Dear Forum.. Advice on working practices please

[Dear Forum...]

Yes it is ok. But why should the question only refer to young women?

 

I know of several shops,supermarkets and office blocks who have nominated keyholders and the last out locks up especially if there is only one member of staff left at closing.

 

If it's of concern to you ask someone to wait with you.

 

 

 

 

Because this specific query is about a women locking up. If it was about man the question would have been the same. It wasnt a general question. Its regarding a specific problem.

 

Thanks to other replies, i cant give building specifics etc as it wouldnt be right

[Obelix]

Because this specific query is about a women locking up. If it was about man the question would have been the same. It wasnt a general question. Its regarding a specific problem.

 

Thanks to other replies, i cant give building specifics etc as it wouldnt be right

 

In that case it's going to be difficult to answer.

 

Basically a risk assessment needs to be done by the employer. Locking up a small clothes shop at 5:30pm on Fargate, with low stock value and litte cash on premises, a fire door and main entrance door only - no problem.

 

For a tobacco/alcohol warehouse down Attercliffe at 9pm with many doors, a deserted industrial estate, I'd want three people to lock up and for them to have had security training.

[Alcoblog]

In that case it's going to be difficult to answer.

 

Basically a risk assessment needs to be done by the employer. Locking up a small clothes shop at 5:30pm on Fargate, with low stock value and litte cash on premises, a fire door and main entrance door only - no problem.

 

For a tobacco/alcohol warehouse down Attercliffe at 9pm with many doors, a deserted industrial estate, I'd want three people to lock up and for them to have had security training.

 

'Risk assessments' are a pile of rubbish ... the reason it now takes three 'workers' and a set of scaffolding to change a light bulb. Whoever dreamed the idea up wants shooting with a 'risk assessed' semi-automatic rifle and 'risk-assessed' hollow point bullets (preferably 'risk-assessed' mercury filled).

 

'Risk assessing' is the reason why everything grinds to a halt. The amount of times I've heard some moron say 'Oooh no, you can't do that! ... Health and safety this, risk assessment that' ... idiots! Special little jobs for people who want to look important, with no common sense of their own.

[Obelix]

'Risk assessments' are a pile of rubbish ... the reason it now takes three 'workers' and a set of scaffolding to change a light bulb. Whoever dreamed the idea up wants shooting with a 'risk assessed' semi-automatic rifle and 'risk-assessed' hollow point bullets (preferably 'risk-assessed' mercury filled).

 

'Risk assessing' is the reason why everything grinds to a halt. The amount of times I've heard some moron say 'Oooh no, you can't do that! ... Health and safety this, risk assessment that' ... idiots! Special little jobs for people who want to look important, with no common sense of their own.

 

What's up did a risk assessment stop you from doing something at some point?

 

A properly applied risk assessment will let you carry on doing something safely. Sadly all people hear is how it stopped them from doing something "safe" that actually turned out to be something fairly dangerous.

[Alcoblog]

What's up did a risk assessment stop you from doing something at some point?

 

A properly applied risk assessment will let you carry on doing something safely. Sadly all people hear is how it stopped them from doing something "safe" that actually turned out to be something fairly dangerous.

:hihi:

 

No ... I'd completely ignore somebody who'd read in a little pamphlet ... rule 6, subsection 12, clause 6574/82 (part B) that unless there were three adults (one of whom's passed the daft first aid test) present, under NO circumstances should an attempt be made to change a light bulb.

 

I'm quite capable in my own mind of working out if something's dangerous or not without some pathetic jobsworth reading from a manual at me ... I'm still here for starters.

 

Does the 'Risk assessment' book cover emotional dangers at work? Is it required by law for an employer to be read up on such subjects? Would it help the OP, or would common sense be appropriate?

[Obelix]

You are clearly just spoiling for a fight and have no idea what you are talking about. I really did expect better from you than this sort of frothy mouthed diatribe. You are doing nothing to help someone asking a serious question and worse still are attempting to derail posts from others who are attempting to help.

[Super Hans]

To be honest I don't think it's really a big deal that a woman (or man) has to check a premises on her (or his) own and lock up.

 

It kind of depends on scale of course, most reasonable people would say there is a difference between locking up Meadowhall of a night and locking up a market stall...but clearly somebody thinks you have the ability to do that job.

 

You know, if somebody came armed to rob the place it really wouldn't make a difference whether there were one or two people. Don't worry about it.

 

I don't think it's an issue, but if it's giving you sleepless nights, talk to your employer and see if they can put someone on with you for a while.

 

The department store I work at which employs over 400 people is locked up by one person, who is sometimes a woman.

[Alcoblog]

You are clearly just spoiling for a fight and have no idea what you are talking about. I really did expect better from you than this sort of frothy mouthed diatribe. You are doing nothing to help someone asking a serious question and worse still are attempting to derail posts from others who are attempting to help.

 

No I'm not ... read my post #5. I am trying to help ... I seem to be the only one who's understanding of someone being afraid.

 

I'm saying that 'Risk assessment' would do nothing to help somebody who has emotional problems at work, due to being asked to do something that they're not comfortable with. Just because a panic attack (for instance) doesn't weigh over 25Kg (or whatever the maximum a human being is deemed safe to lift in this day and age), does that mean it's OK?

People get so anal about all this 'Health and Safety' and 'Risk Assessment' that they fail to rely on common sense. I think that's dangerous. Mental health issues are just as important as physical ones. If you don't agree with that, then I feel sorry for you.

[Obelix]

Cobblers. Yiou saw something you didn't like, and decided to resort to the basest weapon in your armoury. As I said I expected better of you.

 

The question was not about helping someone who cannot cope with their work duty. It was asking if that work duty was "OK" ie reasonable for some lone person to do. The answer to that is "it depends" and that depends to a great extent on a reasonable assessment being made of the risk to that person it doing that duty - wether you like it or not a properly applied risk assessment needs to be done. Only then can you approach how the worker feels - it may be that it's not reasonable or safe to expect a lone worker to lock up due to teh risk of robbery in which case addressing how she feels about it is moot as the workplace should roster on two people to lock up.

[Super Hans]

I agree with Obelix, if you find the risk of something to be very small, then a fear of that risk would generally be considered to be irrational, and if you have an irrational fear then that's not the fault of your employer, it's your own issue and you shouldn't be in the job.

 

It's like a bin man insisting there be someone else with him when he loads the bin onto the arm because he's scared of getting crushed by it, the management can risk assess it and say "Well this has never happened before and is unlikely to happen in the future so get on with it - it's part of the job and it's not intrinsically dangerous".