Lark Valley Landscapes Ltd- Garden Design, Construction & Maintenance

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Health and Safety Policy

Lark Valley Landscapes (LVL) understands its obligations towards the Health and Safety at work act of 1974.
The company will look after its staff and anyone who could be affected by the activities of LVL.
LVL has employers liability insurance and will continually assess this to make sure cover is adequate for the activities of the company. The company will not employ anyone under the age of 16 years.
All matters regarding Health and Safety are the responsibility of Chris Cooke.
The company adopts the policy of risk assessment regarding all activities and will endeavour to reduce risk to the minimum. Where a risk is identified but cannot be entirely removed, employees will always be adequately supervised, e.g. no hedge trimming on top of ladders without another person being present. Risk assessment will be carried out for each construction job and periodically reviewed for all general maintenance work.
Machinery will be regularly checked. Guards in place and working properly. Controls properly marked. Employees will not be allowed to use machines whilst wearing dangling chains, ties, belts, loose clothing, gloves, rings or long hair that could get caught up in moving parts. They will wear eye protection where necessary.
Employees will be instructed and trained in the use of machines and only left unsupervised with machines once they have proved their competence to the satisfaction of the management. Untrained people will not be allowed to use machines.
The company will provide the following protective equipment;
- Hard hats
- Eye protection
- Ear protection
- Gloves
- Visibility vests
It is the employees responsibility to make sure they have steel toe capped boots, and that these are worn at any time that there is likely to be heavy objects to lift or any risk of anything falling on feet.
Any employee to be found under the influence of drink or drugs at work will be instantly dismissed.
A competent electrician will periodically check all electrical equipment.
A first aid kit and an accident book will be on site at all times.
All injuries should be reported in the accident book. The company will investigate accidents or near misses to see how it can make sure they don't happen again.
Failure to abide by the company's Health and Safety Policy is a sackable offence.

RISK ASSESSMENT

	RISK
HIGH	MEDIUM	LOW	HAZARD	PERSONS AT RISK	CONTROLS

	X		Use of chemical	Operator	Trained operator in use and distribution of
			harmful to health	People in vicinity	pesticides
					No spraying in windy conditions

					Protective oversuit, rubber boots and gloves
					worn.

					Spraying to take place when few people as
					possible in vicinity

					Equipment checked and maintained

	X		Touching the blade whilst	Operator	Trained operator
			machine is running	People in vicinity
			Falling off ladders. Noise		Face and ear protection worn
			Objects flying into eye/face		Gloves and safety boots to be worn

					Gloves, safety boots and high visibility vests
					worn where appropriate

					Area cordoned off where appropriate

	X		Getting knocked over	Employees	High visibility vests to be worn at all times

					Hard hats worn where appropriate

	RISK		HAZARD	PERSONS AT WORK	CONTROLS
HIGH	MEDIUM	LOW

	x		Contact with blade whilst	Contractors	Face and ear protection to be worn
			running	People in vicinity
			Noise		Adequate training given
			Objects flying into
			eyes/face.		Gloves and safety boots to be worn
					High visibility vests to be worn where
					appropriate

					Area cordoned off where appropriate

	x		Collision, steepbanks	Operator	Trained operator
			low branches.	people in vicinity	Ear protection
			Noise

	x		Lifting and dropping of	Contractors	Gloves and safety boots, eye protection,
			heavy objects. Sharp	people in vicinity	site kept tidy. Area cordoned off where
			edges. Falling over		appropriate
			objects. Objects flying into
			eyes/face.
	RISK		HAZARD	PERSONS AT WORK	CONTROLS
HIGH	MEDIUM	LOW

x			Contact with blade	Contractors	Gloves and safety boots, eye and ear
			Cutting through cables	people in vicinity	protection. Area cordoned off where
			Noise		appropriate. Use circuit breaker.
			Debris flying off & dust,		Face mask where appropriate
			fumes and sparks		Keep away from flammable objects

		x	Cut hands on blades	Contractors	Gloves and safety boots
			Fall over objects	people in vicinity	Tools kept tidy

	x		Falling off ladder etc.	Contractors	Ladders safely secured. Safety boots,
			Dropping things onto feet	people in vicinity	and hard hats. Areas cordoned off where
					appropriate.

x			Contact with blade	Operator	Trained operator
			Objects flying into eye/face	people in vicinity	Chainsaw safety clothing
			Blade coming in contact		Hat with visor and ear protection
			with metal.		Trousers and boots
					Make sure people keep a safe distance
					Cordon off area is necessary

	RISK		HAZARD	PERSONS AT RISK	CONTROLS
HIGH	MEDIUM	LOW
X			Falling out of tree	Tree surgeon	Trained operators using appropriate climbing
			Fallling branches		techniques
			Operation of chainsaw at		Full protective equipment to be worn
			height - contact with blade		Hat with visor and ear protection
			Falling off ladder		Gloves and protective trousers and boots
			Objects flying into eye/face		ladders safely secured
					Area cordoned off

			Power lines	Operator	Check area above work
			Debris left on ground	Anyone in vicinity	Clear up before allowing access to area

X			Burns, laceration,		Allow use by only trained operatives
			amputation or other injuries		Ensure maintenance schedule is completed
			by moving parts, especially		Use appropriate anti-kickback chain and speed
			from kickback		Do not allow nose bar to come into contact
					with obstructions
					Operate below chest level

			Fire or irritant from fuel		Use correct fuel containers
					Follow regulations on transportation of fuel
					Do not spill onto exterior of machine

			Back problems		Adhere to break times
					Adopt correct posture

			Getting limb pulled in to	Operator	Trained operator - wearing hard hat and visor
			shredder	People in vicinity	plus ear protection
			Flying wood chips in to		Cordon off area keep people not directly
			face and eyes		involved in operation well out of way
			Noise

1			Back strain	Contactor	Logs to be cut up into easily handled sizes
			Dropping logs of feet		Adhere to break times
					Adopt correct position
					Wear steel toe capped boots