Hi All

After some advice if possible please. I have an interview at a company who are a high risk manufacturing company within the metal industry.

Just looking for any pointers on things I need to consider really. I have my own ideas but any help would be greatly appreciated. Key things are risk profile of that type of site and developing a strategic approach to H&S management.

Thanks in advance.

Originally Posted by: Ian Bell2

A little more information would be useful.

High risk for wha reason? High noise, dangerous machinery, hazardous chemicals/metal treatment processes?

I concur, what are the risks, by high level do you mean a foundry perhaps? Obviously machining is a very different kettle of fish to a foundry or an aircraft manufacturer for example, and advice cannot be given based on the information available.

What I do in such situation is to go back to basics.

Think of PUWER/COSHH/Noise/Confined Space/DSEAR etc and think how they apply to the situation you have. Then prioritise - which regs have major implication or lesser implications etc.

Not forgettting the generic Management regs when looking at how h&s is managed on site.

Also, consider walking and working surfaces, many of the horrendous accidents you hear about at foundries are as a result of someone losing their balance and falling into a vat of molten metal and having visited foundries myself they seem to have the strangest ideas about barriers are when they need to be installed and when they need to be stood up against the wall attractively.

However, for this, there will be a million issues that you see as you walk round and hopefully the right questions will come to you at that time.

Does the company describe itself as "high risk" or is that your opinion?  I would suggest that they are really "high hazard" and hope that they are manging the risks effectively.  Demonstrating in the interview that you understand the difference between high hazard and high risk could be useful.