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A survey was conducted for the 5th time by Eurofound to assess the physical hazards of European workers in different occupations. This survey called the European Working Conditions Survey found out that one worker in three has to transport heavy loads at the minimum of 25% of their working hours and one in four workers are open to all kinds of vibrations. This has not been changed from the year 2000.

Continuous hands and arms movement has been present in working environment from ten years. Even though many European workers have to do physical labor, the hazards are not limited to manual employees alone. One in six employees has to maintain postures which tire them easily, almost completely in their working hours where as one in three employees has to do this from one-fourth to three-fourth of their office timings.

The survey considered different aspects inside a working environment. These are working time, training, skills, safety, discrimination, work-life balance, harassment and health among many other aspects. The finding of this exclusive survey can be accessed with latest tool of developed by Eurofound, the Survey Mapping Tool.

Gijs van Houten, the research officer said that service sector employees, for example a cashier, will also have to physical labor while at work. Employees can take help of some devices to reduce the work pressure, even when they are burdened with work.

Accredited courses leading to the NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Safety and Health are designed to help those with health and safety responsibilities to carry out their duties at work more effectively and to protect the organisations for which they work. Click NEBOSH e-learning - for information on a web-based training course accredited by the National Examination Board for Occupational Safety and Health.

Customers at the Internacionale clothing retail store in Carlisle are just no longer interested in shopping at the store. It is freezing cold with doors open even during winter. The temperature is as low as 7.6 degrees while the minimum temperature for comfort is 16 degrees.

An anonymous complaint came to the office of the Health and Safety Executive. HSE inspectors who went in for investigations were surprised to observe that the store was really cold. The heating system was not functioning properly and needed quick repairs. Keeping the doors open added more misery to the shoppers and the working attendants.

An Improvement Notice was served under Section 21 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. However, there were no moves towards improvement. When the HSE Inspectors visited the store on two separate occasions, the conditions of the store remained status quo. The doors continued to be open always and the heating system was not repaired.

Anna Hart of Internacionale opined that it was a waste of time, money and effort to get the systems repaired as the lease on the property had expired. The City Council prosecuted Internacionale and levied a fine of £2,000 plus costs. The company pleaded guilty to the charges and paid the fine. Interestingly, the lease for the store expired and Internacionale moved out.

It is imperative that health and safety responsibilities are taken seriously and regulations followed. Public health and safety is of paramount importance in businesses and any violations are liable for penalties and fines. Despite reputation of quality and fitness, Internacionale was found guilty of not safeguarding the interests of its customers. The workers of the store were not in a position to raise any objections against the policy. It is time for organisations to be more sensitive to the needs of the work environment.

Make sure your organisation is aware of its health and safety obligations and has a clear understanding of its statutory duties with a well regarded NEBOSH National General Certificate course. NEBOSH distance learning is a unique web-based training platform specifically designed to help those with health and safety responsibilities to carry out their duties at work more effectively and to protect the organisations for which they work.

Come October 2011, employees on the verge of retirement can choose to continue. The Default Retirement Age (DRA) is all set to be scrapped. Retirement will be a matter of choice. While the employees with the zeal and motivation to work can continue doing so, employees willing to pack their bags can go on to pursue retirement benefits. The decision appears to be simple and the process smooth.

However, a recent survey by law firm Shoosmiths has revealed an interesting mixture of opinions about the aged 65+ workforce. Employers who participated in the survey have expressed a number of fears and policy strategies that aims at balancing the wise worker and the enthusiastic worker.

115 employers responded to the survey and half of them believed that the retirement age would continue while the other half firmly believed that the retirement age would be scrapped for good. While employers are concerned over exit policies and compensation benefits, they are also worried about the growth ladder for the younger generation.

If few employees choose to retire, it will be a challenge for the organisation to keep up with the needs of a workforce with different needs and benefits. Older employees prefer medical benefits and leave entitlement policies and the younger employees are enamoured by performance bonuses and handsome packages.

20% of the employers hoped that retirement ages would be kept for some but not for all roles, while 23% thought they would retain a retirement age for all roles. According to Partner and head of employment Kevin McCavish at the law firm the new law of abolishing DRA would create a strong g impact on the workforce policies. While the going may not be smooth, it would definitely result in an era of new strategies and policies.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development is the professional body for those involved in the management and development of people; Workplace Law Training is approved to offer programmes that meet the standards for Associate membership of the CIPD. Contact the experts there to find out about the range of accredited CIPD courses, which will provide a firm foundation in all the areas of HR and employment law.

Stress is a common problem everywhere these days. Recession has added further to the stress among the working population.

Unite has taken upon itself to launch a one year program to reduce stress in offices. It aims to study the levels of stress among employees and to remind the employers of their legal obligations regarding stress management. It will also strive to put good and executable stress management best practices in place.

Unite announced about the program on International Workers’ Memorial Day (IWMD) recently.

It is also trying to pay special attention to stress management for workers of charities who are often ignored. Workers working for charities have been found to be suffering from stress issues due to financial insecurity perpetrated by low donations to the charities.

Therefore, Unite is starting a new study involving around 2,500 not-for-profit workers in order to figure out their stress related issues.

Rachael Maskell, Unite National Officer, Not for Profit Sector, has appreciated the effort.

She said that the aim of the study is to convene a national conference where the participants will develop means and ways of managing stress in charities with the involvement of the management.

It is very important to control stress in this sector due to its growing trend. As Rachael puts it, stress can strike anyone at any point, and is quite contagious.

An IOSH Training Course, accredited by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, can assist managers to successfully manage appropriate policies and procedures and improve upon management skills to help tackle stress in the workplace.

In Scotland, a new initiative has been taken by Hugh Henry, a member of the Scottish Parliament, to provide better protection to the shop workers and other such workers providing some service to the public. Henry is hopeful that the draft of a new bill named The Workers (Aggravated Offences) Bill will be ready by May 2010.

The main provision of the bill will be to recognise abuse and assault on workers as aggravated crime and the assaulters to be penalised heavily. There is already an Emergency Workers Act of 2005 which imposes tough penalties on the public for assault on frontline workers who provide emergency services. The present bill is aiming at having the same penalties in case of abuse of shop workers too.

Henry said that assault on shopworkers is quite common and although some regulations are there, tougher penalties are needed to protect them. The shopworkers deal with the public daily and since there is face-to face interaction, the risk of abusive behaviour and assault is greater. The law should thus be there to act as a deterrent.

Various unions have already extended their support to this bill. The general secretary of USDAW adds that one in ten workers is assaulted by the public and the present law is not providing enough protection. USDAW has already started a campaign to have such a law in England and Wales as well.

Protecting the health and safety of employees is an essential part of risk management. The health and safety consultants from Workplace Law can assist managers and supervisors in all they need to know to help handle health and safety in their teams, and to help their organisation find the best ways to lead and promote health and safety, and therefore meet its legal obligations.

It’s a popular misconception in more than a few companies that, so long as each and every employee has sufficient health and safety instruction, they are suitably prepared for any situation. The truth is that, irrespective of the industry you’re in, a basic education in health and safety regulations and risk asessment simply is not enough. You must provide your employees with sufficient supervision, not to mention equip them properly and give them the chance to practice. Every team needs an approachable supervisor to observe the work area, but this person must also take an even larger function on the floor. A supervisor is required to understand that health and safety education is crucial and be able to get everybody excited about it.

In addition to following health and safety legislation, the function of a supervisor includes checking up on employee performance levels too. This is not a simple undertaking. The supervisor must possess extensive knowledge of both the business and production as well as an in-depth knowledge of up-to-date regulations regarding safety, risk assessment and CPR.

Providing basic training in health and safety really is not sufficient for your workers. They must acquire practical experience of risk assessment and the recognition of problem areas. They also require insights into the necessary precautions that they are required to take not to mention understanding what to do if disaster strikes. Employees are only totally protected when everything has become second nature.

Instruction is in fact useless without safety apparatus. If staff find they don’t have gear that is essential, or even discover that supplies are broken when they actually need them, then all the education available will not help them.

Maintaining your equipment on a regular basis is a necessity. When your apparatus does not meet the applicable standards, have it mended or call out a maintenance engineer as soon as you can.

Your staff have to have appropriate health & safety education, but in addition they also must have quality gear, scheduled practise excercises, and a supervisor with infectious enthusiasm. Only then will complying with all the safety regulations soon become a normal part of life in the workplace and no longer something troublesome everyone has to attempt to remember.

A report by the Risk and Regulation Advisory Council (RRAC), an independent advisory group formed by the Prime Minister, suggests that small businesses often lack clarity on health and safety issues.

According to the report, this can be attributed to three main causes. One is that such organisations are not confident in understanding and managing the risks they face. Another cause is that small organisations receive a number of diverse messages from different organisations such as legal and commercial partners, insurers, media and even the government, which leads to confusion. Also, there are those who exaggerate the small businesses’ perception of risk. Such ‘risk-mongers’ overstate the risk that small organisations face and get more business by advising them on the same.

Apart from looking into the causes, the report also proposes certain measures to improve the situation. One of the recommendations is that the Law Society, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) and other bodies representing the legal profession should consider actions to prevent the abuse of regulation in this area by the no-win, no-fee lawyers. If this is not viable, the report suggests the Ministry of Justice to enact a law in this respect.

It also proposes that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) should work with the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) to assess if advice provided by the insurers to small businesses is adding to the uncertainty about health and safety measures.

Sarah Veale, a member of the Risk and Regulation Advisory Council said the government, insurers, media, lawyers and consultants, all provide varied messages about health and safety to the small businesses, which creates confusion and uncertainty. She said this results in these organizations either risking their employees and the public or wasting money on protection against exaggerated risks.

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It’s thought in a significant amount of businesses that, since all of their employees have the required level of health & safety education, they have everything they need to cope with an emergency. In reality however, staff should have more than simply basic training in safety regulations and risk assessment. Equipping staff, hiring a skilled supervisior and promoting regular safety exercises are all important factors. Every team must have a great supervisor to oversee employee performance, but this person must also take a still larger function on the floor. Whomever you choose as the supervisor needs to see their health & safety training as crucial and be able to get other people feeling enthusiastic.

As well as insuring conformity with health & safety legislation, the role of a supervisor includes checking up on employee performance as well. This isn’t a simple undertaking. A good standard business knowledge is a requirement for a supervisory job in addition to a very high level of knowledge of safety laws, the identification of problem areas, and CPR. It simply is not enough to supply your staff with health & safety training. Your staff have to gain practical experience of risk assessment and the recognition of hazards. Staff need to understand how to eliminate problems and also how to cope if disaster strikes. Only when these procedures become a habit are workers properly protected. Education is in reality useless if you don’t purchase the required safety equipment. When they do not have the correct apparatus or should employees discover that items are broken in an emergency situation, then all the education available is not going to help them. You must check every item often to verify that you have all the required apparatus and that all the supplies are being properly looked after. When you have a fault with your safety apparatus, be certain to have it rectified ASAP and returned to the appropriate location. Your workers must have good health & safety training, however they must have the right equipment, the chance to practise, and a supervisor who can motivate your staff. And then adopting health & safety legislation will before long be a normal component of life in the workplace rather than an inconvenience everyone has to try to remember.