The council's health and safety inspector visited last week while I was out, and gave my cellar a bit of a mauling. To be fair the cellar isn't in a bad state so I wasn't too worried but the petty-minded nature of some of his observations did cause my blood pressure to rise.
I believe I run a reasonably safe business, I'd never knowingly put my staff at risk and I'd never ask them to do anything I wouldn't do. Also, in the scheme of things, my cellar isn't bad at all. In my understanding all pub cellars generally contain three areas of possible concern: the problems of gas cylinders, the moving of heavy weights and the chemical pipe cleaning fluid. That's about it. All my staff have been briefed about them.
The first three observations were that my Health and Safety Policy, my Risk Assessments and my COSHH Assessments weren't available for inspection. Nothing pleases these people more than the paper trail they insist upon - as if the existence of paper somehow could ensure people's lives were healthier or safer. We've now worked these through and have created pro forma models which should satisfy them (and which I'll load onto my website shortly ~ feel free to help yourselves.)
The next item is a problem. My barrel hoist doesn't have a Safety Inspection Certificate. I don't know how and where to get one and I think it'll be expensive.
I'm caught in a dilemma here. I need to use kilderkins for the volume of bitter I sell. No one else moves them. They weigh around two hundredweight and are very heavy. To lift them onto my stillage risks hurting my back. So I've managed to acquire a hoist to lift the cask about 18 inches off the floor and load it onto the stillage. I think this is the safest method. If anything broke or dropped the distance it would fall would be negligible and it could only fall away from me ensuring no harm. If I have to abandon my hoist I believe I face greater risk than anything I could by keeping it. But hey, that's safety for you.
I've had to fit a "hazard warning strip" to a one-inch high step but the three-inch step next to it is fine ~ that I don't understand.
The other great bugbear is the steel beam at the bottom of the cellar stairs. I've got to put padding on it and then put a notice saying "Mind Your Head". This is the one that possibly annoys me most. The need to put signs up that state the obvious are a pet hate. If you can see the obstacle, you know it is there and you will mind it anyway. How could you possibly not? But to pad it as well? Have these people never banged their heads? It hurts but it is rarely fatal. The paradox for me is how in the workplace I am compelled to put notices up but outside in the world full of woods and fields all such hazards go unregulated. Which then makes me wonder if, to the H&S inspector, such open and unregulated hazards are either an entirely unacceptable area of danger which prevents them going outside or perhaps an uncharted area of potential legislation and intervention ~ paving the way to more regulation.
I am going to pad the beam. And I shall do it with a spirit of defiance. I don't know if the inspector will understand but I don't care. Fresh with the knowledge of my upholstery course, I will have the decorative fabric embroidered with "Mind Your Head" and I shall upholster it. I might even add some beads and tassels.