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Welcome to the April 2011 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 …
Government announcement on the future of health and safety
The HSE releases Health & Safety made simple to its website and the OSHCR
HSE inspections to be reduced by a third but charges likely to be levied on non-compliant businesses
Union raises concerns over PPE not being issued by employment agencies
Aerospace firms sentenced over worker’s death
Companies fined £53,000 after a lorry driver crushed to death
Three agency workers exposed to gas incident
Workers hand severed by hydraulic press brake machine
New research into fighting fire identifies a change in thinking
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.

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Government announcement on the future of health and safety |
Safety minister Chris Grayling has issued an announcement which included the official launch of the consultants’ register, a substantial drop in the number of health and safety inspections in Britain, charges for organisations that fail to meet their obligations and the launch of guidelines for ‘lower risk’ businesses. There was also an announcement of an immediate review into health and safety regulation, chaired by Professor Ragnar Lofstedt.
It appears to us at MESH that there is a significant emphasis coming from the Government on reducing burden on businesses (lower risk but what does that really mean?). The problem is that both Government and business seems to view health & safety risks as being only negative; whereas if risk identification was seen as a business opportunity then maybe health & safety could be seen in a more positive light.
We believe if each business took a sensible approach to health & safety and allocated a reasonable amount of resources to managing risk then evidence we have experienced suggests that along with a safer and healthier workplace, financial gains are often achieved.
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The HSE releases Health & Safety made simple to its website and the OSHCR
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The website focuses on trying to identify to many businesses that health and safety does not always have to be complicated. It sets out to make it easier for businesses to comply with the law and manage health and safety in their business.
The website indicates that for many businesses, all that’s required is a basic series of tasks and is designed to take businesses through the steps and help make sure the business understands what has to be done – and no more.
However, it is important that businesses ensure that the approach they take is appropriate to their own individual needs and to achieve this, expert advice is sometimes needed. Often this will be from within an organisation but at times businesses need to source external support. The recently launched OSHCR (consultants register) is where the HSE are directing businesses to find the right support.
IOSH, who were heavily involved in the registers development, has commented on the launch of OSHCR, saying it welcomes moves to drive out any rogues from health and safety consultancy – and has been calling for Government support on this for some years. IOSH is pleased to have been involved in the development of the consultants’ register and to see it go live.
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HSE inspections to be reduced by a third but charges likely to be levied on non-compliant businesses |
The Government has announced that plans for a reduction of 11,000 inspections per year have been approved by the DWP. The inspections will be withdrawn from a number of “lower risk” industries such as transport, local authority – administered education provisions, electricity generation and certain areas of manufacturing.
Additionally the plan is to exclude agriculture, quarries and health and social care from proactive HSE inspections, despite these areas being comparatively high risk sectors.
The decision has been met with outrage by the unions who feel that removing a credible threat of enforcement action will only serve to allow non-compliant employers to get away with harming far more workers.
Clearly the fear factor of a business being caught has, in the past, maybe encouraged some to do the right thing and therefore removing this could have detrimental consequences. However, as part of the programme of regulatory modernisation, the Government has also announced proposals to recover costs of inspections and investigation activities against employers where a serious breach of health and safety standards is found.
These costs are likely to include the costs of any follow up work the HSE incurs – an already established charging system applied to offshore and nuclear industries (which we understand are charged out at £160 per hour). Clearly costs could quickly mount for a non-compliant business once a problem is identified.
Some concerns on these principles have been expressed by legal experts, who feel that it would result in more companies appealing any enforcement notices. It has also been questioned how the HSE would charge in industries where they do not have the relevant expertise.
Are you confident that your health & safety system will protect both your workers and your business or do you need an independent opinion? If you need advice on how you can make sensible improvements then why not take a look at how we have helped a number other companies.
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Union raises concerns over PPE not being issued by employment agencies |
UCATT, the Construction workers union, has claimed that some agencies are deliberately flouting safety regulations by failing to provide PPE to workers they place in jobs.
The PPE regulations clearly identify that employers are duty bound to ensure that suitable PPE is provided and that employees are trained in its correct use. This PPE must be issued free of charge. UCATT claim that agencies are increasingly forcing workers to supply their own PPE, which is against the regulations.
The HSE has agreed to look into these claims and will take appropriated action.
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Aerospace firms sentenced over worker’s death |
Two aerospace firms have been fined a total of £75,000 plus £70,000 costs after a worker was crushed to death at a Darwen factory. Two workers were helping to push a trolley carrying more than two tonnes of steel when it collapsed on them. Both workers were seriously injured and one later died in hospital.
The HSE prosecuted Brookhouse Composites Ltd and Brookhouse Tooling Ltd following an investigation into the cause of the incident at Holme Mill in Darwen.
The Court heard that five workers had been pushing the trolley into a large industrial oven, known as an autoclave, when one of the pedestrian walkway panels under it collapsed.
The second worker suffered severe injuries and is still undergoing treatment. He broke both his legs, his right foot and ankle, and needed skin grafts to his legs.
The HSE investigation found that the trolley, which weighed nearly 2.8 tonnes, was not wide enough to fit on both the load-bearing rails inside the autoclave. Instead the wheels on the right-hand side of the trolley were rolled along the pedestrian walkway inbetween the rails.
The court was told that workers at the site had regularly rolled the trolleys along the pedestrian walkway for nearly two years, despite the panels not being designed to carry their weight. The panel that collapsed had been repaired by Brookhouse Tooling a month before the incident, after becoming bent, but the repair method was inappropriate and the quality of the welding was poor.
The owner of the factory, Brookhouse Composites Ltd, and the deceased’s employer, Brookhouse Tooling Ltd, both admitted putting worker’s lives at risk.
Brookhouse Composites Ltd, of India Mill in Darwen, was charged with breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company, now trading as Kaman Composites-UK Ltd, was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay £35,000 in costs.
Brookhouse Tooling Ltd, of the same address, was also charged with breaching Section 2(1) of the Act. The company, now trading as Kaman Tooling Ltd, was fined £25,000 with costs of £35,000.
The HSE on the case has commented that this accident occurred because neither of the companies responsible for their safety picked up on the warning signs. The walkway panels were bent out of shape over several months but no one appeared to be concerned about what was causing this. The situation was exacerbated by the poor choice of repair technique and standard of welding on the panel.
Last year, a total of 25 workers in the Great Britain manufacturing industry were killed and more than 4,000 suffered major injuries.
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Companies fined £53,000 after a lorry driver crushed to death |
A lorry driver died after steel gates fell on top of him as they were being moved from his vehicle. The two gates, weighing 153kg or about 24 stone, were being unloaded by a forklift truck when they fell on the driver at Simpsons Garden Centre in Inverness.
The driver had been able to gain access to an area close to the side of his lorry while the gates were being unloaded, a probe by the HSE found. He had picked up 20 steel safety gates from Mackay Steelwork and Cladding Ltd’s yard in Delny.
He had suffered a serious neck injury in the accident.
At Inverness Sheriff Court, his employer, James Paterson Haulage Ltd, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £13,300.
Mackay Steelwork and Cladding Ltd, of Longman Drive in Inverness, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the same Act. The company was fined £40,000.
Both companies admitted failing to adequately liaise with each other or obtain enough information to ensure a safe system of work was in place, particularly in relation to the role the driver would play in unloading the gates.
Mackay Steelwork and Cladding Ltd also admitted it had failed to make cones and tape available to create a safe place of work around the lorry during the unloading operation.
Separating vehicles and pedestrian movements has long been a significant focus of the HSE because of the obvious dangers and it is therefore paramount that businesses either keep the two well separated or where not possible then have suitable risk assessments and safe systems of working in place.
Is this an issue for your business and are you certain that you have effective controls in place? If you need advice from experienced safety consultants with experience of assist clients with these issues then why not talk to us?
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Three agency workers exposed to gas incident |
The three were taken to hospital with breathing difficulties after being exposed to a toxic gas at a vegetable packing factory.
One of the workers was mixing two cleaning chemicals when they reacted and caused a toxic gas to be released into his and two other workers breathing zones. The factory was evacuated and the men taken to hospital for observation, before being released to return to work a few days later.
The HSE investigation identified that if the company had made the cleaner aware of the risks in his native language then the incident could have been easily prevented.
The warning to companies is that when employing agency workers they must ensure they are given adequate information, instruction and training. Clearly this must be delivered in a way that the message can be understood and the understanding must be checked.
The company was charged under the COSHH regulations and was fined £8,500 and costs of £2,478.
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Workers hand severed by hydraulic press brake machine
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A metal fabrication firm has been fined after a 22-year-old worker’s hand was severed by a machine. The man’s left hand was amputated when the top pressing tool of a hydraulic press brake he was operating came down on his wrist.
He worked on a casual basis for RDB Fabrication and Engineering Ltd and was asked to come in on a Saturday because the company was busy.
The subsequent HSE investigation found the press brake, used to bend sheet metal, was fitted with an electronic motion guard to stop the machine moving if a part of a person entered the danger zone. However when he reached into the machine to reposition a part, it had failed to operate and stop the movement of the tool.
The Court heard that it was the first time he had worked on the machine and had been given less than ten minutes’ instruction on its operation.
The HSE have stressed that the dangers of working with press brakes are well known in the industry and there have been many instances of workers being seriously injured. That’s why these machines are fitted with guards to prevent access to the danger zone. In this case, the company’s failure to ensure these guards were effective had tragic consequences. Statistics tell us that contact with moving machinery is one of the main causes of fatal injuries to workers and the third highest cause of major injuries.
Unfortunately, as part of our work at MESH, we have often seen companies that do not understand the risks from machinery and therefore fail to maintain controls such as guarding, training and safe operating procedures.
RDB Fabrication and Engineering Ltd admitted breaching Regulation 11(b) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 by failing to ensure the machine was adequately guarded.
The company, which was is now based in Bradford was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £2,000 costs.
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New research into fighting fire identifies a change in thinking |
Fighting fire with water may soon be so last-century, according to researchers at Harvard University, who see waving an electronic wand as the next big thing in fire suppression.
Presenting a paper at the American Chemical Society, Ludovico Cademartiri, Ph.D and his team described a discovery that could underpin a new generation of firefighting and suppression devices using electric current.
They picked up on a 200-year-old observation that electricity can affect the shape of flames, making flames bend, twist, turn, flicker, and even snuffing them out.
“Controlling fires is an enormously difficult challenge,” said Dr Cademartiri, who reported on the research. “Our research has shown that by applying large electric fields we can suppress flames very rapidly. We’re very excited about the results of this relatively unexplored area of research.”
In the study, they connected a powerful electrical amplifier to a wand-like probe and used the device to shoot beams of electricity at an open flame more than a foot high. Almost instantly, the flame was snuffed out.
The device consisted of a 600-watt amplifier – about the same power as a high-end car stereo system. But Dr Cademartiri believes that a power source with only a tenth of this wattage could have similar flame suppressing effect. That could be a boon to firefighters, since it would enable the use of portable flame-tamer devices, which could be handheld or could fit into a backpack.
He foresees that potentially, the technology could be used for fixed fire suppression systems in buildings. Alternatively, firefighters might carry the flame-tamer in the form of a backpack and distribute the electricity to fires using a handheld wand.
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