SSE Hornsea Ltd. Pleads Guilty After Exposing 13 People to Asbestos

We've been reminded of the value of a detailed risk assessment this week after it was revealed SSE Hornsea Ltd allowed 13 employees and contractors to be exposed to asbestos fibres.

Hornsea runs a natural gas storage facility on the East Yorkshire coast and tasked a team of maintenance staff with removing a non-return valve from a compressed air distribution system. In order to remove the sealing gasket material, they fitted a wire brush to an electric drill. That worked, but filled the workshop with dust.

It turns out the dust contained chrysotile (white) asbestos, which 13 people had then come into contact with over the course of two days before the danger was revealed and the workshop closed.

The Health and Safety Executive decided to prosecute SSE Hornsea. Not only had the risk assessment failed to identify the asbestos risk, but the records held regarding the non-return valve were inadequate. Also, the maintenance team leader had not undergone asbestos awareness training.

As well as the potential impact this dust could have on the future health of the 13 exposed people, Hornsea now has to pay a £300,000 fine and £12,670.72 in costs. The company pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2 (1) and 3(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc, Act 1974.

It should go without saying: train your staff! We carry out a range of training courses including asbestos awareness. Please get in touch if you would like to learn more or book places.

Source: HSE

Face fitting on site

Are any of your workforce exposed to dust of any kind on your sites?

The wearing of a suitable mask is a requirement if the risk assessment identifies that the operatives may inhale dust hazardous to their health such as asbestos fibres, silica dust, wood shavings and fibreglass.



All masks issued to the workforce must be face fitted to the worker by a trained and competent person and if you do not have such a person in house then why not contact C&D and we will visit site and do the face fits for you at a cost from £25 per person depending on the number of people to be face fitted and the site location.

To book a face fit session please contact Stuart Carter at stuart@demolishdismantle.co.uk

A Dilemma!

During one of our regular training courses trainer Mike Kehoe issued the operatives and staff from Inglenorth Demolition a Dilemma.

1 - 24 single bottles of oxygen have been dropped off outside the site and they had to get them to the safety cage within the site.

2 - A pack of timber sleepers have also been dropped off and left at the site entrance.

That day on site all the plant and machinery had run out of fuel and the crane driver had a day off.

This was part of a manual handling course that C&D carried out and the operatives were split into four groups to come up with the solutions to this problem.

Using the approved risk assessment T.I.L.E which is TASK, INDIVIDUAL, LOAD AND ENVIRONMENT the group task was to get the materials on site safely and controlled.

However to make matters worse Mike informed the group that the HSE inspector was also on site and wanted to inspect the Manual handling assessment sheets. After some hard work and heated discussion the group discussed the findings.

It was to the credit of Inglenorth that fantastic control measures were put in place and the HSE inspector went home happy with a C&D T-shirt!

C&D training courses always contain group discussion and exercises and “Bill Hill Health and Safety manager” commented ‘the lads were engrossed throughout the whole session and really enjoyed the group exercises’.

Remember C&D can assist in manual handling training assessments and producing all relevant site documentation.

Do you need specific risk assessments for electronic cigarettes?

Electronic cigarettes are not governed by the smoking ban or restricted by tobacco laws due to their construction and contents. As the law stands, using an e-cigarette is not "smoking" because no "smoke", as defined in law, is produced. Therefore anyone using an e-cigarette, either outside or indoors, is not breaking the law.

Whether e-cigarette use in a workplace environment is allowed by your company will be down to your own rules and policies, but if you do not have a policy in place we suggest that you include one.

You also need to consider the risk of fire from the charging device, and that has been an issue with some models. The COSHH Regulations state some e-cigarettes require refilling from a bottle of nicotine solution and this may, therefore, also need to be considered.

The NHS have released advice on the health effects of electronic cigarettes which can be found at the NHS Choices website.

Don't forget the office staff

When companies submit PQQs for work with ourselves one of the areas that we look at closely is training of the workforce as here at C&D we believe that a trained workforce is a safe workforce.

However, you would be amazed how many companies train the site staff in accordance with recommendations but fail to consider any training whatsoever for the office staff, leaving them vulnerable to accident or injury whilst carrying out day to day office work.

Why not take a few hours and do a risk assessment of the work done by your office staff and carry out a training needs analysis for that work to ensure that you have adequately covered items such as:-

• Manual handling (photo copy paper boxes, water cooler bottles etc)
• Emergency procedures in the event of a fire
• Lone working
• Work at Height (reaching the safety policy from the top shelf)
• Use of VDU equipment
• Correct posture and layout of workstations

If you feel that, following the training needs analysis, you need training for your office staff please contact margaret@demolishdismantle.co.uk to discuss your training needs.

Introducing a new Risk Assessment course

C&D are pleased to announce that they have a new course for Risk Assessment.

Here at C&D we are concerned that site supervisors are unsure as to how to carry out risk assessments on site so we have launched, in conjunction with our training partners CDP Training, a new risk assessment course that is a Chartered Institute of Environmental Health certificated course.

Full course content is as below and bookings for the course can be made by contacting us using john.woodward@demolishdismantle.co.uk.

CIEH Level 2/3 Award Principles of Risk Assessment Syllabus - OfQual Approved

Health and safety in the Workplace
Candidates should understand the main causes of accidents and ill health, and the implications they have for people in the workplace, and be able to:

i State the main causes of work-related fatalities, injuries and ill health, and outline the moral, legal and economic reasons for preventing such events.

ii State the main costs to employers of accidents and work-related ill health, and the benefits of their control to employers, employees and society.

iii Define the terms ‘occupational health and safety’, ‘accident’, ‘near miss’ and ‘accident triangle’.

iv Explain how occupational, environmental, behavioural and human factors affect occupational health and safety, and give examples of each.

Legislation
Candidates should be aware of the legal requirements for risk assessment and able to:

i Outline the employers’ general duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

ii Explain the term ‘so far as is reasonably practicable’ in respect of employers’ duties.

iii Outline the requirements for risk assessment in the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

iv Give examples of other UK health and safety legislation with specific requirements for risk assessment.

Principles of risk assessment
Candidates should understand the principles of risk assessment and be able to:

i Describe the role of risk assessment in accident and ill health prevention.

ii State what is meant by a ‘suitable and sufficient’ risk assessment.

iii State the necessary competencies of risk assessors.

iv Define the terms ‘hazard’, ‘risk’ and ‘control measure’, and give examples of each.

v Identify sources of information on hazards and risks, both internal and external to the organisation.

vi Describe the steps involved in a risk assessment.

vii Outline a basic method for evaluating risk.

viii Explain what is meant by the ‘hierarchy of control’ and how it applies in the selection of control measures.

ix Describe common control measures.

x Describe how risk assessments can be recorded.

xi Identify the general and specific circumstances that would require a review of a risk assessment.

Risk Assessment - Getting it right

We all know that we have to do risk assessments for every task that we carry out, but are the people doing those assessments trained to do them? If they have no formal training and an accident occurs because a risk was incorrectly assessed then the company will be liable, and could be facing a court case.

Don't take that chance, book a risk assessment course now. Details of our standard course are below, but we can adapt the content to suit your own needs if required.

Health and safety in the Workplace
Candidates should understand the main causes of accidents and ill health, and the implications they have for people in the workplace, and be able to:

• State the main causes of work-related fatalities, injuries and ill health, and outline the moral, legal and economic reasons for preventing such events.
• State the main costs to employers of accidents and work-related ill health, and the benefits of their control to employers, employees and society.
• Define the terms ‘occupational health and safety’, ‘accident’, ‘near miss’ and ‘accident triangle’.
• Explain how occupational, environmental, behavioural and human factors affect occupational health and safety, and give examples of each.

Legislation
Candidates should be aware of the legal requirements for risk assessment and able to:

• Outline the employers’ general duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
• Explain the term ‘so far as is reasonably practicable’ in respect of employers’ duties.
• Outline the requirements for risk assessment in the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
• Give examples of other UK health and safety legislation with specific requirements for risk assessment.

Principles of risk assessment
Candidates should understand the principles of risk assessment and be able to:

• Describe the role of risk assessment in accident and ill health prevention.
• State what is meant by a ‘suitable and sufficient’ risk assessment.
• State the necessary competencies of risk assessors.
• Define the terms ‘hazard’, ‘risk’ and ‘control measure’, and give examples of each.
• Identify sources of information on hazards and risks, both internal and external to the organisation.
• Describe the steps involved in a risk assessment.
• Outline a basic method for evaluating risk.
• Explain what is meant by the ‘hierarchy of control’ and how it applies in the selection of control measures.
• Describe common control measures.
• Describe how risk assessments can be recorded.
• Identify the general and specific circumstances that would require a review of a risk assessment.

Risk Assessment and Method Statements

Introduction

The course is designed for staff who have to undertake Risk Assessments and produce Method Statements.

In any workplace, accidents can be serious and we understand that the most important way to save lives, care for employee health is to prevent these accidents from occurring in the first place and assess and monitor the risks.

Whether you are a directly managing and or reporting to a client, the control of works in a hazardous operation will require the production of a accurate method statements to comply with duties under the relevant statutory provisions, this may include complying with directions given by a client to enable the work to be carried out in accordance with Health and Safety Regulations. It should also detail the possible scope of dangers/risks associated with your particular part of the works to be done and the process of controls to be established, detailing methodology of how the activates will be achieved safely.

Aims

The course will provide personnel with sound practical skills, the knowledge to carry out thorough Risk Assessments and then put in place suitable risk control measures, including valid Method Statements.

The Course includes:

Introduction to Risk Assesment and common Health & Safety terms, including hazards & risks
Legal aspects of Risk Assessment
Hazard awareness
Five steps to Risk Assessment
Types of Risk Assessment
Risk Assessment Proforma design
Hierarchy of Control
Method Statement (Safe System of Work)
Permits to Work
Practical Risk Assessment
Production of Method Statement
Course Review

Delegates will be issued with a Certificate of Attendance.