APE MEDIA
Interactive Health and Safety Training
Health and Safety In The Music and Sound Industry
It sounds boring... Health and Safety.... but without it
the world of music, as you know it, would not exist. Music venues cannot stay open unless they follow strict safety procedures, even the studio you study in, has to comply with many health and safety procedures to allow you to study there.
APE Media have tried to make this subject as easy to understand and as exciting as possible for you to study. Each page contains links for more information and worksheets to help you stregthen your new skills and practice your knowledge.
We want you to gain new skills, and nothing makes an impression on your CV like knowledge and skills in Health and Safety
So, take your time, read through our website, learn your stuff and gain new skills! We are with you all the way!
This website has been created following unit criteria of City and Guilds :
Unit 101 - Follow Safe Working Practices in Music & Sound Industries.
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Common Health and Safety Pictures and Logos
It is a legal requirement to display signs that lower a risk. For example, If you have just mopped the floor in a public place you MUST display a wet floor sign so the public are aware the floor may be slippery. As smoking is now illegal in Britain inside public places, No Smoking signs MUST be displayed. Click on the signs below... most of them you will have seen before. Can you identify them? and know when/why they need to be displayed? Click on the picture for a larger image, and download the worksheet for practice identifying health and safety signs!
Worksheet 1
H&S Signs
First AID
The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 require employers to provide adequate and appropriate first-aid equipment, facilities and people so your employees and members of the public can be given immediate help if they are injured or taken ill.
The minimum first-aid provision on any work site is:
It is important to remember that accidents and illness can happen at any time. First-aid provision needs to be available at all times.
The common First AID sign is a small white cross inside a green box. This has become a recognisable sign in Health and Safety.
Download the PDF Information Document on First Aid at Work and then answer a few simple questions on First Aid in Worksheet2: First Aid .... You dont have to be trained or qualified in First Aid to understand the procedures and legal requirements, but it is very useful, one day someone may need your assistance!
first aid at work
Worksheet 2
Fire Safety
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO) came into effect in October 2006.
Under the FSO, the responsible person must carry out a fire safety risk assessment and implement and maintain a fire management plan. Download the Fire Risk Assesment Template to see how it works.
In addition, all premises should have an evacuation plan. You must have been part of a fire drill before, and its important for you to know the fire evacuation plan for the building you are in.
Fire Exits must be well-lit, and sign posted clearly. Buildings should ensure thier fire exits are suitable for disabled persons.
A lift should never be used during an evacuation in case it breaks down.
Within the sound and Music Industry, what do you think are the main fire hazards? We think the high use of electrical equipment is the most significant. This is why equipment needs to be tested regularly and approved for safety. The testing of equipment is called P.A.T which stands for Portable Appliance Testing. This is for any electrical equipment. The test checks the safety, including the wires, the plug, and whether the piece of equipment is safe to use. If you check the studio now, you will find a small sticker on the plugs or appliance itself, with a date - this shows the last time it was tested and also gives you confidence that the equipment you are using is safe to work with.
Our Fire Safety Worksheet is just a few simple questions to help you improve your knowledge on fire safety.
example fire risk assessment
Worksheet 3
Health and Safety Legislation in the Sound and Music Industry
Legal Responsibilities
Employers have a legal responsibility to protect the health and safety of staff and other people such as customers and members of the public who may be affected by their work.
In general, employers must:
* make the workplace safe and eliminate or control risks to health;
* ensure plant and machinery are safe and that safe systems of work are set and followed;
* ensure articles and substances are moved, stored and used safely;
* provide adequate welfare facilities;
* give workers the information, instruction, training and supervision necessary for their health and safety;
* consult workers on health and safety matters.
In relation to the Sound and Music Industry, Employers must also follow precautions relating to sound levels. Download our information sheet on Noise and Sound for more information on how this affects you.
Health and Safety Leglisation for Music Venues (a brief introduction)
In a venue that has a lot of live music there will be a lot of wires around and these must all be taped down, with white tape, so that people can see them and to prevent anyone tripping over them. The number of fire exits a venue has determines its capacity, so they are generally designed to incorporate a lot of fire exits. Of course there is a limit to any venues capacity so they must employ bouncers to guard the doors once it is full, and also to turn away any unsuitable customers e.g. if they are underage. A venue has to provide water for free and they must also provide toilets. If there are steps or obstacles these must be clearly lit to prevent people from crashing into them or falling down.
If the venue plays music over 85db they must provide earplugs to stop peoples ears from getting damaged by the noise. If a venue uses strobe lighting it must warn the audience of this, using signs, and ensure that the strobe is legal, as to many flashes per second is against the law. I
Legislation changes, depending on the type of venue. For a recording or radio studio, the most common legislation is to monitor sound levels .
Fact Sheet
Monitoring Sound
and Noise
A Health and Safety Policy
A health and safety policy sets out a business/companys general approach, objectives and the arrangements that have put in place for managing health and safety in thier business. It is a unique document that says who does what, when and how.
If a company has five or more employees, they must write thier policy down.
If i wrote one, how should it look?
A written health and safety policy does not need to be complicated or time consuming. It tells staff and others about your commitment to health and safety, and simply describes how you will implement and monitor your health and safety controls.
For example, you might have a policy that no one should come into your premises under the influence of drugs or Alchohol, especially if there are many hazards in your premises. You might also have a policy on how long someone should sit at a computer without taking a break, or whether people can eat or drink in the premises. It also states, who in the company is responsible, who first aiders are, and where the first aid box is located.
Take a look at our example policy. Then create one yourself. Imagine you are the owner of a fanastastic new business, it is your responsibility to write your policy. In groups of 2, complete the policy form using just 2 of the simple policy points, just complete columns 2 and 3 (Who is responsible, and how you plan to manage this).
This excercise will help develop your knowledge on writing policies, and help you gain new skills in identifying & understanding responsibilties. Good Luck!
Health and Safety
Example Policy
write your own policy
RIDDOR
RIDDOR is the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 and place a legal duty on:
* employers; * self-employed people; * people in control of premises;
Why should I report?
Reporting accidents and ill health at work is a legal requirement.
The responsible person, usually the employer or person in control of the premises, must report all incidents and keep appropriate records.
What must I report?
As an employer, a person who is self-employed, or someone in control of work premises, you have legal duties under RIDDOR that require you to report and record some work-related accidents by the quickest means possible.
You must report:
* deaths; * major injuries; * over-3-day injuries where an employee or self-employed person is away from work or unable to perform their normal work duties for more than 3 consecutive days; * injuries to members of the public or people not at work where they are taken from the scene of an accident to hospital;
* some work-related diseases; * dangerous occurrences where something happens that does not result in an injury, but could have done;
* Gas Safe registered gas fitters must also report dangerous gas fittings they find, and gas conveyors/suppliers must report some flammable gas incidents.
You can keep the record in any form you wish. You could, for example, choose to keep your records by:
* keeping copies of report forms in a file; * recording the details on a computer; * using your Accident Book entry; * maintaining a written log.
All incidents should be reported to the ICC (which stands for Incident Contact Centre ) they hold records of all incidents recorded in the UK.
COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health)
Using chemicals or other hazardous substances at work can put peoples health at risk, causing diseases including asthma, dermatitis or cancer.
The COSHH regulations require employers to control substances that can harm workers' health.
What is COSHH?
COSHH is the law that requires employers to control substances that are hazardous to health. You can prevent or reduce workers' exposure to hazardous substances by:
* finding out what the health hazards are;
* deciding how to prevent harm to health (risk assessment;
* providing control measures to reduce harm to health;
* making sure they are used ;
* keeping all control measures in good working order;
* providing information, instruction and training for employees and others;
* providing monitoring and health surveillance in appropriate cases;
* planning for emergencies.
Most businesses use substances, or products that are mixtures of substances.
Sometimes substances are easily recognised as harmful. Common substances such as paint, bleach or dust from natural materials may also be harmful.
Control equipment
Control equipment can be general ventilation, extraction systems such as local exhaust ventilation, enclosure, or where the air cannot be cleaned, refuges and respiratory protective equipment (RPE).
In the Sound and Music Industry the most common substances that fall within COSHH are cleaning chemicals, which are used to clean equipment. In most cases good working ventilation is enough to protect peoples health.
Download more information about COSHH in our fact sheet.
COSHH
What you
Need to Know
Risk Assessments
A risk assessment is an important step in protecting your workers and your business, as well as complying with the law. It helps you focus on the risks that really matter in your workplace the ones with the potential to cause real harm. In many instances, straightforward measures can readily control risks, for example ensuring spillages are cleaned up promptly so people do not slip, or cupboard drawers are kept closed to ensure people do not trip. For most, that means simple, cheap and effective measures to ensure your most valuable asset your
workforce is protected.
The law does not expect you to eliminate all risk, but you are required to protect people as far as reasonably practicable. This guide tells you how to achieve that with a minimum of fuss.This is not the only way to do a risk assessment, there are other methods that work well, particularly for more complex risks and circumstances. However, we believe this method is the most straightforward for most organisations.
What is risk assessment?
A risk assessment is simply a careful examination of what, in your work, could cause harm to people, so that you can weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent harm. Workers and others have a right to be protected from harm caused by a failure to take reasonable control
measures. Accidents and ill health can ruin lives and affect your business too if output is lost,
machinery is damaged, insurance costs increase or you have to go to court. You are legally required to assess the risks in your workplace so that you put in place aplan to control the risks.
When thinking about your risk assessment, remember:
a hazard is anything that may cause harm , such as chemicals, electricity, working from ladders, an open drawer etc; the risk is the chance, high or low, that somebody could be harmed by these and other hazards, together with an indication of how serious the harm could be.
Download and read the 5 Steps to Risk Assessments, before completing your own one for the training studio.
The ability to complete a risk assessment and understand the process is a great enhancement to your CV and your general health and safety knowledge.
5 Steps to
Risk Assesment
Template
Final Assignment!
Congratulations! you have almost completed your health and safety study with us. There is one final assignment to test your knowledge on everything you have studied. There are no questions which were not detailed on the website or on the fact sheets provided so as long as you have read, studied and understood, this final assignment will be easy!
To complete your study of health and safety, on this page is also a copy of the worksheets, factsheets and a link for more information. Ideally, keep all of your work in a file so your study notes, completed assigment and worksheets can be assessed easily.
Thank you for being pateint. We know health and safety is not the most exciting subject to study, but you have done it! congratulations.
Worksheets
Final Assignment
Fact Sheets
final assignment sheet
First Aid at Work
H&S Policy Example
Factsheet
Monitoring Sound & Noise
Fire Risk
Assessment Example
Write your own H&S Policy
& Risk Assessment
For more information on complete
health and safety
visit
www.hse.gov.uk
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