Envesca Ltd

Here at Envesca one of the most common questions we get asked is, “What first aid provision do I need to provide for my company?”

The answer is that it depends upon your company! The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 state that you must carry out a first aid needs assessment to determine what first aid provision you should reasonably provide. This covers the first aid materials and equipment that are appropriate for the risks encountered in your workplace and the number of first aid trained personnel should reflect working patterns and numbers of employees.

The law also covers training of first aiders. This has recently changed and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) no longer approve first aid training providers and courses. This is good news as it means employers have greater flexibility and choice, but the bad news is that you as an employer must ensure that the training provider you use is competent and the course fulfils the correct criteria. For our clients this is not a worry as you can rest assured that Envesca provide a range of accredited first aid courses that will meet all of your needs and our team of trainers have extensive experience in the subject.

In this blog we cover some of the areas you will need to consider when assessing your company’s first aid provision requirements.

The term “health and safety culture” can be construed as a “buzz phrase” and poor health and safety culture is often thought of as a problem with the workforce. In contrast, in line with their research and experience, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) consider that poor health and safety culture is more likely down to ineffective management rather than individuals.

This can be down to several factors, including unconscious bias towards production over safety, a focus on short term measures and quick fixes to safety issues or reactive rather than proactive procedures. If you feel that your organisation does not have the health and safety culture you would like, then you as the owner, director or senior manager are the starting point to change things.

In this blog we share our five top tips to promoting a good health and safety culture in your company:

Over 1 million people in the UK have a food allergy and about ten people die every year from food-induced anaphylaxis.

Having a food allergy can make life extremely difficult, especially when food shopping or eating out. For some people even the tiniest trace of food allergens can cause severe symptoms or even a fatal reaction. Common food allergens include nuts, shellfish, eggs and gluten but this list is not exhaustive!

New rules came into force in December 2014 regarding labelling of food allergens. On pre packed food the presence of allergens must be emphasised on the packaging and on non pre packed food there is a new legal requirement to provide allergy information.

This blog outlines the requirements for the provision of information in relation to non pre packed food.