Health and safety assessments

[Graham]

Hi all. long time since I have been on the forum

I am now the chairman of our local club and am wondering what other turning clubs have done about a risk assessment and what evidence is required that a member is familiar with it. We do have one that I have inherited but I don't really know anything about it. Our club majors on 'hands on' evenings so we have 5 or 6 lathes on the go.

Any advise gratefully received

regards
Graham

[bodrighywood]

Hi Graham, long time no see.

John, Bowler Hatted Turner is yofur best bet form advice, he is H&S for the aWGB amnd has work a chairmans hat both formour club and the RPT so probablym knows what he's talking about. Surenhe'll be on soon.

Pdete

[Bryan Milham]

Graham,

PM Sent

[Graham]

Thanks Bryan, PM answered

[burywoodturners]

The AWGB website has guidance for clubs, and should give you the basis of what is needed
Ron

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Graham nice to hear from you again I do hope you are keeping well.
First of all well done on thinking about your club's health and safety. Your first step should be to write your risk assessment, look on the internet or email me and I will send you a blank risk assessment form. Now you need to fill it in. Start outside of your club's premises, look at the carpark, are there pot holes that pedestrians can trip into? If there are what measures have been taken to highlight this hazard? Lighting? Luminous paint? Filling them in? and what further action do you think should be taken to ensure no-one falls into one on club night?
Now look at all the things that are done to set up for your meetings. Put the chairs out, there is a danger of hurting your back if you lift too many at one time, So lifting the chairs is the hazard hurting your back is the type of injury possible. So existing precautions would be to move stacks of chairs with the chair lift bogey and additional measures may be only move one chair at a time. An additional hazard could be one chair left in the middle of a walkway so someone could fall over it, stste that chairs should be set in rows or pushed back against the wall. Just common sense really. So go through every operation needed to set up and put away, I stood in our hall and just watched and took notes to produce our RA. Cables are a trip hazard, so re-route them around the edge of the room. When they have to cross an open area set up a barrier or tape them to the floor. You should document all aspects of the evening,obvious things like novice turners should be supervised when turning at the club, we do not care what they do at home in the privacy of their own workshop but at the club they conform to safe working practices and set them down.
At the end of the day sometimes accidents do happen regardless of the precautions you take, but if you demonstrate that you have used best practice to risk assess, you have documented what you have seen and done and made changes where needed you will be showing that you are a responsible club and everyone will start to think safety.
Any problems get back in touch with me, I will be quite happy to look at your finished risk assessment for you if you wish.

[Graham]

Thank you John for that extensive answer. We do have a risk assessment covering the activity on / with the lathes but it does not go to the extent of moving chairs, or even more what happens in the car park. It sounds like I have a lot of work ahead of me.

Two main questions if I can......
1..Your comment about beginners being observed and supervised wile at the club Do you have a specific way of deciding when they are no longer beginners ?

2.. When the risk assessment is finished.. does it have to be read and signed by each member or is it ok to have an H&S policy that refers in part to this document ( which is perhaps displayed at the clubroom ) and it is the policy doc that is signed...... or maybe even that the H&S policy doc is also displayed and it is only a reference to it in the membership form that is signed by each member.

Does that make sense ? I am getting confused

[bodrighywood]

Some turners remain begiiners for the rest of their lives. I don't think you specify a specific length of time.  With regards to the access to risk assessments I believe it has to be available to every member then up to them if they read it. You are doing it for the club and insurance etc not specifically for each member.

Correct me if I am wrong

Pete

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Graham, as club members gain experience you should be able to judge for yourself as an experienced turner those that need supervision. However may I suggest that members of the committee and other experienced members should always be aware of what is going on during a club night and sometimes even experienced turners may just need a word in their shell like to remind them to do it properly.
I expect your club, the same as my club. has a register to record who attends. This is a good idea (and a requirement at my club)just in case there is a fire and we have to evacuate the building, because the first thing the fire brigade will ask is if you can account for everyone. (if you cannot you may be asking them to put their lives at risk entering the burning building to search for someone that may not even have attended that night) I suggest that copy of the risk assessment is kept in the folder with the register so that all members may read it. This is a double edged sword because as sure as I sit writing this someone will say" you forgot to add this.......!" and then you can add to it and end up with a more comprehensive risk assessment.
You could ask members to sign as having read it, not sure if you need to though as the RA is mainly a tool for the organiser who should be firmly in charge. So he should have the authority to look up and tell someone to only move those chairs maximum two at a time or suchlike.
   It is my experience ,gained as chairman of my own club for a while and as seen when I travel around the clubs demonstrating, that most members of woodturning clubs are happy to accept that the chairman's word or that of committee members or experienced turners is enough and taking into consideration of the age of most club members these days they are all very sensible.
At the end of the day all you have to show is that you have looked at the issues regarding setting up for club night, you have addressed any perceived problems and you are advocating a safe working atmosphere. And keep banging on about it because once everyone does it as a matter of course it will make everyones life so much more enjoyable.

[Graham]

Thank you John, you have been a great help.

[Graham]

One last query if I can.
I am going through the AWGB risk assessment and H&S documents and I have found two different references to perspex lathe screens being used
a... When in a public place
B... When their are non members present

I read that to mean that protective screens ( which cut down visibility 'hands on' sessions ) are not needed where club members form the audience.

That would be a great benefit if true but it surprises me.

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Graham in reply to this I have to say that members of woodturning clubs should be aware of the dangers imposed by the act of woodturning. The club could consider the use of screens if there is a danger of flying debris going forward towards the audience with enough momentum to cause damage. The most likely damage is foreign bodies in the eyes as usually the observers are far enough away that most of the kinetic energy has been expended for the bigger bits to cause a problem. The club should risk assess this and if the risk is determined to be higher than none at all perhaps on hands on nights members should be instructed to bring in their own eye protection. It is up to them if they wear them or not but you would have done your job by guiding your members in the right direction.
     At most clubs that I visit the shavings do not reach the front row, but when I am asked to demonstrate turning pewter I take extra safety glasses with me and hand them out to the likely"target area". So I cover myself then, again they have the option to wear them or not. In our club we do stipulate that if you are operating a lathe during club night you have towear PPE.
Safety screens should always be used when demonstrating to members of the general public, this is because they will be ignorant of the dangers and will not be aware of the safe zone or safe distances.
I hope this answers your question. Please do not hesitate to ask more if you feel the need.

[Graham]

You explained that very clearly John. Thank you.

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

I have been asked to clarify one of the comments I made earlier in this post. Risk assessments should be about the club equipment and club activities and should take into consideration where the club's reponsibilities end,so unless your club owns the premises there is no need to risk assess the car park.
Sorry for any misunderstanding.
However if there was a problem with the car park and you did risk assess it you could present that to the car park owners and point it out to them. And also warn club members of the additional hazards that are not covered by club insurance schemes.

[Graham]

Thank you John, I know where the request for clarity came from.

I wonder if that line of thought also extends to the hazards with boiling water etc in the tea break when the built in boiler also belongs to the village hall rather than us ?