Neal's Notes For October 2005
CONSTRUCTION HEALTH AND SAFETY CAMPAIGN BACK ON THE ROAD
The Construction Industry Advisory Committee, (CONIAC) is pleased to announce that the industry's leading health and safety campaign, Working Well Together (WWT), will once again visit construction workers at their places of work during a five week nation-wide road show. Continuing the success of previous road shows, this year's tour highlights the areas of greatest risk to health and safety on site and demonstrates how to stay safe and healthy. It also promotes cultural change encouraging everyone to work together to bring about improvements. Sponsored by several of the construction industries major stakeholders including, HSS Hire, Berkeley Homes, Bovis Lend Lease, Gleeson, Persimmon Group, Taylor Woodrow and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the road show will visit large and small construction sites across Great Britain, Scotland and Wales, starting at a Persimmon Homes site in Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland. The 2005 road show, which promotes best practice and encourages everyone in the industry to take action to improve the construction industries health and safety performance, features interactive demonstrations highlighting the importance of safe lifting techniques, transport viewing aids, safety harnesses and gives workers an opportunity to test their hearing levels. An important theme for the 2005 road show is 'worker engagement'. The best clients, contractors and professionals, in the industry are demonstrating that where this approach is adopted on sites, the incident rates for accidents, ill health and near misses fall dramatically. Working Well Together (WWT) is the country's leading construction health and safety campaign, supported by the construction industry, trade unions and the Health and Safety Executive. For further information check out the WWT Campaign website at wwt.uk.com
To join WWT call 0845 27 27 500. After falling from height the most common kinds of fatal injury are being struck by a moving/falling object, being struck by a moving vehicle and contact with electricity.
CUSTODIAL SENTENCE FOR COMPANY DIRECTOR FOLLOWING PAPER SHREDDER FATALITY
Company Director, Paul White (43) of Drayton today received a twelve month custodial sentence at Norwich Crown Court following the death of an employee at his paper recycling business, M W White Ltd of Ketteringham, Norwich on 22 December 2003. The custodial sentence followed Mr White's earlier guilty plea to manslaughter and health and safety charges. His company was also fined £30,000 with costs of £55,000. The sentencing follows a full investigation jointly carried between detectives from Norfolk Constabulary CID and inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the death of Kevin Arnup (36). Mr Arnup climbed into a paper-shredding machine to clear blockages when the machine started, fatally injuring him. The machine contained a series of hammers projecting 15cm from a shaft, which revolved at high speed. The extensive investigation revealed that the machine was not securely isolated whilst the unblocking work was being carried out (there was no local electrical isolator provided for the machinery), there was no safe system for such work and the electrical controls for the machine were contaminated with dust. Commenting on the case, Minister for Health and Safety, Lord Hunt said: "Tragic incidents in the workplace such as this are totally preventable. All employers must make the welfare of their employees a top priority by ensuring that safe systems of work are provided and maintained. There is also a need to make certain that employees are properly instructed in how to operate machinery to guard against any threat of injury or death."
HSE investigating Principal Inspector, Paul Carter said: "This was a horrific incident that was entirely foreseeable. Isolating the machinery, a safe system of work for clearing blockages, together with adequate instruction, training and supervision of Paul White's staff would have prevented this incident. Evidence showed that Paul White chose not to follow the advice of his health and safety consultant and instead adopted a complacent attitude allowing the standards in his paper recycling business to fall."
HSE PUBLISHES REVISED PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT GUIDANCE
A revised version of guidance designed to help employers who supply and use personal protective equipment (PPE) at work meet their duties under the law has been published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The guidance, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at Work Regulations 1992 (25), which was first published in 1992, has now been updated to reflect changes to the Regulations, developments in PPE and to clarify guidance queries commonly received by HSE. The Regulations require PPE; for example, safety helmets, gloves, eye protection and high-visibility clothing, to be supplied and used at work wherever there are risks to workers' health and safety that cannot be adequately controlled in other ways. The Regulations require PPE to be:
- properly assessed before use to ensure its suitability for the work being done;
- maintained and stored properly;
- provided with adequate instruction on how to use it safely; and worn correctly by the user.
The first section of the booklet sets out the Regulations, followed by information on how to comply with their requirements. The second part provides details on the different types of PPE available, the types of hazards that may require PPE to be worn, followed by advice on its correct selection, use and maintenance. This section now also features information on the selection and safe use of Personal Fall protection equipment when working at heights. HSE has also reissued A Short Guide to the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations, a free leaflet aimed at providing employers with a brief summary of the law's main requirements. In particular, the guide includes a short synopsis of common workplace hazards and types of PPE that can be used to prevent workers' exposure. The leaflet also provides tips on ensuring PPE is adequately maintained and workers are provided with sufficient training so that it is properly used. Copies of Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended), ISBN 0 7176 6139 3, price £8.95, are available from HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA, tel: 01787-881165 or fax: 01787-313995. Priced publications are also available from good booksellers. Copies of A Short Guide to the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations, INDG174, are available from HSE Books. Alternatively the booklet can be downloaded from the HSE website at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg174.pdf
GET IT RIGHT WHEN WORKING AT HEIGHT
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has joined forces with Dulux Decorator Centers to promote safe working at height practices to painters and decorators. From today, painters and decorators visiting nominated Dulux Decorator Centers across the country will be able to discuss the risks of working at height, complying with the new Working at Height regulations, suitable work at height equipment and best practice, with HSE inspectors, informally and without taking up too much of their working day. Latest HSE statistics reveal the numbers of painters and decorators falling from height whist at work are not reducing amongst small and medium businesses, despite the construction industry becoming increasingly aware of the dangers when working at height.
- 2001/2, 254, painters and decorators were seriously injured as a result of falling from a height, 89 of which were falls over 2 meters.
- 2002/03, 223, painters and decorators were seriously injured as a result of falling from a height, 103 of the falls were from a low height, under 2 meters.
- 2003/4, 245, painters and decorators were seriously injured as a result of falling from height; six of the falls were fatal.
Painters and decorators are welcome to visit the following Dulux Decorator Centers during September to speak to an inspector about safely working at height: -
COMMISSIONER LAUNCHES 2005 CONSTRUCTION HEALTH AND SAFETY ROADSHOW
Health and Safety Commissioner, Danny Carrigan, has launched the construction industry's Working Well Together (WWT), 2005, health and safety roadshow at a Persimmon Homes site in Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland. Continuing the success of previous roadshows, this year's five-week nation-wide tour will visit large and small construction sites, highlighting the areas of greatest risk to workers health and safety on site. It also promotes cultural change ? encouraging everyone to work together to bring about improvements. The tour promotes best practice and encourages everyone in the industry to take action to improve the construction industry's health and safety performance. Speaking from the launch, HSC Commissioner, Danny Carrigan said: "The Working Well Together Roadshow aims to prevent injuries and ill health by delivering vital information and advice to construction workers on site and I am delighted to see so many companies continuing to make vital contributions to improving this industry's health and safety performance. "Construction is a dangerous place to work, last reporting year 72 construction workers died, 12 of those deaths occurred in Scotland. Although this was the lowest national level seen on record, each death is still one too many, especially when most could have been prevented with sensible risk control.
"Construction is a killer industry, we must get these messages across to those who work in it". At the launch, Health and Safety Executive inspector, Jim Skilling, responsible for health and safety on Scottish construction sites, joined Mr. Carrigain. Speaking from the site Mr. Skilling said: "This site shows how much can be achieved by an enlightened client and a principal contractor with a positive attitude to health and safety and worker engagement, an important theme for this year's roadshow. The best clients, contractors and professionals in the industry are demonstrating that where worker engagement is adopted on sites, the incident rate for accidents, ill health and near misses falls dramatically".
This year the roadshow features interactive demonstrations highlighting the importance of safe lifting techniques, transport-viewing aids, safety harnesses and gives workers an opportunity to test their hearing levels. Sponsored by HSS Hire, with additional sponsorship from Berkeley Homes, Bovis Lend Lease, Gleeson, Persimmon Group and aTaylor Woodrow, the Roadshow is also supported by Federation of Master Builders (FMB), Scafftag, Constructing Excellence, Trades Union Congress (TUC), and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
LADDERS ARE NOT BANNED ? BUT THEY SHOULD BE USED SENSIBLY
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) spoke on BBC's Newsnight programme last Friday (9 September) to dispel the myth that window cleaners can no longer use ladders because they are banned by the Work at Height Regulations (WAHR). Sensible risk management is the key to securing compliance with health and safety regulations, including the WAHR. Since the introduction of the WAHR there have been rumours in various industry sectors claiming that ladders are "illegal" or "banned by HSE". The Newsnight piece gave HSE an opportunity to set the record straight for window cleaners. Ian Greenwood, head of HSE's Falls from Height Programme, said: "HSE champions sensible health and safety. These Regulations do not ban ladders but say they should be used only when all other safer alternatives for work at height have been ruled out. A risk assessment must show that the task is low risk and of short duration, or that there are site features that mean other equipment is not appropriate. If so, then ladders can be used."
Falls from ladders resulted in 14 deaths at work last year. Every year falls at work cause some 4,000 major injuries (ranging from fractures to hospitalisations). Nearly a third (over 1,000) of these major injuries follow falls from ladders. HSE is planning a number of initiatives this year to promote safe, sensible ladder use, including the launch of a new guide, "Safe Use of Ladders and Stepladders", in the autumn.
CONSTRUCTION COMPANY FINED FOR WAHR BREACH
Michael Mills, trading as MB Mills General Contractors, of Cambridge was fined a total of £3,000 plus costs of £3,517, at Bedford Magistrates Court. The prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), followed its investigation into a breach of the Work at Height Regulations (WAHR) 2005. On 13 April 2005, seven days after the regulations came into force, three employees of Michael Mills arrived at a site to salvage tiles from a building prior to demolition. The employees used an unsecured ladder to access a pitched roof and started to strip the roof even though no risk assessment had been undertaken and no provision had been made for them to work safely at height. No scaffold had been provided, roof ladders were not in use and the employees created holes in the close boarding to use as footholds. Speaking after the case, HSE investigating inspector Stephen Hartley, said: "Employers are expected to plan work at height carefully and take appropriate measures to prevent falls. Where standards are poor HSE will prosecute those responsible, even if there has been no injury as in this case." Michael Mills pleaded guilty to breaching sections 4(1), 5 and 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
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