Safety Matters - april 2006

Welcome to the April 2006 edition of the Mesh Consultants Safety Matters email newsletter.

This newsletter is available on free subscription only and is our way of keeping you informed about developments in Health and Safety. To review or amend your subscription details, please see the notes at the end.

In this issue:

Employers warned to take hearing damage more seriously or risk a wave of staff compensation claims

TUC report on the future of damages for personal injury claims, says the current system is working well

Managing some or all of the six key sources of occupational stress, is associated with beneficial business outcomes

Firms may soon be held responsible for any accidents that occur as a result of tiredness from long business flights

HSE warns retractable type fall arresters are being misused and are creating safety hazards

Failure to manage asbestos risk costs firm £136k

Construction boss jailed for failing to provide safe work equipment

Employers have been urged to take action against workplace bullying

Ladder fall due to poor access method, costs firm £13,000

Packaging company has been fined £75,000 for the death of a worker

HSE issues new guidelines for manufacturers on the storage of steel and aluminium materials

The Royal National Institute for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People (RNID) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) is warning employers to take hearing damage more seriously or risk a wave of staff compensation claims

The RNID and the TUC are concerned that noise is still one of the most underestimated workplace risks, with an estimated half a million people in Great Britain suffering deafness or ear difficulties due to excessive workplace noise.

Noise induced hearing loss is often cumulative and not immediately obvious, so its threat is seldom recognised or taken seriously. Whilst the effects of noise are irreversible, noise induced hearing loss it totally preventable.

The RNID and TUC are urging employers to reduce exposure to noise through:

• Replacing old machinery with newer, quieter models;
• Reducing noise from equipment by changing how it is mounted, or installing silencers;
• Having equipment regularly maintained;
• Keeping noisy machinery in a separate work area;
• Ensuring employees do not spend longer than necessary in noisy environments;
• Reducing reverberations by changing the acoustics of a room.

Have you taken action to assess your operations against the new Noise at Work regulations? Have you completed risk assessments and identified controls to prevent your employees being exposed to excessive levels of noise (in line with the maximum exposure limits)? If not then contact us as we have experience of working with clients to address workplace noise.



Back to top

A Trades Union Congress (TUC) report on the future of damages for personal injury claims, says the current system is working well

Every year over 85,000 people are made ill or injured as a result of their job and 25,000 people are forced to give up work permanently.

The TUC wants easier and quicker access to compensation for employees at the same time as keeping claims to a minimum for employers, insurers and the state. The report makes the following suggestions:

• The Department for Constitutional Affairs should investigate why insurers usually fail to take account of guidelines for speeding up the handling of personal injury claims, and introduce sanctions to encourage increased compliance.
• Early admission of liability reduces costs and time, so should be encouraged.
• The TUC should work with insurers and the Department for Work and Pensions to develop effective new rehabilitation proposals.
• Increase the rates of employers' liability insurance to prevent work-related accidents or illnesses from happening in the first place. At the moment, there is little difference in the premiums paid by firms with good safety records and those with bad safety records.

Back to top

Report reveals that managing some or all of the six key sources of occupational stress, specified in the Management Standards, is associated with beneficial business outcomes

The six stressors identified in the Management Standards are: demands, control, support, relationships, role and change.

The most convincing evidence for a business case was seen in control, with experiments consistently showing that where staff are given higher levels of control that it leads to better business outcomes.

Another positive business case is where staff receive good levels of support, again there is clear evidence that higher levels lead to better business outcomes.



Back to top

Firms that ask their employees to drive after long business flights may soon be held responsible for any accidents that occur as a result

Since 2005, the police have been routinely asking people involved in crashes if they were driving for work reasons. The police are spending more time investigating road accidents involving business travel to determine whether there was an element of corporate responsibility.

Up to 1,000 people are killed on the roads each year in work-related accidents.
Many are commercial drivers but a significant number are business travellers going to or from a meeting.

Figures from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) show that a quarter of all road deaths and serious injuries were caused by drivers falling asleep at the wheel, in some instances where workers were driving home from a long day on the road.

Roger Bibbings, RoSPA's occupational safety adviser, said: "Many bosses have ignored this problem in the past, but the Health and Safety Executive has now made it clear that employers have duties under health and safety law to manage the risks faced by their workers on the road."

Has your company considered the risks your employees face from driving on business? Have you completed risk assessments and implemented controls? If not then look at the companies MESH has worked with to develop robust H&S policies and risk assessments.




Back to top

HSE warns retractable type fall arresters are being misused and are creating safety hazards, according to interim findings of a research project

Retractable type fall arresters are used to protect workers against falls from height but research has found that they are often misused in circumstances they have not been tested for, creating safety risks and an increased risk of fatality. Some manufacturers and suppliers in the UK are also failing to provide adequate instructions and information, which is adding to the problem.


Back to top

Failure to manage asbestos risk costs firm £136k

The owners of a Norfolk factory were fined £50,000 and ordered to pay costs of £86,000 after the firm exposed employees and others to risks from asbestos containing materials.

Following an inspection by the HSE the firm arranged for an asbestos surveyor to take air samples. The surveyor described the site as the worst working factory he had seen in Britain.

The firm mounted a removal programme but the work was done on an ad hoc basis and the problems were not resolved because of a lack of resources.



Back to top

Construction boss jailed for failing to provide safe work equipment for working at height

Wayne Davies was jailed for 18 months for manslaughter following the death of an employee, who fell from a faulty telehandler.

The men had been working at roof height installing a roof on a steel-framed barn, they were working from a home-made cage balanced on the forks of a tele-handler which toppled over.

The HSE inspector involved in the investigations revealed there were a series of faults on the tele-handler that caused it to topple over. The machine had not been serviced or examined in line with regulations and there were also significant faults on the cage.

In defence, Davies claimed the employees had been working on the roof of his barn without his knowledge. This was rejected by the jury.

The HSE inspector commented that "all contractors should ensure that all work at height is planned, supervised and carried out in a safe way. Workers must be trained and competent. Equipment must be suitable for the task and appropriately inspected".

Are tasks undertaken in your workplace where workers have not been fully trained or with equipment that is not fit for purpose? Do you require assistance to determine if this is the case? MESH undertake audits and inspections on behalf of a wide range of clients to monitor issues such as this and report our findings back to management. Take a look at some examples.



Back to top

Employers have been urged to take action against workplace bullying after a survey found one in four UK employees had witnessed the problem

The international study, by Robert Half Finance & Accounting, showed that 24 per cent of UK employees had worked in offices where bullying occurred.

The survey also found that bullying was more prevalent in larger firms.

Phil Sheridan, managing director of Robert Half, said: "Workplace bullying is clearly a problem in the UK and beyond, and is unhealthy not only for the victims but for those organisations which are allowing it to continue".

"Bullying in the workplace can lead to stress-related illnesses, absenteeism among staff and increased turnover. Employers need to put in place measures to detect, respond to and prevent bullying ".

"They should encourage their staff to report incidents of bullying to the HR department and carry out thorough investigations to identify behavioural patterns."



Back to top

Ladder fall due to poor access method costs firm £13,000

A supervisor at a meat packing and processing company fell from a step ladder whilst trying to unblock a conveyor which jammed sporadically. He fell to the floor landing on his head and shoulder, suffering a broken collar bone and concussion.

The HSE inspector investigating commented, "firms need to devise a proper method for working at height and exercise sufficient control to prevent this sort of accident occurring". A proper risk assessment is needed.


Back to top

A packaging company has been fined £75,000 for the death of a worker who was killed after being dragged into a machine and crushed

Colin Blades had reached inside a press to free a blockage when he accidentally started it up again. The courts heard that a preventative measure to stop this from happening would have cost the firm less than £100 to implement.

DS Smith Packaging Ltd admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act by failing to ensure the safety of workers. In addition to the fine, the firm was ordered to pay £13,300 in costs.

The judge accepted that the firm had not taken a risk to increase its profits, but added there had been a failure to foresee that the unguarded machine could result in "catastrophic injury or death".

Do your risk assessments account for all operating circumstances in your company and do they identify the hazards? Or do they justify the way work is currently undertaken? As can be seen from above effective risk assessment can save money and in many instances the additional controls required do not have to equate to a big investment. Take a look at some of the companies MESH have helped in to undertake effective risk assessments.



Back to top

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued new guidelines for manufacturers on the storage of steel and aluminium materials following the prosecution of a metal treatment firm

CMK (Treatments) Ltd of Oldham was fined £10,000 plus £15,000 costs at West Bromwich Magistrates' Court following an incident in which a ton of aluminium fell on a worker after being incorrectly stacked.

The operator was using a forklift truck to stack aluminium window frames. The top three blocks, weighing over 1.1 tons, fell on him, causing multiple fractures to his leg and feet.

The HSE inspector said: "People working with metal stock must assess their storage arrangements, decide on safe stacking heights, and communicate this to the warehouse operatives".

"This material was stacked boxed 12 feet high, with the smallest base dimension being only three feet wide. This stack weighed over a ton and was inherently unstable. People have been killed in similar stacking collapses in the past, and it is only luck which prevented death here, because the stack fell partly onto the forklift and not completely on to the worker."



Back to top