09/03/2017
Utilising CCTV for Health and Safety Monitoring
CCTV cameras are often regarded as purely a security requirement or to monitor public spaces, but it’s worth considering their usefulness in an environment where health and safety is a concern.
Clearly the first objective of any company is to minimise health and safety risks in their own environment, but beyond this there is also an obligation upon employees to safeguard their own safety by following health and safety procedures.
We know from experience that whatever safeguards a company puts in place to protect the safety of its employees, that sometimes due to a lack of attention or reckless behaviour, rules will be broken and accidents will happen.
Once an accident has taken place the investigation into why it happened can be painstakingly long and expensive and rely upon eye witnesses or the word of the victim to explain what happened. Often the result of the investigation is inconclusive which can lead to compensation for the person involved in the accident, whether this is justified or not.
Over the years we have installed hundreds of cameras into warehouses, production units and other environments where the risk of an accident is high.
The result is proven to be twofold.
Firstly incidents of employees disregarding health and safety rules reduce because they are aware that their actions are being monitored.
Secondly, utilising video evidence from the cameras, the investigation of accidents and incidents are swiftly brought to a conclusion thus saving the company many hundreds, potentially thousands of pounds, in time and compensation.
Points to consider when installing cameras for health and safety purposes:
- Cameras should be IP megapixel cameras to give the best quality images
- Network video recorder must have the capacity to record images at real time at a minimum of 1080P
- Cameras must be located in the correct positions to capture required images – this requires professional planning
- Installation of cameras and network must be installed by qualified engineers to ensure the best results
- All recordings of employees are subject to data protection law