Q. When does a project fall under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations?

A. Click here for details of when the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations apply. AP Health & Safety provide a comprehensive Planning Supervisor Service.

Q. What is the difference between a Type 1, 2 or 3 Asbestos Survey?

A. Click here for details of the different types of asbestos surveys

Q. How often should we review our Health and Safety Policy?

A. Your Health and Safety Policy should be reviewed if any of the information within the document changes, following changes to legislation which impacts how health and safety within your business is managed, or at least on an annual basis

If you would like AP Health & Safety to undertake a competent review on your behalf, please contact us.

Q. Do we need a Fire Certificate?

A. Currently, a Fire Certificate is required if your premises is, or contains. a:

• hotel or boarding house where sleeping accommodation is provided for more than 6 people (whether guests or staff) or if there is some sleeping accommodation above the first floor or below the ground floor
• factory, office, shop or railway premises where more than 20 people are at work at any one time or if more than 10 people work elsewhere than on the ground floor;
• factory where explosive or highly flammable materials are used or stored

However, it is proposed that from October 2006, Fire Certificates will not longer be issued, and all premises will be required to have a comprehensive Fire Management Strategy based on a Fire Risk Assessment. Further information on this issue.

Q. What is Legionella?

A. Its full title is Legionella Pneumophila a type of Pneumonia which was first found in the Belle View Hotel in Philadelphia in July 1976. At the time of out break the American Legion Convention was being held in the Hotel, 182 people contracted the disease and 29 of them died.

Legionella can be found in most water but only but only becomes a problem when it is multiplying.

A reasonable foreseeable risk of exposure of the bacteria exists in:

• Any hot & cold water systems

• Water systems incorporating a cooling tower

• Water systems incorporating a evaporative condenser

• Spas & Whirlpools

• Humidifiers & Air washers

• Car wash ( Drive through & Lance)

• Hose pipes & sprinklers

• Fire systems & hoses

• Water cooled machinery

• Fountains & water features

• Horticulture misting systems

Further information on how AP Health & Safety can assist

Q. Why has food poisoning increased so much?

A. Food scientists and technologists in industry take great care to try to ensure that food products are safe and wholesome. It is probable that increased food poisoning statistics are due to a combination of the following factors:-

• increased public awareness, so that large numbers of previously unreported 'stomach upsets' are now increasingly reported as cases of food poisoning;

• changing lifestyles, including changed shopping habits -- shopping less frequently in larger amounts and consequently storing food for longer periods;

• the increased marketing of chilled prepared dishes, which need shorter times between purchase and consumption and more carefully controlled low temperature domestic storage than many people have understood or provided;

• the emergence of some hitherto unknown or new strains of micro-organisms

Further information on how AP Health & Safety can assist

If we have not answered your question, please contact us and we would be happy to assist you further