Finding Information on Hazards at Work

As our main purpose is to advise staff and students on all occupational health and safety matters, we are working to develop our website as a quick reference source. Although at this early stage we refer you to other websites for information, over the coming months we will expand the Northumbria policies and guidance that are available on-line as we develop our website. For example, the health and safety policy, display screen equipment, etc are now available for you to read.

Information
For now, if you need basic information on a health or safety problem,go to the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) website, which lists hazards at work alphabetically. The site is a good source of clearly explained general guidance on a range of serious hazards found at work and refers to further information on each subject.

Hazards to health from exposure to chemicals are common in the workplace, though information on them may be hard to come by. If you would like to look at information on such hazards in material safety data sheets (MSDS) for chemical or biological agents, there is a very good website at http://www.ilpi.com/msds/ which lists over 60 MSDS databases.

If you can’t find the information you want on these websites, or would like to look at something more specific to a particular job, come to the office and look through our library which holds hundreds of publications on a huge range of health and safety topics. We keep detailed up to date guidance, published by the Health and Safety Executive and other authorities in the field, on how to control the risks associated with all kinds of work activities, processes and machinery. You do not need an appointment to browse - or in the case of staff, borrow material - just drop in to our office.

If you are concerned about suspect packages, we have provided some guidance notes on handling mail and how to deal with microbiological threats.

Advice
Because the information available from these sources is general, you may find it difficult to apply the advice to your own situation. If you would like to discuss your problem with someone, come to the Health and Safety Office and we’ll be happy to help you.