SafePass and manual handling courses.

thedeere

What one learns in these courses is very little, I would safely say little to none. Will these courses ever be educational or just a cash revenue?

BryanF

What they teach you is, YOU are responsible for your OWN health & safety.

Do you know how many sick days, court cases, and early retirements are caused by back pain etc..

the course is a ‘one fits all’ - it would be even longer if there was an intelligence course to see whether a person needed to sit there for 20 mins or two hours or a day to absorb the point of the course..

SuperSean11

It’s purpose is to protect employers from being libel for injuries

BryanF

SuperSean11 wrote: »

It’s purpose is to protect employers from being libel for injuries

Wow!

Employers have a duty to an employees health & safety

If the employer didn’t offer an employee the course, could they be sued for negligence?

Dr.Sanchez

thedeere wrote: »

What one learns in these courses is very little, I would safely say little to none. Will these courses ever be educational or just a cash revenue?

The idea behind manual handling training is to make you aware of the long term cronic injuries from using a poor lifting technique, and to show you how we *should* be lifting to avoid this.

If it was a decent manual handling course then they should explain how a manual handling risk assessment is carried out and perhaps even get you to carry out one on a made up scenario, so that you would get an understanding on how employers need to do all that is reasonably practicable to ensure your health and safety from manual handling.

Yes, if you did injure yourself from poor manual handling, then the employer can argue the case and say they are not liable due to training you on how to do it correctly. However, did they do what would be considered reasonably practicable? Providing you with the correct mechanical aids, PPE etc etc.

I've never done a safe pass course and have no idea of the content in order to pass comment.

Dr.Sanchez

BryanF wrote: »

Wow!

Employers have a duty to an employees health & safety

If the employer didn’t offer an employee the course, could they be sued for negligence?

The Employee also has a duty to take reasonable care of the health and safety of himself and others who may be affected by his acts or omissions.

In regards to the employer, its all about weighting up the risk against the time, cost and effort of implementing a control measure.

If there was a risk of the employee being injured from a manual handling activity during their work; then the time, cost and effort of training them may be sufficient to reduce the risk of injury. Depending on the manual handling activity, it may be sufficient to both train them and also provide them with mechanical equipment to reduce the risk of injury - i.e. pallet truck, etc.

If the employer was aware of the risk from the manual handling activities and did nothing to reduce the risk to a reasonable level - then yes, there may be grounds for a civil claim following injury.

SuperSean11

So you’re at work and you injure your back or reach for something and it falls on you or you trip on something.
You can’t work due to said injury, no income, so you take the employer to court.
Employer has a huge legal team vs. you.
Employer uses safe pass requirement to demonstrate that you had been aware of your right to not work if you deemed it to be unsafe.
So you lose in court, get no damages whatsoever, legal fees.
With no money coming in your relationship at home takes a strain, partner ends the relationship.
You lose the house having had to move out.
Depression and mental health at crises level.
Homeless...suicide... the end.
Employer opts in to back to work scheme and pays your replacement €50 euro a week and the cycle begins again.

Dr.Sanchez

SuperSean11 wrote: »

So you’re at work and you injure your back or reach for something and it falls on you or you trip on something.
You can’t work due to said injury, no income, so you take the employer to court.
Employer has a huge legal team vs. you.
Employer uses safe pass requirement to demonstrate that you had been aware of your right to not work if you deemed it to be unsafe.
So you lose in court, get no damages whatsoever, legal fees.
With no money coming in your relationship at home takes a strain, partner ends the relationship.
You lose the house having had to move out.
Depression and mental health at crises level.
Homeless...suicide... the end.
Employer opts in to back to work scheme and pays your replacement €50 euro a week and the cycle begins again.

How do I insert the face palm emoji on this website?

BryanF

SuperSean11 wrote: »

Depression and mental health at crises level.
Homeless...suicide... the end.
Employer opts in to back to work scheme and pays your replacement €50 euro a week and the cycle begins again.

thedeere wrote: »

What one learns in these courses is very little, I would safely say little to none. Will these courses ever be educational or just a cash revenue?

Thread closed,

OP
please PM the mods, if you would like this moved to after hours or other more appropriate location. Thanks

(This forum is intended for discussion of Construction & Planning issues, not the legitimacy of H&S courses)

Ken.

Mod-This is not a thread for AH. Anyone any ideas pm me.