Darker nights and wintry weather throw up all sorts of hazards for organisations. June Pennykid at Keegan & Pennykid offers some practical tips to keep your people and your property safe.
The weather in the UK is pretty unreliable, except in the winter when it’s reliably bad. This doesn’t mean however, that your properties, the people you work with or the people you support, should suffer.
Now that we’re heading into the depths of winter, there’s a range of steps you can take to keep things running smoothly during the coming months. Let’s take a closer look at these measures and how they can help you avoid unnecessary and unwanted insurance claims.
Property
When the temperature gauge plummets, the worry for many property owners is that pipes will freeze and burst, leading to expensive, disruptive and distressing escape of water claims.
Despite the need to keep a lid on costs, it’s a good idea to keep the heating on a timed schedule during cold periods, and that the frost protection (if fitted) is switched on, especially if a building is going to be unoccupied. If the property isn’t properly insulated, then this is something to consider and will help save on energy costs over the long term.
For storage buildings and outhouses, it’s important to ensure exposed piping is covered with lagging and, where practical, the water supply is cut off to outside taps when temperatures drop.
But burst piping isn’t the only risk to consider and it’s essential to make sure people can move around safely without coming a cropper on ice or snow. That means topping up supplies of salt and grit to make sure you can keep paths and pavements clear.
Whether that’s for delivery drivers dropping supplies off or service users visiting your premises, you have a responsibility to keep them safe while they’re on your property. Slips and trips cause many personal injuries at the best of times, but during the winter, icy walkways and snowy steps are a very real, dangerous, but preventable hazard.
In addition to having the shovels, salt and lighting needed to keep the footprint of your premises in good order, you should also assign responsibility for checking their condition to a specific named individual. This will avoid issues going unnoticed and let you deal with potential problems immediately.
In turn, this will make it easy for employees, volunteers, suppliers and service users to move safely around your premises and reduce the potential of slips, trips, accidents and injuries.
Transport
The darker nights and onset of rain, snow and ice often create real problems for drivers. Many charities need to be out on the roads in all weathers to ensure that their service users get the support they need.
Employees and volunteers often need to travel during their working day, whether this is in their own vehicle, or a commercial vehicle supplied by a business or organisation. What is important is that they’ve received guidance and training on how to navigate difficult road conditions and what to do in the event of an accident or emergency.
It is also worth checking that subscriptions to breakdown services are fully paid up and ensure that everyone knows the details of how to get in touch with them in the event of a problem arising.
On a similar note it is worth asking if vehicles are in a good state of repair for the winter season? Are batteries in good order? Are screen wash levels regularly checked and topped up? Who has responsibility for this? Are there scrapers and de-icer in the vehicle?
It goes without saying that tyres need to be in good condition and it might be even worth considering swapping vehicles onto winter tyres and then back to normal ones in a few months’ time as the weather breaks. You could also potentially store tyre chains in vehicles. These can be fitted as required and prevent drivers getting caught out if conditions change quickly. Again, drivers must know how to fit them so they can do it if needed. It’s a relatively straightforward and short piece of training but will make all the difference in a real-life situation.
Keeping a box of emergency supplies in vehicles is also good practice. This should contain blankets, a torch, snacks and water.
There’s an old adage that there’s no such thing as bad weather – just the wrong clothes. This is something organisations should remind themselves of as they think about equipping their people and their properties for the months ahead.
If you’d like to discuss any specific winter risks and how to deal with them, please get in touch with the team at Keegan & Pennykid – we’d be delighted to help.
