Risk, Health and Safety Information

New construction guidance to stop workers dying each week from occupational disease

The construction industry has launched new guidance to encourage better management of occupational health risks. The HSE is urging the industry to put an end to the hundreds of construction workers that die of occupational diseases every month.

Inspectors issued more than 200 health related enforcement notices during the recent HSE’s construction inspection initiative.

This highlighted the widespread misunderstanding of what ‘occupational health’ means in the construction sector and the employers’ misguided perception that health is more difficult to manage than safety.

The new guide ‘Occupational health risk management in construction’ ^[1]has been written by the Construction Industry Advisory Committee (ConIAC) Health Risks Working Group and formatted with the assistance of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).

It gives practical advice on what ‘health risk’ means for the construction industry, and the role of occupational health service provision in preventing or controlling those risks.

Ian Strudley, Chair of the ConIAC Health Risks Working Group and HSE Principal Specialist Inspector said: ““The misunderstanding of occupational health within the construction sector means that whilst the industry focus on managing the more familiar safety issues, serious health risks get ignored. We cannot let this continue.

“When figures show that construction workers are at least 100 times more likely to die from a disease caused or made worse by their work as they are from a fatal accident, the industry must take action.”

Shelley Frost, Executive Director – Policy at IOSH, said: “There have been huge advances in improving safety in the construction sector over the last 15 years but the industry has yet to generate such advances in improving the picture in occupational health.

“Every week, 100 people die from construction-related ill health in the UK. Less than half of construction workers also stay employed in the industry until they are 60.

“This new guide raises awareness of the occupational health issues in construction, demystifies how to best manage them and provides information as to where firms can get help and assistance.

“Ultimately, if the advice is followed, it could help to lower incidence rates of occupational ill-health and transform the perception of working in construction to that of an attractive and respectful industry with great career choices.”

For more information visit:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/meetings/iacs/coniac/coniac-oh-guidance.pdf

HSE prosecution round up:

 

Contractor in court for putting workers lives at risk with poor site safety

A building contractor has been fined after unsafe excavations at a care home site put workers and members of the public at risk.

Brierstone Limited was issued with an immediate Prohibition Potice (PN) by an inspector from the HSE stopping work being carried out within five meters of the excavations.

Trafford Magistrates’ Court heard that a visit had been made to the site adjacent to 3 Barke Street, Littleborough on the 9 September 2014 following a concern raised by a member of the public regarding unsupported excavations.

The HSE investigation found two large unsupported excavations on either side of the site. One adjacent to the car park of a public house and another next to domestic premises. Operatives were seen working in the direct vicinity of the unsupported faces, which were in excess of four metres deep. Small piles of debris at the bottom of the excavations suggested there had already been some movement.

Brierstone Ltd had failed to take steps to ensure that the excavations were adequately supported or battered back in order to prevent collapse and possible injury to the site workers.

Brierstone Ltd of Sterling house, Middleton Road, Chadderton, Manchester was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,190.97 after pleading guilty to a breach of Regulation 31(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.

Worker suffered fatal crush injuries after being hit by lorry

A commercial vehicle company was ordered to pay £212,500 in fines and costs after one of its workers was killed when a lorry travelling at less than 5km/h crushed him.

Warwick Crown Court heard Imperial Commercials Limited failed to provide a safe place for its staff to work, which led to the death of one its employees, Craig Stewart Dunn, in January 2014.

Mr Dunn was hit by a heavy goods vehicle whose driver could not see what was immediately (up to six metres) in front of him, as the front grill of the HGV he was driving was raised. This was not the first time this practice had been adopted at this site. The court was told that occasionally employees of Imperial Commercials Limited would drive HGV’s around the Wellesbourne site in this unsafe manner.

The driver thought he had just hit a stationary vehicle. On reversing, he realised he had crushed Mr Dunn, who had been working outside Imperial Commercials Limited’s workshop in Loxley Road.

Imperial Commercials Limited, registered at Imperial House, High Street High, Wycombe, was fined £166,000, and ordered to pay £46,500 in costs after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to offences under Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

 

Drainage company fined for excavation collapse

A Slough drainage company has been fined after a worker was seriously injured when an unsafe excavation collapsed during work to lay new pipes outside a home near Canterbury.

Michael Simpkins, now 42, from Oxshott in Surrey, sustained multiple fractures to his left leg in the incident at a property in Conyngham Lane, Bridge, on 7 April 2011. He was unable to work for six weeks before later resigning because of recurring pain and psychological trauma.

His employer UKDN Waterflow Limited, now in administration and called UWIC realisations limited and then called The UK Drainage Network Limited, was prosecuted by the HSE after an investigation found the excavation pit was missing vital shoring.

Folkestone Magistrates’ Court heard the injured worker was cutting and cleaning a pipe for re-joining at a depth in excess of two metres when a side of the pit suddenly gave way, creating a slip of soil and debris.

The lower half of his body was completely buried, with the weight of the material buckling his leg as it crashed down. He was dug out by a colleague and taken to hospital.

HSE established that there was nothing in place to support the excavation and prevent the collapse, despite this being a clear and common risk for this kind of work. There was also no evidence of suitable planning or supervision.

Magistrates were told that in February 2011, just weeks before the Bridge collapse, HSE received a complaint about another UKDN excavation that suffered a partial collapse. Nobody was injured on this occasion, but it should have served as a warning that adequate shoring is required at all times.

UKDN Waterflow Limited, previously of Waterside Drive, Langley, Slough, was fined a total of £60,000 and ordered to pay a further 39,506 in costs after failing to attend court and being found guilty of three separate breaches of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. 

HSE Myth Busters: 

Dog banned from hire car for “health and safety” reasons

Issue

A dog was not allowed into a hire care for “health and safety reasons”.  The owner was also told that the garage concerned does not like dog hair in courtesy or hire car vehicles.

Panel opinion
Health and safety at work legislation does not prohibit the carriage of pet dogs in vehicles for domestic use.  The company has taken a decision to exclude the carriage of dogs for cleanliness reasons.  The company should be transparent about the real reason for inclusion of this clause in their contract rather than use the “health and safety” excuse.

Child refused entry to swimming pool for wearing incorrect swimwear

Issue
A child was refused entry into a swimming pool for health and safety reasons.  It was cited by the leisure centre that unacceptable swimwear was the reason the child could not swim

Panel opinion

There is no health and safety legislation which specifies that particular swimwear must be worn. The pool management are right to exercise judgment about what is/is not suitable for swimming but it would be helpful to explain this properly, perhaps by displaying a clear policy statement rather than simply falling back on the catch all health and safety excuse when something is deemed unsuitable. 

Disabled children banned from playing with toilet roll centres due to health and safety

Issue
A trainer specialising in delivery of training for disabled children was told that they can no longer give children toilet roll centres to play with because of health and safety.

Panel opinion

A trainer specialising in delivery of training for disabled children was told that they can no longer give children toilet roll centres to play with because of health and safety.

Weighbridge at A23 Handcross, no longer for public use following ‘new health and safety regulations’

Issue

Public unable to use weighbridge at the A23 in Handcross under new health and safety regulations.

Panel opinion

This matter relates to road design and traffic legislation rather than health and safety at work but, on the basis of the information to hand, the panel agree with the relevant authorities that it is a sensible change to have made in the light of the changes to road layout. Vehicles exiting the site would now have to merge into fast moving traffic on the main highway.