H&S Update Seminar - for those responsible for health & safety
You are most welcome to join us for our Health & Safety Update Seminars in 2010. The next one is near Birmingham on the 23rd March 2010 at The Hilton, Bromsgrove - Birmingham Road, Bromsgrove B61 0JB which is just off Junction 1 of the M42 or Junction 4 of the M5.
Meet the team at 6.00pm (for drinks and sandwiches) for a 6.30pm start. The formal program finishes at 8.00pm but there will be an informal networking and catch up session afterwards (in the bar).
Our team will talk about:-
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The HSE are actively reviewing the CDM Regulations 2007 against a backdrop of a recent 'spike' in fatalities (up to 13 in 2 months v 18 in the previous 6 months). We review the good and the bad and how possible changes may affect you.
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According to the HSE, Designers and Clients need to engage with Health & Safety in a proactive manner - we explain how this can work in practice.
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New Regulations are due out for Cranes in April 2010 - certain types need to be notified to the HSE
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.....and just in case Health & Safety isn't enough, we'll give our view of what needs to be done about Site Waste Management Plans
The cost is £25 for up to 3 people from the same organisation. Click here for the booking form
Future seminars will be held at
Brentwood 18/5
Guildford 14/9
Brighouse 5/10
Haydock 6/10
Bristol 9/11
Booking forms will be available here but if you wish to register your interest in advance - please email dan.s@bsims.co.uk with your name, company and particular area of interest.
All seminars subject to availability. We reserve the right to change venues, times or dates or call off seminars if necessary but we are unlikely to do so!
Lone Workers and Remote activities
'Lone workers' are people at work who require special consideration when carrying out risk assessments for their activities. If you have lone workers, we would strongly recommend a lone workers risk assessment is carried out to assess the risk and decide on whether your company needs to put operating instructions or safeguards into operation.
One of the outputs of a risk assessment may be that it would be reasonable to know where your workers are at all times during the working day: With modern technology, it is now possible to do this at a reasonable cost. BSA is currently trialing a system called U-Locate with the staff in our Mirfield office.
U-Locate uses existing technology (Mobile Phones) to accurately locate and monitor lone workers movements via a web based portal system and a control centre.
The software allows the user to select a risk category based on their current activity and if status is not confirmed within a given time, an escalation process of communication is instigated via the U-Locate control centre.
This is the tracking window of the U-Locate trial undertaken by BSA
For more information contact Paul Davies at our Mirfield Office 01924 480473 paul.d@bsims.co.uk or keith.malone@u-clock.co.uk
Client is prosecuted under CDM 2007 
Perryman Properties Ltd contracted a construction company to carry out refurbishment work at an industrial unit in Haringey, north London. The project required partitioning of the premises into 30 separate units.
On 19 May 2009, an unskilled labourer working under instruction of the contractor but working for the sub contractor stepped on to the roof, which was made of asbestos-cement sheeting, it gave way and he fell 6.5 metres to the concrete floor below. He was taken to hospital and received treatment for two fractured vertebrae and serious injuries to his hands.
The HSE's investigation found that Perryman Properties Ltd had failed to appoint a CDM coordinator and a principal contractor. It also failed to ensure that it had appointed a competent contractor, and that suitable management arrangements were in place.
At the City of London Magistrates' Court on 9 February the company pleaded guilty to breaching reg.4(1)(a) and reg. 9(1)(a) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007, for failing to appoint a CDM coordinator and a principal contractor. It was fined £7000 and ordered to pay £4486 in costs.
HSE inspector Paul Hems said: "Clients have one of the biggest influences over the way a project is run and, because of this, they are accountable for the impact their approach has on the health and safety of those working on the project. Perryman Properties Ltd's failure to discharge its client duties contributed to the creation of an unsafe working environment at the site."
The contractor appeared at the same hearing and pleaded guilty to breaching s3(2) of the HSWA 1974. He was fined £6000 and ordered to pay full prosecution costs of £4430.
If you are unsure whether or not you should appoint a CDM Coordinator, we can give clear guidelines so phone us to discuss your situation (without obligation).
Pub company fined £15,000 in fire safety prosecution
A pub company was fined £15,000 for the offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and was ordered to pay the prosecution's costs.
The offences came to light after Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service attended an incident at a public house in Chippenham on 5 October 2008.
After an investigation by officers, charges were brought against the pub company. The company was charged with failing to carry out or record a fire risk assessment, failure to have effective policies for protection and prevention measures and the failure to provide suitable and sufficient information to the pub's sub-contracted licensee.
The prosecution is pursuing separate charges against an individual in connection with the case.
"It is rare for a fire and rescue service to undertake prosecutions but, on this occasion, the offences were so severe we felt it was in the public interest to pursue charges," said group manager Julian Parsons of Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service's technical fire safety department. "What this case has shown very clearly is that management companies always have a duty to ensure that public safety is not compromised, even if they have sub-contracted someone to act as licensee."
He added: "Since these offences came to light, the public house has changed management and subsequent inspections have shown that the issues highlighted by this case have been addressed. In addition, the pub company which was cooperative throughout the investigation, has introduced stringent new management procedures to ensure that something like this does not happen again in premises it is responsible for."
For an introduction to Fire Risk Assessments - see our website http://www.bernardsimsassociates.com/page/fire-risk-assessment
Shattered Lives HSE Campaign
Since 2001, an average of 50 people in Great Britain have died each year as a result of a fall from height and a further 8700 are seriously injured.
To try to reduce the above figures, the HSE has launched its Shattered Lives Campaign. This campaign includes radio advertisement, on line training tools and will undoubtedly be on the HSE inspector's agenda whilst carrying out site inspections.
The useful online tools for employees, Managers and supervisors include:
WAIT - (Work at height Access equipment Information Toolkit) (For staff who occasionally work at height) http://www.hse.gov.uk/falls/wait/index.htm
And:
STEP - (The Slips and Trips eLearning Package) (For anyone to assist in understanding the risks) http://www.hse.gov.uk/slips/step/start.htm
HSE Myth of Month
We like these 'Myth of the Months' on the HSE website.
However, we also like to think that we at BSA can be objective about Health & Safety: The trick is to assess the consequences of what could happen at the same time as using experience and knowledge to estimate the probability of it happening. We then recommend practical ways of acheiving the same end but more safely or with less risk to health or identifying the risks so participants can be aware of them.
The Myth: Health and Safety requirements were given as the reason that a pancake race couldn't take place last year.
The Reality (according to the HSE):
A straightforward event like this one only needs a short, simple risk assessment.
When an event has taken place lots of times before, all that's needed is a review of the previous assessment - just to check nothing has changed - so that the fun can go ahead!
Managing risk is about practical steps to protect people from real harm and suffering - not bureaucratic back covering (but do make sure you do a risk assessment!!!!)
