A stitch in time
April 1st 2007 For every £1 an accident directly costs your company, there's another £9 in hidden costs, according to HSE inspector, Iain Brodie.Claim costs, insurance premium hikes, loss of business, loss of workers, fines, paperwork; it all adds up.Yet many SMEs are failing to embrace Health & Safety as a means not only to safeguard their workers and bottom lines, but also to generate business.To address the situation, the HSE has launched a website dedicated to the cleaning industry. Brendan Coyne reports Speaking at the Cleaning Show's Health & Safety seminar in March, HSE inspector Iain Brodie and Darran Yates, Health & safety and Training Manager at Indepth Managed Services, colluded to illustrate the existing problems to address in the cleaning industry and how much a comprehensive health and safety programme costs - and saves - a typical SME contractor. According to the new HSE cleaning website (www.hse.gov.uk/cleaning), there were 3,500 injuries to cleaners reported in 2005-2006, around 20 percent of which were classified as serious (ie broken bones).The most common types of reported accidents were slips and trips, manual handling and falls from height. In terms of health issues, main risks are injury to backs and upper limbs and occupational dermatitis. So how much do these accidents cost the industry? The HSE doesn't know: a spokesperson told Cleaning Matters that it collates the number of accidents rather than quantifiable costs as a result.However, Darran Yates has managed to quantify how much a proactive and comprehensive Health & Safety strategy costs Indepth. The company employs over 1000 operatives to service around 650 sites, covering office cleaning, to industrial sites to window cleaning. In 2005 employees were involved in 35 accidents. In 2006, after intensifying its H&S focus, that number dropped to 19.How? According to Yates, it's a simple case of good practice, consultation and training throughout the organisation.He says it focuses on six core elements: Review; Identify improvement opportunities; Consult; Change; Observe; Record – or RICCOR for short. "We have 650 sites," says Yates." I haven't visited all of them, but have responsibility for everyone on them. So I'm cautious because I don't want to end up in jail."He says the first step was to identify and implement simple, cost effective improvement opportunities."Simple stickers don't cost much, but they have a major impact." Simultaneously, the company began a consultation process with employees, using HSE leaflets and training. As many accidents are more related to environment than cleaning process, much time was also spent on risk assessment training. During that process, it became apparent that manual handling also needed improving.The results saw pulled muscles drop by a third and bruising down almost two thirds. Slips and trips plummeted from 14 incidents in 2004/5 to just two in 2005/06. The costs in terms of equipment are significant. Indepth's breakdown is as follows: Clothing £7.1k Hi-Viz £800 Cloves £2.4k Safety Boots £1.2K Other PPE £1k Safety signs £2.5k Additional sticker safety signs £500 Total - £15.5k Hidden costs, covering training at all levels, the paper trail, including risk assessments, method statements audits, training records etc, plus other costs such as harness checks, consultants, membership to RoSPA and Safe contractor add another £6.5k in hidden costs,bringing the total for the office and industrial business to 22K per annum. The window cleaning side of the business, with a much higher potential for fatality, is significantly more costly, with five large vans and water fed pole systems, with training, livery water and marketing costs totted up comes to £165K, although much of this is a oneoff cost."It's a whole different ball game," says Yates."But the cost of preventing a fatal accident is priceless." "It's not just death itself, but employers can end up in jail, lose existing business, and face a massive hike in insurance premiums overnight. And legislation will only increase, so you have to embrace H&S, not only for the peace of mind it brings,but for financial benefits: it has generated business for us." The HSE is now running a series of free half day seminars nationwide, most of which will take place between May and July 2007. Aimed at managers, supervisors and cleaning staff, the HSE says cleaning companies will learn more about: the importance of floor cleaning; what can be done to prevent slips and trips and contamination control. The seminars will also briefly cover other issues that can cause accidents or ill health in the industry, including dermatitis; manual handling and; low falls. For further information see:www.hse.gov.uk/cleaning and www.workplacehealthconnect.co.uk More articles from Health and Safety Executive: | 
