| Welcome to the March 2008 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: HSE warns about the dangers of working at height Director charged over disregard for safety after worker left disabled, and fined £249,000 Failure to take simple safety precautions costs firm over £400,000 Are your company's safety systems up to scratch or are you risking prosecution? At MESH we have extensive experience of helping companies to improve their health and safety and in many cases improve their competitiveness.
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) has urged employers to take greater steps to protect workers from repetitive strain injury (RSI) RSI costs employers almost £300 million per year in lost working time, sick pay and administration - with an estimated 3.5 million working days lost in 2006/7 due to the condition. Health and Safety Executive figures which were analysed by the Labour Research Department for the CSP show that the jobs where workers are most likely to develop RSI are:
CSP spokesperson Bronwyn Clifford said: "Why do we let this situation continue? Many thousands of people are suffering and employers are losing hundreds of millions of pounds every year through RSI. This is totally unnecessary as RSI can often be avoided with advice on appropriate equipment and safe working practices from occupational health physiotherapists." The CSP believe that Government and employers must do more to protect the health of employees and prevent a further increase in RSI. They have urged the Government to promote the use of occupational health physiotherapists more widely and to work with the HSE to ensure that current legislation is adhered to by all employers
The HSE are concerned that each year slips, trips and falls cost British society nearly £811m. But what these figures don't reflect is the extent to which these injuries affect individual workers and their families. Slips, trips and falls can be viewed as being minor, funny accidents but the effects are not. They can lead to major injuries and a lifetime of disability or time off work and in worst cases fatalities. The Shattered Lives campaign will offer support and guidance to employers and employees in the construction, building and plant maintenance and food manufacturing and retail industries where the incidence of injuries resulting from slips, trips and falls is highest. For more information about the Shattered Lives campaign visit:
Team Q Maintenance Ltd was found guilty of breaching s.2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and fined £20,000 and Schawk UK Ltd was found guilty of breaching reg.3(1)(a)(b) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and also fined £20,000. In July 2005 an employee of Team Q, fell approximately 2.2 metres while carrying out repairs on air conditioning units at the premises of Schawk. There were no fixed means of access or edge protection to prevent falls and the employee borrowed a step ladder from Schawk that was neither suitable nor safe for the task. He suffered a serious head injury which has left him unable to work and with continuing health problems. HSE inspector Chris Tilley said: "Both defendants were aware of the risks from working at height which had been clearly identified at least a month before the incident, but this information had not been supplied to the employee. No effort was made to ensure he was supplied with safe access equipment or to prevent him from working. If this information had been acted upon the employee would not have been injured." The HSE warn that many such incidents could be avoided if employers and contractors communicated effectively, work together to identify safe ways of tackling a job, provide the necessary access equipment and contractors were properly supervised whilst on customers' sites. Does your organisation have tasks that require staff to work at height and if so have you undertaken suitable risk assessments and do you have safe working systems in place? If you need assistance with working at height; then contact us for a no obligations discussion on how we can apply our expertise to help your organisation. The Government has announced that there will be no change to the way in which the Working Times Directive (WTD) is implemented for road hauliers Following a review, however, the DfT concluded that there was "no evidence to suggest that any major changes were needed or to justify a change to the existing interpretation of periods of availability". The move was welcomed by the Freight Transport Association. "Everyone has got used to [the directive] operating effectively, it would have been destructive to change that unless there was a need," said Nick Graham, chairman of the Association's road freight council. The DfT also pledged that the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency would be given a greater role in enforcing the WTD.
Findings include:
The CMI are concerned that many organisations focus on the cost of absence to their organisations, yet are not addressing the root causes of absenteeism. The perpetual cycle of taking out costs in recent years has meant that most organisations are driven to use their assets - particularly their people - more intensively. In today's results-driven environment, output is more important than input. Yet it is clearly having a negative effect and will create longer-term problems for organisations unless the UK's long hour’s culture is kept in check.
The company, Pilkington Tiles Ltd, was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay costs of £17,500 after pleading guilty to breaching reg.11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and s.2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Under the 1998 Regulations employers are obliged to:
The danger of unguarded machinery cannot be highlighted too much. It is the employer’s duty to ensure that risks to safety within the workplace are adequately assessed and that correct control measures are implemented to avoid injury. Do you understand your duties under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER)? If you need help then we have expertise in working with companies that use a wide range of machinery; why not contact us to see if we can assist you?
Norwich Union's motor risk manager, Bill Pownall, said the rule change, which took effect on January 1, 2008, was the final stage of speed-limiter legislation affecting both goods and passenger vehicles, which had been introduced progressively since 2005. Three years ago, EU legislation required all commercial vehicles from 3.5 to 7.5 tonnes, first registered from 1 January 2005 onwards, to be restricted to 56mph. At the time, this only applied to vehicles that travelled internationally. From 1 January this year the speed-limiter rules applied to all such vehicles, including those used solely in Britain.
The Fire Industry Association expressed concern at the findings: "Whenever new legislation is introduced it takes time to filter through, but given the importance of this particular legislation and its implications for protecting business from the ravages of fire, it is vital that the message is driven home," said the Association's chief executive. "What is particularly concerning about this survey is that it is aimed at fire safety professionals who you would expect to have a much better understanding of the legislation and its implications than the general business owner."
Visit: www.hse.gov.uk/msd/dse/index.htm for more details. Do you understand the health risks to your employees from poor workstation setup or is this a problem that you are already experiencing? At MESH we have extensive experience of working with many organisations to undertake workstation assessments and train staff; why not take a look at some of these examples?
The incident only came to light when a friend of the injured worker contacted the HSE some weeks after the accident that the employer had failed to report. The subsequent investigation identified that all the workers on site were Polish and had such poor English that they did not know how to call for an ambulance. The accident occurred when a large concrete slab was being moved by rolling it across the floor on metal tubes; the slab became jammed and when the worker attempted to jack it up it fell and crushed him, causing major injuries to his legs and pelvis. The workers on site had little experience and had not received any training from the company. The worker has been left severely disabled and is unlikely to work again.
The company fell into administration soon after the incident but the HSE decided to go ahead with the prosecution due to the serious nature of the incident which involved inappropriate handling of nitrocellulose. The HSE found that the company who had used the substance for many years had decided to use water wetted nitrocellulose to achieve a higher grade of nitrogen for a client. But as this would not mix with other ingredients it then had to be dried out and it was this process that caused the explosion and fireball that engulfed the employee, causing the burns.
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