| By :
Alison Withers
Copyright (c) 2010 Alison Withers No matter whether they are selling consumer products, as in a supermarket, offering food as in a restaurant or café, storing products in a warehouse or manufacturing products using processes that involve potentially hazardous chemicals all businesses have a duty of care for all those people in their buildings. A proper risk assessment schedule and putting safety mechanisms in place for any activity being carried out are therefore important for health and efficiency. Of particular importance to overall health and safety is the quality of the air, particularly if the operation uses any substances that could potentially be hazardous, where safety systems to prevent leakage of chemicals and their fumes into the air are vital. The Health and Safety Executive HSE) has a number of very useful models for different types of businesses to use when carrying out risk assessments before putting safety measures in place. They include pinpointing potential hazards - in an office environment for example this might include ink cartridges and toners used in printers and the potential for inhaling solvents, skin contact with ink which can contain irritants, breathing in emmissions from photocopiers and the overall indoor air quality. The Hazards in a warehous might include the risk of inhaling fumes from battery acid in fork lift trucks or inhaling fumes from products stored there, such as pesticides. Many businesses use ventilation systems to ensure the air quality and to remove potential contaminants so part of a proper risk management process is ensuring that such systems are running efficiently to ensure ventilation hygiene within the system and air hygiene in the surrounding environment. The various regulations and guidelines relevant to ventilation system hygiene include the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare Regulations 1992. The Health and Safety Executive advises the rgular and proper cleaning, testing and maintenance of mechanical ventilation systems to ensure they are kept free from contamination. An important component of ensuring this is to use a specialist commercial cleaning company. These companies are experienced in the rules as well as in the use of proper mechanisms for handling hazardous substances when maintaining or cleaning ventilation systems to preserve air quality within the building. An experienced company will expect to be provided with a full risk assessment and a list of any substances that require special care so that it can assess and advise its client on how frequently the ventilation system, duct work and filters need to be checked, cleaned, repaired or replaced. Proper risk assessment and maintenance, cleaning of extraction systems as part of a proper health and safety plan would benefit businesses by reducing insurance premiums and absenteeism, reducing litigation costs and staff turnover and lower sick pay costs. Showing proper concern for the helath and safety of a building's occupants is good also for improving a company's coproate image and can also bring the benefits of improcing production and productivity rates, better chances of winning contracts, reduced accident costs and production delays, higher job satisfaction and morale and also reduced product and material damage.
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