Student No:

Faculty of Professional Studies

Human Resources Management in Context

ASSIGNMENT 2
Health & Safety issues at Caffe Nero
TVU December 2010

Table of contents:
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Introduction Legal Issues

The work place regulations ( Health, safety and welfare)(1992) The management of health and safety at work (1999) Health and safety at work (etc) Act (1974) Employment sick pay

Procedural issues ( Seriousness of the incident) Incident Report stages( Reporting R.I.D.D.O.R) Causes Of slip and Trip Accidents( Risk of the accident
model)

Conclusion & Recommendation Bibliography and References

Introduction:
In this report I will advise Caff Neros Managers on Legal Issues and procedures following a recent Slip and Trip accident at one of their branches. We are going to cover in this report relevant legislation which concerns the injured staff and also the cafe manager. Once we have identified (Covered) the relevant part of the legislation, I will be in a better position to assess the situation and therefore enabling me to advise on what procedural methods to consider on the above case. According to Berrymans Lace Mawer, 35,000 Slip and Trip incidents occur in the UK each year, of those, more than 25,000 result in people being absent from work for more than 3 days and 50% of accidents are caused by poor housekeeping.

1.1 Key Issues: 1.2 Legal Issues: Legislation acts:

Caffe Neros incident includes the practicality of two issues: Legal and

Procedural: I will be looking to discuss the different legislations that

protect employees in a situation of health & safety, which will help employees and employers, thus enabling them to understand their rights and obligations to the law.

The workplace (Health, safety and welfare) Regulations Act (1992)

The Regulations ensure that people in a management position will provide employees with a suitable working environment condition that is productive of work activities and is free of obstruction on the workplace premises. The above legislation will cover conditions of the workplace such as: Equipment, workstation, lightening, sanitary and
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welfare provision, enough room and space to move around. Under the regulations, employer must also make suitable welfare facilities for employees. That includes people with learning disabilities.

The Health & Safety at work Act (1974)

This over arching Act requires that employers must ensure the safety of employees and anyone else who could be affected by their work for example, members of the public, or visitors etc. Therefore slip & trip risks must be controlled to ensure that incidents are educed to a minimum or eradicated completely. Employees are required to use any safety equipment provided and must not to cause danger to themselves or others. On Caffe Neros case, a question may be asked whether the waitresss accident was due to the lack of knowledge of safety equipment provided by the employer.

The Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations (Act 1999)

The Regulations require an employer to identify hazards and assess and control risks including those around slips and trips. They must ensure where and whenever necessary actions needs to be taken to safeguard health & safety. Employers must also provide relevant training to its employees and judging by the above case, the waitresses could have been doing a summer job while on holiday therefore it would classify as a temporary job and also she could have been as young as 15 years old (Under age), and the law states very clear that people within the category above are vulnerable therefore relevant training needs to be provided in order to demonstrate to them the necessary measures of risk control. Another thing we must take into consideration is the fact that the waitresses could have been in her early days of pregnancy and may not have informed her employer. However, by the provision of adequate
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and suitable training Caffe Neo could have fulfilled their requirement to provide training to all employees. Taking all the above into consideration, the questions to ask is: Was the waitresses to young and inexperienced? In one way or other questions has to be asked, because its the employers duty to manage the employees safety. The act above states that employees have the legal duty to report any Hazard or accident that may lead to illness or cause danger, as it happened in the Caffe Neros case. The employer needs to be notified in order to make the necessary safety arrangements. In the event of breach of this act, it could lead to legal action being taken against the employer under the (Health& Safety Offences Act (2008)

Employment Sick Pay

Most people who are ill and have been ill for 4 consecutive days are entitled to Sick pay providing he/she is over 16 and under 65. Based on these facts, we would say that the waitresss fits this category; she is entitling to sick pay even if shes in a probation period. Be aware that different employers have different types of contract. Therefore sick pay may vary.

Types of sick pay: Statutory sick pay and Contractual sick pay
The waitress will NOT be able to claim any sick pay if a) She has been working within a 3 month probation period. b) If shes a new employee and has not done any work under contract. By law shes required to provide evidence of injury/medical information as its compulsory for record and auditor purposes even if the manager and barista witnessed the accident. Continuity of payment if not stipulated in the contract may have an implied contract term. Therefore it will need to be address by the employer.

Procedural Issues:
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Seriousness of the accident:

Caffe Nero needs to understand first of all how severe or how serious the accident was. As medical advice suggests, the waitress has suffered a complicated broken wrist, as a result of the slip & trip on a spillage, and as a result of it, the waitress will have to take even more time off of work than the prior 3 weeks.

The fact that Caffe Nero did not have an effective Health & Safety management procedure in place, as the Health and Safety Executive states, we can therefore assume that Caffe Nero is in breach of its obligations. Guidance from the Health and Safety Executive states that: The workplace requires floor to be suitable, in good conditions and free from obstructions. People should be able to move around safely Referring to the Health, Safety & Welfare Regulations (1992) It has become apparent that the risk management at the cafe is very poor and therefore does not meet what is requires by the Regulations above. Working safely is first of all a management responsibility; its the management duty to ensure safety of its employees and also the safety of the public. In Caffe Neros situation, we could safely assume that the risks was not acknowledged by the member of staff, and in this case the Cafs duty Manager and barrista did witness the spillage and turned a blind eye to it instead of acting immediately . As a result, an accident happened and therefore the Duty of Care was not provided to the members of the public and also to the staff. Caffe Nero should have an implemented safety management system which would help identify areas of which problems may arise within the premises. All incidents should be recorded and each one provides the employer with an opportunity to improve their safety systems.

More often than not, incidents like slip and trip are usually caused by the lack of management and awareness of preventive measures. See below a list of facts that contributes to accidents at work.

- Using measures which are not correct and also not taking the risks
seriously

- Lack of management control and risk assessments - Not monitoring regularly slip and trip hazards at work - Employees not being trained accordingly to deal with Health and
safety at work.

Incident Report Stages Reporting R.I.D.D.O.R

In order to compile a report for investigations, taking into consideration the severity of the slip & Trip at Caffe Nero, its important to gather the right information. By law, its required that specific types of accident should be reported underThe Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and dangerous Occurrences Regulations otherwise known as (RIDDOR) (1995) This report is sent to the Health and Safety Executive who may decide to prosecute. However even incidents which are not reportable should be investigated to identify measures to prevent recurrence. Its advised to take down eye witness statements that were present at the scene of the accident. For example the Childs parents who alleged spilled the drink, the barista and the duty manager; this will improve the accuracy of the report. It will also be valid information when contacting the incident contact centre (ICC) whom will make a record of the incident and review the level of risk, which in turn will be passed on to the relevant enforcing authority.

Stage 1 Reporting the Incident

The caffe is required by law to keep an Employee Accident Book Due to the waitress having to take more than 3 consecutive days off work, its than required to fill in the F2508- R.I.D.D.O.R. FORM

Stage 2 Contacting the HSE Authority

Caffe Neros manager is by law responsible for reporting the incident to the ICC, either by phone or by e-mail, so that they can assess the severity of the incident. As mentioned before, should a law case arises; remember that the accident book and the internal report will be used in the investigation process.

Causes of Slip and Trip accidents A customers child spilled the orange juice on the floor where the waitress slipped and fell. Even though that was what caused the accident, there are some other factors that also have been underlying causes.

- Floor Material ( I still need to do this part) - Behaviour As above - Footwear As above

Conclusion & Recommendations

Recommendation
In light of the findings on the waitress slip & trip accident we would recommend that Caffe Neros should ensure that the following are in place: 1. They should consistently conduct risk assessments prior to employees starting the work. For example on the first day of work 2. Ensure that they are aware of their incident and injury reporting requirement and ensure that procedural reports are in place with an easy access to the employees. 3. Ensure that Health & Safety induction training is provided for all the workers, whether they are permanent or temporary staff. At the caffe they should pay particular attention to slip & trips, and focus on how they can be avoided. Training should be documented on site to ensure accurate records are maintained for future references. 4. Good housekeeping should be maintained to help minimize slip and trip hazards.

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Causes of slip and trip

Cleaning

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Contaminati on and obstacles

Slippery floors are a common hazard at any workplace.Its often missed as a hazard. According to HSE, over a third of all majors injuries reported every year are as a result of slip & Trip. Furthermore, over 95% of over 3 days absence of work is due as a result of Slips, Trip and falls.

Companies needs to be aware that more than ever, employees are suing their employers for the slightes thing. They are very aware that the law is on their side. Ensuring that employees are involved on the day to day problems regarding h&s

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