COMPANY NEWS
TRAINING – ONLINE COURSES
Wenlock Health & Safety Ltd (WHS) is now providing an extensive suite of fully certificated online courses, priced at a very reasonable £25 + VAT per course, to help with staff training when time is short. All that candidates need is access to a computer or laptop.
We would always recommend face-to-face training to help your workforce get the most out of course content, but these online courses offer a temporary solution when time is short or turnover is high; all courses take only 30-40 minutes to complete and can, of course, be completed at home as well as at work. Full details of all available online courses and booking facilities for this e-learning platform can be found on our website: www.wenlockhealthandsafety.co.uk
TRAINING – SHORT COURSES
And, in addition to the programmed courses we have on offer over the next few months (as listed in the next section), don’t forget that WHS also provides a multitude of other short courses to suit your needs. Feel free to contact Vicki Brown at the WHS office on 01952 885885, or via email on enquiries@wenlockhs.co.uk or vicki@wenlockhs.co.uk , to discuss your particular needs.
TRAINING – OTHER COURSES
MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID
1-day FAA Award in First Aid for Mental Health (Level 2 RQF)
Dates: 9 October 2024 (Wednesday)
Cost: £85 + VAT per person
FIRST AID
1-day Emergency First-Aid at Work course dates are listed below; specific requirements and controls will be advised within the joining instructions.
Dates:
15 August 2024 (Thursday)
25 September 2024 (Wednesday)
28 October 2024 (Monday)
27 November 2024 (Wednesday)
18 December 2024 (Wednesday)
Cost: £85 + VAT per person
HSE NEWS
FATALITY STATISTICS
The HSE has just released the work-related fatality statistics for the year ending 31 March 2024 – and they make very grim reading indeed. Yet again, fatalities across the board have risen significantly:
- The total number of workplace fatalities increased from 136 last year to 138;
a further increase on top of a 10% increase 2022/23 - 36% of the fatalities were from falls from height – up from 37 to 50. This on top of a 38% increase for 2022/23
- 18% of the fatalities resulted from being struck from a moving vehicle – up from 24 to 25
- And, most shockingly, the number of members of the public killed as a result of work-related accidents rose by 19%, from 73 to 87! It’s beyond belief that 87 people who are nothing to do with the work environment can be killed by the actions of employers and employees!
These figures are, quite frankly, horrifying; UK industry seems to have regressed to 1990s levels and this cannot continue. Each fatality is a person who need not have died, a family who has lost a loved one and, quite probably, an employer who will never truly recover from the experience or the consequences. We all deserve to go home safely at night, that’s not a lot to ask.
ASBESTOS MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
The HSE has evidently been actively targeting commercial premises to make sure they have established the legally required Asbestos Management Systems (AMS) for their premises; indeed, several WHS customers have already received HSE charges for not having one. A pertinent reminder then that every commercial property* in the UK has a legal duty to have an AMS and to maintain that AMS to record all asbestos surveys, checks and inspections, removals, and anything at all related to known or suspected asbestos-containing materials (ACMs). To quote the HSE:
“The duty to manage asbestos is a legal requirement under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (Regulation 4). It applies to the owners and occupiers of commercial premises (such as shops, offices, industrial units etc) who have responsibility for maintenance and repair activities.”
* This requirement applies to all churches, voluntary organisations, and all other premises that may not be viewed as ‘commercial’; the law applies to all non-domestic properties and all commercial domestic properties such as social housing.
Further information can be found on the HSE’s website:
https://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/duty/asbestos-management-plan.htm
It can be quite a daunting task to establish the asbestos ‘register’ and ‘management plan’ referred to in the HSE’s guidance; therefore, WHS has a very useable template for a full AMS which includes all the salient requirements. This is available free of charge electronically (or for a small charge, £150, if you would rather have a sectioned folder in which to store your information) from WHS; please free to order one rather than waiting till the HSE visit!
Further things to note which are related to the legal requirements:
All buildings constructed pre-2000 (or where construction had begun pre-2000 to be super-safe) should have a minimum of full ‘management level’ asbestos surveys in place to determine where ACMs are, or are suspected to be, in surface and easily accessible areas, even when no disturbance of those materials is envisaged. Building materials can so easily be disturbed without thinking, e.g. drilling holes for cabling, damage caused by day-to-day activities, etc, so premises managers need to know what materials need to be removed or protected.
Obviously, more thorough, intrusive surveys are required where construction work of even a minimal nature has to be carried out; ‘refurbishment surveys’ or (where necessary) ‘demolition surveys’ are legally required before any such disturbance.
If no surveys at all have been undertaken within premises, or parts of premises, the AMS must state that no work or disturbance at all can be allowed to the premises fabric, fixtures or fittings until an appropriate survey has been carried out – but, given what’s been said above about how easy it is to disturb a building without thinking, this is a pretty risky strategy! At the very least, get those management level asbestos surveys done now where they are missing.
And lastly, don’t overlook the fact that the requirement for an AMS applies to all non-domestic properties, even to structures built after 2000; in post-2000 structures, the AMS will need to contain proof that there is no risk from ACMs because of the structure’s age.
If you have any questions at all, or you would like to order the WHS AMS template, contact the WHS office.
HSE ARE IN YOUR AREA!
As highlighted before, WHS has now seen ample evidence of the HSE’s presence around all areas of the UK, actively targeting all types of occupational health issues – predominately dusts, fumes, noise and vibration.
Do make sure all the necessary systems are in place, including the basics like adequate risk assessment and health surveillance, as well as the more technical aspects such as servicing and maintenance of extraction systems and the monitoring of noise and vibration exposure.
If you need advice or assistance, as usual, WHS is here to help; contact the WHS office on 01952-885885.
INDUSTRY NEWS
WORKER STRANGLED BY HOODIE – A WARNING
Patrick Forman Industrial Doors was fined £165,000 in Aberdeen after the death of a service mechanic who was strangled by his own hoodie. The mechanic had been working on the servicing and repair of a roller shutter door torsion spring when the hoodie wound itself around the spring, choking him into unconsciousness; he died 3 days later.
The Sheriff Court said Patrick Forman Industrial Doors had failed to sufficiently risk assess the tasks involved or implement a safe system of work.
We mention this case as reminder that, in all WHS policies provided for our customers, there is mention in the ‘Personal Safety’ section about discouraging or prohibiting the wearing of loose or baggy clothing – and we include this for good reason. This is a particularly unusual accident, caused by ‘baggy’ and inappropriate clothing; however, there have been a huge number of other cases over the years where employees have been drawn into machinery by loose or baggy upper or lower body clothing, often with fatal results.
As always, we would remind all employers that all aspects of all work must be properly risk assessed and employees monitored to ensure compliance with the subsequently proscribed control measures – and this includes workwear, both PPE and (as in this case) appropriate personal clothing.
SAFE CUTTING
It goes without saying that all cutting equipment must be properly risk assessed and safe systems established to prevent some of the horrific accidents which we still hear about where fingers, hands and arms come into contact with moving blades; see the examples in the ‘And Finally’ section at the end of this newsletter.
Obviously, controls must be established to prevent hands and limbs being anywhere near a revolving or guillotine blade through use of clamps, guards and (where appropriate) interlocking stop systems. However, there are genuine circumstances where clamps cannot be used and materials must be guided by hand. In such cases, alternative safe systems must be established such as push-sticks and the use of Kevlar gloves*. It is never good enough to accept the situation as an inherent fault of the equipment – there are possible safety controls for every situation and, yet again, it all comes down to good, thorough, critical risk assessment.
* And a reminder that the sole reliance of the use of appropriate cut-resistant gloves is not legal; PPE must, in law, always be regarded as a ‘last resort’ so any employer relying on these gloves as the only control measure would need to prove beyond doubt that there was no alternative (which there always is!).
AND FINALLY
Risk assess and control EVERY aspect
- BAM Nuttall Ltd was fined £2.345 million plus £25,770 costs after an employee drowned in the River Aire. The victim and a colleague had been working from a boat, removing debris from weir gates, when the boat capsized in turbulent water; his colleague swam to safety but the victim was continually pulled beneath the water. Despite having several employees who were trained to control the flow from the weir gates, the company failed to establish a safe system of work or risk assess the full extent of the risks involved.
- Openreach was fined £1.34 million plus £15,858 costs after an engineer fell into the River Aber and was swept away to his death. Over several weeks, the victim had been attempting to repair phone lines which ran across the river and had been working near and over the river. He had made his way to an island in the middle of the river, which was in flood at the time; he lost his footing and was swept away. Openreach had failed to provide training, information or instruction; thus, no safe system of work had been established to reflect both the hazardous nature of the operation and the increased risks from a river in flood.
- Tata Chemicals Europe Ltd was fined £1.125 million plus £60,604 costs after a scaffolder employed by Altrad NSG died from the effects of slipping into a hot vat of ‘milk of lime’. In attempting to erect a tower scaffold, the victim stepped across the vat, his foot slipped on an unfastened lid, and he sustained chemical and thermal burns from which he died a month later. Little thought had been given to the extreme risks involved with the work; there were no warning signs, little induction and no permit system in place to strictly control work in an area dissected by flowing hot chemicals. A total lack of safety management.
- Avant Homes (Scotland) Ltd was fined £333,000 and Regen Waste Ltd fined £23,000 after an HGV driver employed by Regen Waste was crushed and killed by falling concrete blocks. Pallets of blocks were being unloaded from a flatbed trailer at the Avant site using an excavator with a pallet fork attachment; the forks were too long for the size of pallet so, when the machine turned, it caught another pallet, causing blocks to be dislodged and fall. Neither company had properly assessed the risks including, in Regen’s case, the risks of unloading on sites run by others.
- Charitable trust, Wilts & Berks Canal Trust, was fined £30,000 plus £10,822 costs after the death of a volunteer helping to carry out restoration works. The victim had been removing temporary propping when a section of a wall collapsed on him. No risk assessment or training had been carried out, and no safe system established.
An important reminder: the Health & Safety at Work etc Act (and all other health & safety legislation) applies to workers of all types; whether paid or unpaid, ALL persons engaged in all capacities must be treated as ‘employees’ under the law. And, in a situation like this, the Trust should have sought expert advice concerning, not only safe ways of working on the structure, but also about appropriate systems to induct, train, monitor, supervise and establish safe systems for all employees
Vehicle safety
- BBM Contracts Ltd was fined £30,000 after a wagon driver was electrocuted when the crane arm of his vehicle came very close to an 11kV overhead cable; the electrical charge arced, electrocuting the victim who died later in hospital. BBM had been the Principal Contractor and had chosen the area where concrete materials would be delivered for crushing; the company was aware of the overhead cables but had not considered an alternative route, nor did it establish any sort of demarcation or warnings.
- Van Elle Ltd was fined £233,000 after an HGV driver was struck by the mast of a piling rig and killed. The mast of the rig was being lowered in preparation for transportation when it collapsed, striking the victim. The company had failed to maintain the rig; the securing lug for one of the mast’s retaining pins was badly corroded and had failed.
The HSE reminded all plant operators that the law requires a documented regime of inspections and maintenance to prevent this type of incident; refer to HSE guidance:
https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg144.htm
Equipment safety
- Code-A-Weld (Great Yarmouth) Ltd was fined £24,000 plus £3,500 costs, and its director, David Folwer, personally fined £2,000 with £1,500 costs, after an employee lost the sight in one eye and suffered further serious injuries including fractures to his skull. The company manufactured steel drums but never of the huge size in question, in excess of 7 tonnes; the jacking system failed, resulting in the serious injuries sustained by the employee. The company had failed to properly risk assess the jacking activity and had, therefore, failed to plan and establish a safe system of work.
- West Sussex County Council was fined £16,000, plus £4,295 in costs and a victim surcharge of £190, after a school technician’s finger was cut off by a circular bench saw. The victim was pushing pieces of wood through the saw in the design & technology department of a Horsham school when his hand came into contact with the blade. He had never been trained to use the equipment and no safe system of work had been established.
- Harper UK (Aberdeen) Ltd was fined £10,000 after a worker sustained multiple fractures to his hands and wrists when the gloves he was wearing were drawn into a lathe. No risk assessment had been undertaken and there was no guard to the rotating parts of the machine
WHS is working for you; help us to help you.
Our aim is to keep people safe and to keep your company working.
To contact WHS, ring: 01952-885885