Welcome to the archive section of Health & Safety News, a free service which is updated weekly. As well as producing Health and Safety News, HASTAM is an established provider of heath and safety consultancy, health and safety training and audit software (CHASE).
H&S News January 2009
| Prosecution after teenager killed by lorry. |
| Associated Waste Management Ltd was fined £75,000 and costs of £10,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. A fatal incident in which an 18 year old employee was struck by a reversing lorry at a waste management depot. The lorry was reversing without the benefit of any visual aids, audible warning alarms or guidance. |
HSE (Yorkshire and the Humber) Press Release YH/04/09 8/1/09 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Firefighters raise training concerns. |
| In a recent poll commissioned by the FBU, many firefighters believe that insufficient training is compromising their safety. Over half surveyed said that their operational training was inadequate and 80 per cent said it had compromised their safety to some degree. |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal December 08:2 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Injury investigations fall. |
| New research published by Unite shows that there has been a significant fall in HSE investigations into major injuries to workers, as well as in investigations into injuries sustained by members of the public. Major injury investigation fell by 43 per cent between 2001/02 and 2006/07. |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal December 08:3 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Wales online. |
| HSE's website has a new section on it to enable it to better target H&S support and advice to individuals and businesses in Wales. |
Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/welsh RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal December 08:6 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Supermarket school. |
| Sainsbury's entire workforce of 150,000 is being offered the opportunity to gain a nationally recognised Level 2 NVQ qualification through the use of a free web-based tool. It will cover essential training in areas such as H&S, stock control, visual merchandising and administration. |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal December 08:6 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Report highlights Corus blast lessons. |
| A report covering the investigation into the explosion at the Corus Steelworks in Port Talbot in November 2001 in which 3 workers died, makes a number of learning points for Corus UK Ltd and the wider steel industry. |
Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/web34.pdf RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal December 08:6 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Court report. |
| Some recent H&S prosecutions under WHR 2005. (Ed Hodson) |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal December 08:14-15 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Air control. |
| As a responsible employer would you knowingly supply your workplace with contaminated air? Concerns have been raised that the airline industry has been doing just that since the 1960s - second of the two part series. (Nick Cook) |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal December 08:17-21 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| On the frontline. |
| As the first NHS point of contact for most working-age adults, GPs are currently expected by Government and by patients to stop any gaps in occup health provision. But many doctors feel unable to deliver the level of OH service expected from them. (Elizabeth Gates) |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal December 08:27-29,31 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Winter hazards. |
| Slip and trip accidents increase during the winter. In icy conditions, site operators have to take action to ensure that car parks, paths and steps used by staff and visitors are kept as clear as possible to prevent injuries. In order to achieve this, most companies use grit. How gritting is becoming an increasingly exact science. (Paul Bowling) |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal December 08:35-37 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| H&S management. |
| Charting impending changes to guidance on H&S management, and a consideration whether our notions about what good H&S management is are just a reflection of what has been said in existing guidance over many years rather than the result of sound research. |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal December 08:46-47 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Construction bucks overall fall in major injuries. |
| The rate of RIDDOR-reported major injuries at work has declined by almost 9 per cent since the start of the decade, but the construction industry remains an area of major concern. The rate of major injuries has fallen from 116.6 per 100,000 employees in 1999/2000 to 105.9 in 2007/08, while workplace deaths reduced from 247 to 229 - 72 of which were in construction. Although the last 15 years has shown a downward trend in the rate of fatal injury to construction workers, there has been little change since 2002/03. The industry also saw a rise in major injuries. |
SHP December 2008:6 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| HSE should examine traffic deaths, MPs committee demands. |
| MPs have called for an end to the "anomalous" practice of not involving the HSE in examining work-related road deaths. The Transport Select Committee report urges the Government to involve the HSE in these investigations before the end of 2010, as about one third of all road deaths occur during a work-related journey. |
Internet: www.parliament.uk/transcom SHP December 2008:7 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Buncefield lessons are being acted upon, says minister. |
| The Government claims that the recommendations made by the Major Incident Investigation Board following the Buncefield explosion are being responded to by HSE, industry and other relevant parties. |
Internet: www.dwp.gov.uk SHP December 2008:7 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Call for action to reverse occup-cancers death toll. |
| According to a report from Prof Andrew Watterson, more people die of occup cancers in Scotland than from road accidents. With more than half a million Scottish workers still exposed to workplace carcinogens, he has called on government to implement a range of preventive measures that have been shown to make a difference in other countries. |
SHP December 2008:8 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| HSE denies closure of construction committee. |
| The HSE has rejected reports that it is planning to scrap its construction safety advisory body, CONIAC, and transfer its activities to the Strategic Forum for Construction. |
SHP December 2008:8 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Employers fail to combat bullying. |
| A new study by the Chartered Management Institute, concludes that poor management skills lie at the heart of a rising workplace bullying culture. Asked to identify the root causes of bullying at work, the top answer was a "lack of management skills" (70 per cent). |
SHP December 2008:10 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Skills regime overhauled to put business needs at the heart of training. |
| The system governing vocational qualifications is to be replaced with one that aims to better match the needs of learners and employers after the Government ratified plans in November. By 2010 all key vocational qualifications will be approved by Sector Skills Councils, and made available in small, credit-based units of learning. |
SHP December 2008:10 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Lowering the bar. |
| A recent Court of Appeal decision is a stark reminder to employers that they must act swiftly and decisively when employees show signs of stress related ill health. (Kevin Bridges) |
SHP December 2008:19 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| The whole story. |
| Although IOSH, HSE, and others are working hard to debunk the many myths surrounding H&S, the biggest "untruth" is the claim that only "200-odd" people are killed in the UK by work each year. The true figures for work-related deaths, injuries and ill-health are many, many times higher. (Hilda Palmer) |
SHP December 2008:34-36 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Model behaviour. |
| When introducing change in the workplace it is essential to focus on personal motivation and engagement of workers, and not just on systems and processes. Three models that HS&E managers can use to mould and gain commitment of staff. (Garry Platt) |
SHP December 2008:39-40 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Best supporting practice. |
| Looking after employees who spend their nine-to-five under your roof can be difficult enough, but ensuring that staff who go out and about for their work - especially those who operate alone and in out-of-the-way locations - remain safe and within your protection requires special effort. (Craig Swallow) |
SHP December 2008:42-44 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Destination unknown. |
| The costs to companies of failing to manage their employees' H&S are increasing all the time, both in commercial and reputational terms. But as businesses become engaged in global markets, how can they provide suitable protection for a dispersed or travelling workforce, or to those based in a high-risk location? Some brief pointers. (Mike Penrose) |
SHP December 2008:47-48 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| HSE urges more business leaders, manufacturers, the transport and communications sectors, and construction directors to "take advantage". |
| HSE is urging business leaders, manufacturers, the transport and communications sectors, and construction directors to take advantage of a free guide that could bring significant benefits to them. The guidance entitled, 'leading health and safety at work' is issued jointly by the Institute of Directors and HSE. |
Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg417.pdf HSE (National) Press Releases E069:08 to E072:08 22/12/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| HSE announces new field operations director. |
| The HSE has appointed David Ashton as the new Director of the Field Operations Directorate. |
HSE (National) Press Release E073:08 22/12/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Farming campaign tackles one of Britain's deadliest industries. |
| A campaign to prevent deaths on farms has been launched. It highlights farming as one of the most dangerous ways to make a living in Britain. "Make the promise. Come Home Safe" is a hard hitting campaign from the HSE targeting farmers and their families. During January 2009, HSE will be sending "Promise Packs" to around 70,000 British farmers. |
HSE (National) Press Release E075:09 2/1/09 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Risks to airport workers from loading baggage announced. |
| An HSE Research Report has been published based on the findings of a collaborative project at East Midlands Airport. It explores the health risks associated with manual loading of bags into the holds of narrow bodied aircraft. The report also examines the effectiveness of new technology, Extending Belt Loaders, and provides an update on previous research and studies. |
Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr674.htm and www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr675.htm HSE (National) Press Release E076:09 5/1/09 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Time to clear the air, paving the way for healthier work. |
| In 2004 more than 500 construction workers lost their lives to lung cancer and even more were suffering from silicosis as a result of inhaling a dangerous substance called Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS). Found in stone dust, it is easily inhaled if unprotected construction workers are involved in cutting stone and concrete such as kerbs or paving blocks. HSE's 'Clear The Air!' multimedia campaign was produced in collaboration with the construction industry. A DVD, leaflets and online forums show construction workers how to protect themselves from inhaling RCS. |
DVD/leaflet information 0151 951 5828 Internet: www.webcommunities.hse.gov.uk/inovem/inovem.ti/kerbcutting HSE (National) Press Release E067:09 6/1/09 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Construction company fined by court and warned byHSE. |
| Laing O'Rourke Construction Ltd fined £80,000 and costs of £10,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. An employee fell more than 3 metres during the construction of concrete stairs inside one of the main apartment blocks on the project. He sustained multiple serious head and other injuries and narrowly escaped falling 3 floors to the base of the building. Two other workers also escaped injury while working on the same unprotected area. The company failed to make adequate risk assessments and plan a safe system of work. Had this accident not occurred this same system of work would have been repeated on every floor of the 12 floor building. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/033PROS/09 5/1/09 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| HSE fines Wandsworth landlady for gas safety breaches. |
| Aruna Pravin Kukadia fined £5,000 and costs of £3,719 under GSIUR 1998. HSE received a complaint about an incident involving a property owned by Mrs Kukadia. The complaint involved a heating system which was believed to be causing carbon monoxide leaks. Investigation showed insufficient evidence for this but a series of letters was sent to the defendant to obtain the annual safety check records. The records obtained showed there were 2 gaps when the flat had been occupied and no annual landlord check had been produced. |
HSE (London) Press Release HSE/LON/011/2009 6/1/09 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Latest statistics on deaths highlight dangers of the agricultural industry - nine fatalities in Scotland. |
| Agriculture remains one of Britain's most dangerous industries, according to the latest report published by the HSE. In 2007/08 in Scotland 9 workers died and 2,364 were injured at an estimated cost to society of £49 million. Causes of deaths include falls from height, drowning, workplace transport and electrocution. |
HSE (Scotland) Press Release E076:09 5/1/09 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Buxton business receives £5,000 fine after mans' hand severely injured. |
| M P Bio Science International Ltd was fined a total of £2,000 and costs of £3,000 under HASAWA 1974 s33 and PUWER 1998. An employee attempted to unblock a powder blending machine which had jammed. The access panel was removed while machine still running. The employee put his hand inside to free blockage and came into contact with a rotating ribbon blade and received serious injuries to fingers. The Company should have fitted an interlocked safety switch. The access panel was removed frequently for cleaning, maintenance and to unblock material. |
HSE (East Midlands) Press Release HSE/EM 829 19/12/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| HSE prosecution follows York 'cherry picker' incident. |
| Employee Karl Thackrah fined £2,500 and costs of £3,500 under HASAWA 1974 s7. At an earlier hearing, William Birch and Sons Ltd was fined £12,000 and costs of £2,500 under HASAWA 1974 s3. They were prosecuted after 2 men fell from a mobile elevated working platform, known as a 'cherry picker' by side of a road. Karl Thackrah and Chris Cook, the platform's hirer, fell from the elevating work platform which they were using to access the first floor of Mr Cook's house to touch up paintwork, after being struck by a passing lorry. Both had serious injuries with Mr Cook being in a coma for a month. The company had provided training information and equipment for Mr Thackrah but their employee failed to take reasonable care while setting up and operating the platform. |
HSE (Yorkshire and Humber) Press Release YH/629/08 22/12/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Health and Safety Executive's new year safety message for North West businesses after over 19,000 workplace incidents. |
| A total of 19,135 people were killed or injured in work-related incidents across the North West of England last year according to the latest figures from the HSE. This is an average of almost 368 incidents every week. The toll, which includes 28 deaths, is a stark reminder to the region's employers and their staff that they should resolve to make their workplaces safer in 2009. |
HSE (North West) Press Release HSE/NW/REGINI/028/08 29/12/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| HSE announces tyre handling workshops. |
| A countrywide series of workshops to draw attention to the dangers of handling tyres is being staged by the HSE in conjunction with the tyre industry. HSE, working with the National Tyre Distributors Association and the British Tyre Manufacturers Association will run six workshops about tyre handling between January and March 2009. |
HSE (Regional) Press Releases HSE/NW/041/2009, YH/1/09, 04 SWW/09, SCO/001/09 and E125 5/1/09 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Hampshire company fined following injury to employee. |
| Peter Ernest Jones Ltd was fined £5,000 and costs of £1,543.20 under CHSWR 1996. A worker crossed a construction site, when a 5 foot scaffold pole fell on him from a scaffold being dismantled. There was no segregation between scaffolding work and other site workers. |
HSE (South East) Press Release COISE/0601-2 6/1/09 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Liverpool to host first consultation event. |
| More than 100 key stakeholders across the north west have met to help determine the future strategy of the HSE in the first of seven consultation events that the HSE will be hosting on their strategy. Others are to be held in Newcastle, Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, London and Glasgow during the month of January. |
HSE (North West) Press Release HSE/NW/042/2009 8/1/09 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Council fined after a man suffers severe burns. |
| The London Borough of Tower Hamlets was fined £15,000 and costs of £39,089 under HASAWA 1974 s3. T Cartledge Ltd was fined £18,000 and costs of £14,555 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Martin Rose was operating a mechanical breaker, attempting to install a lamppost on the footpath when he struck a live 132kv electrical cable and was severely burned. Neither his employer, T Cartledge, nor the Council provided plans of underground electrical cables. If they had done so, and supervised the works, the incident would not have happened. |
HSE (London) Press Release HSE/LON/012/2009 8/1/09 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Mr Michael Burnett |
| Fined £400 under HASAWA 1974 s7. This case did result from a fatality. |
HSE Prosecution 4091207 13/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Mr Soley Fikret |
| Fined a total of £4,000 under GSIUR 1998. Two persons overcome by carbon monoxide from faulty boiler and both needed hyperbaric hospital treatment. Boiler not serviced and had not been maintained in a safe condition by landlord. No safety checks carried out for several years. Emergency services' personnel and other residents of the flats were also affected by CO fumes. |
HSE Prosecution 4132004 13/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| T J Myles & Co Cntrcts Ltd |
| Fined £20,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. |
HSE Prosecution 4111398 14/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Crispin and Borst Ltd |
| Fined £10,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. |
HSE Prosecution 4111409 14/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Cygnet Health Care Ltd |
| Fined £7,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. IP working in loft when he fell through ceiling approx 4-5m high, down a shaft down the side of the stairwell. |
HSE Prosecution 4122861 14/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Brian Chambers T/A The Shed Man |
| Fined £4,500 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Failure under several Regulations of PUWER 1998 and WHSWR 1992. |
HSE Prosecution 4101395 15/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| European Metal Recycling Limited |
| Fined £2,500 under WHR 2005. |
HSE Prosecution 4119238 15/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Wilkin & Sons Ltd |
| Fined a total of £4,000 under PUWER 1998 and HASAWA 1974 s2. |
HSE Prosecution 4121288 15/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Normandie Analytical Services Ltd |
| Fined a total of £18,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. |
HSE Prosecution 4067750 16/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Carntyne Transport Co Ltd |
| Fined £5,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Failed to provide suitable guardrails on top of general purpose tanker that would prevent a fall or alternatively providing control valves which could be assessed from ground level. This failure in a situation where during the course of work employee fell from the top of tanker to his death. |
HSE Prosecution 4101498 16/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Swan Foundry (Banbury) Ltd |
| Fined a total of £2,500 under HASAWA 1974 s6 and s5. For about 2 years prior to the accident, heater in the core shop not working. The employees got four five-litre tin cans, put some sand in the bottom and then half filled them with isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and then lit the liquid. The IP was attempting to top up one of the cans, it would appear that the liquid in the can he was attempting to fill was still alight and he was engulfed in flames when he dropped the drum. He suffered 3rd degree (full thickness) burns to hand and forearm. |
HSE Prosecution 4120838 16/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Noel Graham |
| Fined a total of £950 under PUWER 1998 and ELCIR 1998. IP was cleaning out a petrol driven cement mixer with hose pipe and water. Went to move the cement mixer, slipped on water, put his hand out and it went into the back of the cement mixer where the belts drive the machine. Cement mixer did not have a safety guard on it causing the IP to lose his finger. |
HSE Prosecution 4133668 16/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Mill Hill Quarries Ltd |
| Fined £10,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Separate Penalty under QR 1999. Employee injured whilst operating unguarded machinery. There was no guard in place at the time of the accident and no safe system of work for the cleaning and maintenance of the machine. |
HSE Prosecution 4077637 17/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| North Tyneside Council |
| Fined a total of £40,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. A council refuse vehicle was reversing on the public road and the DP became trapped under the rear of the vehicle and was fatally crushed. |
HSE Prosecution 41128060 22/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Oil & Gas Systems Limited |
| Fined £3,500 under WHR 2005. Employee injured whilst doing some painting work. He fell from upper level of skid platform through missing floor panel fracturing his pelvis. Company failed to take reasonably practicable steps to control the hazard. |
HSE Prosecution 4131221 22/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| F A North (Carlton) Ltd |
| Fined a total of £6,000 under PUWER 1998. |
HSE Prosecution 4080229 23/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Galliford Try Construction Limited |
| Fined £15,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. IP was preparing a shutter in the man hole when an inflatable pipe stopper failed, making contact with right lower leg. Company did not ensure sufficient control of the work being undertaken at time of incident. |
HSE Prosecution 4122452 23/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| S J Mills |
| Fined a total of £2,000 under MHSWR 1999 and WHR 2005. Injured person was cleaning moss from a fragile roof using a crawling board when he stepped from the board onto a perspex light and fell through. |
HSE Prosecution 4102826 24/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Colin Clifford |
| Fined under HASAWA 1974 s7. |
HSE Prosecution 4110182 24/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Jeremy Pitman |
| Fined a total of £1,000 under MHSWR 1999. Young person lost index finger to an injury sustained whilst using a circular saw. No risk assessment had been carried out and there was inadequate training and supervision for a young person. |
HSE Prosecution 4107017 27/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| T Cartledge Ltd |
| Compensation/Fine under HASAWA 1974 s2. An operative struck a buried high voltage cable receiving 19% full thickness burns, including some muscle loss on his arms, face and left hand side of his body. |
HSE Prosecution 4127522 27/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| TDG (UK) Limited |
| Fined £10,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. IP slipped into a stairwell while carrying out a vehicle check. |
HSE Prosecution 4132217 27/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| E & F Joinery Ltd |
| Fined £20,000 under WHR 2005. IP fell 2m from tower scaffold when lagging ductwork overhead. Found lying next to tower. |
HSE Prosecution 4131792 28/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Sajida Kauser Ali |
| Fined £10,000 under HASAWA 1974 s21 and sep penalty under GSIUR 1998. Failure to comply with notice, maintain gas appliances, arrange annual safety checks and remove unlawful gas fittings. |
HSE Prosecution 4142090 29/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Rafako S A |
| Fined a total of £85,000 under WHR 2005. A fitter fell approx 23m through an opening while working on a steel gantry. The fitter died as a result of the injuries sustained during the fall. Unsafe system of work and a considerable number of other failings. |
HSE Prosecution 4040599 30/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| A E & E Lentjes UK Limited |
| Fined £45,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Janusz Trybala fell approx 23m through an opening while working on a steel gantry. The fitter died as a result of the injuries sustained during the fall. Unsafe system of work and a considerable number of other failings. |
HSE Prosecution 4040609 29/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Lynwood Products Ltd |
| Fined £10,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. IP was emptying a scrap cage into the skip. On camera was seen getting into skip, then onto the pallet of the forks of the truck at a height of 10 ft whilst emptying the cage, he fell to the ground injured. |
HSE Prosecution 4126085 29/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Roscope Ltd |
| Fined £2,000 under MHSWR 1999. Employee had thumb amputated when the gloves he was wearing became entangled in the bit of the pillar drill he was operating. Accident arose from a failure to undertake a suitable and sufficient assessment of risks arising from the operation of such drills. |
HSE Prosecution 4132625 30/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| Formax (UK) Ltd |
| Fined a total of £6,000 under MHSWR 1999 and PUWER 1998. Employee injured hand at unguarded in-running nip of hot rollers of multiaxial textile machine. Lack of suitable and sufficient risk assessment. |
HSE Prosecution 4134477 30/10/08 Week ending: 09/01/09 |
| The Health and Safety Offences Act 2008: HSE Chair, Judith Hackitt welcomes tougher penalties. |
| The Health and Safety Offences Act 2008 comes into force on Friday 16th January 2009. The Act fulfils a longstanding Government and HSE commitment to provide courts with greater sentencing powers for H&S crimes. These include making imprisonment an option for more H&S offences in both lower and higher courts.. |
Internet: www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2008/ukpga_20080020_en_1 HSE (National) Press Release E011:09 15/1/09 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Concern as accident statistics stagnate. |
| The downward trend in work accidents that Britain has been experiencing for the past decade has ground to a juddering halt according to the latest HSE statistics. Although the figures have shown an improvement on the terrible 2006/07 period where fatalities reached a five-year high, HSE reports that recorded long term falls in fatal and major injuries and work-related ill-health have slowed to a crawl or even stopped completely. |
Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/hssoct08.htm Safety Management December 2008:4 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Britain needs more asbestos protection. |
| Asbestos could still be killing up to 10,000 people a year according to UCATT, a higher figure than is given by HSE. HSE suggest that 20 die each week from asbestos-related illnesses. UCATT say "We think the real toll is over double [HSE's estimate]." |
Safety Management December 2008:5 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Deafness is problem for UK troops. |
| Many soldiers returning from service in Afghanistan are suffering "severe and permanent" hearing damage as a result of the noise of combat. Nearly ten per cent of soldiers in the Grenadier Guards have such damage that they could be barred from further frontline service, and even see their civilian job prospects affected. The loudness etc of the noise has caused problems such as burst eardrums, tinnitus, and total deafness in some cases. |
Safety Management December 2008:5 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Enforcement Board "will help vulnerable workers". |
| The new Fair Enforcement Board, which aims to protect vulnerable workers from unscrupulous and exploitative employers has sat for the first time. |
Safety Management December 2008:6 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Working time opt-out under threat as MEPs push for abolition. |
| British employers' ability to opt-out from the European 48-hour maximum week has been threatened after a committee of MEPs voted that it should be scrapped. Although the MEPs have succeeded in pushing the issue before the full Parliament, they are far from likely to succeed as they require the support of over 60 per cent of MEPs in order for the opt-out to be scrapped. |
Safety Management December 2008:7 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| The Safety Offences Act explained. |
| The new Health and Safety (Offences) Act comes into force in January, introducing the prospect of higher fines for both firms and individuals, and making imprisonment an option for the courts in some cases - the implications for business and individuals. (Steffan Groch) |
Safety Management December 2008:8-10 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Noxious gas leak kills engineer instantly. |
| Cold Move fined £35,000 with costs of £6,116 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Alan Golden, a plant engineer, died instantly when he was exposed to 2.5 tonnes of ammonia which leaked from the refrigeration system of the firm's cold store. It would appear that Mr Golden was probably changing the oil in the system, a task for which there was no suitable method statement. It is thought that he had opened one of the older valves and the fact that the oil had stopped draining and the ammonia was coming out, was not noticed. Mr Golden was apparently overcome before he could turn off the valve. The newer valves automatically shut off when hand pressure is removed. Had these valves been used everywhere, the incident would not have happened. There were additional shortcomings, in that the tank on the emergency breathing apparatus was nearly empty so another employee was forced to withdraw from the search for Mr Golden. The company had also failed to provide the specialist training that Mr Golden had previously |
Safety Management December 2008:16 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Charity fined for death of teenage girl on activity trip in Scotland. |
| The Abernethy Trust fined £16,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Laura McDairmant died of injuries she sustained whilst "gorge jumping". Inadequate site-specific risk assessment, no formal overview of the site safety systems to monitor that they were working as intended. |
Safety Management December 2008:19 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Safety the priority for Local Authority. |
| With more than 9,000 employees, from teachers and street cleaners to accountants and solicitors, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council has a tough job on its hands to keep staff as well as members of the public healthy and safe. (Joanna Gurman) |
Safety Management December 2008:28-31 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| The drugs don't work. |
| The misuse of drugs and alcohol at work can have serious implications for safety so it is vital for employers to nip the problem in the bud - where to start. (Lindsay Hadfield) |
Safety Management December 2008:33-37 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Myths about skincare in the workplace. |
| Protecting workers' skin can be a complex task. Some of the myths and misconceptions surrounding skin protection and some tips and advice. (Chris Packham) |
Safety Management December 2008:39-40,42 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Chemicals and skin - it's in your hands. |
| With the latest statistics from the HSE revealing an estimated 20,000 people suffered from occup skin problems in the last 12 months, the role gloves can play in protecting workers' skin against irritants and chemicals. (John Williams) |
Safety Management December 2008:45-46,48 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Landlord jailed. |
| Mehmat Parlak sentenced to serve four months in jail, and his company, Watchacre Properties Ltd, fined £21,000 under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The case followed a fatal fire in 2007 and offences included failing to make a suitable and sufficient risk assessment, provide adequate smoke alarms in the common parts of the premises, and ensure that routes to emergency exits from the premises and the exits were clear. |
Fire Risk Management December 2008:4 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| New Scottish working group. |
| The Scottish Government has set up a working group to examine urgently how to reduce deaths and injuries from fire. |
Fire Risk Management December 2008:4 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Risk Profile. |
| Why some risk assessors are failing to ensure that risk is reduced so far as is reasonably practicable. (Chris Martin) |
Fire Risk Management December 2008:11-14 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Festival impact. |
| How the local fire service and other agencies overcame significant threats posed to the Glastonbury Festival from a nearby scrapyard fire. (Jon Miller) |
Fire Risk Management December 2008:15-18 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Shopping solutions. |
| The evacuation, smoke control and structural fire engineering design of a shopping centre in Scotland. (Michael Belsham and Nick Bernab |
Fire Risk Management December 2008:28-31 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Loss reporting. |
| Large fire losses in the UK are continuing to grow at an alarming rate. (Roy Watkinson) |
Fire Risk Management December 2008:32-36 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Out of office. |
| To assist fire engineers and regulators, a current project is attempting to validate evacuation modelling software against a real office building evacuation. (James Bertwistle) |
Fire Risk Management December 2008:37-29 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Black report response better on cure than prevention. |
| The Government's response to Dame Carol Black's review of the health of the working-age population has been broadly welcomed for its range of promised actions to promote occup health services for all employers and rehabilitation of the long-term sick. |
Internet: www.workingforhealth.gov.uk/Government-response HSW January 2009:2 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| HSE backs away from stress intervention. |
| HSE Chief Executive, Geoffrey Podger, says that the Executive should not have responsibility for policing employers' management of some work-related health conditions, claiming that the HSE "may not be the best players to intervene" to reduce disorders such as stress, which may have both work-related and non-work causes. |
HSW January 2009:3 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Legislative calendar. |
| Calendar of new and up and coming legislation. |
HSW January 2009:8 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Stockline inquiry finishes. |
| The Public Inquiry into the fatal Stockline explosion has ended. The Chair of the Inquiry will present the report to Government Ministers in the New Year. |
HSW January 2009:9 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Tarmac subsidiary hands HAVS victim £10,000. |
| A concrete products worker who developed hand-arm vibration syndrome has won an out-of-court settlement of £10,000 from his employers, Charcon Tunnels. Frederick Roebuck used a vibrating poker to mould and compact segments of concrete tunnel for up to five hours a day, five days a week. He has continued to work for the company but no longer uses vibrating tools. |
HSW January 2009:9 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Shades of the prison house? |
| The new Offences Act allows magistrates to imprison offenders for many offences and quadruples the fines they can levy for many safety breaches, but will penalties actually change? (Lucie Ponting) |
HSW January 2009:14-16 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Halcrow's Glasgow rangers. |
| Halcrow's small health and safety team has been working to raise the competence of its worldwide workforce. (Jocelyn Dorrell) |
HSW January 2009:18-20,22 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Engaging directors: the business case. |
| Proposing a way to integrate safety factors into board-level decision making. (Duncan Spencer) |
HSW January 2009:28-29 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Buyer beware. |
| Why ergonomic principles should come before ergonomic products in DSE assessment. (Duncan Abbott) |
HSW January 2009:31-32 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Site specifics: migrant workers. |
| The free advice available on the web on H&S for migrant workers. (Bridget Leathley) |
HSW January 2009:34-36 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Managing stress in the workplace. |
| In the second of the series on managing stress in the workplace, a look at what can be done to overcome the barriers. |
Health and Safety Newsletter(16) Dec 2008 - Jan 2009:6-7 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| A towering challenge. |
| Effective H&S management is vital in any work environment - and when your workplace is Blackpool Tower, it's also a challenge. But it's one that the company MP Marine rose to (literally!) when they landed the job of giving the landmark a facelift. How they tackled the Tower. (Mike Hawkins) |
Health and Safety Newsletter(16) Dec 2008 - Jan 2009:8-9 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| REACH rules. |
| Firms now have a mandatory duty to register their use of certain chemicals. |
Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/reach RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Bulletin December 2008:3 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Protecting guests. |
| Fire safety rules covering small hotels and guest houses are outlined in a new booklet from CLG. "Do you have paying guests?" includes guidelines for reducing fire risks in small establishments. |
Internet: www.communities.gov.uk/publications/fire/payingguests RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Bulletin December 2008:4 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Gas alert. |
| Health specialists are reminding companies and the public to have their fossil fuel and wood burning appliances, including boilers, heaters and ovens, checked by a registered engineer to reduce risks from carbon monoxide. |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Bulletin December 2008:4 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Bristol college and charity fined after students exposed to asbestos risks. |
| City of Bristol College was fined £10,000 and costs of £18,922.53 and Barton Hill Settlement Limited was fined £4,000 and costs of £6,000, both under HASAWA 1974 s3. The Bristol college and charity exposed a group of Prince's Trust volunteers and their supervisor to risk of asbestos. They removed a partition wall using hand tools and electric sanding machines, which resulted in the release of large amounts of dust and the contamination of the premises. Tests showed that the wall was made from Asbestos Insulation Board and the premises had to be isolated and expertly cleaned up. The issue of asbestos was not addressed on the risk assessment for the project. |
HSE (National) Press Release 016/SWW/08 12/1/09 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Employment agency bosses invited to wake up to free breakfast and money saving advice. |
| Nottinghamshire employment agency bosses are invited to a free breakfast to discover more about their health and safety responsibilities and how it can save their business money. The event on Tuesday 27 January has been co-ordinated by the HSE and is a chance for agencies to see how the law affects them. It is being held at the Belfry Hotel in Nottingham. |
Info: email ian.weekes@hse.gse.gov.uk HSE (National) Press Release HSE/EM/841/2009 13/1/09 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| HSE invites Water Management Specialists plus suppliers and users of surface treatment equipment to a Legionella awareness seminar Birmingham, 27 March. |
| HSE is holding a Legionella Awareness Seminar, at 10.00 am, in Birmingham on 27 March. Contact Natalka Heath on 01782 602344 or email natalka.heath@hse.gsi.gov.uk to book a place. |
HSE (National) Press Release WM/437/08 13/1/09 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| HSE calls for safer working for removal and haulage firms. |
| Fox Group (Moving & Storage) Limited was fined £3,515 and costs of £2,000 under MHSWR 1999 and PUWER 1998. Steven Millward (43) was acting as a banksman, seeing a removals van back into a space when he became trapped between the van and a brick wall. He was hospitalised overnight. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/EM/842/2009 14/1/09 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Leading waste management organisations pledge to reduce accidents by 10%. |
| The number of fatal incidents in the waste and recycling industry is more than 10 times the national average and reportable accidents in these workplaces are more than 4 time the national average. This has made working in the industry one of the most dangerous jobs in Great Britain. As a result, members of the Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) forum have pledged to commit their organisations to improve these statistics by signing a 5 year charter, to improve the health, safety and well-being of their workers. |
HSE (National) Press Release E010:09 14/1/09 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Nursing home company fined £80,000 after Oxford woman dies at care home. |
| Southern Cross Healthcare Ltd was fined a total of £80,000 and costs of £120,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3 and MHSWR 1999. An 82 year old woman resident, who suffered from dementia, died at one of their care homes. She had wandered from her bed, opened a first floor window, climbed onto the window sill and then fell out, unobserved. She died as a result of her injuries sustained in this incident. |
HSE (South East) Press Release COISE/09-01 9/1/09 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Asbestos inspections for companies in Kent. |
| The HSE, together with local authorities, will be carrying out targeted inspections in Kent next month to make sure companies are not exposing workers to potentially harmful asbestos fibres. |
HSE (South East) Press Release COISE/0501 12/1/09 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Health and Safety Executive's New Year safety message for business in the East of England after almost 14,000 workplace incidents. |
| A total of 13,821 people were killed or injured in work-related incidents across the East of England last year according to the latest figures from the HSE. That's an average of almost 266 incidents every week and 23 of them deaths. HSE is calling on the region's employers and workforce to help make 2009 a better year. |
HSE (East) Press Release HSE-E-126 12/1/09 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| HSE warns employers on the importance of equipment maintenance following prosecution of Luton firm. |
| F & R Cawley Ltd was fined a total of £5,900 and costs of £2,131 under PUWER 1998 and MHSWR 1999. The company was emptying the skip, which required it to be lifted in the air and tipped so its contents fell into the back of a truck. While this was being carried out the skip's large metal doors, weighing 14 kilos each, came loose at the hinges and fell off. One struck the pavement, the other hit the employee on the head causing a 4 inch cut. It was found the skip doors had been removed and refitted during a refurbishment. The 'in-house' welders had not been given instructions to follow for the safe refitting of the doors and the company had no monitoring system to ensure this safety critical matter was picked up before the skip left the workshop. |
HSE (East) Press Release HSE-E-133 12/1/09 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| North East to "be part of the solution" - HSE consults on its new strategy for Health and Safety. |
| Around 100 key stakeholders of the North East business, public and third sectors have met to determine the future strategy of the HSE. Their strategy is: 'The Health and Safety of Great Britain: Be Part of the Solution'. |
HSE (North East) Press Release NE/007/09 13/1/09 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Company fined for putting lives at risk from carbon monoxide poisoning. |
| Supaglazing Ltd were fined £4,500 and costs of £4,500 under GSIUR 1998. Also a victim surcharge of £15.00. The double glazing company installed a conservatory and put a young boy and his mother at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning after making alterations to a domestic property. The work carried out adversely affected the safety of the gas fitting. |
HSE (South East) Press Release COISE/0401 13/1/09 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Skye's crofters and farmers urged to sign up for safety event. |
| HSE urges crofters and farmers from the Isle of Skye to attend a free Safety Awareness event in Portree on the late afternoon of Tuesday 10 February. Invitations have been sent out by post and despite the dark nights and cold weather, HSE would like to see as many as possible of those who work on the land on Skye signing up to attend. |
Info: Elizabeth McKee 0141 275 3014 or email Elizabeth.mckee@hse.gsi.gov.uk HSE (Scotland) Press Release SCO/004/09 15/1/09 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Free health and safety advice for employers of migrant workers in Aberdeenshire. |
| Employers of migrant workers throughout Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire are urged to attend a free half day workshop in Aberdeen on Friday 23 January 2009, where advice will be provided on how they can meet their health and safety responsibilities for overseas employees. |
Info: Valerie Holland 0131 247 2026 HSE (Scotland) Press Release SCO/003/09 15/1/09 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| NFU North East backs farming campaign to tackle one of Britain's deadliest industries. |
| The NFU in the North East has backed a new campaign to help prevent deaths on farms. Statistics have highlighted farming as one of the most dangerous ways to make a living in Britain and "Make the promise. Come Home Safe" is a hard hitting campaign from the HSE. They will be sending "Promise Packs" to around 70,000 British farmers. |
HSE (North East) Press Release NE/013/09 15/1/09 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Micronized Foods Products Ltd |
| Fined £2,500 under PUWER 1998. While running the Micronizer plant, both IP and the Senior Operator noticed a blockage at the bottom of grain elevator. While IP was waiting for senior operative to fetch a vacuum cleaner to remove blockage, IP removed the cover from the base of the grain elevator and started removing the blockage by hand. As he did this the elevator restarted trapping his fingers. |
HSE Prosecution 4133701 3/11/08 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Demolition Dismantling Services Ltd |
| Fined £3,350 under HASAWA 1974 s3. A worker suffered leg, pelvic and arm injuries when he fell approx 5 metres through a fragile roof onto a concrete floor below. The company had not provided suitable training, and adequate risk assessment for the work or suitable safety equipment to prevent a fall and only provided limited supervision to an untrained general labourer. |
HSE Prosecution 40957941 3/11/08 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Kores Nordic (G.B.) Limited |
| Fined £3,350 under HASAWA 1974 s3. The IP caught hand in a roller. |
HSE Prosecution 4115066 4/11/08 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Natures Way Foods Ltd |
| Fined total of £30,000 under PUWER 1998 and MHSWR 1999. Agency worker had her finger amputated when cleaning a machine which was insufficiently guarded. The company's risk assessment for the machine had failed to identify insufficient guarding. |
HSE Prosecution 4124191 4/11/08 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Macintyre Care |
| Fined under HASAWA 1974 s3. IP was being hoisted from his chair onto his bed. IP tipped forward on the sling and fell to the floor hitting his head on the door guard and became stuck between the arm of the hoist and the door. |
HSE Prosecution 4129793 4/11/08 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Phoenix Auto Parts |
| Fined total of £2,000 under DSEAR 2002. Failure to carry out a risk assessment and implement measures to control the risks from handling petrol, including elimination of sources of ignition. |
HSE Prosecution 4102304 5/11/08 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| TRC (Scotland) Limited |
| Fined £1,000 under CAR 2006. Worked with asbestos containing materials without adequately controlling the risk of harmful asbestos fibres being released into the air and breathed in by employees. |
HSE Prosecution 4103776 5/11/08 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| GOS Tool and Engineering Services Ltd |
| Fined £2,500 under PUWER 1998. Employee injured on rotating stockbar projecting from CNC lathe. Effective measures were not taken to prevent access by employees to rotating stockbars projecting from the CNC lathe. |
HSE Prosecution 4133381 5/11/08 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Peter Marquis |
| Fined £2,500 under PUWER 1998. An employee was hit by a reversing vehicle and suffered multiple fractures and internal injuries. The injured person and others were working on the floor of the transfer station while the excavator and a loading shovel worked close by. The excavator tracked back and crushed the teenage worker. The defendant failed to ensure effective segregation between the pedestrian employees and moving vehicles. |
HSE Prosecution 4133881 5/11/08 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Berneslai Homes Limited |
| Fined £2,200 under WHR 2005. IP went up ladder to replace ridge tiles on hip of roof. Could not get a cat ladder up so walked up the ridge tiles, did bottom of hip and worked his way up and got to top of hip to side, tiles were sandy and made him slide off roof. |
HSE Prosecution 4128423 6/11/08 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Fieldhead Plumbing and Heating |
| Fined total of £1,300 under GSIUR 1998. Installer unregistered despite previous warning. |
HSE Prosecution 4100131 7/11/08 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Calderbrook Estates Ltd |
| Fined £2,500 under WHR 2005. Calderbrook Estates Ltd by its act or default did cause the commission of an offence under WHR 2005 by Michael Stephenson in that he failed to take suitable and sufficient measures to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, any persons not in his employment, whereby Calderbrook Estates Ltd is guilty of that offence by virtue of HASAWA 1974 s36 and s33. |
HSE Prosecution 4124415 6/11/08 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Michael Stephenson |
| Fined £2,000 under WHR 2005. IP was on the roof when he slipped and fell 4.2m off the roof to the ground and fractured both his heels. |
HSE Prosecution 4124420 6/11/08 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Paul Turney |
| Conditional Discharge under CAR 2006. Complaint about ACMs being actively crushed with rubble at this site. 3 breaches in relation to failures to assess risk, control exposure and not spread. |
HSE Prosecution 4124710 6/11/08 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Nigel Talling |
| Fined £4,000 under WHR 2005. Talling (t/a Southern Buildings) failed to ensure safe work at height on agricultural building roof. Employee fell 5m. Injured back to the extent he is 20% permanently disabled and has had to change careers. Edge protection available for roof back at yard but no-one on site erected it and nobody checked that site was correctly set up before work began. IP slipped on roof ridge and slid down, falling from edge. Incident was totally foreseeable and nature of hazards are high risk and well known. |
HSE Prosecution 4128686 6/11/08 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Kingspan Insulation Limited |
| Fined £4,000 under PUWER 1998. |
HSE Prosecution 4141245 6/11/08 Week ending: 16/01/09 |
| Lords' judgment confirms burden of proof lies with employers. |
| The House of Lords has ruled that in safety cases involving an injury, the prosecution is under no duty to identify and prove specific acts or omissions, but the defence must show that it has managed the risk so far as is reasonably practicable. Lord Hope said, "In cases such as the present, where a person sustains injury at work, the facts will speak for themselves. Prima facie, his employer, or the person by whose undertaking he was liable to be affected, has failed to ensure his health and safety. Otherwise there would have been no accident. "But a case where the alleged risk has not had this result cannot be dealt with so easily. It will be necessary to identify and prove the respects in which there was a breach of duty. This is likely to require more by way of evidence than simply an assertion that that state of affairs existed." The judgment upholds the Court of Appeal's decision in December in the case of R v Chargot Ltd and others. |
SHP January 2009:7 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Inquiry to investigate construction deaths. |
| An inquiry has been set up to investigate the high number of worker deaths in the construction industry. 72 workers were fatally injured in the sector last year. Former ACAS chair Rita Donaghy has been appointed as its head. |
RoSPA Occup Safety and Health Journal January 2009:2 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Buncefield blast: five companies charged. |
| Five companies are to be prosecuted following the explosions and fire at the Buncefield Oil Storage Depot in December 2005. Total UK Ltd, Hertfordshire Oil Storage Ltd, British Pipeline Agency Ltd, TAV Engineering Ltd and Motherwell Control Systems 2003 Ltd will appear in court during January 2009 to answer charges. |
RoSPA Occup Safety and Health Journal January 2009:3 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Staff to get legal right to request training. |
| Thanks to new legislation expected to come into force in 2010, each employee who has worked for a company for at least six months, will have the right to request training relevant to their job and employers will have to consider seriously the requests they receive. |
RoSPA Occup Safety and Health Journal January 2009:3 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Care concerns. |
| HSE, LACORS and the Commission for Social Care Inspection have joined forces to organise 16 seminars for owners and managers of nursing and residential care homes. |
Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/campaigns/conferences/chws.htm RoSPA Occup Safety and Health Journal January 2009:4 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Safe bet. |
| A new working group is being set up to try and reduce the level of violence faced by betting shop employees. |
Internet: www.community-tu.org/information/101740/101478/bsc RoSPA Occup Safety and Health Journal January 2009:4 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Streetsafe Sam. |
| Energy & Utility Skills has produced three interactive CDs to equip workers in the waste management industry with H&S know-how. |
Internet: www.euskills.co.uk/waste/index.php?pageID=91 RoSPA Occup Safety and Health Journal January 2009:4 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Site safety failings: firms fined £30,000. |
| Anthony Wilson Homes Ltd fined £25,000 and costs of £10,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2 & s3 and MHSWR 1999 (the company has now gone into liquidation). M J Curle Ltd fined £5,000 and costs of £7,500 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Matthew Watton, an employee of Anthony Wilson Homes, had to have part of his leg amputated after he was crushed when a tipper truck overturned trapping him against a pile of bricks and rubble. |
RoSPA Occup Safety and Health Journal January 2009:4 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Rail H&S on agenda. |
| Achieving excellence in H&S is one of the key issues for Britain's expanding rail network. The Office of Rail Regulation has set out its plans for the next five years. |
RoSPA Occup Safety and Health Journal January 2009:4 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Fire safety. |
| A brief guide to fire safety in the workplace, covering legal duties, fire risk assessments and emergency plans, and issues that should be included when developing a fire safety system for the workplace. (Sarah Tullet) |
RoSPA Occup Safety and Health Journal January 2009:17-21 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Breathe easy. |
| Every year many new cases of occup asthma are diagnosed and many more people with pre-existing asthma find that exposure to a substance at work makes their condition worse. (Isobel Allen) |
RoSPA Occup Safety and Health Journal January 2009:25-29 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Fighting fatigue. |
| A thief in the night, sleep apnoea robs you of your well-earned rest. It destroys your quality of life, and it turns you into a health and safety hazard. It does it all so stealthily you suspect nothing. (Nick Cook) |
RoSPA Occup Safety and Health Journal January 2009:33-37 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Freedom fighters. |
| How do H&S professionals convince the wider public and influential sceptics that safety actually means freedom and not constraint. (Roger Bibbings) |
RoSPA Occup Safety and Health Journal January 2009:46-47 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Customer service is the sickest job. |
| According to new research, customer service workers, such as call centre operators, are more than twice as likely to take days off sick than any other occupation. Nearly five per cent of those surveyed had taken off at least one day the previous week. |
RoSPA Safety Express January/February 2009:4 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Working in winter. |
| The Met Office may be predicting a warmer winter than usual, but don't let a cold snap catch workers by surprise. |
RoSPA Safety Express January/February 2009:5 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Lorry loads. |
| A new report from the Health and Safety Laboratory has published good practice for securing loads on curtain-sided lorries. The report reviews existing legislation and guidance in the UK, Europe, North America and Australasia, and current practice across a cross-section of UK industry. |
Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr662.htm RoSPA Safety Express January/February 2009:8 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Guidance update on working at height in schools. |
| Guidance especially developed for schools, following the introduction of the Work at Height Regs 2005, has now been reviewed and updated. |
Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/falls/casestudies/schoolguidance.htm RoSPA Safety Express January/February 2009:9 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Footnotes. |
| Sorting out the staggering range of occup risks to feet. (Nick Cook) |
RoSPA Safety Express January/February 2009:10-11 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Fireworks manslaughter case. |
| The owner of a fireworks depot and his son have denied the manslaughter of two firefighters who died in an explosion at a site in East Sussex. Martin and Nathan Winter pleaded not guilty at a recent court appearance, both men have been charged with two counts of manslaughter. The indictment alleges that the men unlawfully killed the firefighters by gross negligence, by failing to provide a "duty of care in the handling and the storage of fireworks that posed a [risk of] mass explosion or hazard". A not guilty plea was also entered for the company, Alpha Fireworks Ltd, which faces two charges of contravening H&S legislation. |
RoSPA Safety Express January/February 2009:20 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| NHS violence increasing. |
| Physical assaults on NHS staff in England are increasing, with new figures for 2007/08 showing 284 more attacks than in the previous year. |
RoSPA Safety Express January/February 2009:20 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Asbestos database call. |
| Campaigners are calling for a nationwide survey of all public buildings, as growing numbers of teachers, doctors and nurses are diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases. The results could be used to create a national database so that employees and the public can check how much asbestos their workplace contains. |
RoSPA Safety Express January/February 2009:20 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Setting an example. |
| Three new entries have been added to HSE's ever-expanding list of example RAs: a charity shop, motor vehicle bodyshop and factory maintenance work. |
Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/risk/casestudies/index.htm RoSPA Safety Express January/February 2009:20 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Insurers lose asbestos damages fight. |
| Insurers have failed in a bid to avoid paying compensation to asbestos victims, after a High Court ruling in November. The decision means that insurers remain liable to pay damages for mesothelioma caused by exposure to asbestos in the workplace - if they insured the employer at the time the exposure occurred. |
SHP January 2009:8 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Council fined £75,000 over crush death. |
| Plymouth City Council fined £75,000 and costs of £16,744 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Mr Roy Littley was fatally crushed when a colleague, using a forklift truck which he was unauthorised to drive, raised Mr Littley on the forks of the truck and drove forward instead of raising the forks. Mr Littley was crushed between the truck and lorry they were intending to unload. Failure to undertake a suitable risk assessment, failure to supervise the procedure, and failure to train employees properly. |
SHP January 2009:11 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Farmer asphyxiated by animal feed. |
| The risks of incorrect animal-feed storage were highlighted in the case of 26 yr old David Hart, who died when he was crushed by a trailer and buried under tonnes of feed. Mr Hart had been standing at the rear of a trailer that had been tipped up, in order to act as a hopper to store the feed, emptying feed through a chute into a wheelbarrow. The axles at the back of the trailer were supported by railway sleepers that were rotten inside. The load shifted, and the whole thing collapsed, tipping the feed on top of Mr Hart, both crushing him and suffocating him. The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death. |
SHP January 2009:12 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Fine outlook. |
| The trend in recent years had been towards larger and larger fines for serious breaches of H&S law, but are these higher financial penalties really making any difference? (Michael Appleby) |
SHP January 2009:15 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| The dynamic duo. |
| Decisions made by emergency services personnel about whether or not to take risks in fraught situations have been the subject of much negative media attention recently. Outlining the issues facing "first responders" and suggestions for ways in which managers can help them do the right thing - for themselves and those who need their help. (Bill Gough) |
SHP January 2009:31-32 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Positional sense. |
| Few practitioners would argue about the need to periodically audit their organisation's H&S management systems, so why is the process often given a low priority in company H&S plans? The benefits of, and barriers to, auditing, and an argument that we should be starting with the end in mind. (Helen Toll) |
SHP January 2009:38-40 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| If it ain't broke. |
| Pleural plaques are caused by inhaling asbestos fibres but, unlike more malign conditions caused by exposure to the deadly substance, they are symptomless and do not cause disability. Nevertheless, there is a great deal of legal debate and development in the area of compensation for sufferers. A review of the legal reasoning that has led to the current position and an argument that any reversal would be counter-productive. (Mike Boyle) |
SHP January 2009:43-44 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Shrinking certainty. |
| How do you regulate in a world of unknowns? An overview of the work carried out in the area of carbon nanotubes, and a caution to organisations that work with such substances to keep an eye on developing research. (Jim Noonan) |
SHP January 2009:46-48 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Another LEVel. |
| The use of local exhaust ventilation (LEV) systems is a common and effective way of controlling contamination of workplaces by hazardous dusts, fumes and vapours. However, many systems used by employers are not designed, installed, or maintained properly, which has prompted the HSE to issue a new set of information solutions. (John McAlinden) |
SHP January 2009:51-52 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| HSE warns exposing untrained workers to asbestos will be penalised. |
| Scriven Electrical Contractors Ltd was fined £3,000 and costs of £2,757 under CAR 2006. An electrician employed by Scriven installed 3 heat detectors and cabling in a commercial sized kitchen and boiler room. Although the ceiling tiles contained 5-50% brown asbestos, no asbestos awareness training was given by his employer prior to commencement of the work, despite being a legal requirement. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/wm/434/2009 19/1/09 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| From field to highway - HSE holds agricultural machinery workshop. |
| HSE has held a workshop on health, safety and legal issues relating to agricultural machinery. It addressed such serious matters as accidents, inspection and roadside checks. For further information about the issues covered contact Glenda Treneary on 01752 276315 or email glenda.treneary@hse.gsi.gov.uk |
HSE (South West) Press Release 26SWW/09 16/1/09 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Dundee company fined £10,000 after two men injured in lift fall. |
| Tricon Construction Ltd were fined £10,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Two men fell through a gap between the fourth floor and the lift shaft wall. One man fell over ten metres while his colleague fell two metres. The pair avoided a falling concrete lintel, which weighed 110 kg but both suffered serious injuries in the incident. |
HSE (Scotland) Press Release SCO/005/09 16/1/09 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| NFU East Midlands and Lincolnshire farmer back safety campaign. HSE urge farmers to "make the promise: come home safe". |
| "Make the promise. Come home Safe" is the hard hitting campaign from the HSE targeting farmers and their families, including grandparents and children. In Lincolnshire, there were 1 fatality and 24 major incidents in 2007-8. The East Midlands had 6 fatalities and 41 major incidents in 2007-8. During January 2009, HSE will be sending out "Promise Packs" to around 70,000 British farmers. |
HSE (East Midlands) Press Release 19/1/09 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Safety warning for Teesside industrial estates. |
| Owners and residents on industrial estates across Teesside have been warned the health and safety inspectors will be out in force carrying out safety checks across the area commencing 26 January and that enforcement action will be taken if any breaches of the relevant legislation are found. |
HSE (North East) Press Release NE/018/09 19/1/09 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Health and safety event for next generation of farmers in Dorset. |
| HSE and Kingston Maurward Agricultural College in Dorset are hosting a practical farming safety event for the next generation who want to work the land. This evening training course will be held next month, 19 February 2009 at the college and organisers are keen to hear from as many interested people as possible. Aimed at 16 to 30 year olds who either want to start off their career in farming or who already work on a farm, those interested in attending the event should register at glenda.treneary@hse.gsi.gov.uk |
HSE (South West) Press Release 34SWW/09 21/1/09 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| HSE warn of danger of using fork lift trucks after man is crushed to death. |
| Townley Dyestuffs Ltd were fined £10,000 and costs of £6,963.25 under HASAWA 1974 s2. A 1.1 ton container of dye slid off the front of the forks of an FLT crushing employee Mark Kiveal when he was assisting with an unloading operation. Two containers had successfully been emptied before the third slipped causing the incident. |
HSE (North West) Press Release HSE/NW/034Townleydyestuffs/09 22/1/09 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Warning to companies as firm fined after man badly burned. |
| Worksop Galvanizing was fined £7,000 and costs of £4,465 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Peter Allen, 37, was on his third shift at the factory when wires holding a beam being lowered into a bath of molten zinc broke. One end of the beam fell onto the bath and splashed zinc over him. His body and face were badly burnt and his eyesight has still not recovered. Investigations revealed that the company was relying on workers estimating the weight of beams rather than measuring them. |
HSE (South West) Press Release HSE/EM/852 22/1/09 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Council fined after disabled man drowns in bath. |
| Durham County Council fined £30,000 and costs of £20,736 under HASAWA 1974 s3 and MHSWR 1999. Mr John Wood, a disabled man with severe learning disabilities and epilepsy, drowned whilst bathing when the only support worker present in the home, had to leave him for several minutes to attend to another service user. Staff were not adequately trained, working practices were not effectively monitored, and similar previous incidents were not adequately investigated. |
HSE (North East) Press Release NE/021/09 23/1/09 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| East Sussex Company and Director found guilty of manslaughter. |
| HSE is urging companies to carry out full risk assessments following the prosecution of a company, IC Roofing Ltd, and its owner and director, Colin Cooper. Mr Darren Hoofe, a 20-year old employed by IC Roofing Ltd, fell through a skylight onto the factory floor whilst carrying out roofing repairs. He was not wearing a harness and had not received full safety training. He died the next day from his injuries. Mr Colin Cooper was charged with his manslaughter and offences under HASAWA 1974. The jury found him guilty of manslaughter. Sentence has yet to be passed. |
HSE (South East) Press Release COISE/0601 23/1/09 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Nevis Range Development Co plc |
| Fined £2,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Five members of the public sustained injuries of varying severity when a gondola cable car came off the haul/suspension rope at a ride in Scotland. |
HSE Prosecution 4056064 10/11/08 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Kevin John Byrne |
| Fined £1,000 under HASAWA 1974 s7. Five members of the public sustained injuries of varying severity when a gondola cable car came off the haul/suspension rope at a ride in Scotland. |
HSE Prosecution 4144824 10/11/08 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Napier Brown & Co Ltd |
| Fined total of £3,000 under MHSWR 1999 and PUWER 1998. The company failed to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risk to the health and safety of their employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work, especially the risk associated with reactive maintenance on the feed plant to the Fawema 3 line including the rotary valve. |
HSE Prosecution 4124642 10/11/08 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Britton Merlin Ltd |
| Fined total of £5,000 under MHSWR 1999 and MHOR 1992. IP received shoulder injuries whilst transferring a reel of polythene weighing approx 170kg from the vertical to horizontal. |
HSE Prosecution 4117741 12/11/08 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| The Scotts Company (UK) Ltd |
| Fined £80,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. This case did result from the investigation of a fatality, following an unwitnessed accident. |
HSE Prosecution 4118091 12/11/08 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| Simon Williams |
| Fined total of £5,000 under GSIUR 1998. Mr Williams was doing gas work under a registration number that had ceased and also work under a false registration claiming to be CORGI registered. |
HSE Prosecution 4109963 14/11/08 Week ending: 23/01/09 |
| East Sussex director sentenced to 12 months in prison for manslaughter. |
| Colin Cooper, owner and director of IC Roofing Ltd, was sentenced to 12 months in prison after being convicted of manslaughter. He had previously pleaded guilty to health and safety offences and has been banned from being a director of a company for 3 years. His company, IC Roofing, was fined £10,000 and costs of £20,000 for manslaughter. Darren Hoofe died after falling through a skylight whilst working on the roof. |
HSE (South East) Press Release COISE/0701 26/1/09 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| English fire and rescue service could save up to £200m without compromising safety. |
| A new report from the Audit Commission says that the English fire and rescue service could save up to £200m a year without threatening the safety of firefighters. It says that if the good practice of the most efficient fire services was followed by others, the service as a whole would be able to meet and beat its efficiency target. |
Internet: www.audit-commission.gov.uk Fire Risk Management January 2009:3 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| New FIA Council. |
| The Fire Industry Assoc has set up a new Fire Risk Assessment Council, to be chaired by Colin Todd. It will help address the uncertainty about the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order in England and Wales. |
Fire Risk Management January 2009:3 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Rural boost. |
| Seven newly appointed business support officers will provide Shropshire's rural business regions with fire safety support and advice, in a bid to reduce the number of serious fires in rural premises. |
Fire Risk Management January 2009:4 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Business fine. |
| Nader Tehrani fined £10,000 and costs of £1,185 under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. A complaint about conditions at a Scarborough property led North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service to prosecute him for eight contraventions under the Order. |
Fire Risk Management January 2009:5 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Property investment. |
| The fire safety guidance to the Building Regulations in England and Wales has been enhanced to include property protection and business resilience issues. (FRM) |
Fire Risk Management January 2009:8-11 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| House alert. |
| New electrical wiring rules are helping rationalise variations in standards and regulations for domestic fire alarm systems in the UK and Ireland. (Gerald Jones) |
Fire Risk Management January 2009:26-29 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Lease of life. |
| In assessing risks to particular tenants, landlords should consider the extra alarm protection that could be provided. (Neil Perdell) |
Fire Risk Management January 2009:30-32 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Determined design. |
| The issues raised over a recent dispute over the fire safety design of an open-plan residential development. (Steven Cooper) |
Fire Risk Management January 2009:33-36 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Reaching out. |
| A new report underlines the need to better identify and target vulnerable groups who are most at risk of fires in the home. (Jan Wassall) |
Fire Risk Management January 2009:37-39 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Electric energy. |
| New best practice guidance aims to ensure that electrical installation and wiring work in domestic premises does not compromise fire safety. (FRM) |
Internet: Free to download from "Business and Community" section of www.esc.org.uk Fire Risk Management January 2009:44-47 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Ministers promise to tackle occ health. |
| A range of new occup health measures, including a telephone helpline to offer advice to SMEs and a "Fit for Work" service to help people on long-term sick leave return to work, has been promised by ministers in an effort to aid people made ill by their jobs to stay in and return to work. |
Safety Management January 2009:4 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Dead journalist "felt under pressure". |
| A coroner has revealed that a BBC journalist shot dead whilst on assignment in Somalia felt "pressured" to disregard her own safety to keep her job. Comments made at the inquest by her family indicate that she had been told that there were managerial doubts as to her commitment to the job, and that she was desperate to prove them wrong, to the extent that she may have sidelined her safety concerns. |
Safety Management January 2009:5 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| North South death divide. |
| According to the Office of National Statistics, the death rate of men in menial jobs in the north east of England is nearly four times that of men in managerial and professional occupations in the south east. |
Safety Management January 2009:5 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Average cost of workplace death is £1.5m. |
| Every death at work in the UK costs £1.5m on average. The figure is divided into three component costs: human cost, lost output, and resource costs. The human costs alone are estimated at £991,200. |
Safety Management January 2009:5 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Worker involvement is the key to HSE's new safety strategy. |
| Worker involvement is to be the cornerstone of the HSE's new strategic focus, its Chair Judith Hackitt has announced. The issue is one of the key aspects of the HSE's major new strategy, which was launched at the start of December. The new direction follows shortly after the release of Britain's most recent fatal and major accident figures, which show that the steady progress made in earlier decades has come to a halt in the last few years. |
Safety Management January 2009:6 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| HSE "continuing to cut red tape". |
| The HSE believes it has slashed £341m from Britain's administrative costs as a result of its simplification plan. The figure represents 67 per cent of its final target of £505m reduction which it hopes to have met, or even surpassed, by the end of 2010. |
Safety Management January 2009:8 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Warehouser pays ultimate price for unpopular and ignored safety measures. |
| RS Components fined £100,000 and costs of £44,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Peter Hudson was crushed between the crane that he was riding on while attempting to mend it and the top rail of the shelving racks as the crane ascended under the control of his supervisor on the ground. There was a safe system of work whereby a protective cage was fitted to the rider. Technicians had previously told management that the system was unpopular and the caging was irritating to erect, making the fact that it wouldn't be used a foreseeable risk. |
Safety Management January 2009:16 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| The driving force behind safety. |
| Selling over 200,000 vehicles a year from its 150 branches nationwide, Arnold Clarke Automobiles Ltd is Europe's largest independent car dealer. How such a huge organisation manages the health and safety of its workforce. (Joanna Gurman) |
Safety Management January 2009:28-31 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Asbestos - stopping the hidden killer. |
| With 20 tradespeople dying every week from asbestos related disease, it is vital that building and construction firms protect their workers from accidentally disturbing the material. Some of the important points to remember. (Nick Williams) |
Safety Management January 2009:33-35,37-38 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Breathing easier about COSHH compliance. |
| Employers have long had duties to prevent or control exposure to hazardous substances at work, but many still struggle to understand the steps they must take. A look at the basics of the COSHH Regulations, and the first important steps towards compliance. (Gary Noakes) |
Safety Management January 2009:41-42,44 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Preventing another Barrow outbreak. |
| The fatal outbreak of Legionnaires' disease at Barrow-in-Furness in 2002 brought the issue of legionella sharply into focus for many safety managers. A reminder of the steps firms should take to deal with the deadly bacteria in their water systems. (Chris Martin) |
Safety Management January 2009:46-49 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| HSE warns of the need for adequate supervision and planning on trips after a four year old boy is seriously injured. |
| Tameside MBC were fined a total of £25,000 and costs of £23,565 under HASAWA 1974 s3, and were sentenced for one offence incorporating two contraventions. At a previous hearing Clockwork Day Nursery Ltd was fined a total of £21,000 and costs of £6,779.10 under HASAWA 1974 s3. They appealed against the sentence, but the sentence remained unchanged. A 4 year old boy on a Nursery Holiday Club outing slipped 24 metres down an unprotected water channel and became impaled on a tree branch. HSE is urging those responsible for children during outings to ensure their safety through proper planning and supervision. Additionally those responsible for public places should ensure that they have completed a risk assessment and taken sensible precautions to prevent access to potentially dangerous areas. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/014/08 26/1/09 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Swansea man fined £10,000 after worker injured in fall. |
| Arthur David Fletcher was fined £10,000 and costs of £6,257.40 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Mr Fletcher was the principal contractor and manager of the site for a new supermarket and accommodation. He employed Dorian Skippon to undertake construction work who was working with 3 others constructing a temporary floor when a joist collapsed. He fell 2? metres onto the floor below, resulting in serious leg injuries. |
HSE (National) Press Release 044/W/09 27/1/09 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| HSE warns of dangers of using concrete diggers after man suffers burns. |
| Trains (Rochdale) Limited was fined £1,000 and costs of £2,000 under EWR 1989. An employee was operating a mechanical breaker, which breaks up concrete. He was attempting to install a post and rail fence around a car park and while breaking up the concrete he struck a buried live electrical cable receiving burns to his left hand and arm. The incident could have been easily avoided if the employer had provided plans of underground electrical cables and carried out scans of the area to locate any buried services. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/035/09 26/1/09 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Flash-bang science back in the classroom. |
| Judith Hackitt, Chair of HSE, and Dr David Brown, Chief Executive of IChemE, performed the "Flaming Hands" science demonstrations, one of IChemE's safe, risk-assessed "Top 10 Flash Bang Demos" in a bid to encourage more engaging, hands-on science lessons in schools. School science teachers are being urged to stop using fear of breaking H&S rules to re-introduce exciting and engaging practical classroom demonstrations. |
HSE (National) Press Release E078:09 27/1/09 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Polish construction workers encouraged to report poor working conditions to HSE. |
| Over 2.3 million people (including migrant workers) are employed by the UK's construction sector. A recent survey indicates that the largest single group of migrant workers is from Poland, accounting for 2 per cent of the workforce. Stephen Williams, Chief Inspector of Construction, said that Polish and other migrant workers in Britain should have no fear in reporting to the HSE where conditions are so poor where they work that their H&S is at risk as a result. |
HSE (National) Press Release E012:09 28/1/09 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| HSE launches prevent falls from vehicles campaign. |
| HSE has re-launched their campaign that warns about the dangers of falls from vehicles. This type of incident involving workplace transport is a major cause of injuries and costs industry over £35 million each year. The campaign will highlight the many cost effective ways that exist to stop these falls happening. |
HSE (National) Press Release E009:09 29/1/09 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| London to host HSE consultation event. |
| More than 100 key stakeholders of the London business, public and third sectors have met to help determine the future strategy of the HSE. The HSE hosted the event on their strategy 'The Health and Safety of Great Britain, Be part of the Solution'. |
HSE (London) Press Release E001:09 27/1/09 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Wirral Council joins HSE to hit back at health and safety myths. |
| Wirral Council has signed up to the HSE Sensible Risk Campaign to combat the growing number of myths that are undermining important health and safety issues. |
HSE (North West) Press Release HSE/NW/007/08 28/1/09 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Autonumis Ltd |
| Fined £1,000 under PUWER 1998. This case did result from the investigation of a fatality. |
HSE Prosecution 4109910 17/11/08 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Knauf UK GMBH |
| Fined a total of £4,000 under MHSWR 1999 and PUWER 1998. Failed to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery, namely the unguarded rotating rollers on the plasterboard production line machine and also failed to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risk to health and safety when cleaning of the inlet rollers on the plasterboard production line. |
HSE Prosecution 4135047 17/11/08 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Taylor Woodrow Construction Limited |
| Fined £200,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. DP supervisor employed by Ferson Construction Services Ltd. Ferson sub-contracted to Taylor Woodrow Construction Ltd to construct common blockwork supporting wall. Cavity between wall and concrete frame of main structure, to be filled with cement as additional insulation. Risk of wall collapse recognised in method statement. DP pumping cement into cavity when wall failed, surging outwards. DP thrown backwards, struck head sustaining fatal injuries. |
HSE Prosecution 2014088 18/11/08 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| London Southend Airport Co. Limited |
| Fined a total of £12,000 under PUWER 1998 and MHSWR 1999. Employee was hit by self propelled mobile cherry picker which fell over whilst it was being manoeuvred over unstable ground surface to the work area. |
HSE Prosecution 4099463 19/11/08 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| A L Bell Construction |
| Fined £350 under CHSWR 1996. Structural collapse by the overloading of floor joists during construction of a number of domestic residences. |
HSE Prosecution 4101240 19/11/08 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Lloyd Jardine plc |
| Fined £2,000 under CHSWR 1996. Structural collapse by the overloading of floor joists during construction of a number of domestic residences |
HSE Prosecution 4101244 19/11/08 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Loyd Edward Steward |
| Fined £462 under HASAWA 1974 s7. IP knocked off motorcycle by telephone wire held across road by BT employee, Steward. He departed from instructions and did not deploy suitable temporary traffic management equipment. |
HSE Prosecution 4134069 19/11/08 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| P C Richardson & Co (Middlesbrough) Ltd |
| Fined £100,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Fatal accident occurred during work to decommission one of the pile chimneys at the Sellafield site. P C Richardson & Co. Ltd was the decommissioning and demolition sub-contractor. One of the company's employees was removing steelwork inside the chimney when he fell approx 95 metres and suffered fatal injuries. DP was removing a girder from a ledge in the chimney. Rather than working from a safe working platform, he crossed onto the ledge itself. The girder tipped upwards and sliced through his safety harness. He lost his balance and fell. A safe working method had been developed but different practices were introduced as the work progressed. Poor monitoring failed to identify changes and the increased fall risk they introduced. |
HSE Prosecution 4070815 19/11/08 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Sellafield Limited |
| Fined £150,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Fatal accident occurred during work to decommission one of the pile chimneys at the Sellafield site. Sellafield was the client and principal contractor. One of P C Richardson's employees was removing steelwork inside the chimney when he fell approx 95 metres and suffered fatal injuries. DP was removing a girder from a ledge in the chimney. Rather than working from a safe working platform, he crossed onto the ledge itself. The girder tipped upwards and sliced through his safety harness. He lost his balance and fell. A safe working method had been developed but different practices were introduced as the work progressed. Poor monitoring failed to identify changes and the increased fall risk they introduced. |
HSE Prosecution 4070825 19/11/08 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
| Plymouth City Council |
| Fined a total of £75,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Agency worker employed at a council depot being lifted on the forks of an FLT, became trapped between the fork lift and container lorry, suffering fatal crush injuries. |
HSE Prosecution 4124082 19/11/08 Week ending: 30/01/09 |
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HSE Prosecutions Database
The HSE did not post prosecutions for about a year from January until November 2006. There is therefore be a gap in our database from a hearing date of 24 January 2006 until 1 November 2006. Anyone not finding a case which may have been heard between January and November 2006, should therefore try searching the HSE Prosecutions database.
When the HSE relaunched the Prosecution database in January 2007, after a break of around a year, they appear to have changed the format of the case numbers. Therefore, for all entries with a hearing date before the 24 January 2006 you should search the HSE database using the defendants name instead of the case number we have quoted if you wish to check details for yourself.
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