Is your contractor covered?

Property managers have enough to deal with without the extra stress or concern that the contractors they use do not have all the necessary implements in place in case an accident was to happen.

The cleaning industry employs very large numbers of people in all sectors of the economy. The range of work covers all cleaning activities from dusting, vacuuming, mopping to cleaning windows and specialist cleaning such as graffiti removal, pressure washing and gutter cleaning – all of which can, if staff are not trained correctly, cause accidents that could result in large sue claims.

Here at The GOL Group, we have always taken health and safety of our staff, clients and the public very seriously. All staff have an induction that includes health and safety, there is an annual refresher and in recent years we have become Safecontractor accredited, Chas approved and have increased our public liability insurance to meet modern day claims – hopefully with the implements we have in place we will not have to use it.

We have also looked at ways in which to stop unnecessary risks to our employees with the introduction of waterfed pole system for cleaning windows so as they are not working from height and the same with our new Omnipole Omnivac gutter cleaning system that uses a powerful vacuum that sucks the debris from the gutters via extendable poles and with a CCTV camera attached you can see from ground level exactly what you are doing.
After being awarded Safecontractor accreditation again, The GOL Group were very concerned with the severity of slips and trips statistics as per the Health and Safety Executive website, and the implications involved when someone has an accident of this nature.

Slips and trips are responsible for, on average:-
• More than a third of all reported major injuries;
• 20% of over 3 day injuries to employees;
• Two fatalities per year;
• Cost to employers of £512 million per year (lost production and other costs);
• Cost to health service £133 million per year;
• Untold damage to reputation.

Peter Gilgallon, operations manager, stated: “As a company, we have invested heavily in the prevention of slips and trips gaining certification from Satra to do pendulum tests – the only recognised method to check the slip resistance of hard flooring, and have also purchased the best slip resistant floor treatments money can buy along with having a specialist team trained to apply them correctly.”

International safety, health and environmental risk management specialists, the National Britannia Group, operate Safecontractor. James Ostler, managing director of Information Service at National Britannia stated: “Major organisations can no longer run the risk of employing contractors who are not able to prove that they have sound health and safety policies. More companies need to understand the importance of adopting good risk management in the way that The GOL Group has done. The firms’ high standard has set an example, which hopefully will be followed by other companies within the sector.”

The GOL Group offers a complete range of cleaning and grounds maintenance services in and around the London area.

Contact them on 0208 3719223 for more information on how they can help resolve your property issues.