To Grit or Not To Grit...

* Date Added: 15th January 2010, Article Number: HS004

Happy New Year, and welcome to the first of my 2010 blog entries. My first blog is somewhat topical given the weather, and asks the question to grit or not to grit?

It seems every year the media fuels more silly health and safety stories scaring organisations and business away from doing the sensible thing. If we believed some headlines then occupiers of property taking sensible precautions against an accident - such as gritting their own paths and roadways - are liable to find themselves in court.

If we look at the law then the position of employers and property owners is pretty clear. The Occupiers' Liability Act states that property owners have a duty to maintain reasonable safe access to persons on site. This means taking reasonable steps to clear ice or snow from access ways.

The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations and its accompanying approved code of practice is clearer: "Arrangements should be made to minimise risks from snow and ice. This may involve gritting, snow clearing and closure of some routes, particularly outside stairs, ladders and walkways on roofs."

The risk of legal action from clearing snow and ice comes if you acted completely unreasonably, and somehow created a new hazard that had not existed before your actions. With any properly planned and managed control measure this should not be the case.

Often the concern comes when companies and organisations consider snow clearing outside of their site - such as public highways and pavements. In this case there is no legal duty requiring the employer to clear the snow and ice, as this is the duty of the relevant highways authority. But if a business or organisation chooses to do so - for example to prevent staff or customers having accidents on their entrance and exit - then the same conditions apply, in that as long as the business acts reasonably and does not create a new hazard then it should not attract any liability.

So what's the answer to the original question: the answer is be reasonable, be sensible, and make sure your staff and visitors can move onto and around your site safely. Treat the snow and ice as you would any other risk to people's safety. Make sure you get competent advice, and make sure your risk assessments identify and address the entirely foreseeable risk of snow and ice.

Matthew Joyes is Head of Risk Management at Associated Training and Consultancy, a leading provider of health, safety and environmental solutions. For more information or to discuss any of the issues raised here e-mail matthew@associatedtraining.co.uk


Note: All of the entries in this blog provide general advice and should not be interpreted or used as specific health and safety guidance to your organisation - you must always consider your own circumstances and take appropriate action. If in doubt, contact us for professional and specific advice.


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