowball fights, are also a real health and safety risk.

Many schools have taken the decision to ban altogether what was once viewed as an innocent childhood activity, fearing that pupils may suffer injury. read more