WENLOCK HEALTH & SAFETY LTD WISH ALL OUR CLIENTS
A VERY HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SAFE CHRISTMAS & 2022
Please note that the WHS office will be closed from 5pm on
Thursday 23rd December until 8am on Tuesday 4th January 2022
COMPANY NEWS
HOURLY RATES
As mentioned in the October newsletter, we’re happy to have been able to retain our current hourly rates for a number of years now. However, due to various rising costs and increases planned by the Government from April 2022, we’ve had to make the decision to increase them just slightly for 2022. Nothing will change during the period of your current 2021/22 subscription, but the new hourly rates will begin to filter through subscription renewals from 1 January 2022; you’ll be notified in plenty of time prior to your renewal.
The rates per hour will be changing as follows:
Old Rate New Rate
£42 £45
£50 £55
Don’t worry though, your actual subscription cost won’t be changing, and all per person training costs for CITB, UKATA and First Aid will be remaining the same – which is all good news.
TRAINING
Please contact Vicki at Wenlock Health & Safety Ltd (WHS) on 01952 885885 or enquiries@wenlockhs.co.uk or vicki@wenlockhs.co.uk to book places.
All necessary criteria and restrictions will be personally communicated, both directly at the time of booking and again through joining instructions ahead of planned courses. It is vital that these are understood and, particularly for the First Aid and CITB courses, relevant information clearly passed to candidates. And do please be sure to inform us ahead of the course date of any candidate who may require assistance in any way, especially with reading or writing; we need advance notice to be able to provide this help.
In addition to those below, please enquire about other courses available, both classroom and non-classroom based; the full range is also detailed on our website: https://wenlockhealthandsafety.co.uk/
FIRST AID
1-day Emergency First-Aid at Work course dates are listed below; strict Covid-specific controls will still apply for the moment and will be advised within the joining instructions. Demand is always high, so book places as soon as possible to avoid disappointment:
Dates:
- 24 November 2021 (Wednesday)
- 20 December 2021 (Monday)
- 28 January 2022 (Friday)
- 28 February 2022 (Monday)
- 24 March 2022 (Thursday)
- 27 April 2022 (Wednesday)
Cost: £85 + VAT per person
MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID
1-day FAA Award in First Aid for Mental Health (Level 2 RQF), providing the knowledge to recognise a range of mental health conditions, start a supportive conversation and assist to seek professional help.
Dates:
- 7 March 2022 (Monday)
Cost: £85 + VAT per person
WHS SAFETY AWARDS
It’s that time of year again when it gives us great pleasure to recognise the health & safety commitment and achievements of our clients and, despite the extraordinary circumstances still in evidence throughout 2021, this year is no exception. We are therefore delighted to announce the following WHS awards for 2021:
Commitment to Site Safety – Darren Hands, Site Manager for the Shingler Group Ltd,
a long-established house builder based in Myddle, Shropshire
Commitment to Site Safety – Richard Rees, Site Manager for Fletcher Homes (Shropshire) Ltd,
another very long-established house builder, based in Shrewsbury
Well done to both our worthy award winners! Both serve as excellent examples of the high standards attainable in health & safety management. Photos of the winners will be included in the next newsletter.
HSE NEWS
Safety Alert – Plant / Pedestrian Safety
Whilst this HSE Safety Alert (https://bit.ly/3wMF0Sv ) relates to loading shovels used in waste and recycling industries, it is worth highlighting that the issues involved (lack of driver visibility) can also create the potential for fatalities within any industry that uses forward loading plant of any type, including fork-lifts. With all plant designed to carry loads, it is absolutely essential to choose the right plant of the right capacity for the job so that there is never any need (or temptation) to overload and/or reduce visibility. In addition, other essential controls include:
- Rigorous segregation between plant and pedestrians
- Ensuring that the plant is fitted with sufficient and appropriate visibility aids and carrying out very frequent checks to maintain their effectiveness
- Training all drivers in the use of that particular plant, including how to use and maintain the visibility aids
- Training all workers to appreciate the potential for restrictions to plant visibility and to stay well clear
- Monitoring compliance continually!!
N.B. A pertinent reminder here that segregation between plant/vehicles and pedestrians is a legal requirement regardless of the nature of the premises or the type of plant/vehicles:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/51/regulation/27/made
https://www.hse.gov.uk/workplacetransport/separating.htm
WHS still sees premises that lack sufficient (or any!) segregation, and this is even more worrying during the current prolonged periods of twilight and darkness. It is essential to make sure that segregation:
- Is in place and is developed and extended as the premises changes or expands
- Remains in place! If it is unavoidable to remove a barrier, fence panel, etc, it must be by strict agreement with the health & safety manager and other controls must be established whilst segregation is incomplete; and of course, it must be replaced as soon as possible.
- Is clearly visible to both drivers and pedestrians; if additional lighting is required, it must be put in place.
RPE & Face-fit Testing
As highlighted in the last newsletter, the HSE are actively targeting* the face-fit testing of respiratory protection (RPE) and beards.
* The HSE has visited a number of our clients already and several enforcement notices have been issued.
The general HSE guidance on RPE has subsequently been updated: https://bit.ly/3qFgmSQ
within which is stated the (mandatory) requirement for face-fit testing to ensure that RPE can actually do the job intended, i.e. to prevent inhalation of harmful substances:
https://www.hse.gov.uk/respiratory-protective-equipment/fit-testing-basics.htm
You will see that the text in the guidance reinforces the message that beards inhibit the effectiveness of RPE and are not permitted if the task makes the wearing of RPE mandatory. To quote the HSE:
Facial hair – stubble and beards – make it impossible to get a good seal of the mask to the face.
If there are good reasons for having a beard (e.g. for religious reasons), alternative forms of RPE, that do not rely on a tight fit to the face, are available.
The text also reinforces several vital points:
The best time to do fit testing is at the initial selection stage, when individual users can be given a choice of adequate models of RPE.
If an employee wears more than one type of tight-fitting facepiece, then each type of facepiece should be fit tested.
You should ensure that the make, model, type and size of facepiece that they wore when they had their successful fit test is made available for their use.
Failure to carry out face-fit testing can hold serious implications; for example, Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust was fined a £100,000 plus £18,000 in costs for 3 breaches of health & safety law, including a failure to provide adequate face fit testing.
Face-fit testing is quick and easy to administer, and WHS is here to help. Contact the WHS office to book appointments.
Welding Fume
Also as highlighted previously, the HSE continues to actively target exposure to welding fume and metalworking fluids which, as everyone should know, can cause serious lung disease. The HSE will not hesitate to prosecute if businesses fail to protect their workers; for example, PYC Engineering was fined a total of almost £20,000 after a worker developed hypersensitive pneumonitis.
It is vital that any business where welding or metalworking is, or may be, undertaken reads and digests the specific HSE guidance on RPE protection:
Welding fume: https://bit.ly/3cfgeB2
Metalworking: https://bit.ly/3ooms7e
We cannot emphasise too strongly, the devastating consequences of not protecting workers, not only for the business (as above) but, more to the point, for the individuals themselves. Just take a look at how Phil, a welder, has been affected; three very short videos clearly demonstrating the devastation and very personal consequences of welding without protection: https://bit.ly/30xKHrJ
N.B. Additional useful information about safety with welding and flame-cutting, particularly within repair work, can be found on: https://www.hse.gov.uk/mvr/mechanical-repair/welding.htm
Lung Cancer
Following on from the above articles, the HSE is also campaigning to raise awareness of the absolute need to see a doctor for those displaying any symptoms at all of potential cancers. The predominant killer amongst occupational cancers is obviously lung cancer, the main symptom of which is a persistent cough. However, do be aware that occupational (and non-occupational) cancers can also manifest themselves in other symptoms and affect other organs, including the skin. Therefore, it is vital that you regularly check your body and, if you feel there may be any change at all, seek medical attention promptly.
General HSE advice can be found on: https://www.hse.gov.uk/cancer/about.htm#cancer-carcinogens
However, your best advisor on this occasion is your own doctor.
Stress
The HSE are continuing to spot-check businesses right across UK industry, looking at the general wellbeing of the workforce including stress. Work-related stress (WRS) has increased right across the board recently, partly related to the extreme conditions created by Covid, dealing with the post-Covid return to work, and possibly having to cope with the loss of work or the job itself. In particular, it seems to be the younger age groups who are most susceptible.
It’s worth reminding all businesses that the law requires adequate risk assessment to be carried out across all aspects of the work involved, and that includes the effects of pandemics, significant personal circumstances, health issues and how these issues affect the mental wellbeing of individuals. General HSE guidance on how to establish a good stress management programme can be found on:
https://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/assets/docs/suggestions.pdf
However, you know (or you should know) your employees. Do make sure that you (or appropriate staff) engage with them to ensure an early warning when things may not be quite as they should be, and do treat each potential situation with sympathy and understanding. The personal issue may relate to something that’s happening at home, but this factor shouldn’t be a reason to ignore it; the individual may have nobody else to turn to, so you may well need to be that shoulder in a time of crisis.
To assist, the HSE has also teamed up with a number of organisations to launch a website called Working Minds: https://workright.campaign.gov.uk/campaigns/
The website offers additional help and guidance for a number of keys issues, including stress, and is certainly worth reading and signing up to the newsletter. For stress, it advises employers to ‘Make it Routine’ by:
Reaching out, Recognising, Responding and Reflecting – a simple and worthwhile mantra.
N.B. To assist our clients to be able to recognise and assist with stress and other mental issues, WHS regularly holds short open mental health awareness courses. Details of the next Mental Health First Aid course
(7 March 2022) are given in the training section above.
The Status of Volunteers
Here we follow up another of our previous articles which highlighted the prosecution of an angling association fined a total of £83,500 after the death of a volunteer, and the status of volunteers in health & safety law.
The law clearly says that all businesses fall under the duty to manage risks related to all personnel, and that includes volunteers, persons carrying out work experience, and any person (paid or unpaid) at all working under, with or effected by the business. To quote the HSE:
This means you must protect your employees but also others, including volunteers, from any risks arising from your work activities.
The HSE has now updated its guidance on the management of volunteers:
https://bit.ly/3kznLPy and https://bit.ly/3wPNaJz
GENERAL NEWS
Driver Safety & the Working Day
Railway contractor, Renown Consulting, was fined £450,000 last year plus costs of £300,000 after one of their drivers fell asleep at the wheel, killing himself and a passenger. The driver had started his working day at 4.30am the day before, driving from Doncaster to Northumberland and returning later; he then left for an overnight job in Hertfordshire before leaving for home again at 3.40am.
We mention this again now as it’s becoming increasingly obvious that some employers are asking far too much of their employees, resulting in the increased likelihood that this sort of terrible accident will happen again. Working unreasonably (illegally) long hours has always been a safety issue; however, the issue has become compounded as employers struggle with the current post-Covid/post-Brexit staffing levels, etc.
So the message here is that health & safety is a management issue from start to finish; the working day includes driving to and from the base to other locations and there must (legally) be adequate rest periods between. The Working Time Regulations, for very good reason, govern the permissible working hours and mandatory rest periods throughout UK industry – but, more than this, it’s common sense. Long hours result in workers becoming less aware in general, with the potential for catastrophic consequences both at the workface and when driving home. The business itself is obviously the party responsible for the health & safety of all employees; it alone is responsible for ensuring working and driving hours are within the law and reasonable. Never be tempted to push your employees too far, no matter how tempting it may be to reap the financial benefits; there will be no financial benefits after prosecution, and employees will have suffered.
Senior Management Responsibility in Law
Following on from the above, it is a fact that it is inevitably management who is targeted in an HSE prosecution; hardly ever is an individual employee prosecuted. The HSE and the law understands that, even if an individual could have avoided an accident or incident by refusing to carry out the task, he/she naturally feels under duress as an employee and is therefore disinclined to refuse.
The facts speak for themselves: in 2020 alone:
- There were 2536 prosecutions
- 100% involved the company director/s in some way
- 50 directors were personally fined
- 55 directors were given prison sentences
- Only 1 employee was found to be personally negligent
The legal responsibility for safe working, whatever the industry and whatever the work, is fairly and squarely on senior managements’ shoulders. So all those managers out there who assume they can avoid responsibility by delegating to others, think again.
Legal Employment
For several years now, it has been mandatory for employers to prove the ‘right to work’ of their employees, i.e. that employees have a legal status to reside and work in the UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/right-to-work-checks-employer-guidance
However, during Covid restrictions, it obviously became impossible for many businesses to obtain original copies of the necessary documents from new employees and a temporary dispensation was given by the Government that electronic copies may be accepted instead (including photographed or scanned documents via email or a mobile app). A further extension has now been granted until 5 April 2022. Retrospective person checks will not be required for those recruited from 30 March 2020 to 5 April 2022.
AND FINALLY
Work at height
- Two companies, Yorkshire Cranes and Technical Cranes, were fined totals of almost £57,000 each after a crane engineer fell 6m onto a concrete floor, suffering serious injuries including a punctured lung and multiple fractures. The Technical Cranes engineer was engaged to repair Yorkshire Cranes’ overhead equipment but no suitable access to the height was available; instead, he used a pallet elevated in a forklift which predictably then fell. Neither company had found and used the right tool for the right job.
It is interesting to note that the Police were also involved in this incident because of its severity and nature.
- Pearlcare Wellfield Ltd was fined a total of £175,000 after a new-recruited manager fell down a lift shaft, sustaining serious injuries. When notified of the lift’s malfunction, the manager used a release key to open the doors at first floor level but then fell down the shaft. The Wellfield Care Home had a lift policy in place, designed primarily to release a person trapped in a lift, but the manager had not been trained in its use, nor were the release keys held securely to be used only by those appropriately trained.
This case demonstrates that any policy, protocol, work system or risk assessment is totally useless staff are properly trained in its requirements and all necessary controls (e.g. security of keys, as in this case) are established, maintained, regularly monitored and reviewed.
Vibration (HAVS)
- Peter Duffy Ltd was fined a total of almost £44,000 after seven employees developed HAVS (Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome) as a result of prolonged periods using vibrating tools. The Company had failed to assess the risks to health involved, provide suitable controls or undertake health surveillance.
Management
- Iver Recycling (UK) Ltd was fined a total of over £207,000 for a total failure in company management. Conditions were so bad that 9 Prohibition Notices and 7 Improvement Notices were issued, and then the Company was prosecuted.
The HSE said that “Companies should be aware that if they fail to operate their businesses in a manner which protects the health and safety of those who work there, HSE will pursue those responsible to the highest possible level. The conditions seen at this site should not occur in 21st-century Britain.” See the disgusting conditions in the photo.
HAVE A HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SAFE CHRISTMAS
AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO ASSISTING YOU ALL THROUGHOUT 2022
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