The Most Common Causes of House Fires



Common Causes Of  House fires

 House fires, not something I want to think about, but they really do happen.


The National Fire Protection Association reports that there are as many as 400,000 house fires every year. It isn’t something we should ignore.

With our most valued possessions at risk, the old adage, prepare for the worst and hope for the best, is a good approach. That means, take precautions to prevent the most common causes of house fires, and consider a home safe to protect key valuables as your last line of defense, just in case.

A recent National Fire Protection Association report indicates the most common causes of house fires. Below is the list suggested and the precautions to take.



Cooking, The #1 Cause of Home fires

 Cooking. The #1 cause of house fires, accounting for 42% of reported incidents, is cooking.

Open flames from the stove and intense heat in the oven easily result in a fire when unsupervised. Most often food or cooking tools catch fire and quickly lose control. While giving up on cooking all together may be a bit extreme, paying extra attention and never leaving the kitchen while preparing food is an easy way to reduce this risk.





Christmas Trees. Every winter families all around the world bring large trees into their home to celebrate a beloved holiday.

However, Christmas trees can easily become a significant hazard. Dry tress combined with strings of lights quickly turn into fire sticks. Before placing the tree in your home cut off an inch or so from the bottom of the trunk, removing any dead wood that would prevent the tree from soaking up water. Be vigilant about watering your tree, keep it hydrated! Also be sure to turn off Christmas lights when you go to sleep at night. Or, avoid the risk altogether by getting an artificial tree!

Smoking Does Kill In Many Different Ways so STOP!

Smoking is the source of many of house fires leading to almost 1,000 deaths per year. Lit cigarettes accidentally dropped on any number of household items can quickly become large fires. Only smoking outside will reduce this risk significantly.

Candles. An estimated 18,000 house fires are caused by candles each year. Most of the incidents are due to negligence. Leaving a lit candle unattended can quickly lead to a fire. Numerous flammable materials near a candle can easily catch fire. Reduce this risk by trimming the wick of your candle to help limit the size of the flame, or use battery operated candles.

Appliances, Heaters and Children Playing with Fire.

Other common causes of home fires include over use of appliances, home heating, and children playing with fire. Faulty or over-used appliances can easily cause a fire with just a few sparks. Heating systems, especially space heaters and wood stoves, can ignite household items nearby.

The curiosity of young children can also lead to threatening fires. Playing with matches, lighters, and candles leading to 56,300 fires between 2005 and 2009.

Keeping these items out of the reach of children and educating them about the importance of fire safety can help reduce this risk. In the event of a house fire occurring a home safe, in particular a fireproof safe for the home, will keep important documents and precious valuables safe while you focus on getting your family to safety.

Please take 5 minutes when you get home and just look around. When was the last time you considered fire safety for your home yourself and your family? When did you last test your smoke alarm ??

As most of our commercial fire safety team is made up of ex firefighters and other dedicated fire safety professionals you can call us re your home or workplace fire safety at any time.

For more information on workplace fire safety and fire safety awareness training click he link below. Make a note or set an alarm for your personal fire safety check at home.... Tonight!!!

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GCS Safety Team.

Outsourcing Health and Safety Can Save You Money

Outsourcing Health and Safety

How Outsourcing Health and Safety Can Save You Money

• All businesses want and need to see a healthy return on their investment. When you are deciding who should manage your health and safety, you need to engage someone who:
• is focused on your business and growth objectives
• provides you with competent and sound advice
• is qualified, experienced and understands how businesses operate.

Your options for engaging a Health and Safety Manager include recruiting a permanent employee or outsourcing the role of managing your health and safety processes to a consultancy.

How much does a Health and Safety Manager Cost?

The average salary of a permanent full time Health and Safety Manager is between £30,000 and £60,000 a year, depending on qualifications and experience. But when you take into account the hidden costs such as office and IT costs, recruitment fees, pension contributions, training, company car and other benefits, the annual cost can be more like £80,000-£100,000. This figure doesn’t take into account the three to four months that an employee may take to familiarise themselves with your systems and procedures and the induction costs associated with a new employee. And £100,000 is if you get the recruitment right! If you don’t that could be money that your organisation never sees again.

What will outsourcing do for my business?

Outsourcing your health and safety management processes to a competent consultant is good value for money because you only pay for what you use. If you compare outsourcing to employing a permanent or contract manager, you’ll find the following benefits.

• A consultant can start immediately, so you don’t have to wait for them to work out their notice period (usually one to three months).
• A consultant will roll up their sleeves and get started without the need for the on-boarding that an employee requires to get up and running.
• A consultant will offer you candid and independent advice without the politics.
• You only pay for what you need, so can scale up or down depending on your business needs at the time.
• You don’t have to pay recruitment consultancy fees (which could be around £7,000 to £10,000).
• You don’t have to pay for the job advert (at least £1,000).
• You can keep office and IT costs down if they work off site with their own IT. IT and office costs can be around £5,000 for an employee.
• You don’t have to pay national insurance or pension contributions which could save you £6,000 to £10,000 a year.
• You don’t have to pay for a car or other company benefits – another saving of about £6,000 a year.
• A consultant will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience for your sector.
• If you engage a consultancy, you will have access to other H&S practitioners with different expertise.

Organisations can save a lot of money by choosing the outsourcing route. Some organisations are saving thousands of pounds every year.

All of our consultants are competent, independent and have the professional integrity that you need to give your business the edge. We provide practical solutions to fit with your business model. Outsourcing your health and safety to System Concepts can give you peace of mind so that you can concentrate on your business goals.

For more information on our outsourcing services please contact us.
08450 950 960

Health and Safety Act News For Self Employed

Health and Safety Act News For Self Employed

Health and safety services are available to all self-employed individuals as well as larger companies in the UK.

As so many companies are fined and even imprisoned after their workers suffer injuries at the workplace it is hard to imagine any business owner ignoring the health and safety consultants and turning a blind eye to the potential accidents that could occur.

Furthermore, with many more people making personal injury claims for injuries that happen at work, it is essential that health and safety services are taken very seriously.

Many Professions Involve Using Highly Sophisticated and Dangerous Machinery.

Like many professions tree surgeons work with extremely dangerous machinery day in and day out. Operating the equipment needs vigilance and the correct training.

While working with dangerous machinery it is also essential that the correct gear (PPE) is worn to help prevent any accidents from occurring.

Lack of Training Leaves Tree Surgeon With a Fine

A tree surgeon in Kent has recently been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive after one of their employees was horrifically injured on the job.

David Dyer, aged 30 managed to get his trouser leg caught in a tree stump grinder that was left on by Richard Curties, his employer.

While Mr Curties was grinding six tree stumps he temporarily left the machine running and left the equipment running. Mr Dyer walked next to the grinder and his clothing got caught which resulted in his leg being seriously injured after being pulled into the machine.

He broke his leg and damaged his muscles which meant a long period in hospital spanning many weeks. After numerous operations his leg was reconstructed although it is unclear whether he will be able to return to his old profession as a tree surgeon.

The investigation that followed showed that Mr Cuties from Aspen Tree Services did not have the correct training of how to use the machine and that the method of work he was following was unsafe.  As a result he was fined £5,000 for breaching Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. In addition to his fine he also has to pay the costs which amount to £3,679

For any self employed businessman a fine of £8,679 .00 is a painful experience and you can be pretty sure the pain of responsibility and friendship most small businessmen share with their employees will be equally as bad.

With the right combination of training and an awareness of both risk and responsibility you can avoid being in their position for a fraction of the cost and enjoy working in a safer environment too.

Health and safety training doesn't have to break the bank and can even increase productivity from your employees or improve your chances when bidding for small and medium size contracts.

Give us a call and we will give you instant advice on how any sections of the health and safety at work etc act 1974 may affect you or your business.

In the event of an accident or injury the courts will always consider a companies approach to health and safety. Ignorance is not an acceptable defence.

This leaves you with 2 very basic decisions.

1 : Do nothing and keep your fingers crossed (not literally) while you and your employees work.

2 : Call us now for some free basic advice on what you need to do just to be safe.

Visit our UK Health and Safety Reference Library and download from a selection of Training Presentations to get you started. GCS are here to help make your world a safer place.

Call now : 08450 950 960

Corporate Manslaughter Act Prosecutions

Corporate Manslaughter Act - 4 years in force and only 2 prosecutions. Why?

In recognition of the 4th anniversary of the Corporate Manslaughter Act coming into force I have written a couple of articles recently looking at the reason for the lack of prosecutions to date. I thought I would summarise some of the points I made in these articles and see if they generate any discussion…

We all knew there would be a delay in these cases coming through because of the length of time the investigations of fatal accidents take; however, after four years and hundreds of deaths, one conviction and one other prosecution in the pipeline seems a perplexingly small number.

By contrast, the HSE has prosecuted about 50 companies for fatal accidents occurring since the Act came into force.

The comparison with HSE prosecutions is not entirely fair of course, and it must be acknowledged that prosecutions under the Act are going to be relatively infrequent because of the requirement for the company’s failings to be gross and to implicate the company’s senior management.

That said, there have been surely more than two cases that have been sufficiently bad and which have involved senior management (particularly those cases involving small companies) since April 2008. We can probably all think of examples of cases in which we have been involved where a charge of corporate manslaughter would not be / have been unreasonable.

The time lag and the specific requirements of the offence then do not provide a complete answer.A greater problem I think lies in the machinery for the investigation of corporate manslaughter in this country.

Taking a step back does it not seem a little bizarre that when it comes to the most serious accidents: those involving deaths, and the most complex: those involving possible corporate offending, the HSE - subject matter experts when it comes to investigating industrial accidents - have no direct role in the manslaughter investigation? Instead the cases are investigated by police officers who have frequently never investigated an industrial accident before - with its many peculiarities.

There may be some fatal accidents where police are the appropriate investigating body – road traffic accidents for example – but in the majority of cases investigating a fatal accident is nothing like other police work. Additionally, outside of road traffic accident investigation, there is (to my knowledge) no specialist unit within the police force that might serve to consolidate the experience of fatal accident investigations.

By contrast the CPS does have a specialist team advising on these cases but, as far as I am aware, they are reliant on the police identifying potential corporate manslaughter cases and seeking advice; if the police are unfamiliar with the area of law they may not be in a position to identify and seek advice on corporate manslaughter as a possible charge.

In addition to this the police do not have the investigative tools that would give them a greater chance of detecting corporate wrong doing.

They do not have the broad powers of the HSE Inspector under HSWA s.20. They cannot compel answers in interviews – a significant investigative tool; they can merely invite a company to nominate a representative to attend for interview with precious little sanction for those that decline. And if the police want to compel disclosure of documentation they must obtain a warrant, a far more complex process than the exercise by an HSE Inspector of his power to require the production of documents.

There may be compelling historical or other principles that explain the current regime but it seems unlikely to me that we will see any particular increase in prosecutions for corporate manslaughter without some changes to the investigative machinery.

Let us know what you think by using the comments box at the base of this blog or get in touch via our site.

UK Health and Safety Consultants

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Great News For Bird Watchers

Great News For Bird Watchers

The truth about cuckoo's finally discovered.

Everyone knows that a cuckoo lays it's eggs in other birds nests. Until now it's always been a mystery as to why,.

So why do cuckoos behave in this unusual way? Is it lazyness ? Is it bad parenting skills ? Is it that they just don't care ???

Nope !

It turns out that since the introduction of the health and safety at work etc act 1974 they are no longer allowed to hatch their young inside a clock because of all the moving parts.

An opportunity missed

Had the cuckoo's contacted Global Compliance Solutions we would have advised them on the various ways they could continue to tell us the time in their own hard working and relentless way and keep all their eggs in the same clock.(or is it basket?)

A little bit of re design or a change here and there to their operating procedure and they could have had the lot.

Don't get caught out like the cuckoo. Contact GCS for real working solutions that won't break the bank but will help make your working environment a safer, healthier and more productive place.

Call us now on 08450 950 960 or visit our main site using the links below.

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Completing a Risk Assessment



Help Completing A Risk Assessment

 Risk Assessments – Are You Doing them Right?

Many businesses are using health and safety consultants to teach them how to perform the required, adequate risk assessments in everyday operations.

There are all sorts of occasions in the workplace which demand the use of risk assessments.

By failing to perform these vital tasks you are putting your employees and possibly the public at risk of harm and opening yourself up to prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive.

Points to Consider When Creating a Risk Assessment

There are several questions you need to ask when creating a risk assessment.  These include looking for potential dangers in the workplace and who is at risk from harm from these dangers.  You will also need to evaluate any risks and come up with ways of controlling these risks, which also includes any controls which are already in place.

The risk assessments will need to be recorded and kept for future reference. 

You will also need to frequently review them and make changes when necessary.  The best times to perform a review are when any new changes are brought into the workplace. This may involve new equipment or methods of work which were not previously taken into account. Should any incidents occur it is also wise to go over the assessment and see how similar incidents could have been avoided and so bring in new control measures.

Method Statements

Although method statements are not required by law they are extremely useful when it comes to health and safety in the workplace, especially the construction industry.

A method statement is different to risk assessments; the statement states a sequence explaining how the job needs to be carried out to reduce any risks which have been described in the risk assessment. With a method statement you are able to carefully plan any work and make sure you have in place all the resources necessary.

Receive the Proper Training

One of the many health and safety services provided by GCS involves risk assessments and training. 

Although assessments can be performed without professional assistance it is useful to make sure you are fully up to date with all the laws and regulations in your industry, as well as learning how to create adequate assessments and the skills required for method statements.

Health and safety consultants are able to teach you these skills, or perhaps perform the tasks on your behalf. If you are concerned about the strength of your health and safety skills it can be extremely beneficial to use the expertise of health and safety consultants with extensive knowledge and experience in this field.

Quality Assessments and Training

At GCS we offer a wide range of assessments and training solutions for every sector. Use the links below to visit our main site for advice and guidance. For more information, Document templates and PowerPoint training downloads visit our UK Health and Safety Reference Library

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Have a safe day

Pete Frer. IT Manager

Worst health and safety myths of 2012

Here are some of the worst health and safety myths we heard of in the lat 12 months.....

Health and safety is confusing at the best of times. The examples below show the true meaning of the word Misunderstanding.

To mark the launch of the new Myth Busters Challenge Panel, HSE has published its top ten worst myths.

1.Children being banned from playing conkers unless they are wearing goggles
2.Office workers being banned from putting up Christmas decorations
3.Trapeze artists being ordered to wear hard hats
4.Pin the tail on the donkey games being deemed a health and safety risk
5.Candy floss on a stick being banned in case people trip and impale themselves
6.Hanging baskets being banned in case people bump their heads on them
7.Schoolchildren being ordered to wear clip on ties in case they are choked by traditional neck wear
8.Park benches must be replaced because they are three inches too low
9.Flip flops being banned from the workplace
10.Graduates ordered not to throw their mortar boards in the air

At Global Compliance Solutions we treat all our clients with integrity and respect. We understand what a minefield the Health and Safety at Work etc Act can be. It applies to all of us.

Please contact us for any advice and guidance you need. We are always here to help.
08450 950 960

New Pages With PowerPoint Downloads.

Visit our site for access to over 500 Power Point Training Downloads, Document Templates and more. We believe in training at any price! Even when it's free so train your team and make your workplace safer with our compliments.

Here are the links :

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Documents To View or Download

Thanks for dropping by.

Pete Fryer. IT Manager

RIDDOR April Update

RIDDOR (Reporting of Injury, Disease, Dangerous Occurrence Regulations)

From 6 April 2012, the requirement to report over-three-day injuries will change to seven days. From April, you only have to report injuries that lead to a worker being incapacitated for more than seven consecutive days as the result of an occupational accident or injury (not counting the day of the accident but including weekends and rest days).

This new report must be made within 15 days of the accident. (Incapacitation means that the worker is absent, or is unable to do work that they would reasonably be expected to do as part of their normal work.)
However you must still keep a record of the accident if the worker has been incapacitated for more than three consecutive days.

You should already have an accident book so the entry in this will suffice.

There are also some changes to the reporting requirements for deaths, major injuries, occupational diseases and dangerous occurrences. There is an updated RIDDOR form in the First Aid sub folder.

Asbestos

The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 came into force on 6 April 2012. The main change to the updated Asbestos regulations is that employers carrying out some types of non-licensed work will now be required to notify that work, ensure workers have medical examinations at least once every 3 years and to keep a record of the work done by each worker.

Further details are being awaited from HSE – watch this space!

Click Here If you require : Asbestos Awareness Training

For more information on RIDDOR changes and other Health and Safety compliance issues affected by recent announcements regarding changes to the Health and safety At Work etc Act 1974 visit our main site or go directly to our Solutions Page