Club 18001

Make use of sectoral experts to get to grips with health and safety management

There is an increasing burden of health and safety responsibility on manufacturers. Not surprisingly, many companies have become overwhelmed by the volume and complexity of the legal requirements. If the issue has not been systematically managed, there can be so many issues to address that managers do not know where to start – meaning that nothing is done. The situation is compounded by the need to reduce risk as far as reasonably practical, which puts the onus on the company to justify how far they have gone to minimise risk.

FIRA has addressed these problems by launching a health and safety initiative called Club 18001. Aimed at companies in the furniture and timber industries, the scheme is run by sectoral experts in health and safety management. Members are encouraged to use this expertise to enable the identification, evaluation and prioritisation of key issues. Limited site resources can then be targeted in the best way. Furthermore, the FIRA consultants can provide resources to simplify the management task such as:

• Provision of templates, risk assessment forms, summaries of legislation and sample reports
• Monitoring services to provide actual measurements for issues such as noise, dust and solvent exposure
• Risk assessments: consultants can visit to conduct risk assessments or to train site personnel for this purpose
• Training: a wide range of Chartered Institute of Environmental Health qualifications can be delivered

The scheme recognises that companies are all different. Therefore, a variety of membership options are available:

• Stage 1: information provision through a sector specific guide to health and safety legislation, which is updated regularly.
• Stage 2: aimed at smaller companies, Stage 2 has all of the benefits of Stage 1 with the addition of an annual site review and the provision of a Club 18001 report
• Stage 3: the benefits of Stage 1 plus 4 days on-site help. Companies can decide upon the priorities which might include monitoring, training or the conduct of risk assessments

Contact: Alun Watkins
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