Health & Safety
Newsletter – October 2014
Health and safety statistics 2013/14
Published online today (29 October) the latest statistics on work-related health and safety in Great
Britain 2013/14 and includes the following key annual figures:
•
1.2 million working people suffering from a work-related illness.
•
2535 mesothelioma deaths due to past asbestos exposures (2012).
•
133 workers killed at work.
•
78 000 other injuries to employees reported under RIDDOR.
•
629 000 injuries at work from the Labour Force Survey.
•
28.2 million working days lost due to work-related illness and workplace injury.
•
£14.2 billion estimated cost of injuries and ill health from current working conditions
(2012/13).
Please find attached HSE issued ‘stats at a glance’ document with the covering email.
HSE survey: shocking ignorance of asbestos risk
A new survey commissioned by HSE and based on interviews with 500 tradespeople reveals that
many are ignorant of the risks posed by asbestos.
One of the headline findings in the survey, carried out by Censuswide in September 2014, was that
14 per cent of respondents believed that drinking a glass of water would help protect them from the
deadly dust. Twenty seven per cent of those asked thought that opening a window would help keep
them safe. Equally worrying, only 30 per cent of those surveyed were able to identify all the correct
measures for safe asbestos working, while 57 per cent made at least one potentially lethal mistake in
trying to identify how to stay safe.
The findings raise serious concerns, especially in light of the fact that tradespeople, including
construction workers, carpenters and painters and decorators, could come into contact with the
deadly asbestos on average more than 100 times a year.
HSE figures reveal that 20 tradespeople, on average, die every week from asbestos-related diseases.
Asbestos can be found in walls and ceilings, or the structure of a building, as well as a host of other
places like floor tiles, boilers, toilet cisterns, guttering and soffits.
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Basic maintenance work like drilling holes and sanding can disturb it and the lethal microscopic
fibres have been linked to lung disease and cancer. Censuswide’s research reveals that while 53 per
cent of respondents knew that asbestos could be in old buildings built before 1970, only 15 per cent
knew that it could still be found in buildings built up to 2000.
In a drive to raise awareness of dangers faced by the 1.3 million tradespeople at risk, HSE has
launched a new safety campaign to improve preparations for dealing with asbestos.
Launched by Mark Harper, the minister responsible for health and safety, at the TradePoint store in
Cricklewood, the campaign features a new web app for phones, tablets and laptops that should help
tradespeople easily identify where they could come into contact with the material and advice on
how to deal with the risks.
TradePoint is supporting the campaign by distributing free asbestos safety kits through its stores.
Mr Harper said: “The number dying every year from asbestos-related diseases is unacceptably high.
Despite being banned in the construction industry, asbestos exposure remains a very serious risk to
tradespeople.
“This safety campaign is about highlighting the risks and easy measures people can take to protect
themselves. We hope the safety kits and the web app will encourage people to be aware of the risks,
think twice, and take precautions to be safe.”
It is a legal requirement to ensure that your staff have completed training in Asbestos Awareness!
To download the app: www.beware-asbestos.info/news
More asbestos safety at: www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos
SMC Safety Solutions are delivering another Asbestos Awareness course on
Friday 12th December 2014. Please contact Steve Couch for more information.
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IN COURT – LASTEST
Essex firm in court after worker’s fall
An Essex security firm has been fined after a maintenance engineer broke his elbow when he fell
more than three metres through fragile ceiling tiles at a site in Dunton, Essex.
The engineer, who does not wish to be named, was attempting to access an electrical control panel
in a ceiling void to fix a faulty roller shutter door when the incident happened on 21 December 2012.
He sustained a fractured elbow and ankle.
Security Door Systems Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an
investigation identified they had failed to make sure the work on the ceiling panels was carried out
safely.
Basildon Magistrates’ Court was told on the 10th October, that the engineer, who had worked on the
same door on previous occasions, accessed the void by a ladder supported by a colleague. He then
made his way across the ceiling panels, which were attached directly to the underside of timber
joists, using a wooden ply board as a work platform. After repairing the control panel and checking
the door was operational, he fell through the ceiling to the floor below.
HSE found the company didn’t have a sufficient risk assessment in place for undertaking work at
height on the site. Following the incident the electrical control panel was relocated to ground level
to avoid the need to work on the fragile ceiling.
Security Door Systems Ltd, of Thurrock Commercial Centre, Purfleet Industrial Park, Aveley, Purfleet,
was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £440 after pleading guilty to a single breach of the
Work at Height Regulations 2005.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Corinne Godfrey said:
“Security Door Systems was a regular contractor at that site but failed to carry out an adequate risk
assessment that identified the fragile ceiling surface and the need to work above it. And in turn, they
failed to implement measures to prevent falls through fragile ceiling surface when work was being
undertaken in the void. It was luck rather than good management that someone had not fallen
before.
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“Incidents involving falls through fragile roofs are unfortunately all too common. Employers have
responsibility to ensure that suitable risk assessments are undertaken for work at height, and to
make sure that robust and safe systems of work are implemented.
“This engineer was very fortunate not to have suffered far more serious injuries, or indeed injure
others as he fell to the ground.”
Further information about working safely at height can be found on the HSE website at
www.hse.gov.uk/falls.
Bedfordshire vets in court after workers exposed to harmful drugs
A Bedfordshire veterinary firm has been fined after workers were potentially exposed to harmful
substances found in animal chemotherapy drugs prepared at the veterinary practice over a four year
period.
Employees of Davies Veterinary Specialists Limited, including vets, nurses and support staff, were
potentially exposed to the drugs as they prepared medicines to treat animals with cancer at the
firm’s premises at Manor Farm Business Park on Higham Road in Higham Gobion, Bedfordshire.
The company was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after it emerged the fume
cabinet used for animal chemotherapy drug preparation was not used in the way it was designed
for. This meant that employees had potentially been exposed to substances that are harmful to
human health and can cause cancer.
Luton Crown Court heard on the 23rd October that a dangerous occurrence was reported to HSE in
September 2011 after one of the vets believed that the fume cabinet was unsuitable.
The investigation also found there was no system of work in place to prevent or reduce the risk of
exposure to employees, that there had been no maintenance of the fume cupboard for many years
and the cleaning procedures were inadequate.
Staff had not been given any safety training in the safe use of the fume cupboard, and there was
inadequate personal protective equipment and no monitoring systems.
This meant that over a period of over four years, from July 2007 until September 2011, staff working
at the practice could have been exposed to the potentially harmful drugs.
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Davies Veterinary Specialists Limited, of Shefford Business Centre, Hitchin Road, Shefford,
Bedfordshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
The company was fined £35,000 and ordered to pay £50,378 in costs.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Emma Page, said: “The chemotherapy drugs used to treat
cancer in animals can cause cancer in humans and harm unborn babies.
“The company had no arrangements in place to ensure employees could work safely when preparing
these drugs. Around 125 people work at the practice of which a small number would have been at
risk of developing cancer.
“Simple measures, such as an appropriately designed, maintained and serviced fume cabinet,
protective equipment adequate cleaning procedures and proper training, would have prevented
exposure.”
Civil engineering firm in court for unsafe work at height
The work at height risks at the Mayfair site included missing edge protection to prevent falls.
A Covent Garden-based civil engineering contractor has been prosecuted for safety failings after an
inspection of a Mayfair construction site identified multiple work-at-height risks.
Peter Lind and Co (Central Region) Limited appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on the 8th
October, following the visit by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to a project on Queen Street on
23 January this year. The court heard that concerns were first raised about safety standards at the
site, where two five-storey regency houses were being extensively over-hauled, by an anonymous
complainant in December 2013.
When a HSE inspector visited some eight weeks later he uncovered a catalogue of issues, including:
•
Missing or inadequate edge protection in several locations – exposing workers to potential
falls of between three and eight metres.
•
Unsafe temporary ladders in place of a staircase that been removed.
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•
Missing toe boards and other edge protection on several tower scaffolds.
•
Materials and equipment, including a heavy fire extinguisher, were left on edges where it
was liable to fall and cause injury.
The failings mirrored those raised by the original complainant, meaning nothing had changed in the
intervening period to protect workers. They were exposed to unnecessary risk for at least two
months.
HSE immediately served a Prohibition Notice requiring urgent improvements in relation to work at
height. Two improvement notices were also served that needed action.
The court was told that although nobody was injured at the site, the potential for a serious or
potentially fatal fall was very real. HSE concluded that the work at height was poorly assessed,
managed and monitored, and fell well short of the required legal standards.
Magistrates heard that HSE inspectors had also identified concerns at three other sites managed by
the company in 2012 and 2013, and that in each instance enforcement notices or written warnings
had to be served.
Peter Lind and Co (Central Region) Limited was fined a total of £11,500 and ordered to pay £1,369 in
costs after pleading guilty to two separate breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Andrew Verrall-Withers commented:
“We uncovered an almost systematic failing in regards to work at height at the Mayfair site, and the
extent of the risk this created was substantial. There were numerous examples where falls could
have occurred, and the consequences could have been devastating.
“Peter Lind and Co is guilty of failing to pay enough attention to performance at the site. There were
numerous issues that could and should have been identified and immediately addressed.
“Falls from height remain the biggest single cause of death and serious injury in the construction
industry, and it is vital that developers and principal contractors work within the law and meet the
required standards at all times.”
Further information on working safely at height can be found online at www.hse.gov.uk/falls
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Gas fitter sentenced after illegally removing boiler
A Suffolk-based self-employed builder has been given a prison sentence and community service after
leaving a householder in danger when he left a gas supply pipe open and uncapped after illegally
removing a boiler as part of a central heating installation project.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident on 11 October 2012
found that Keith Vickerstaff was not Gas Safe registered and was not qualified to carry out any works
involving the removal or installation of gas appliances. It was discovered that Mr Vickerstaff had
been reported to Gas Safe’s predecessor, CORGI, in 2007 for a similar offence of carrying out
unregistered gas work.
Ipswich Crown Court heard that Mr Vickerstaff removed a gas boiler and left an open ended,
uncapped, gas supply pipe. It was later classed as ‘immediately dangerous’ by a Gas Safe
investigator, who checked the work after Mr Vickerstaff abandoned the job, despite taking a
considerable deposit for installing full central heating.
Keith Vickerstaff, 49, of Wainwright Way, Kesgrave, Ipswich was given a six months prison sentence
suspended for 18 months and 180 hours of unpaid community work after pleading guilty to
breaching Regulation 3(1) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 and section 3(2)
of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
After the case, HSE Inspector Anthony Brookes, said:
“It is sheer luck that nobody was injured as a result of Mr Vickerstaff’s shoddy and illegal work. His
actions endangered householders and their neighbours and put them at serious risk of injury and
even potentially death.
“He took money for work that he was not competent to do and left the occupants of the house
thousands of pounds out of pocket and with an extremely dangerous gas supply that could have
caused a fire or explosion at any time.” Russell Kramer chief executive of Gas Safe Register, added:
“Every Gas Safe registered engineer carries a Gas Safe ID card, which shows who they are and the
type of gas appliances they are qualified to work on. We always encourage the public to ask for and
check the card and if they have any concerns about the safety of work carried out in their home, to
speak to us. Every year we investigate thousands of reports of illegal gas work. Call us on 0800 408
5500 or visit our website at www.gassaferegister.co.uk
.”
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Loughborough firm prosecuted after machine crushes
worker’s ankle
A Loughborough company has been fined for safety breaches after an employee’s ankle was crushed
by a woodworking machine. The 46-year-old man, who has asked not to be named, was trying to
flush lubricant through the grease unit on the machine at Advance Display Ltd when the incident
happened on 28 January 2013.
He had one foot on the floor and the other on a base plate of the computer-controlled machine,
which puts patterns in wood placed on a large moving bed. He asked a colleague to turn the
machine on and as it had already been programmed, it immediately moved forward, crushing his
foot between the base plate and the moving bed.
The man, from Whitwick, near Coalville, had to have two operations and was off work for five
months. He has since returned to the company and is able to walk unaided but will never regain full
movement in his ankle and foot.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that for certain tasks on the machine, the
operators used to have a mobile remote-controlled pendant in their hand to control the machine.
However, the pendant had been broken for more than three and a half years and Advance Display
Ltd had never replaced or repaired it. When the employee asked his colleague to switch on the
machine, the latter lost sight of the former so could not see he was not clear of the machine.
Advance Display Ltd of Falcon Business Park, Meadow Lane, Loughborough, was fined £15,000 and
ordered to pay costs of £2,677 after admitting breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act
1974. Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Berian Price said: “The incident was entirely
preventable and stemmed from a failure to keep the remote control pendant – a relatively
inexpensive piece of equipment – in good repair and efficient working order. This, coupled with the
lack of a safe system of work, led to a man needlessly suffering an extremely severe injury. The
company was grossly negligent and failed to consider the risk to employees engaged in certain tasks
on the machine.”
Every year around a dozen people are killed and 40,000 injured by machinery. Free advice for
employers of managing the risks is available at http://www.hse.gov.uk/work-equipment-machinery/
Please visit our website for latest training dates http://smcsafetysolutions.co.uk/training-courses/1930253
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