3.18 Apply health and safety legislation and working practices to your work in the utilities sector

Overview   

This standard is about maintaining a healthy and safe working environment whilst carrying out installation and maintenance work in the utilities sector.  

This standard is designed to ensure that those that work within the utilities sector are aware of the potential dangers, are able to assess likely hazards and can source appropriate regulations and safety information and apply them to the workplace.   Typically these will focus on working with hazardous substances, gas or electricity, using tools and equipment, recognizing and dealing with asbestos, noise, manual handling and working at height and in confined spaces. 

This standard is for engineers and other front line workers in the utilities sector.

Performance criteria

You must be able to:

  1. Identify which workplace health and safety procedures are relevant to your working environment and ensure you comply with their duties and obligations as defined by current, relevant legislation
  2. Present yourself in the workplace with appropriate PPE for the activities to be undertaken
  3. Carry out dynamic assessment of risks on an ongoing basis whilst working
  4. Review own working practices and working environment for hazards which could cause serious harm to self or others
  5. Follow workplace policies and suppliers' or manufacturers’ instructions for the safe use and maintenance of tools, equipment and materials
  6. Control any health and safety hazards within the limits of your capability and job responsibility
  7. Report hazards which may present a high risk to relevant people without delay
  8. Ensure personal conduct around the workplace does not endanger the health and safety of yourself or others
  9. Follow correct procedures in the event of injuries to self or others
  10. Follow correct procedures in the event of incidents or emergencies to minimize risk to self and others
  11. Take remedial action(s) where work methods do not comply with risk assessment requirements
  12. Demonstrate work processes which comply with health and risk assessment safety requirements
  13. Comply with hazard warning and prohibition notices

Knowledge and understanding

You need to know and understand:

  1. The range of relevant health and safety legislation including that related to working with hazardous substances, gas, electricity, tools and equipment, asbestos, noise, manual handling and working at height and in confined spaces
  2. The requirements of current health and safety legislation for working in your industry
  3. Your role and responsibilities for your own safety and that of others
  4. What constitutes a hazard in the workplace including escaping gas, fire, explosion, electricity, slippery and uneven surfaces, dust and fumes, handling and transporting, contaminants and irritants, asbestos, working at height, environment, dangerous occurrences, hazardous malfunctions and improper condition, use and storage of tools, equipment and materials
  5. Public health concerns associated with your work
  6. The warning signs for the seven groups of hazardous substances defined by classification, packaging and labelling
  7. Safety precautions and practices applicable to your work including the protective clothing and equipment that is available
  8. How to locate relevant health and safety information for your tasks, and sources of expert assistance when help is needed
  9. Actions that could be seen as a breach of health and safety legislation including not reporting accidental breakages of tools or equipment and not following laid-down working practices and procedures
  10. Emergency procedures in the workplace, including procedures for summoning emergency services and the information they require, alarm and evacuation procedures, escape routes and fire-fighting procedures
  11. First aid facilities that exist within your work area and within the organisation in general, and the procedures to be followed in the case of accidents involving injury
  12. The importance of remaining alert to the presence of hazards in the whole workplace
  13. The responsible people to whom to report health and safety matters
  14. How to assess risk in the workplace and the benefits and techniques associated with dynamic risk assessment
  15. Methods of protecting customers’ property within the types of locations in which installation or maintenance work is carried out and how to report any damage arising from work operations