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

Not everyone in demolition needs one of these

The public face of the demolition industry might be big diggers and heavy equipment.

But there's WAY more to the industry than that.

Demolition employs thousands of people - men and women - that work behind the scenes and who rarely (if ever) set foot on a demolition site.

From administrators and office staff to those responsible for managing training and monitoring health and safety procedures, these are the backbone of a thriving industry with excellent training and excellent opportunities for career progression.

So if you are the type of person that wants to work in a nice clean office behind a nice clean computer, then don't dismiss demolition.

You could be just the type of person we're looking for. Contact us to find out more.

The most powerful tools in the demolition business

The public face of the demolition industry might be big diggers and heavy equipment.

But there's WAY more to the industry than that.

Demolition employs thousands of people - men and women - that work behind the scenes and who rarely (if ever) set foot on a demolition site.

From administrators and office staff to those responsible for managing training and monitoring health and safety procedures, these are the backbone of a thriving industry with excellent training and excellent opportunities for career progression.

So if you are the type of person that wants to work in a nice clean office behind a nice clean computer, then don't dismiss demolition.

You could be just the type of person we're looking for. Contact us to find out more.

Working at Height training documents

Here at C&D we have recently created two new documents used during our Working at Height training courses. We have decided to share both documents with everyone as a way of both better promoting safety as well as making everyone aware how much detail is involved in learning to be safe in just this one area.

Below are links to both the main document and associated flowchart for your convenience:

Working at Height flowchart

Working at Height document

If you would like to discuss Working at Height training further, please get in touch with Stuart at stuart@demolishdismantle.co.uk.

St. John Ambulance video teaches parents how to perform CPR on infants

St. John Ambulance have had the fantastic video you can watch above created to show parents, and the public in general, how to safely perform CPR on an infant. It's all about those puffs and pumps, and it could save a baby's life while waiting for an ambulance to arrive.

For more information, as well as a free baby first aid guide, visit the St. John Ambulance website.

"It can happen to anyone"

Mark Anthony, Editor of Demolition News, was on a routine site visit last week to film a high reach machine in action when the day took a turn that he wasn't expecting.

Please take a few minutes to watch this video to see how your day could also take a similar turn without the proper precautions being put in place.

Please be safe this summer!

A good video to show the kids breaking up for the summer holidays this week.

Unhappy council staff being forced to attend work clean shaven

Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council has informed some of its staff that unless they turn up to work clean shaven from now on, they will face disciplinary action.

The reason? Those employees in the repairs department, so including such tasks as carpentry and plumbing, are required to wear face-fit masks when working in dusty locations and situations. If a face is not clean shaven, there's a chance that the mask may not seal properly and dust could leak in and into that person's lungs, potentially creating a health risk.

As you'd expect, those who enjoy having facial hair and who work at the council in the repairs department are not too pleased about this demand. But health and safety comes first, and if they don't comply the disciplinary action could include losing pay. So a supervised face fit test is carried out, after which the employees must remain clean shaven to ensure the mask fits correctly.

We suspect more than a few people working at Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council will be sporting a new, cleaner look in the coming days and week, whether they like it or not.

C&D Consultancy can face fit all operatives if your organization or company requires the same health and safety precautions be adhered to. Please contact stuart@demolishdismantle.co.uk for more details.

Source: Coventry Telegraph

Skip company and owner prosecuted for worker death

Kevin Hoare, director of South Coast Skips, has been prosecuted along with his company for the death of 66-year-old Lindsay Campbell.

Mr Campbell was working in an excavator bucket with another man (an agency worker) when it tipped. Both of them fell 9 meters down from the bucket and on to a concrete floor killing Mr Campbell and causing the other worker serious leg injuries. The incident took place at the company's Rudford Industrial Estate premises.

The bucket tipped due to a loss of hydraulic pressure. It was not designed to lift people and therefore had no safety equipment present in case such a problem occurred.

As the HSE explains:

"South Coast Skips Ltd of Rudford Industrial Estate, Ford, Arundel pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act, 1974 (HASWA,1974) was fined £65,000 and ordered to pay costs of £25,000.

Mr Kevin Hoare, 65, of Fareham, Hampshire pleaded guilty to section 37 of HASWA, 1974 and was given a 12 month custodial sentence suspended for 18 months."

This was an accident that could have very easily been avoided if the right training had been given and safe working at height practices employed. Book a work at height course now with stuart@demolishdismantle.co.uk.

Source: HSE

APS BIM 4 Health and Safety Conference on 16th September

On Wednesday, 16th September the Association for Project Safety is holding the APS BIM for Health and Safety Conference.

According to APS:

"This conference will provide an invaluable industry update on the current BIM implementation and its benefits to managing health and safety within the UK construction industry. Delegates will have the opportunity to hear how industry is currently transforming itself, current practices, implementation and how future developments in technology will help drive improved health and safety in construction."

The conference is being held at the Construction Industry Council, Building Centre, 26 Store Street, London, WC1E 7BT. The cost is £70 incl. VAT per attendee.

Keynote speakers include Balfour Beatty’s Scott Kerr and Neil Thompson, Chair of the CIC BIM 2050 Core Group, and Peter Nicholas from ARUP. They will demonstrate how their implementation of BIM is tangibly improving performance and reducing costs. Presentations from other design organisations will explore the use of BIM and its effect on health and safety in the design, construction and life-cycle management of buildings.

If you would like to attend then please register online and fill out the booking form.

Network Rail's Lifesaving Rules Series: Working with Moving Equipment

Network Rail's Lifesaving Rules Series: Taking Responsibility

Network Rail's Lifesaving Rules Series: Safe Behaviour

Network Rail's Lifesaving Rules Series: Driving

Network Rail's Lifesaving Rules Series: Working with Electricity

Network Rail's Lifesaving Rules Series: Working at Height

Network Rail have produced a set of six fantastic and hard-hitting safety films and shared them freely for everyone to watch. They were good enough to win he Grand Prix Award at the EVCOM Screen Awards in March, and we've decided to share them with our readers. Over the next few days we'll be posting them for your viewing pleasure, or displeasure due to the raw nature of the content. Either way, they are all well worth watching, and if you want more, then check out our own set of Toolbox Talks.

Are we Educators or Trainers?

A recent article from SHP online (linked to at the end of this article) raises a number of interesting points, which should be recognised by many trainers, covering Health and Safety as well as other subjects.

Amongst other issues in the article the question is asked, at what point does education become training? Could it be said that all training is education, but that not all education is training or more simply are the two things entirely different?

The author Ian Pemberton argues well that the training that goes on today is too heavily based on education (theory based work) and not enough on practical workplace-based learning. His theory is that because of the requirements laid down by national agencies and governing bodies, the courses available have too large a content based on theory, telling people why they need to know something and not enough time telling them how to actually do it safely.

He then takes this one stage further by suggesting that instead of subject-based training we should be offering job- or task-based training. The reasoning behind this being that if we were to train in a job situation we could cover all the safety aspects relating to that job in one go rather than the worker doing one course one day on one subject and then another course the next and so on. Removing all but the very basic theory aspects would allow us then to concentrate the training to suit the person and the client, not the trainer.

While we're not being one hundred percent in agreement with all these principles, the application of the theories would seem to be problematic, the overall principal is something we at C&D would wholeheartedly agree with. Indeed, our mantra “Training when the client wants it, not when the trainer wants it” is testament to our belief that this is the way forward. Couple to this the movement by our trainers towards a more hands-on experiential based approach to training and you can see that in many ways we have already adopted some of these principals. Just how far do we take them?

This is a brief synopsis and discussion of a much more detailed piece which is well worth reading by all professional health and safety trainers. Here is the link to the article:

http://www.shponline.co.uk/getting-health-safety-training/

Lorry blind spots can kill

There is a growing awareness of how dangerous it is to be a cyclist using the roads in the UK. The combination of a lack of cycle-friendly areas, lack of knowledge on both the part of the cyclists and drivers, and vehicles not being equipped to properly deal with cyclists around them, can cause serious injury or even death.

A case in point is heavy good vehicles (HGV). Most HGVs have blindspots, and not small ones. If you head on over to Facebook and watch this video you'll see exactly what we mean. 9 cyclists right next to a HGV cannot be seen by the driver. If a turn is performed, especially at speed, then injuries will occur and it will be a complete surprise to the driver.

More needs to be done in all areas. Vehicles manufacturers, cyclists, and drivers, are all required to take responsibility for these issues.

Remember Health and Safety is more than just about Safety

Following on from the recent HSE focus on workplace Health issues, “Safer Sites – Targeted Inspection Initiative” comes a Seminar covering Respiratory Health, hosted by IOSH.

Respiratory health issues creep up slowly, with many people not realising they have a condition, often thinking their symptoms are simply due to lack of fitness or to getting older. As a result of this, often a condition does not get diagnosed in the early stages.

Presented by experts from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) and the private sector, this seminar aims to outline an employer’s responsibilities for respiratory health and to identify control measures that can reduce the likelihood of problems and identify any health issues early.

Link to the IOSH Seminar details:
http://www.iosh.co.uk/IOSH/Home/Events/Event%20details.aspx?Name=Respiratory%20Health%20Seminar&Id=101621&ItemType=Course&ReturnURL=%2fEvents.aspx%3fcurrentPage%3d4

Link to HSE Safer Sites Initiative:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/campaigns/safersites/index.htm?eban=govdel-equipment-at-work&cr=30-Sep-2014

Courses we run regarding health matters:-

1. Face fitting of masks (We offer face fitting on site or in the client's office) (Face fitting is a requirement of the COSHH Regs)
2. Training persons to carry out the face fitting of masks.
3. Inspection of masks course.
4. Registers of mask use written or provided.
5. Hand arm vibration awareness training.
6. HAV register provided.
7. Asbestos awareness training to UKATA standard.
8. Category B asbestos removal training.

Please get in touch if you'd like to discuss the options or make a booking.

An example of just how many notices the HSE has to issue

The Health and Safety Executive is the national independent watchdog for work-related health, safety and illness. As a regulator they are kept extremely busy, but that's hard to visualize unless you can see the work they are doing. Well, you can.

When the HSE discovers a problem on a site they issue a notice. Recently a two-month notices issued summary was released in document form covering active Leeds, Sheffield, and Newcastle construction teams. Even though it was only for 2 months and a small section of the UK, 47 notices were issued broken down as follows:

• Working at height x 20
• Welfare x 7
• CDM x 7
• PUWER x 2
• Asbestos x 4
• Manual Handling x 2
• Fire x 3
• Electrical Safety x 1
• COSHH x 1

You can read the details of all these notices by downloading the summary document they came from. It just goes to show how important the HSE is, but also how proper training can prevent your workers from ever being served one of these notices and potentially slowing down or even stopping work.