Date: September 4, 2012
Time: 11:50 am
An innovative new corporate health insurance product offering fast access to a
wide range of surgical and medical procedures has been launched by Westfield Health.
Hospital Treatment Insurance provides affordable private cover for non-urgent surgical procedures, many of which now involve longer waiting times on the NHS.
Westfield Health Executive Director – Sales and Marketing, Paul Shires, said: “While the NHS is excellent at providing care for life-threatening illnesses and emergencies such as cancer and heart disease, patients requiring non-urgent treatments may begin to suffer, and face longer waiting times for routine surgery and scans as the NHS attempts to save £20 billion by 2015.
Delays in non-urgent medical care can increase sickness absence and place a heavy financial burden on employers. Hospital Treatment Insurance will help employers to manage staffing levels more effectively and lower costs, while employees – many of whom will be able to access private care for the first time – will benefit hugely from quick treatment and having more choice and control over where and when they have their surgery.” Read More »
Date: June 11, 2012
Time: 10:40 am
Collective purchasing offers individual businesses of any size the opportunity to combine their consumption and increase their purchasing power, giving two distinct benefits:
- The opportunity to benefit from flexible procurement
- Access to more competitive contracts
Chamber Utilities™ has launched a range of collective purchasing products to enable Chamber Members of any size to combine their energy volumes and purchase live on the wholesale market. Collective purchasing is suitable for organisations from any industry with a consumption of under 10GWh. Please click on the links to read more about the specific benefits of each collective purchasing product:
Date: June 7, 2012
Time: 10:44 am
A two way interaction that requires communication and consultation.
By law, employers must consult all their employees on health and safety matters. Some workers who are self-employed, for example for tax purposes, are classed as employees under health and safety law.
Consultation involves employers not only giving information to employees but also listening to and taking account of what they say before making any health and safety decisions.
Why consult employees on health and safety? Consulting employees about health and safety can result in:
- Healthier and safer workplaces:
- Because employee input is valuable to identify hazards, assess risks and develop ways to control or remove risks; better decisions about health and safety
- Because they are based on the input and experience of a range of people in the organisation, including employees who have extensive knowledge of their own job and the business
- Stronger commitment to implementing decisions or actions:
- Because employees have been actively involved in reaching these decisions; greater co-operation and trust
- Because employers and employees talk to each other, listen to each other and gain a better understanding of each other’s views; joint problem-solving
Read More »
Date: June 6, 2012
Time: 11:47 am
The number of motorists who have lost their licences due to poor eyesight has 
increased by more than 150% in just five years, according to research by the Co-operative Motor Group.
A Freedom of Information request made by the group revealed that in 2010, 4,009 motorists had their licences revoked due to bad vision – compared with just 1,597 in 2006. The research also showed a clear trend in the rise with numbers increasing to 2,612 in 2007, 2,764 in 2008 and 3,014 in 2009.
Co-operative Motor Group Managing Director Tony Guest said “Good eyesight is essential to safe motoring and we would urge anybody who has concerns over their vision to contact a specialist. There is no room for complacency when it comes to road safety.”
The news follows the launch of Westfield’s DRIVE campaign, in association with registered charity, The Eyecare Trust.
At present, there is no legal obligation for employers to ensure drivers comply with minimum sight requirements. With the exception of HGV and passenger transport vehicle drivers, once a person has passed the mandatory driving test sight assessment, they are not required to prove the fitness of their eyesight again during their working lives.
However, over the next two years, this is set to change. Read More »
Date: May 2, 2012
Time: 10:16 am
As part of the Government’s commitment to reducing the burden of health & safety regulations on business, from 6th April 2012 the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrence Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) changed.
The over three day injury reporting requirement increased from over three days to over seven days incapacitation. The day the accident occurred does not count towards making up the seven days but weekends and rest days will count. The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has estimated that the change to RIDDOR regulations will lead to a fall in the number of incidents that must be reported of around 30%, an average of around 30,000 fewer reports per year.
The RIDDOR regulations require employers and anyone else with responsibility for health and safety within a workplace, to report and keep records of:
- Work related deaths
- Serious injuries
- Cases of diagnosed industrial disease, and
- Certain Near Misses (Dangerous Occurrences)
Further definitions of reportable dangerous occurrences are available here.
In addition, the deadline by which the over-seven-day injury must be reported has increased to fifteen days from the day of the accident.
Employers and others with responsibilities under RIDDOR are still required to keep a record of all over-three day-injuries. This does not mean that you can ignore incidents that result in less than seven days incapacity. You must still maintain comprehensive records and investigate all incidents. Qdos advise that these should be recorded in the BI510 accident book.
What do I need to do now?
Ensure your policies and procedures are up-to-date with the latest regulation changes – a current accident investigation policy is available to download.
Appointed persons and those within the organisation responsible or involved with maintaining accident records and/or the reporting of accidents should familiarise themselves with the latest online reporting procedure, further advice is available with Chamber HR
