There were over 60,000 work-related injuries in the UK’s construction industry last year. According to the figures, injuries involving slips, trips and falls whilst falling from height were the most common injury and these are often found within the construction industry, compared to any other industry. These statistics really show how important it is to follow health and safety guidance and laws to avoid injuries.
The CHAS Accreditation is there to save you time, effort and money, become CHAS Accredited and be widely recognisable to many. Read our guide below to learn more about CHAS health and safety.
What Is CHAS?
CHAS is an accreditation scheme that is a trusted health and safety compliance. CHAS stands for The Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme and is designed to help businesses meet - and prove that they meet - excellent standards in health and safety.
Being a CHAS member and part of the online contractor portal helps broadcast to potential clients that you are health and safety compliant and that all staff have had the correct health and safety training. This is especially important to gain more business, as CHAS is a popular scheme of assessment and is widely recognised in the industry.
Health and Safety at Work
Health and safety at work are very important. It is especially important in the construction industry, where the risks are high and there are dangers and hazards at every turn.
Not only is it important to have the right health and safety procedures in the workplace, but it is also a legal obligation under the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974.
Investing in a health and safety accreditation such as the constructionline can help you benefit from the rewards in the future. It can improve your reputation, create better relationships with clients and can help you build relationships with new clients too.
Who Is Responsible for Health and Safety Whilst at Work?
There is not a single individual in particular who is responsible for workplace health and safety. It is everyone's responsibility and requires everyone's contribution to keeping your environment safe whilst you work.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) expects business owners, managers, contractors and all staff members within an organisation to share the responsibility. Although it is the duty of the employers to hold more responsibility than their staff to uphold a high standard of health and safety in the workplace.
Workplace Health and Safety
Workplace health and safety is a series of practices and attitudes that revolve around everybody. The right health and safety culture is key and something that should be demonstrated by leadership that sets the tone for the whole business.
In the construction industry, workplace health and safety largely involves managing:
- Manual handling
- Working from height
- Slips, trips and falls
- Noise exposure
- Vibration exposure
- Fire safety
- Asbestos
- Dust and particulate exposure
- Skin hazards
- Biological hazards
CHAS’s Guide to Having the Right Health and Safety Culture
Having the right health and safety culture in the workplace is important. Creating awareness about your culture of health and safety in your place of work will be beneficial to everyone.
Those companies that have genuine care and a positive response to health and safety are the ones that have safer working environments.
It is the employer and their team that should be invested in the safety of their own and their colleagues around them - always looking for new ways to increase site safety, reducing risk and the number of safety incidents that occur.
Having a positive safety culture will not only keep everyone from harm, but it will help employees be happier too.
Beaconrisk
If you want to ensure your health and safety are up to scratch in all areas and to become CHAS accredited, then contact us at Beaconrisk. We offer a range of services, including health and safety advice and accreditation support services to help your business become accredited and be recognised by thousands more potential clients.
We can deal with and help you complete any documents and paperwork so it doesn’t consume your time so you can carry on doing what you do best.
With CHAS Accreditation, you can show your health and safety competence. There are three different levels of CHAS to choose from, and depending on which one is right for your business, Beaconrisk can help you become accredited As well as CHAS Accreditation, we also offer a range of other accreditation schemes that we can support and help you with, as this is our area of expertise.
Contact Beaconrisk today for more information, an advisor of ours in accreditation will be happy to help you, all of our details can be found on our website.