Safety Alert: Storm Éowyn safety advice

With Storm Éowyn making landfall in the UK, it’s important that businesses review their risk assessments and consider additional controls to help protect their employees and others from inclement and extreme weather conditions. 

We recommend taking the following steps:

• Employees to work from home – where possible, we recommend that employees work from home. 

• No work at height – once the winds pick up, do not proceed with any planned work at height, reschedule this for another day. 

• Remove/tie down all loose materials/items – if you have stored material (particularly at height) or loose items that may cause injury if picked up by the wind, make sure these are tied down or moved to a location where they’re unlikely to be affected. 

• Inclement weather - reschedule appointments and avoid travel, particularly where employees can work from home instead. 

 

Advice for specific sectors: 

• In the care sector - we recommend limiting any planned visits within the community in order to protect service users and employees. 

• In the education sector - for nurseries and schools deciding to remain open, we recommend that no trips into the community be undertaken and that play times are managed. 

• Logistics – where deliveries are non-essential, look to reschedule them. 

 

Emergency items 

Where workers can’t work from home, make sure you’ve updated your risk assessments to sufficiently control the risk to the individual so far as is reasonably practicable. For those who are required to drive, consider the following in the event that they break down or become stuck: 

 

• Food and drink – do they have a supply of food to sustain them? 

• Key medications – have they got supplies of key medications with them? 

• First Aid kits – in the event of an injury, have you supplied them with a first aid kit? 

• Communications – do they have a mobile phone with sufficient charge and credit? 

• Clothing – do they have warm clothes they can wear? 

• Vehicle roadworthiness – have your drivers checked their vehicles prior to departure and are they competent and confident enough to drive in the anticipated conditions? If they’re not roadworthy or competent, they should not proceed. 

 

For more support with this or any other Health & Safety issue, call your 24/7 Health & Safety advice line on 0345 844 4848*.

 

*Applicable for all clients who’ve purchased Citation’s HR & Employment Law and/or Health & Safety core service, including H&S and HR Workplace Expert. Please note that our H&S and HR Virtual Assistance clients have access to our advice line Monday to Friday 9am-5pm.