Tag: Guides

The fire extinguishers in your commercial property are there to reduce risk, in the event of an emergency. They are a legal requirement under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and help to reduce the spread of smaller fires. As with all of the safety equipment in your building, it is important to perform regular checks and maintenance. This ensures they’re doing the job required, that you’re actively working to reduce risk and that the strategy you have in place is effective.

How often do I need to inspect fire extinguishers?

In accordance with current guidelines, you need to visually check fire extinguishers once per month. This can increase in high-risk environments to as frequently as once per week if you work in an environment where they are more likely to be required or damaged. A visual inspection can effectively tell you whether the extinguisher will perform well in the event of an emergency. It will also flag up any damage or issues that mean it may need to be replaced. The appointed ‘Responsible Person’ in your business who is in charge of fire safety should take on this responsibility.

What to check for?

There are 5 key steps to checking your fire extinguisher.

Visibility

As with all kinds of fire fighting equipment, your fire extinguisher needs to be situated in a highly visible location. During an inspection, you’ll need to establish that each extinguisher is where it is expected to be. Check whether there are any boxes, newly installed signs or items that could obstruct the view and that fire extinguisher safety signs are easy to see.

Instructions

Signs and notices of information need to be kept clean and in pristine condition. If you notice wear or damage these should be replaced. This includes safety signs as well as the information available on the fire extinguisher itself. You want to ensure that, in the event of an emergency, the user could identify what they should do to safely extinguish the fire.

Locking Pin

All fire extinguishers have a locking pin that prevents them from being accidentally discharged. This should be visually checked to ensure it is in place and that all relevant seals and tamper indicators are unbroken. If these are found to be damaged, the fire extinguisher will need to be replaced. Sealants like these indicate that an extinguisher is ready, in the event of a fire, and fully loaded to help.

Volume

While the locking pin and seals will indicate whether the extinguisher has been used, it is still important to check the volume. Is it full and has it been unused? You need the full capacity to fight fires and the reassurance that the right equipment is available.

Pressure Rating

Fire extinguishers have a pressure gauge fitted to them. This is an indicator of whether the gases inside are maintained within safe limits. Check that it sits within the manufacturer’s recommendations.

A visual inspection not only ensures you remain legally compliant. It also provides peace of mind and reassurance to your employees. And is a means to keep the business safe at all times.

Large scale machinery, whether it’s used within your warehouse or on your construction site, presents significant hazards. Both users and bystanders can find themselves at risk if the right information is not readily available. Equally, as a business owner, it is your responsibility to prioritise the safety of your employees. This is where our team at Lasting Impressions come into play. In today’s blog, we’re going to look at how you can significantly reduce machine-related risk with the right safety signs.

What Are the Key Hazards of Machinery in the Workplace?

A detailed risk assessment is the only way to clearly understand the unique hazards in your workplace. However, knowing the types of accidents and injuries that can occur with machinery gives you a good base to help improve safety.

• Accidents caused by faulty or unsafe equipment that has not been maintained.
• Accidents caused when using machinery without the right PPE.
• Accidents caused by a lack of training.
• Accidents caused by unsafe equipment.
• Accidents caused by machinery that is unsuitable for the job at hand.

What Are Your Responsibilities as an Employer?

As we mentioned above, you need to ensure that machines are used safely and actively reduce the risk surrounding them in your workplace. As an employer, your responsibilities include:

• Providing suitable machinery for the job at hand.
• Ensuring machines are maintained and serviced accordingly.
• Carrying out regular risk assessments and take action to minimise the risks highlighted.
• Provide suitable PPE.
• Ensure safety signs are in place around the machine to inform of specific risks.

Workplace Machine-Specific Signs

Here at Lasting Impressions, we supply a wide range of safety signs specifically designed to reduce the risk of accidents by machines. These include options like the ‘Stop Machine Before Removing The Guards’ sign, the ‘Unauthorised Persons Not To Use This Machine’ sign or the ‘Danger Moving Machinery Risk of Trapped Hands’ sign all offer clear and legible instruction to reduce incidents. Once you have performed a risk assessment and identified the specific hazards to your workplace, get in contact with our team here who will help you to identify the right signs required.

With restrictions due to being lifted here in the UK over the summer, it seems that the end is in sight for virtual working. Returning back to the office and the workplace presents a unique set of challenges for business owners. How will you manage employee emotions and anxiety surrounding the re-entrance into group life? How will you have to adjust the working environment to keep in line with current regulations? And, what steps do you need to implement in order to keep the working environment as safe as possible?

When Will You Plan the Return to the Office?

The current recommendations for employees to work from home, where possible, is expected to be lifted around June 2021. From this point, there will be a need to facilitate the return in line with COVID-secure guidance. Employers should have some flexibility in their decision – the pandemic has caused a high degree of stress and worry.

Understandably, returning to work may feel worrying for many people. Equally, employers can take their own stance, allowing employees to work from home if needed and supporting a hybrid working set-up.

How to Organise Safety Post-Lockdown

The key thing to consider when organising the return to work is safety – the working environment needs to be set up to reduce the risk of virus spread. Therefore, the recommendations are to consider a detailed risk assessment that takes into account areas that currently create employee clusters, high-traffic or those with high-touch areas. You need to take into account things such as whether employees can maintain the required social distancing during their work and whether multiple-person touch can be reduced in certain areas.

How Can Safety Signs Help?

Here at Lasting Impressions, we’re doing everything we can to support businesses as they look to return to face-to-face work. To do so, we’ve devised a selection of COVID/Social Distancing signs that are tailored to corporate needs. These include everything from hygiene signs to encourage regular handwashing through to temporary anti-slip floor graphics that reinforce social distancing. The specific needs of your business will depend on the unique environment and employee roles. However, we recommend considering safety signs for areas such as:

• At the entrance and exit to your building, consider hand washing and hand sanitising signs.
• In the canteen, consider social distancing signs.
• In the workplace, consider directional signing to reinforce new working spaces.

All of our Lasting Impressions signs are designed to meet your needs, with easy wipe-clean surfaces and clear information that will be legible by all. If you have any questions or would like support designing your post-lockdown employee return, please do get in contact today.

As an employer, the wealth of responsibility falls on you when it comes to health and safety. In accordance with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, it is your legal requirement to implement procedures that minimise the risk of accident and injury. If you’re dealing with a high-risk environment, such as a laboratory or warehouse, it’s tempting to wonder whether all risks can be eliminated. Can I actually prevent every accident from happening in the workplace? In this blog, we’ll discuss how managing risk and setting up the right actions is the best course of action for every employer.

Why Is There a Risk of an Accident in the Workplace?

In every working environment, there is some degree of risk. Whether this is due to human-error, stock movement, or simply a number of individuals occupying the same space at the same time. It is impossible to avoid risk entirely. The best thing that a business can do is assess the hazards at hand, agree on ways to minimise them, and reassess the working environment regularly.

How Do I Prevent Accidents in the Workplace?

The only way you can minimise or prevent the risk of accidents at work is to first understand that they exist. One of the most comprehensive ways to do this is to carry out a risk assessment. This is a process by which you evaluate all of the risks to your employee’s health and safety. To do so, you will:

• Identify the hazards and the factors that have the potential to cause harm. This is also known as hazard identification.
• Analyse and evaluate the risks. Here, you will determine which risks are most prominent and need to be addressed urgently.
• Decipher ways to eliminate the risk (if possible) or control it in an appropriate manner.

Risk assessments are an internal process that doesn’t carry any legal weight. However, they are imperative to understanding the potential problems that your employees could face. We recommend carrying them out with a number of appointed bodies within your business. Make a note of all of your findings, the determinations on how serious each hazard is, and how you plan to address them. This way, your new procedures can be reassessed on a regular basis to ensure they are in keeping with any changes.

Managing the risk of accidents in the workplace is the best way to help protect employees, guests, and visitors. You will never be able to entirely eliminate risk but reducing it significantly will create a happier and more thriving environment. Lasting Impressions designs signs to help you do just this. Providing visual reminders, information, and advice to prevent accidents, they are a vital addition to your workplace. If you would like to speak to a member of our specialist team about managing accident risk, get in contact with us here today.

Warehouses are unique and challenging environments for every business. In these bustling settings, people, vehicles, and stock are in constant movement. As the link between business and customer, these environments are some of the most important when it comes to maintaining good brand satisfaction. Therefore, having a happy and healthy team working here is vital. Maintaining safety in warehouses falls to the employer. It is your role to ensure that all measures and precautions are taken to minimise the risk of hazards and injury. Warehouse safety signs act as a visual reminder, reinforcing specific rules and procedures in line with this. In today’s blog, we’ll take a look at how you can implement safety signs into this area of your business for the protection of all staff, visitors, and guests.

The Role of Warehouse Safety Signs

In any working environment, a sign is a visual cue. It should be placed in a prime position – meaning an area where a specific action or hazard is most likely to occur. They are also used at points of prevention or areas where other actions may prevent the risk of an accident. Safety signs are designed to provide clear and concise information to the reader. They are designed with well-recognisable graphics and colour-schemes that are universally recognised.

In warehouses, hazards arise due to several factors. These include:

• Moving vehicles.
• Poor housekeeping.
• Transporting stock/goods.
• Manual lifting.
• Exposure to chemicals.

In all of these situations, the right signs work to reduce the risk and remind employees of their responsibilities.

The Right Signs for Your Warehouse

Once you have carried out a risk assessment to better understand where and what the specific hazards are for your warehouse, you can begin to implement the right signage. For example, Danger Fork Lift Signs or Dang/producter Beware of Moving Vehicle Signs remind employees and visitors to be alert to these potential hazards. Please Use Bins Provided General Signs and Do Not Litter Signs encourage people to dispose of their rubbish safely, reducing the likelihood of trip hazards.

The Health & Safety at Work Guide Poster provides practical information about reducing risks, including advice on proper manual handling techniques. As does the Safe Manual Handling Poster and Risk Assessment Safety Poster. A combination of these displayed appropriately around the workplace will help to reduce the risk of accidents for everyone within the work premises.

Understanding safety signs for different areas of your business is our speciality here at Lasting Impressions. If you cannot find what you’re looking for on our website, please get in contact with our friendly team today.

One of your most pressing requirements as a business owner is to maintain the safety of your employees, visitors, and guests. To do this, you need to have a safe and well-practised fire escape plan that can be adopted by everyone on your premises. It’s important to remember that, in the event of a fire or equally hazardous emergency, there will be a sense of chaos and confusion in the air. Minimizing the risk of a serious accident is your top priority and one of the best ways to do this is by ensuring everyone leaves the building in a swift and organized manner. In this blog, we’ll show you how to create a fire escape plan that works.

What is a Fire Escape Plan?

Essential to any business, a fire escape plan is a structured document which details all of the actions that need to be adopted in the event of a fire or emergency. It should be created with the layout and specific requirements of both your building and employees in mind. You need to ensure that this plan is easy-to-follow, well-structured, and adaptable, should any needs change. It needs to be taught to all employees and practised at least once annually. This document aims to ensure there is a clear route to escape the building which takes everyone away from the immediate danger.

What to consider

While every fire escape plan will differ to suit the business, there are several things everyone should consider. These include:

• What should a person do upon hearing the fire alarm?
• What should a person do upon discovering a fire?
• Who is responsible for calling the fire brigade?
• Who is responsible for isolating the power to the building, if required?
• Who are the designated fire wardens or marshals?
• Where are the assembly points?
• Who is responsible for performing the roll call during assembly?
• What fire fighting equipment is available and who is designated to use it?
• What training will you need to provide to ensure your fire exit plan is followed?

Fire Escape Signs

The right fire exit signs will help to ensure fire routes can be followed – even by those who don’t have previous knowledge of your building. Arrow Up, Arrow Down, and Fire Exit Keep Clear signs are just some of the options available to help improve safety in your workplace.

There is also a host of guidance available across the Internet to help you devise a fire escape plan that works, including this one from the Fire Safety Advice Centre. If you have any further questions about planning a fire escape route of the relevant signs needed to support your business, please get in contact with our team at Lasting Impressions today.

If you’re in charge of maintaining the health & safety in your workplace, recognizing the First Aid needs should be high up your list. In the event of an accident, you need to make sure you have the right tools on hand to deal with it and prevent a more serious occurrence from happening. One question we get here regularly at Lasting Impressions, where should our first aid box be stored? This blog will help you to identify the best location in your building.

What Businesses Require a First Aid Box?

In accordance with The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981, first aid is a legal requirement for every business. Employers are required to provide adequate and appropriate first aid equipment that allows employees to receive immediate help if they are injured or taken ill at work. The type and size of the first aid box required by your business specifically depend on a number of factors, including:

• The layout of your building.
• The number of employees, guests, or visitors.
• The range of hazards presented.

Where Should a First Aid Box Be Stored?

While you definitely need to have one, there is no specific location specified by existing regulations. You need to choose a location that:

• Is close to the most significant risks.
• Makes the box easy-to-access.
• Allows the box to remain clearly visible.
• And, has been signposted by a ‘First Aid Kit’ sign.

Most businesses will require a simple sign, such as our First Aid Sign in either Portrait or Landscape format. Slightly larger establishments may benefit from informational designs, such as the ‘Your First Aiders Are / Nearest First Aid Box’ sign which can be written on with the names of your designated first air professionals.

If your business has other essential First Aid equipment that extends past a simple kit, there are more specific signs available. Options such as the First Aid Stretcher sign or the Breathing Apparatus sign are ideal for ensuring these items can be found in the event of an emergency.

Here at Lasting Impressions, we design, manufacture, and distribute a wide range of first aid signs to suit every need. If you would like to discuss your individual business requirements with our business, get in contact with our team here today.

Our schools and educational settings help to support the adults of tomorrow. Ensuring they are run safely and efficiently is at the height of importance. School safety signs, like in many other environments, provide information and advice. As with any setting, a comprehensive risk assessment should be the first step to ensuring you find the right sign for your needs. In this blog, we’ll go over the different safety signs you may need and how they help to minimise accidents.

Subject-Specific Safety Signs

Some subjects, specifically those within the Science domain, require students to work with dangerous chemicals and equipment. As with any activity of this manner, these should be done under supervision and with trained professionals. To reinforce the procedures that you have put into place, safety signs offer reminders and a simple way to ensure confusion is minimised. You may need:

• Wear Goggles Sign.
• Wear Welding Mask.
• Ear Protection.
• Wear Protective Footwear Sign.
• Corrosive Materials / Use Hand Protection Sign.
• Lab Coats Must Be Worn Sign.

Fire Safety Signs

Fire safety in schools and educational settings is covered by the Regulatory Reform Order 2005. It requires businesses in this sector to ensure procedures are in place to reduce the likelihood of fires, maintain fire detection and alarm systems and ensure staff and pupils are familiar with emergency evacuation procedures. Fire safety signs exist to minimise risk and direct people through an approved escape route, in the event of a fire or emergency. You may need:

• Fire Exit Signs.
• Assembly Point Signs.
• Fire Door Signs.
• Refuge Point Signs.
• Door Safe Condition Signs.
• Safe Condition Signs.
• Fire Equipment Signs.
• Fire Action Signs.
• Fire Extinguisher ID Signs.

General Housekeeping Signs

To minimise risk in any working environment, good housekeeping rules are essential. With the high foot traffic and visitor numbers generally found in schools, this is even more important. You want to implement procedures that ensure rubbish is properly disposed of, fire exit routes aren’t blocked and items are tidied away. You may need:

• Do Not Litter.
• Keep Area Free From Obstructions.
• Staircase Must Be Kept Clear Of All Obstructions.
• Caution Wet Floor Stand.

Car Park Signs

Large moving vehicles and delivery trucks pose a safety risk to children and adults alike. It’s important that you have car park signs in place to advise drivers of how they should act in this environment. You may need:

• Visitors Car Park.
• Private Car Park.
• Contractors Car Park.
• Car Park Disclaimer Sign.

Access Signs

To minimise congestion, many schools implement one-way systems or specific routes. This creates a steady stream of foot traffic during class transitions and at other times during the day. To do this successfully and with the least impact on employee time, safety signs can be used to offer direction. For this, you may need:

• One Way Arrow Left.
• One Way Arrow Right.

The team here at Lasting Impressions are always on hand to help ensure you find the right safety signs for your specific needs. If you have any questions about school safety requirements or cannot find what you’re looking for, please get in contact with the team here today.