About Acacia Business Services Ltd
Acacia Business Services Ltd was set up by Tina Townsend after spending 15 years working for a large company as a Health & Safety / Environmental Manager, she realised that her expertise could be useful to the wider business community.
Acacia Business Services Ltd are able to offer support to larger businesses with their own H&S staff and also provide a full service for those who do not need or cannot justify the cost of a specialist direct employee.
Having extensive experience of Consultancy & Training as well as direct management from within a business, they fully understand and appreciate budgetary constraints and the need to find cost effective solutions within the regulatory framework
Training
All businesses have a legal requirement to ensure that staff are adequately trained in accordance with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, section 2 (2).
Acacia Business Services provides cost effective, quality training for businesses both large and small and unlike many other training companies, we are happy to train individuals as well as larger groups.
Manual Handling
More than a third of all ‘over-three-day absence’ injuries reported each year to the HSE and local authorities are caused by manual handling tasks i.e. the transporting or supporting of loads by hand or by bodily force.
Surveys of self-reported work-related medical conditions estimated that 1.1 million people in Great Britain suffered from musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) caused or exacerbated by their current or past work. An estimated 12.3 million working days were lost due to these work-related MSDs. On average each sufferer took about 20 days off in that 12-month period.
The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, as amended in 2002 (‘the Regulations’) apply to a wide range of manual handling activities, including lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling or carrying.
Our training gives useful practical advice on how to reduce the risk of injury from manual handling.
Confined Space Entry & Emergency Escape
A number of people are killed or seriously injured in confined spaces each year in the UK.
This happens in a wide range of industries, from those involving complex plant to simple storage vessels.
Those killed include not only people working in the confined space but those who try to rescue them without proper training and equipment.
Our training offers the delegate all the information required to ensure they can work safely in a confined space.
Fire Safety Training
Existing Fire Safety Legislation and the subsequent Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires that all staff should complete fire safety training.
Our courses are suitable for all categories of employee and help employers to fulfil their obligations.
We are pleased to offer the following courses:
- Basic Fire Safety Training
- Fire Marshal Training
- ‘Hands on’ Extinguisher Training
Acacia Business Services Ltd can help you set up and manage your fire safety provisions
Plant & Equipment Training
Using plant and equipment can be very dangerous with many recorded accidents being caused by a lack of, or inadequate, training.
In addition to ensuring that your training complies with the regulatory framework, Acacia Business Services Ltd will offer information and advice regarding the specific plant you have on site and arrange training for use with one of their approved, tried and tested trainers.
We can organise all types of Fork Lift Truck up to 90 tonnes including container handles, very narrow aisle lift trucks & order pickers, emergency escape, bendy and flexi truck.
- Hydraulic Vehicle Loader Operator
- Abrasive Wheels Regulations 1970
- Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (cherry pickers)
- Portable Access Tower Training
- Slinging and Lifting
- 360 Wheeled and Tracked Excavator/Loading Shovel (non CITB)
Display Screen Equipment Assessment
With increased use of technology in our working environments, everyone is spending more time staring at a computer screen, whether it is to complete paperwork or operate a large CNC machine. It is vital that a workstation is set up correctly since anything short of best practice in this respect can sometimes lead to injuries that, if left untreated, can go on to become debilitating for the user and may result in a claim against your company. Often such problems can be avoided altogether, sometimes simply by completing a proper assessment.
If you have employees that spend time in front of a computer screen, then contact Acacia Business Services Ltd for advice and assistance.
Consultancy
Our Consultancy Services
Do you find Health and Safety legislation a minefield?
Would you rather let someone else take the strain for you?
If you have answered ‘Yes’ to both these questions, why not let Acacia Business Services Ltd help you?
Workplace Inspection/Audit
Are you sure you are fully compliant with current Health and Safety legislation?
ACACIA BUSINESS SERVICES LTD can provide a full audit
The audit is designed to highlight areas that need further work and can be used to create an action plan.
Retained Consultancy
Are you too busy to complete your company’s Health and Safety requirements?
ACACIA BUSINESS SERVICES LTD offers a fully comprehensive consultancy service which includes 24 hour advice if required.
Consultancy packages can be short or long term and can be tailored to suit your company’s needs and budget.
Fire Risk Assessments
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order, 2005 – effective 1 October, 2006 – replaces or amends all previous fire regulations and laws – fire certificates are now a thing of the past and will need to be replaced with an up to date fire risk assessment.
Risk Assessments
Regulation number 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires employers and the self employed to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of risks to both employees and others, including contractors and visitors.
The purpose of the assessment is to identify the measures needed ‘to comply with the requirements and prohibitions imposed by or under the relevant statutory provisions’ i.e. identifying what is needed to comply with the law.
If you have 5 or more staff (including yourself) you should have written risk assessments on file which should be updated if processes significantly change or new equipment is introduced and also after a reasonable period of time; usually one year.
ACACIA BUSINESS SERVICES LTD will be happy to complete your risk assessments for you or review those that you already have in place.
CoSHH Assessments
Using chemicals or other hazardous substances at work can cause health problems. So the law requires employers to control exposure to hazardous substances in order to minimise the risks and prevent illness.
Many companies think that by retaining a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) they are complying with the regulations but this is not the case.
For all substances you hold on your site you must complete a CoSHH assessment. When completing the assessments you should also consider the different processes the substance is used in; if you use the same substance in two separate processes you will need an assessment for both!
If you need help in completing your CoSHH assessments, contact us, we can offer you a cost effective service that will enable you to comply with the current legislation.
Display Screen Equipment Assessments
The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 came into effect from January 1993, with some minor changes being made in 2002.
The Regulations require employers to minimise the risks in VDU work by ensuring that workplaces and tasks are well designed.
If your staff are suffering from aches and pains after long periods of work, there could be a problem with the setup of the workstation. Ignoring these complaints could cause the staff member to have time off work which will cost you money.
It is also possible that continual problems could develop into more serious illness, such as Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). This could lead to claims for industrial injury which would be costly to your company – can you afford to wait for this to happen?
We can offer practical advice on setup of workstations and changes that should be made to existing work areas.
The assessments are tailored to the individual so you can have the peace of mind that you are doing all that is ‘reasonably practical’ to ensure their good health.
Hand Arm Vibration Assessments
Hand-arm vibration is vibration transmitted from work processes into workers’ hands and arms. It can be caused by operating hand-held power tools, such as road breakers, and hand-guided equipment, e.g. powered lawnmowers, or by holding materials being processed by machines, such as pedestal grinders.
Regular and frequent exposure to hand-arm vibration can lead to permanent effects on health. This is most likely when contact with a vibrating tool or work process is a regular part of an individual’s job.
It can cause a range of conditions collectively known as hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS), as well as specific diseases such as carpal tunnel syndrome.
Identifying signs and symptoms at an early stage is important. It will allow you, as the employer, to take action to prevent any health issues becoming serious for your employee.
Rather than wait for your staff to suffer this potentially debilitating injury, let ACACIA BUSINESS SERVICES LTD assist you in completing an assessment.
Asbestos
Whatever your position in the organisation – asbestos is an important issue. You know that unless legislation regarding asbestos is complied with, your business, your staff and your health are all at risk. This is a very significant responsibility which you must take on board.
Asbestos has had a bad press since it was linked with lung cancer. Since 1999 it has been banned, and it is currently the single largest contributor to occupational deaths. What should you do about it? Should you close your premises if you fear asbestos is present? Do you rip it all out? Is there such a thing as ‘safe’ asbestos?
If you need assistance regarding Asbestos contact ACACIA BUSINESS SERVICES LTD and we will put you in touch with a specialist you can trust!
Accident Investigation
Despite the emphasis now (correctly) placed on the prime importance of proactively managing health and safety and risk assessment to ensure harm does not occur, it is unfortunately often true that initiatives to improve occupational safety are ‘disaster driven’. By this we mean that it’s only when something really bad happens that management starts to take safety seriously.
Unless companies have a modern approach to managing health and safety in place, such a response is likely to be superficial, leading to narrow, technically focused ‘quick-fixes’ rather than fundamental changes to procedures and the safety management system. Often, when accidents are investigated – for example, for insurance purposes – there is a tendency to seek to attribute blame (frequently to the victim of the accident) rather than to search for underlying contributory causes.
Investigating accidents that occur on your site is an important part of preventing them from happening again.
If you need help with accident investigation, contact ABS.
Other Services
If there are any services you need assistance with which are not discussed here, please do not hesitate to contact us.
We will do our utmost to help you or put you in touch with other organisations that can assist you.
Acacia Business Services Ltd work closely with a number of associates operating in specialist areas of expertise so can be a ‘one stop shop’ for all your safety needs and we are constantly evolving and adding additional services and courses the our portfolio