The next step

http books hse gov uk hse public home jsf

[]

http www hse gov uk pubns indg136 pdf

[]

http www hse gov uk safetybulletins index htm

[]

Who sent the e-mail?

New HSE guidance. If you receive an e-mail advertising the fact that the HSE has just released a new guidance document, you’re probably going to assume that it was sent by them. However, unless you’ve signed up for the HSE’s own alerting service (regular e-mails to keep you up-to-date with new documents and what the HSE is up to, see The next step), this is unlikely to be the case. Instead, the source is more likely to be a commercial safety service provider.

Managing chemicals. One of our subscribers recently received one of these e-mails, which said that the HSE had produced a new guidance document on how to manage chemicals safely in a small business (see The next step). The e-mail spells out what the new HSE document covers and how it’s much more user-friendly than its predecessor; it even includes a weblink so that the document can be downloaded for free. However, the weblink isn’t to the HSE website, it’s to a commercial site. Yes, the free HSE document can be downloaded, but anyone clicking on it is also offered a commercial COSHH management system - which comes at a cost. And this is nothing to do with the HSE. Note. The e-mail received by our subscriber does include detailed information about the sender; however, it’s very easy to miss.

Tip 1. The best policy is to ignore all unsolicited e-mails such as this. In many cases the deal on offer isn’t as good as others available. And, more importantly, many offer services that you are unlikely to need - a full COSHH management system, for example.

Tip 2. If you want the latest guidance documents from the HSE, the best source is its own website. Since 2009, nearly all of the HSE official guidance documents and Approved Codes of Practice are available as free downloads (see The next step).

For links to the HSE alerting service (HS 08.09.01A), the HSE document on managing chemicals (HS 08.09.01B) and the HSE free guidance documents website (HS 08.09.01C), visit http://healthandsafety.indicator.co.uk.