COMPANY NEWS
TRAINING
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, 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.
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/
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.
Date:
21 June 2022 (Tuesday)
5 August 2022 (Friday)
Cost: £85 + VAT per person
FIRST AID
1-day Emergency First-Aid at Work course dates are listed below; 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:
27 June 2022 (Monday) limited spaces available
18 July 2022 (Monday)
24 August 2022 (Wednesday)
27 September 2022 (Tuesday)
19 October 2022 (Wednesday)
Cost: £85 + VAT per person
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 8.30 am and finish at 4.30 pm.
* Please reiterate to all candidates the absolute need to make their way up to the WHS offices and log in immediately upon arrival to avoid being charged for parking.
- Site Management Safety Training Scheme (SMSTS)
Duration: 5 days; 1 day per week
Dates:
29 June & 6, 13, 20 & 27 July 2022 (Wednesdays)
17, 24 & 31 August, 7 & 14 September 2022 (Wednesdays)
3, 10, 17, 24 & 31 October 2022 (Mondays)
Cost: £495 + VAT per person
- Site Management Safety Training Scheme (SMSTS) Refresher
Duration: 2 days
Dates:
13 & 14 June 2022 (Monday & Tuesday)
15 & 16 August 2022 (Monday & Tuesday)
5 & 6 October 2022 (Wednesday & Thursday)
Cost: £265 + VAT per person (10% discount when booking 2 or more people)
- Site Supervisors Safety Training Scheme (SSSTS)
Duration: 2 days
Dates:
28 & 29 July 2022 (Thursday & Friday)
19 & 20 September 2022 (Monday & Tuesday)
9 & 10 November 2022 (Wednesday & Thursday)
Cost: £230 + VAT per person (10% discount when booking 2 or more people)
- Site Supervisors Safety Training Scheme (SSSTS) Refresher
Duration: 1 day
Dates:
20 June 2022 (Monday)
10 August 2022 (Wednesday)
12 October 2022 (Wednesday)
Cost: £160 + VAT per person (10% discount when booking 2 or more people)
- CITB 1-Day Health & Safety Awareness
Duration: 1 day
Dates:
10 June 2022 (Friday)
8 August 2022 (Monday)
20 October 2022 (Thursday)
Cost: £125 + VAT per person (10% discount when booking 2 or more people)
STANDARDS SLIPPING
WHS has noticed a serious deterioration in general safety standards on site over the last 2 years.
We have noticed standards slipping since the start of Covid (maybe because of the concentration on Covid safety to the detriment of other issues?) but this has now reached very serious levels. We are very aware of the difficulty currently being experienced throughout the construction industry (finding and keeping staff whilst work increases, losing staff to Covid, etc) but this is no excuse for allowing health & safety standards to slip dramatically. The last thing any employer will want right now is to lose employees to accidents or business to HSE enforcement.
So please do let’s get back to basics! To highlight just 2 out of numerous issues…
- Work at height: ALL drops (including into structures, from openings, into hazardous excavations, etc, etc) MUST be protected by properly installed handrails at all times; the correct equipment MUST be used and erected correctly; checks and inspections MUST be made; the Regulations MUST be followed.
- PPE: for heaven’s sake, the use of appropriate and properly fitted PPE/RPE MUST be enforced! This has been the case for almost 50 years, yet we continue to see very poor enforcement on site.
Nothing has changed; the HSE is still visiting sites and enforcing. Neither Covid nor the current difficulties within the construction industry are excuses for allowing the risk of accidents and ill-health to increase.
HSE NEWS
SAFETY ALERT – RPE
The HSE has issued a safety alert concerning the use of ‘ear loop masks/respirators’, a type which seems to have become increasingly prevalent through covid.
Research has concluded that RPE that relies on ear loops to hold the items in place do not protect people adequately because they cannot form the necessary tight fit. This includes any items which use clips, ‘snuggers’ or any other means of tightening ear loops, even if they have CE or UKCA standards marks*
* CE and UKCA marks refer to quality of manufacture rather than confirming items meet UK health & safety standards.
Read the safety alert: https://bit.ly/3FkD9Zp
Reminders about RPE:
- As with all RPE, masks and respirators can only be used once all wearers have received face-fit testing with positive results against those particular items. This is an issue which is currently the subject of an HSE campaign, so do make sure that (a) all employees who do, or may in the future, need to wear RPE have received face-fit testing, (b) each employee is wearing only those types of RPE which have passed the face-fit testing performed on that individual, and (c) additional face-fit testing is carried out every time an additional type of RPE becomes necessary, the individual’s face shape changes significantly (weight gain or loss, for instance) and at least once a year.
WHS carries out face-fit testing, which is quick and simple to do either on site or at our premises; contact the WHS office (01952-885885) to make your bookings.
Refer to the legal requirements on the HSE’s website for confirmation: https://bit.ly/3kIlkdg
- No wearer of masks or respirators can be allowed to sport a beard or significant stubble as a tight fit cannot then be achieved. It is not a ‘human right’ to have a beard – health & safety overrides every other aspect under British law. If the employee insists on having a beard, designer stubble or more than a few hours growth, he just cannot be allowed to do the task/s requiring RPE; to allow this means that the employer is automatically acting illegally and can receive enforcement or, ultimately, be prosecuted.
- The so-called ‘surgical masks’ are only suitable to help prevent exhaled droplets dispersing over those close by. Although most of us have used them as a ‘better than nothing’ form of help against Covid, they are NOT designed as respiratory protection to the wearer and cannot be used for protection against hazardous substances.
COVID-19: THE CURRENT POSITION
The HSE no longer requires every business to have a specific Covid risk assessment and has replaced the workplace guidance with ‘public health advice’ for England, Scotland and Wales: https://bit.ly/37pkcIs
Of course, this doesn’t mean that all businesses and their employees shouldn’t still be taking care to prevent infection; we still recommend good steriliser stations throughout the workplace, strict hygiene and (as with any illness) individuals remain home if they experience symptoms. We do all have to get on with our lives now, but we should retain our guard and not get complacent – it may not be over quite yet.
MANUAL HANDLING
The HSE has now put digital versions of their MSD (musculoskeletal disorders) assessment tools online and these are freely downloadable. Unlike previous MSD tools, these deal with more specific types of manual assessment, including repetitive tasks and pushing/pulling. There are 3 available:
- Manual Handling Assessment Charts (the MAC Tool): https://bit.ly/3vRgLDy
- Risk Assessment of Pushing & Pulling (the RAPP Tool): https://bit.ly/3P2cipl
- Assessment of Repetitive Tasks (the ART Tool): https://bit.ly/3vRwh2C
Please do feel free to contact the WHS office for advice or help with the use of these tools or, indeed, anything related to manual handling and assessment. May we also remind businesses that manual handling training is vital, particularly in the construction industry where so much relies on the capabilities of individuals.
INDUSTRY NEWS
18th EDITION AMENDMENT 2
The 18th Edition Amendment 2 (to BS 7671:2018) went live on 28 March 2022; regulatory changes include:
- SPDs to be used where there could be severe or life-threatening consequences from over-voltage.
- Type A RCDs only to be used for general purpose installations
- Recommended use of RCBOs in domestics to minimise tripping
- Arc fault detection devices required for single-phase AC circuits supplying sockets not exceeding 32A rating
BS 7671:2018+A1 can still be used until 27 September 2022; however, designers and contractors may like to introduce the new requirements ahead of this date to ensure there is no risk of additional costs at a later stage or overrun beyond the due date.
TRAGIC CONSEQUENCES OF NOT FOLLOWING CDM
The Construction (Design & Management) Regulations were established way back in 1994 for a very good reason – to ensure that all parties talked throughout all stages, agreed design, issued information and basically shared the ownership of a project in order to avoid any party going their own way and producing risks to both contractors and end-users. There have been various changes to the regulatory arrangements over the years (culminating in the 2015 version), but the basic ethos of CDM has never changed; in a nutshell, there must (legally) be joined-up thinking from start to final completion to ensure a safe project.
The RIBA report into the 2020 Stonehaven derailment in Scotland, when 3 people were killed and many more injured, clearly demonstrates that a failure to engage fully with CDM (as seems to be all too common on so many projects) can produce extremely serious results. The contractor, Carillion, failed to flag up design issues when they were engaged by Network Rail to carry out drainage work alongside the Stonehaven rail line in 2011. The drainage system installed did not match the original Arup design; the subsequent defective construction failed to drain and divert water during a period of heavy rain, resulting in a landslide and its fatal consequences.
Carillion had failed to refer design changes back to the designers, Arup, (the report states) as was required in the contractual agreement. But such referrals are required by CDM anyway, totally apart from contractual requirements – it’s the law!
It was also found that, despite being alerted by the local landlord to potential erosion, neither Carillion nor Network Rail took action. CDM and the duties of the client (in this case, Network Rail) do not cease when the project finishes; maintenance requirements and any further work carried out must be recorded in the (long-term) health & safety file, which is clearly the responsibility of the client.
Clearly, if CDM had been invoked correctly from the outset, this tragic accident would have been avoided. EVERY construction project, from the biggest structure to the smallest alteration, is covered by CDM; it cannot be viewed as needless bureaucracy, it’s there to avoid hurting people.
The full report is discussed in several online articles including: https://bbc.in/3M4lBmA
And, if you have any queries at all about how CDM should be managed for your work, please do ring WHS immediately; it’s far better to be organised (and legal!) in all cases.
AND SIMILARLY…
The collapse of a church during demolition which led to a fatality similarly seems to have resulted in a total failure to invoke the overall spirit of CDM.
A large thick stone wall of the church, which was situated above a bank overlooking rail lines, collapsed suddenly during disassembly of scaffolding, killing one of the scaffolders and narrowly avoiding the derailment of 2 trains.
The HSE investigation highlighted primarily the failure to plan, despite there being ample time to do so (not that a shortage of time is ever an excuse to ignore this most basic of all requirements). The team had failed to properly organise roles and responsibilities, engage specialist advice where required or even share information provided by Network Rail about the instability of the church.
Following a lengthy investigation, the HSE and Crown Prosecution Service brought prosecutions against several parties and individuals, with fines totalling more than £340,000 and 3 (suspended) prison sentences being handed out.
As with the case above, very serious consequences resulted from the failure to observe, or even attempt to follow, the ethos of CDM. It’s not difficult, CDM is actually no more than common sense. It’s just a matter of organisation and continual discussion between all parties; it’s something any good business should undertake as second nature, so why should a construction project be any different.
Again, if any company (client, designer, contractor or sub-contractor) needs assistance with organising work in accordance with CDM, please do contact us urgently and before it proves to be too late.
GENERAL NEWS
SUSTAINABLE FOOTWEAR
Courier service, DPD, has partnered with footwear brand, Rockfall, to produce a new range of completely environmentally sustainable safety footwear. Made of recycled bottles and foam, with sugar cane oil Kevlar midsoles (rather than petroleum) and fibreglass toecaps, they meet the full S3 rating for safety footwear. They have even paid attention to the packaging, which is FSC recycled card and soyabean ink, with QR coded labels to remove excess use of leaflets. Keep your eyes open for these remarkable safety boots coming soon.
This is only one of a number of DPD initiatives to make both their services more environmentally friendly and to contribute to sustainability in general: https://green.dpd.co.uk/
HIGHWAY CODE – MOBILE PHONES
The Highway Code was recently amended to make the use of hand-held mobile phones whilst driving totally illegal except in very limited (essentially emergency) circumstances (and, no, that doesn’t include calling your partner to order dinner!).
It is now illegal for a driver to use a hand-held mobile device (notice it states ‘device’ rather than just mobile phone), or someone supervising a learner driver, whilst:
- Stopped at traffic lights
- Queuing in traffic
- Driving a car with ‘i-stop’ (i.e. the engine turns off automatically when stationary)
- Holding or using a device offline or in ‘flight mode’
As we have stressed many times before, it is vital that companies keep up to date with any changes to the Highway Code as driving for any company-related reasons is the overall responsibility of businesses. Issues such as driver/company communication must be assessed, safe and legal arrangements made, and arrangements and rules relayed through induction and in writing to all drivers. And do note that, if those rules and arrangements are not enforced by the company, it can be held liable should an accident or injury result.
The full Highways Code can be found on: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code
And keep up to date with email alerts to any changes: https://bit.ly/3sgATNk
AND FINALLY
Asbestos
- Two senior managers of specialist asbestos survey and removals company, Ensure Asbestos Management Ltd, have been fined and sentenced to significant prison terms for deliberately cutting corners during a refurbishment. Director, Billy Hopwood, was sentenced to 10 months in prison and disqualified from being a director for 5 years and Contracts Manager, Phillip Hopwood, sentenced to 15 months and disqualified from being a director for 10 years. Ensure Asbestos Management itself was fined £100,000.
Concerns had been raised by employees and the HSE found irregularities in the asbestos surveys and clearance certification, some being clearly fraudulent. The sentences demonstrate just how seriously the issue of uncontrolled asbestos exposure is treated – and employees at any level are not immune to prosecution if the law has deliberately been flouted.
Safe systems of work
- Graham Engineering Ltd was fined a massive total of £645,487 after the death of an employee beneath a 1000-tonne capacity press. The victim was lying on his back underneath the press to remove a weld and, once removed, the 20-tonne internal ram fell to the ground, crushing him and causing instant death; the 20-tonne section was being supported by fork-lifts but exceeded their safe working load.
This case clearly demonstrates the vital importance of proper risk assessment and planning, and the tragic consequences of not doing so. Risk assessment and planning a safe system of work is not just added bureaucracy (as some still have the opinion); it is legally required for each task for a very good reason.
Vibration
- Lancashire County Council was fined a total of £60,366 after a significant number of highways department employees developed hand-arm vibration. Inadequate risk assessment and monitoring of exposure resulted in regular and uncontrolled use of vibrating tools and, despite an improvement notice having been served, the Council failed to improve systems and controls.
Work at height
- Clarendon Food Company Ltd was fined a total of £45,344.30 after a worker sustained multiple injuries falling 15 feet from a ladder. An employee had been told to install a security camera at the company’s premises but no planning had been carried out to either provide appropriate equipment nor train the employee in work at height.
- JR Adams (Newcastle) Ltd was fined a total of £215,322 after a worker died falling from the open end of a shipping container on the back of a large goods road trailer. The company had failed to risk assess this particular task and put appropriate mitigation measures in place.
It is worth noting that the fall was only 1.5 metres. Falls can kill at any height – which is why it’s so vital to properly risk assess each work at height task
Equipment safety
(No matter what industry we work in!)
- Azure Soft Furnishings Ltd was fined a total of £30,860 and company director, Tariq Majid, given a formal caution after an employee sustained serious hand injuries whilst working on an unguarded machine. Employees had been instructed to sew and pack duvets using a new machine. The victim had not been authorised to use the machine nor trained in its use. In addition, the sensors on the guard had been disabled. Both the company and the director had failed to formulate a safe system of work, recognise the unsafe manner of working and also to train employees properly.
(And it can happen so easily at home too – don’t be complacent, equipment is just as dangerous at home)
- A tragic accident occurred in May in Kidderminster when a 79-year-old pensioner killed himself with his own chainsaw whilst trimming a hedge: https://bit.ly/3lnOfmZ
NEVER use hazardous equipment (and it doesn’t come much more hazardous than chain saws), even at home, unless you are trained to use it AND are wearing the appropriate PPE; the risks are just too high.
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