Health and Safety Policy
Bristol Astronomical Society is determined to maintain a safe environment for all members and visitors to Society activities.
Consistent with these aims, the Society maintains:
- Guidance notes for the various activities being undertaken, or for specific commonly used locations where multiple activities are undertaken
- A Safeguarding Policy
- A Code of Conduct
Additionally the Society
- Makes the guidance notes available to all members and visitors via the Society website
- Ensures that responsibilities for health and safety are allocated, understood, monitored and fulfilled
- Regularly checks its performance and revises its Health and Safety Policy as necessary to ensure we maintain good safety standards.
- Provides enough resources to enable us to comply with current Health and Safety legislation and aims to achieve the standards of ‘Good Practice’ applicable to our activities.
- Actively promotes an open attitude to Health and Safety issues, encouraging Members to identify and report hazards so that we can all contribute to creating and maintaining a safe working environment.
- Brings this policy to the attention of all Members, and communicates and consults with them on all issues affecting their health and safety.
- Provides adequate training for Members to ensure they are competent and confident in the Society’s activities they carry out, and to enable them to carry out these activities safely and effectively.
- Carries out and regularly reviews risk assessments to identify hazards and existing control measures. Any corrective actions required to reduce risk to an acceptable level will be treated as a priority in our plan of action and will be completed within an appropriate time.
- Maintains its premises and equipment to a standard that ensures that risks are adequately managed.
- Co-operates with those in charge of premises used by our Members to ensure they are aware of any risks to their employees or visitors associated with our activities, and that we are aware of any risks to our Members by their activities and that we comply with fire legislation requirements.
Specific attention to health and safety is required in relation to use of the observatory at Failand. It is recognized that the observatory is not a familiar environment for many people and is often encountered when it is dark. Guidance for using the observatory is available on the Society website and these further additional measures apply in relation to use of that location:
The Observatory Director will ensure that in his areas of control:
- He/she actively implements the BAS Health and Safety Policy.
- He/she supervises the observatory operators to ensure that the observatory is operated safely, with increased supervision for new operators.
- Safe systems of work are developed and implemented.
- Risk assessments are completed, recorded and regularly reviewed covering all activities where a risk to health and safety exists. The significant findings of these assessments are brought to the attention of all those who may be affected.
- Adequate resources are allocated to meet all safety requirements.
- Regular monitoring of safety related matters is carried out.
- Accidents, and ‘near miss’ incidents during the operation and maintenance of the observatory are investigated, recorded and reported.
- He/she communicates and consults with observatory operators on health and safety issues.
- He/she encourages observatory operators to report hazards and raise safety concerns.
- Safety training for observatory operators is identified, undertaken and recorded to ensure they are competent to carry out their tasks in a safe manner.
- Issues concerning safety raised by anyone are thoroughly investigated and, when necessary, further effective controls are introduced and suitable training is given.
- Premises, plant and work equipment are maintained in a safe condition.
- Any safety issues that cannot be dealt with are referred to the Chairman of the BAS Committee for action.
- Safety rules are followed by all observatory operators.
- The monitoring and checking activities required by the BAS Safety Management System are completed.
Members and visitors are reminded that it is the duty of all of us under common law:
- To take reasonable care of our own safety
- To take reasonable care of the safety of others who may be affected by what we do or fail to do
- To co-operate so that we can all comply with our legal duties
- To not interfere with or misuse anything provided in the interests of health and safety.