Neal Notes for August 2005
FREE HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING FOR SMALL BUILDERS
As part of a recent partnership initiative, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) along with the local Working Well Together (WWT) group, teamed up with Plymouth City Council to improve the health and safety performance of small building contractors in Plymouth.
Today, HSE's Chief Inspector of Construction, Rosi Edwards and Plymouth City Councillor Sue Dann, cabinet member for transport and human resources, visited a mobile unit used to deliver free health and safety training to take part in a training session and celebrate the success of the initiative. During the visit, the Chief Inspector and City Councillor also committed to further action to improve the South West and Plymouth's health and safety performance and discussed the benefits of sensible health and safety with successful delegate, Paul O'Leary. Speaking from the WWT mobile training unit, currently based in Crownhill Retail Park, Plymouth, Rosi Edwards said: "It is good to see so many small construction companies taking ownership of their health and safety by taking advantage of the free training being offered during this pilot. Small firms often miss out on training opportunities, as many events require them to miss out on paid work. The training being offered here takes place in the early morning, allowing delegates to go on to complete a day's work.
"I am also pleased to see a partnership initiative working so well. Plymouth Building Control Officers are working with HSE's Working Well Together Campaign to directly improve the health and safety of the industry." Adding her enthusiasm for the working in partnership initiative, Sue Dann said: "I encourage all local contractors to take this training. Sensible health and safety is about managing risks, not eliminating them. Ask yourself, how would my business cope if I lost a skilled worker for a few days?" Local builder who recently completed the training, Paul O'Leary, said: "Managing health and safety can be a headache. Now I know about the hidden costs that come when one of my workers is injured or suffers from ill health. More importantly I now understand that doing a risk assessment and keeping records is not a complicated, time-consuming process. I'm going to take the CHAS registration (Contractor Health and Safety Assessment Scheme) as my company will be able to tender for much more work."
During routine visits Plymouth City Building Control Officers have recommended small building firms attend the health and safety training which includes: avoiding slips and trips; ill health; working at height; safe manual handling; control of substances hazardous to health; safe site-traffic management and identifying and working safely with asbestos. Meanwhile, HSE construction inspectors started a blitz on Tuesday 3 May. Results show that health and safety in the South West region is improving. During the blitz inspectors visited 77 duty holders at small projects across Plymouth, resulting in three voluntary cessations of work relating to work at height issues. Falls from height continue to be a major cause of concern to HSE; they are still the single biggest killer in the construction industry. Inspectors were disappointed to find that small sites vary considerably in standards and many posed risks to workers and others. Commenting on the results, construction inspector Charles Gilby said: "Many builders visited during the blitz were unaware of their legal duties. Those who were aware clearly decided to ignore the law, putting themselves, their workers and others at risk.
Sole traders, and owner/ managers of construction companies with fewer than 15 employees can apply to attend the training. Call 0117 973 6891 for further details.
NEW VIBRATION AT WORK REGULATIONS
New regulations that will help both employers and employees to take preventive action from vibration risks in the workplace come into force on 6 July 2005, says the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The European Physical Agents (Vibration) Directive (Directive 2002/44) deals with the control of diseases caused by vibration at work from equipment, vehicles and machines. Hand Arm Vibration (HAV) is a major cause of occupational ill health and it is estimated around five million workers are exposed to HAV in the workplace. Two million of these workers are exposed to levels of vibration where there are clear risks of developing disease. Each year, approximately 3,000 new claims for Industrial Injury Disability Benefit are made in relation to vibration white finger and vibration related carpal tunnel syndrome.
In leaflets published today employers are provided with simple guidance to help them to decide whether their employees are likely to exceed the new exposure action or limit values. The leaflets also provide advice on practical actions employers can take to control the risk, stressing the importance of simple, common sense measures to reduce exposure.
There is a transitional period for the exposure limit values up to 2010. This would allow work activities where the use of older tools and machinery cannot keep exposures below the exposure limit value to continue in certain circumstances. The transitional period has been extended to 2014 in the case of whole-body exposures in the agriculture and forestry sectors.
Dr Elizabeth Gibby, Head of Injuries Reduction at HSE said, "Hand-arm vibration syndrome is a serious and widespread occupational disease affecting hundreds of thousands of people in Britain. I very much welcome the new Regulations and believe they will boost our efforts in reducing the risks to acceptable levels. "Most employers in industry understand that regulation is necessary and accept that hand-arm vibration syndrome is a major occupational health problem that needs to be addressed.
"I find it heartening that many industries and employers have already made serious efforts to adhere with the requirements of these new regulations even before they have come into force. "HSE and industry have together done much to tackle the problem of vibration in the workplace over the past 10 years and have achieved a lot of success through helpful guidance and industry wide campaigns. I am optimistic that by continuing to work closely with industry, we can get closer to our goal of eliminating new cases of disabling disease."
CONOCOPHILLIPS LTD FINED £895,000 AFTER EXPLOSION AT REFINERY
ConocoPhillips Limited was fined a total of £895,000 and ordered to pay £218,854 costs at Grimsby Crown Court, after pleading guilty to breaching health and safety legislation at an earlier hearing. The case follows an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into two incidents: a fire and explosion at the Humber Refinery, South Killingholme, North Lincolnshire on 16 April 2001 and a release of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at the Immingham Pipeline Centre, Immingham Dock, on 27 September 2001. At an earlier hearing at Grimsby Crown Court, ConocoPhillips pleaded guilty to seven breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the Pressure Systems and Transportable Gas Containers Regulations 1999. The first incident happened on 16 April 2001 when 170 tonnes of highly flammable LPG was released from ConocoPhillips' (then Conoco Ltd) Saturate Gas Plant at its Humberside oil refinery.
The gas cloud ignited causing a massive explosion and fire. As the fire burned it caused failures of other pipe work resulting in another explosion and fireball. The fire burned for approximately two-and-a-half hours. There were no serious injuries but considerable damage was caused to other processing plants and buildings on the refinery and to properties off-site. HSE's investigation found that the initiating event was the failure of a 15 cm diameter pipe at an elbow, due to corrosion and erosion. The most likely source of the ignition was a gas-fired heater in an adjacent processing unit.
During HSE's investigation a second incident occurred at the company's nearby Immingham Pipeline Centre. Over the night of 27 September 2001, approximately 16 tonnes of LPG leaked from a road tanker and the liquid pool and gas cloud dispersed without ignition. As a result, HSE launched a detailed investigation into the cause of the release. After the hearing, Kevin Allars, head of HSE's Chemical Industries Division, said: "The incident at the Humber refinery was possibly the most serious chemical incident in Britain since the Flixborough disaster in 1974 and it is fortunate that there were no deaths or very serious injuries. This was mainly because the incident occurred on a Bank Holiday and during a shift change when the limited staff on site were away from the plant. The potential for loss of life was great.
"However, the extent of the damage to the site and to properties in the nearby village of South Killingholme indicates the violent nature of the explosion. The severity of the events at the Humber Refinery have been reflected in the penalties imposed by the court.
CAMPAIGN TO MAKE BAD BACKS 'BETTER BACKS'
British business loses an estimated 4.9 million days to employee absenteeism through work-related back conditions each year, with each affected employee taking an average of 19 days off work, according to the latest figures from the 2003/4 Labour Force Survey.
The charity BackCare meanwhile estimates the overall cost of back pain - to the NHS, business and the economy - at £5 billion per year. Against this background the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is launching its 'Better Backs' campaign on 6th June. The campaign will offer concise, practical tips on how to avoid back-related injuries in the workplace to both businesses and employees via a dedicated micro site (www.betterbacks.hse.gov.uk) and help line 0845 345 0055.
Visiting the North East Lord Hunt, Work and Pensions Minister said: "Occupational ill health and injury accounts for 40 million working days lost with back pain alone accounting for 4.9 million. The effects on those business and individuals are almost incalculable. Its not only impacting on business' profits its affecting productivity and stopping employees' enjoying their social life. Everyone needs to take responsibility for tackling this issue and by taking simple, sensible precautions in work and at home we can collectively work to reduce the misery of back pain." The prevalence of work-related back conditions is fairly even across the countries and regions of Great Britain, with around one person in every hundred affected. Only the North East has a clearly higher rate, perhaps due to its history of coalmining and other heavy industry.
Estimated rate (%) of self-reported Musculo Skeletal Disorders (MSDs) mainly affecting the back, caused or made ill by work, by country and government office region within England, for people ever employed: 2003/04 The overriding point is that no region escapes back problems. Anyone, anywhere, can get a bad back, and it continues to be the biggest cause of employee absence. Lord Hunt added: "The financial impact of back pain is enormous so our message to everyone is clear - A bad back could cost you more than you think. There is a misconception that preventative health and safety initiatives are costly and difficult to implement, but in fact many are extremely cost effective and will save businesses from losing revenue through staff absenteeism, as well as increasing productivity."
RESEARCH SHOWS IMPORTANCE OF SAFETY REPRESENTATIVES IN THE WORKPLACE
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) report, published today, confirms evidence of a positive link between the appointment of safety representatives and levels of health and safety awareness and performance. The findings of the report, The role and effectiveness of safety representatives in influencing workplace health and safety, show how safety representatives encourage worker participation in risk management and how consultation on health and safety helps to improve the working environment. Copies are available from HSE's website at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/
The report focuses on case studies from two major and potentially hazardous industries, chemicals and construction. It highlights the importance of the context in which consultation takes place. It also identifies a need for more research. In particular, it calls for more detailed analysis of what forms of worker participation work best and how they might be improved.
HSE sees the report as a contribution to the delivery of its strategy on the role of employees in health and safety risk management. It set up a Worker Involvement Programme in January 2005 to encourage more and better employee participation in health and safety management. Evidence from a number of sources suggests that good employee participation leads to better health and safety at work.
Stuart Bristow, HSE's worker involvement programme manager commented, "HSE's Worker Involvement Programme represents a step change in our approach to encouraging worker involvement in health and safety. This report provides valuable support to the case for the effectiveness of employee participation and its recommendation for further analysis is in line with our strategy." Hugh Robertson, TUC's senior policy advisor on health and safety, welcomed the report stating, "The TUC is pleased to see further evidence of the effect that unions and consultation with the workforce have in improving the safety culture within an organisation. We now need further research to ensure that we know what factors lead to this effect."
HOW DOES YOUR BUSINESS MEASURE UP?
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has launched its Corporate Health and Safety Performance Indicator (CHaSPI) and unveiled a third round of case studies highlighting the vital role that directors play in health and safety. Lord Hunt said: "There are still too many accidents at work and too many staff off sick. We need to convince chief executives in boardrooms across the country that managing absence and health and safety makes good business sense. This tool will help businesses to manage and track their key health and safety indicators and will enable them to compare their performance against other businesses. The easier we make it for everyone, the better the chance we have of raising standards."
CHaSPI (the Corporate Health and Safety Performance Index) is a web-based tool to assist large organisations with over 250 employees (both public and private) to:
- get a measure of the effectiveness of their internal controls over health and safety
- to benchmark their performance against their own targets and the performance of their peers.
It works by asking a series of questions on, for example, health and safety management, occupational health risk management and sickness absence rates. A score out of ten is then calculated. Overall results are made publicly available. Using CHaSPI's is voluntary. The intention is that it's usefulness to organisations and their stakeholders is what will drive it forward - encouraging and helping organisations to improve their health and safety, going beyond the legal minimum. Steve Waygood, director, investor responsibility Insight Investment, who collaborated on the development of CH aSPI said: "Insight will be making considered use of CHaSPI in our discussions with the directors of listed companies. As investors, we elect company directors to represent our interests. It is very much in our interests for these directors to maintain good occupational health and safety conditions for the workforce. Not only is this simply the right thing to do, but history has also shown that mistakes can lead to business interruptions that affect fnancial performance."
The nine case studies highlight the benefits that director leadership brings both to the health and safety of the employees and to the business. They are aimed not only at large organisations, but at small and medium sized enterprises (SME's) as well. The case studies, compiled by risk management consultants Greenstreet Berman Ltd, are drawn from private companies and public bodies across a range of different sectors. Featured organisations are: Brymor Contractors Ltd, DCS Europe plc, Greencore Group, Joy Mining Machinery Ltd, London Ambulance Service, MTM Products Ltd, RW Green Limited, Sapporo Teppanyaki and TTE training.
HSC ANNUAL REPORT SHOWS COMMITMENT TO ITS STRATEGY
Health and Safety Commission (HSC) today published its 2004/05 Annual Report. The report shows how the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is working towards implementing HSC's Strategy for workplace health and safety in Great Britain to 2010 and beyond. The report can be downloaded from: http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/reports/0405/index.htm
It shows the progress made against published plans contained in the HSC Business Plan 2004-05 and also provides information about how HSE is managed. It also includes a range of information covering health and safety within HSE, output and performance measures, legislative timetables, HSC Advisory Committee work and statutory and other approval schemes. HSC Chair Bill Callaghan said: "The endorsement of the Commission's Strategy by the Hampton review was particularly welcome, as was the support for higher penalties. We must continue to seek and maintain the right balance of enforcement and advice. This year has also seen the start of consultation with our stakeholders on how to best place our intervention resources.
Leading from this we hope to achieve a more efficient and effective targeted interventions programme." In order to implement the strategy and help deliver occupational health and safety targets, HSE realigned its work into two key strategic delivery programmes as the main agent for delivery, supported by four enabling programmes: Business Involvement; Worker Involvement; Local Authorities and HSE Working Together; and Enforcement.
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