Why Health & Safety software?
01/05/2008 15:36:00
Article appeared in Master Builder, May 2008
All
building firms, no matter how small have a duty of care to their
employees and the general public. Many might see this as an irritating
distraction to an already busy workload but building companies have a
legal obligation to demonstrate that they take their responsibilities
seriously and that they have done as much as is reasonably practicable
to safe guard their employees, subcontractors and general public.
That’s the law.
No health and safety software product can prevent accidents on site
but it can go a long way to make sure you are managing the risks
through the use of comprehensive assessments and inspections and are
able to prove to the relevant authorities that you are taking your
duties seriously There are numerous benefits to using good health and
safety software.
Firstly, you don’t need to be a health and safety expert yourself as
software often has built in knowledge bases of the likely tasks and
risks involved on site.
Secondly, by inputting your job details into the software it will
cut down the time it normally takes to produce all the health and
safety paperwork by hand – and a lot cheaper than a health and safety
consultant.
Thirdly, great health and safety software will be updated with
latest regulations automatically so you have it covered without having
to worry about it!
Fourthly, you can prove to the likes of the HSE as it’s written down
that you are doing all you can to prevent accidents on site…software is
massively cheaper than an HSE fine!
HEALTH & SAFETY XPERT
Making sure that building sites of small and medium sized building
companies are safe has risen up the agenda with the Health & Safety
Executive (HSE) now making thousands of random site inspections every
year. With the number of deaths on construction sites rising by a
massive 28% to a total of 77 workers in 2007 – and more than half of
these deaths happening in the refurbishment sector - the need to comply
with the latest regulations and make sure that building sites are safe
from the outset has therefore become of paramount concern.
As a result and to refl ect the changing demands of health and safety on site HBXL launched their latest version of Health & Safety Xpert
(version 3) to simplify the tedious process of completing the endless
paperwork associated with health & safety. Developed in partnership
with leading industry health and safety professionals, Health & Safety Xpert
is an easy to use software package that will save massive amounts of
time producing crucial health and safety documentation legally required
under current UK law. It has been designed to save builders huge
amounts of time, quickly guiding them through the crucial paper work
that’s required under current UK law, including the Health & Safety
At Work Act 1974 and Construction Design Management (CDM) Regulations
2007.
Joanna Mulgrew, marketing director at HBXL said: “Despite the
reasonable intentions of health and safety legislation, the net result
appears to be a mountain of paperwork for the jobbing builder. It is
often very difficult for businesses to know where to start so what the
software does is simplify the process of producing all the right
documentation for a project and give confidence to the builder that
they are covered.
“Health & Safety Xpert
helps encourage an active approach to health and safety and signifi
cantly cuts down the time spent doing paperwork. Simply enter what you
are building into the software and it does the rest. It prints Health and Safety policies,
Risk Assessments and COSHH Assessments, Construction Phase Health and
Safety Plans, Site Inspections, F10 forms and many more essential
documents.
“The significance of completing this paperwork (and then actively
using it!) cannot be underestimated. Non compliance can mean massive
fines, site shut downs or even prison sentences. If the worst should
happen and you find yourself being questioned by a court of law, it
therefore pays to be able to demonstrate your company’s compliance to a
rigorous health and safety code.
“Principal
contractors and duty-holders must have the relevant
health and safety policies and risk assessments in place. If they don’t
they could find themselves under the scrutiny of the HSE. Anyone
working on any building site should look out for hazards and take time
to control the risks as best they can. Health & Safety Xpert goes a
long way to help manage such risks and reduce the number of accidents.
“There is virtually no typing required saving huge amounts of time
that would otherwise be spent sorting out the paperwork. Equally, users
of our EstimatorXpress estimating software can import their estimate into Health & Safety Xpert (through
X-connex data sharing technology) which automatically generates the
appropriate documents based on the detail of the job.”
Joanna concludes: “A major benefit of Health & Safety Xpert
is that its constantly updated for you with new regulations so you have
the peace of mind that you are complying with latest regs and are
covered.”
Click here for more information about Health & Safety Xpert
Master Builder, May 2008
Magazine/Press reviews
HBXL
Health & Safety
Health and Safety Executive
Health & Safety Xpert