Neal's Notes For JULY 2010

Too many people use health and safety as an excuse to hide behind the Chair of the Health and Safety Executive has warned

Judith Hackitt made the comments in a letter to Lord Young of Graffham, welcoming his review and offering to help gather evidence for his inquiry. Prime Minister David Cameron appointed Lord Young to lead a Whitehall-wide review of health and safety law and practice. He will also examine compensation culture and report to the Prime Minister in the summer.

In her letter, Judith Hackitt wrote: "The terms of reference of your review extend beyond HSE's remit, which is concerned with addressing real risks and preventing death, injury and ill health to those at work and those affected by work related activities. However, we in HSE have been saying for some time that health and safety is being used by too many as a convenient excuse to hide behind. We welcome your review and stand ready to make available to you whatever information or insight we can."

HSE has been running its myth of the month campaign since 2007, hitting back at some of the ridiculous decisions that are wrongly blamed on health and safety. Often health and safety is invoked to disguise someone's real motives - concerns over costs or complexity, or an unwillingness to honestly defend an unpopular decision. HSE continues to champion a sensible and proportionate approach to dealing with risks in the workplace - not eliminating them from all aspects of life

New courses for 2010

Now is the time to increase your risk assessment skill portfolio that can demonstrate your expertise to employers and clients, through assessment, report and presentation.

1. How to undertake ergonomic assessments and audits

If you are a risk assessor seeking the knowledge of ergonomic principles and techniques so that you can carry out competent risk assessments and record quantitative data that will enable you to write compelling reports that can be communicated to your employer or client, this is the course for you. See enricosmog.com/training/ergrisk
2. Return to work assessments and Stay at work assessments

The course is designed for risk assessors who are required to undertake specialist risk assessments. See www.enricosmog.com/training/uld

Both courses are supplied with comprehensive training material.

Traffic management breakdown

A waste management company has been ordered to pay penalties of more than £16,000 for traffic management failures that led to a worker losing part of his left leg.The 46-year-old was injured in September last year when an 18-tonne Volvo articulated shovel loader ran into him as he worked in a tipping bay at WSR Recycling's Widnes site in Cheshire. He later had to have his leg amputated below the knee.
WSR admitted it had failed to organise its recycling centre to allow pedestrians and vehicles to move safely around the bay, contrary to Regulation 17 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations. On 21 June, Halton magistrates fined the firm £10,000 plus £6338 costs.
After the case, HSE inspector Chris Goddard said it was foreseeable that pedestrians would be working in the same area as trucks, and so WSR should have managed the risks and supervised the site properly to keep workers away from the moving vehicles. Family-owned WSR employs around 40 people and handles about 115,000 tonnes of waste each year.

An HSE inspection campaign in the waste sector during 2009-10 identified poor standards in site layout and traffic management as one of the most significant hazards in the industry. The sector's accident rate is four times the all-industry average

Back pain is a real pain in the workplace

More than a third of sufferers from back pain (36%) say their work environment is the chief contributing factor to the condition, according to a survey for back support specialist Dynaspine.

The poll of 8000 UK workers found that 21% have been forced to take time off work because of backache, but 15% have never received any advice from their employers on how to prevent it. Of the five main causes of work-related back ache identified in the survey, 62% of workers believe sitting at a desk for long periods is the primary cause, while 42% put their back problems down to bad posture.

More than a quarter of respondents said heavy lifting was the root cause of their back pain, with 19% citing stress as the main factor. Around half those questioned (53%) said they coped with back pain by taking painkillers, and 26% claimed they took no action to deal with the issue. A mere 6% said they received treatment for their pain from healthcare professionals.

The Health and Safety Executive, in partnership with the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), the EEF and the TUC, launched the UK's involvement in the Healthy Workplaces European Campaign on Safe Maintenance in London on 21 June 2010.

The formal launch of the campaign sees the start of European Campaign activities in the UK. Speakers at the launch event included Judith Hackitt, Chair of HSE, Hugh Robertson (TUC), Steve Pointer (EEF) and Tim Tregenza (EU-OSHA)

The Healthy Workplaces Europe-wide Campaign for 2010-2011 aims to promote safe and healthy workplaces by encouraging an integrated and structured approach to maintenance.

Maintenance is a process that affects every area of safety and health. Poor standards and a failure to keep working environments in good condition are major causes of accidents and occupational diseases

Clean Air? Take Care!

Research shows that the poor selection, use and maintenance of Respiratory Protective Equipment (RPE) is leaving many workers who are exposed to hazardous substances unprotected. To tackle this the BSIF and HSE in association with a number of other stakeholders have launched a joint campaign Clean Air? Take Care! to increase awareness and understanding in this area.

This dedicated newsletter brings you an update on the campaign as well as a guide to the products and services that could help you meet your obligations in this area.
To access more details about the campaign and its associated free resources please visit: www.cleanairtakecare.org

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