Is there a Gritting Shaped Hole in Your Health & Safety Policy?

Whatever your health and safety policy in the workplace, you should ensure that all areas are made safe for employees - which is why it is so vital to use the services of private gritting contractors.

Even businesses that take a great deal of care when it comes to maintaining health and safety at work, can all too easily forget about the risks posed to employees and visitors when the weather takes a turn for the worse.

As icy conditions are not a daily occurrence, it is simple for employers to overlook the importance of gritting contractors. However, the fall-out from injuries caused by treacherous weather can hit a company hard - even though these consequences could have been be avoided by using gritting contractors such as Ice Watch.

For many businesses already burdened with paperwork, it is understandable that putting their own systems in place to cater for ice and snow is time consuming - it involves risk assessment, appointing the right staff to do this, training, sourcing grit and machinery, and more paperwork.

Luckily, this is something that can be outsourced to gritting contractors and is not only cost effective, but will give you valuable peace of mind.

Gritting Contractors - contact us now for a free quotation.

Why Is Gritting So Easily Forgotten?

In 2009, just over one in five accidents reported to Health and Safety were caused by a trip, fall or slip in the workface and some of these injuries were caused by inadequate measures in place during frosty conditions.

Although there is health and safety guidance available for when the weather plummets, gritting is so easily forgotten as the bulk of health and safety information focuses on the internal areas of a business.

For example health and safety risk assessments mainly talk of hazards IN the workplace - checking kitchens, stockrooms etc - which draws attention to the immediate working environment, rather than outside.

However, there is also a duty of care for employers to take the necessary precautions to the external areas to prevent injuries to staff, customers, and pedestrians. One of the ways to do this is by hiring gritting contractors.

What Might Prompt a Business to Pay Attention to Gritting?

A properly maintained health and safety policy will include keeping records of accidents and for staff to report a potential risk.

In practice this should mean that if an employee did sustain an ice-related injury, this ought to be noted immediately so managers can set the wheels in motion to prevent it happening again.

This of course depends on employees recording such an incident and they may not think it relevant unless the injury is more serious. Unfortunately, by then harm has been done and the business could be liable for a claim.

Gritting contractors, however, are specialists in this area and will carry out a thorough risk assessment to identify hazardous areas, then grit only as and when needed. Ice Watch keep up-to-date reports in the event of any claim and all our contract clients are covered by our £10 million public liability insurance.

What Are the Options for Including Gritting In Your Health and Safety Policy?

1. Do it yourself. This involves doing a proper risk assessment, training the staff, getting the necessary equipment and salt supplies, organising the relevant paperwork as well as arranging overtime payments (because most gritting is done during unsociable hours). Expert knowledge is required on how to identify the areas most at risk as well as the time and expense to put everything in place
   
2. Outsource to professional gritting contractors. This is by far the successful, cost-effective and hassle free option. Ice Watch staff are fully trained to carry out a proper risk assessment identifying all the hazardous areas and are trained on how to put the correct measures in place to prevent accidents. Professional gritting contractors such as Ice Watch, cover all the legal aspects including full record keeping and for additional peace of mind, all our contract clients are covered by a £10 million public liability insurance.

About Ice Watch

Ice Watch are nationwide gritting contractors who aim to prevent accidents and injuries by keeping car parks, walkways, ramps, access areas, loading bays, paths, driveways, steps and public places ice free. We organise weather monitoring, site inspections, gritting and record keeping on your behalf to keep your workplace safe.

We have gritters stationed on 150 sites throughout the UK, so wherever you are based we can help. Contact us on: 01728 633900 or email: mail@icewatch.co.uk