COMPANY NEWS
TRAINING
When booking courses, all necessary criteria and restrictions will be personally communicated both directly at the time of booking and again through joining instructions ahead of all planned courses. It is vital that these are understood and 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.
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. In addition to those below, please enquire about our other courses available; the full range is also detailed on our website: https://wenlockhealthandsafety.co.uk/
CITB COURSES
It must be noted that CITB attendance rules are very strict; they must be understood and are reiterated here:
- CITB specifies that candidates must be available to attend each session within the course; failure to do so may require a repeat course.
- Attendance is absolutely vital once booked; because of CITB rules, we may be forced to cancel a course on that morning if some candidates fail to take part, to the detriment of all candidates.
- Basic refreshments will be available; however, no lunch is provided and candidates are to make their own provision (bring their own or there are shops nearby and a small café on site).
Candidates must arrive by 8.15*am for registration; all courses start at 8.30am and finish at around 4.30pm.
* Please reiterate to all candidates the absolute need to make their way up to the WHS offices and log their vehicle registration numbers immediately upon arrival in the car park to avoid being charged for parking.
CITB SITE SAFETY COURSES
- CITB Asbestos Awareness
Duration: Half-day
Date: 9 February 2024 (Friday)
Cost: £60 + VAT per person
- Site Management Safety Training Scheme (SMSTS)
Duration: 5 days; 1 day per week
Dates:
-
- 26 February, 4, 11, 18 & 25 March 2024 (Mondays
- 18, 25 April, 2, 9 &16 May 2024 (Thursdays)
- 6, 13, 20, 27 June & 4 July 2024 (Thursdays)
Cost: £495 + VAT per person
- Site Management Safety Training Scheme (SMSTS) Refresher
Duration: 2 days
Dates:
-
- 19 & 20 February 2024 (Monday & Tuesday)
- 8 & 9 April 2024 (Monday & Tuesday)
- 3 & 4 June 2024 (Monday & Tuesday)
Cost: £285 + VAT per person
(10% discount when booking 2 or more people on all courses)
- Site Supervisors Safety Training Scheme (SSSTS)
Duration: 2 days
Dates:
-
- 6 & 7 March 2024 (Wednesday & Thursday)
- 20 & 21 May 2024 (Monday & Tuesday)
- 1 & 2 July 2024 (Monday & Tuesday)
Cost: £250 + VAT per person
(10% discount when booking 2 or more people on all courses)
- Site Supervisors Safety Training Scheme (SSSTS) Refresher
Duration: 1 day
Dates:
-
- 15 April 2024 (Monday)
- 17 June 2024 (Monday)
- 12 August 2024 (Monday)
Cost: £170 + VAT
(10% discount when booking 2 or more people on all courses)
- CITB 1-Day Health & Safety Awareness
Duration: 1 day
Dates:
-
- 29 February 2024 (Thursday)
- 4 April 2024 (Thursday)
- 10 June 2024 (Monday)
Cost: £145 + VAT per person
(10% discount when booking 2 or more people on all courses)
OTHER COURSES
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:
-
- 28 February 2024 (Wednesday)
- 20 March 2024 (Wednesday)
- 29 April 2024 (Monday)
- 22 May 2024 (Wednesday)
- 24 June 2024 (Monday)
- 22 July 2024 (Monday)
Cost: £85 + VAT per person
MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID
1-day FAA Award in First Aid for Mental Health (Level 2 RQF)
Dates: 1 March 2024 (Friday)
Cost: £85 + VAT per person
IOSH MANAGING SAFELY
3-day IOSH Managing Safely course
Dates: 13, 14 & 15 May 2024 (Monday – Wednesday)
Cost: £395 + VAT per person
WHS IMPORTANT REMINDERS
We would remind all readers of the following issues, all of which relate to our observations on site and all of which would result in enforcement should the HSE spot them too:
Nail guns:
These are extremely dangerous pieces of equipment and can be lethal if not handled correctly. It is absolutely essential that all users are properly trained and trustworthy, and that they wear the correct classification of high-impact goggles; contact the 3M Helpline or similar for specialist guidance.
It is also essential that all usage of nail-guns is risk assessed for the prevailing circumstances, both the task/s and the environment. Do NOT use generic risk assessments only; they MUST be made site / task specific.
PUWER inspections:
These MUST be taken seriously; they are a legal requirement and anyone failing to accurately record the findings may be subject to prosecution. Employers must make sure all persons carrying out these inspections are properly trained and know exactly what’s expected of them; they MUST take ownership of their actions.
Winter working:
We all know it can be cold out there on site but there can be no bending of PPE rules! ALL PPE must be worn in the manner intended; no adaption, and NO inserts into hard hats unless specifically designed for that purpose. So NO hoodies under hard hats, NO balaclavas under hard hats, NOTHING under the hard hat unless specifically designed – and there are things on the market that do help such as thermal liners.
HSE NEWS
DUSTS
This perennial issue won’t go away – so we repeat, yet again, all contractors and other businesses who produce dusts must by law either suppress or extract those dusts. This has been law for at least 20 years, yet still the HSE picks up the issue time and time again on site and in workshops and, in the case of the HSE, frequently still places enforcement on the offenders. For example, recent HSE cases:
Right: Dry sweeping at a refurbishment site in NW London; no suppression in place. Dry sweeping pushes settled dusts back up into the air, and those dusts can then easily be inhaled by anyone nearby.
Left: A table saw at a commercial refurbishment site with the correct M-class extraction system attached but, as can be seen from the photo, it was either not being used or the temporary repair to the hose was totally ineffective.
Both these cases resulted in HSE enforcement.
It makes little difference whether this happens outside – the law says all dusts must be suppressed or extracted in all circumstances for very good reason.
Regular inhalation of construction dusts can cause, amongst other health problems, lung cancer, silicosis, chronic pulmonary disease and asthma. And it is not enough to rely on RPE alone; the law is quite clear that all dusts (and fumes and hazardous vapours, for that matter) must be eliminated or reduced to an acceptable level at source.
All suppression and extraction systems (on site and in workshops) must, again by law, be kept in good working order, checked (and records kept) for damage at very frequent intervals, withdrawn from use when defective and, in the case of extraction systems, subject to thorough examination by competent parties at least every 14 months.
RPE (respiratory protective equipment – face masks) can be used certainly as an additional precaution – but do remember that the use of RPE requires, again by law, face-fit testing and the user to be clean-shaven.
The HSE is not alone in finding these situations on site – WHS frequently finds the same scenarios on sites and in workshops. Please, when we highlight such (illegal) situations, do take notice of our advisors’ recommendations – we are here to help prevent both health issues and HSE enforcement. But, better still, for heaven’s sake make sure you abide by the law and establish proper dust control systems!!
VIBRATION
The HSE has also updated some of the website content related to vibration, including advice to employers, what’s required by the law, how to effectively use the HSE Vibration Calculator, an updated table for vibration risk assessment purposes and a new page on measurement and monitoring.
Vibration (along with noise) is an issue that’s difficult to avoid in many industries, in particular construction, so it’s very important that all necessary legal requirements and controls are known by everyone involved and followed – for the sake of employees more than voiding enforcement! Go to www.hse.gov.uk or contract WHS on 01952-885885 for further information and guidance.
ASBESTOS
Following on from the HSE’s ‘Asbestos and You’ campaign, it has recently updated advice and guidance on its website, including the duty to manage, asbestos management plan and register templates, examples across many industries (including videos) and advice to workers. Again, do take a look at the wealth of information available on www.hse.gov.uk
There are also updated posters available from:
https://rb.gy/twycex (for industrial premises)
https://rb.gy/a17jox (for residential premises)
And make sure you follow it! If in any doubt at all about anything related to asbestos, do contact WHS as priority. WHS is still finding many sites with no pre-planning for necessary asbestos surveys, with the result that the issue is then ignored – such scenarios will likely result in prosecution if asbestos has then been disturbed.
INDUSTRY NEWS
ELECTRIC & DIGITAL SUSTAINABILITY
Market leader, Schneider Electric, are offering a monthly series of webinars (CPD accredited) discussing key sustainability topics, including keeping HV switchgear in good order and much more. Register online:
https://rb.gy/13mw99
AND FINALLY
Work at height
- Principal contractor, Inco Contracts Ltd, were fined £600,000 plus £58,448 costs and electrical contractor, Prestige Security Installations Ltd, fined £30,000 plus £15,000 costs after a 36 year old father died when he fell from the roof of an office block. Two workers were installing a lightning protection system to the front of the block during a conversion; the victim had been lowering access equipment to his colleague using a rope attached to a frame, when the frame became detached and it and the victim fell to the ground. Both companies had failed to ensure the work was properly planned, managed and monitored, and safer working methods for work at height should have been established.
Previously, the victim’s employer, PTSG Electrical Services Ltd, had been fined £1120,000 plus costs of £5448 for similar breaches relating to work at height.
- Profascias Ltd was fined £6,000 plus £2,000 costs and its director, John Nolan, ordered to undertake 180 hours unpaid community work and pay £1,000 costs after an employee fell 3 metres from a ladder and suffered serious injuries. The company had been hired to replace gutters and soffits at a primary school but no working platform had been provided; the victim had been expected to work solely from the ladder.
Asbestos
- Contractor, Sean Faulkner, was ordered to undertake 150 hours of unpaid community work, 15 days of rehabilitation and 90 days of monitored alcohol abstinence, and to pay £1,000 costs after removing asbestos from a school when he was not licensed to do so. He had intentionally falsified clearance paperwork, and had apparently carried out similar work months beforehand at a domestic property.
Welfare
- CB Homes Ltd were fined £5,000 plus £1,984 costs after the HSE found they had failed to provide adequate welfare facilities on its site.
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