Health and Safety Contract due???

During the months of September, October, November and December 2009 our Health and Safety Policies for your company will start from as little as £300 + VAT with bolt ons available for you to specify such as risk assessments, annual visits, site inspections, competent source of advice, helpline and newsletters from as little as a few hundred pounds in addition to this.
This offer is subject to the free consultation provided by our consultants to assess your business.
If you use one of the below consultants (for Health and Safety Services) we can provide a cheaper alternative with no compromise in quality or service:
Croners
Citation
The Health and Safety People
Peninsula

Call now to book a free consultation with our friendly consultants : 0208 651 1022 or e-mail info@rhssltd.co.uk

Hampshire Waste Firm Fined £60,000 over Worker's Death

The Health and Safety Executive is warning companies that adequate risk assessments must be in place after an employee died after being hit by a vehicle at a waste transfer station.
Frederick Aubrey who worked for John Stacey and Sons died on 1st June 2007 at its Tadley facility in north Hampshire.
Mr Aubrey and two other employees were hand-sorting material in a process known as totting at the waste management and construction firm. A fourth employee was instructed to tip over a skip using a shovel loader and in doing so, reversed over Mr Aubrey, who died from his injuries 5 days later.
John Stacey and Sons appeared at Winchester Crown Court on July 29th 2009 and pleaded guilty to section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and regulations 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 at a previous hearing at Basingstoke Magistrates Court on 29th June. The company was fined £60,000 and ordered to pay costs of £29,061, plus a victim surcharge of £15.
The HSE explained that the process of totting had only been carried out at the company for about 2 weeks before the incident occurred, and the company had not identified that this practice unnecessarily exposed employees to the risk of vehicles moving around them without protection to them.
HSE Inspector David Bibby said: "This case highlights the importance of assessing risks and putting adequate controls in place to protect pedestrians from vehicles, and the tragic consequences when this is not properly done."
"This should serve as a message to all companies, and especially those in the waste industry where unfortunately accidents like this are all too common, to ensure that risks from workplace transport are identified and suitable measures put in place to prevent accidents."

Ladder Exchange Initiative – Coming September 2009

As part of the Health and Safety Executive's Shattered Lives Campaign, they will be running this year's annual Ladder Exchange Initiative from 1st September until 31st December 2009.
If you have a ladder which is bent, broken or battered, you can take it to any of the HSE's partner outlets and part exchange it for a new one. Duty holders are also provided with the opportunity to review pre-use checks, training, supervision and other arrangements for ladder work.
The Ladder Exchange Initiative will now be an annual occurrence due to the last previous two year's success. The HSE's collaborative work with Local Authorities and partner outlets has removed over 5,000 dodgy ladders from the work place.
Working at height is a high risk activity and in 2007/2008, 58 workers died and 3,623 suffered serious injuries from falling from height. Of all reported falls from height incidents, the use of ladders is accountable for a third of these.

Asbestos Warning

A company has been fined for potentially exposing employees and contractors to carcinogenic fibres at their plant in Swansea.
Vale Inco Europe Ltd appeared at Cardiff Magistrates' Court on 6th August 2009 and were fined £12,000 and ordered to pay costs of £28,000 after pleading guilty to four charges under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 in regards to refurbishment work being carried out by a contractor, A-Weld at the company's premises in Clydach.
The company had carried out asbestos surveys on the buildings, but not on the interior of plant and equipment. Subsequently, asbestos insulation material within the reformer furnace was disturbed and broken, giving rise to powder and fibres, posing a greater risk.
Even after workers discovered a white material they suspected was asbestos, the site was not isolated and work continued as normal, while they waited for the results of the sample's analysis confirmed that the material was asbestos.
Andrew Knowles, HSE Principal Inspector said: "There are numerous failures in this case, including the failure to assume that asbestos would be present in the reformer furnace unless it could be proved that it was not. Knowledge that asbestos insulation was present would have resulted in a licensed contractor being used to remove the material and prevented these workers coming into contact with asbestos at all".
"Another important aspect was the failure to provide asbestos awareness training for employees, which is a specific requirement where asbestos may be present in a workplace".
"Asbestos is the greatest single cause of work-related deaths in the UK. Every week, 20 tradesmen die from asbestos related diseases, including mesothelioma - a cancer of the lining of the lung caused by asbestos".
"The failures in this case were entirely preventable and the defendant fell far short of the high standards required. This should serve as a warning to others about the dangers of asbestos and the legal requirement to manage it properly."

Driver CPC

The Driver Certificate of Professional Competence for lorry drivers comes into effect from 10th September.
Driver CPC is a qualification, which lorry drivers will need to have with aims to:
improve road safety
recognise and accredit skills for professional lorry drivers
to encourage drivers to continually update their skills and knowledge
raise the status of bus, coach and lorry drivers and promote driving as a career.
Bus and coach drivers are also required to have this qualification; however their requirement came into force in September last year.
If you already hold a lorry driving licence on the start dates, you will have 'acquired rights' for the next 5 years and will not need to hold a CPC during that time.
If you wish to carry on driving after those 5 years, you will have to undertake 'periodic training', which consist of 35 hours training every 5 years in order to retain your Driver CPC.
However, new drivers who do not already hold a lorry driving licence on the start date will be required to undertake an initial Driver CPC test before being able to drive professionally. The initial Driver CPC test will consist of a theory test and a practical test.
Again, in order to retain the Driver CPC, drivers will need to complete 35 hours of 'periodic training'. If you fail to complete the training and continue to drive professionally beyond the end date of your CPC, you could face legal charges.
For more information view the DSA's Driver Certificate of Professional Competence Booklet.