December 2009

The UK has just been hit by what for us is an extended cold snap. It has already brought chaos to Eurostar's services to the continent, disrupted airports and caused major headaches for road users.

We have dealt with the risks of driving in poor weather conditions in an earlier newsletter see Driving Safely in Winter.

This time we thought it timely to remind employers of the potential risks that bad weather brings to their premises.

If you have completed risk assessments of your premises during the summer months, you may have missed the potential hazards that can be introduced by snow and ice. However, just because they only affect us for relatively few days in the year doesn't mean that we can ignore them. On the contrary, because they are infrequent, it is possible that neither you nor your employees are adequately prepared for them and therefore the risks are so much greater.

Legal Duty

Your responsibilities to deal with risks from snow and ice are clearly laid out in Health and Safety and other UK legislation. For example:

The Health and Safety at Work Act states that employers are responsible for safe access and egress from the place of work.
The Workplace (Health Safety and Welfare) Regulations state that floors must be kept free from substances that could cause slips, trips or falls.

Snow and ice on access routes may be an issue under Disability Discrimination legislation.

Under the Occupiers' Liability Act the occupier of premises has a common duty of care towards visitors that they should be reasonably safe in using the premises for the purposes for which they are invited.

There may be other applicable legislation but the above is probably sufficient to demonstrate that employers need to take seriously the problems that ice and snow can bring.

Typical Risks

There are some obvious areas that need attention, such as those used by pedestrians and you may need to consider areas used by motorists, such as car parking and private access roads.

To some degree, the latter may depend on the likely severity of any impact brought about by snow and ice. For example, it may be necessary to treat access roads that are particularly steep, whereas treatment may be deemed unnecessary if they are reasonably straight and flat.

Stairs, steps and access ramps are other features that you need to consider and you may have other issues that are less common. For example, there is a small lake that is within the boundary of the business park where we are located. If you are responsible for a similar feature, then you need to consider the risk this might pose to children when it is covered with ice.

Assess the Risks

The first priority is to identify and assess the risks. Preferably this should be done as part of your overall risk analysis programme rather than being done in a hurry when the first bad weather arrives.

You then need to decide what are reasonable measures to take in order to reduce risk to your employers, visitors and members of the public who might be affected.

Some of the obvious measures are to clear away snow and ice and use gritting to delay any reoccurrence of the hazards. How far you need to go with this depends on local conditions though it is generally worthwhile to err on the side of caution. It is always worth having a small stock of salt and grit on hand so that you don't have to be searching for emergency supplies. Someone needs to be appointed to do the gritting, preferably before other people start arriving for work.

It is helpful to ensure your lighting is in good order so that people are better able to see the hazards in the evenings and early mornings.

If there are some areas that people rarely need to access, then sometimes the simplest solution may be to make them temporarily 'out of bounds' by erecting temporary barriers and clear signage.

Regardless of what other precautions you may take, use of highly visible signs is always worthwhile to warn people of potential hazards and the need to take care.

It is always worth putting in place some simple precautions rather than having to clear up the troubles that ice and snow can bring.

Contact EDP HS&E Consultants for all your health, safety and environment needs. We can check your current arrangements and advise you about any changes or improvements you need to make.

To discuss your requirements, without any obligation on your part, please gives us a call or complete the Enquiry Form on our website.