Machinery Causes Severe Injuries – Have You Checked Your Machinery Lately?

Health and safety consultants offer a huge range of services designed to keep workers safe.  There are countless laws and regulations that must be adhered to in order to protect your business from prosecution from the HSE and claims against you put forward by injured employees. By ignoring the health and safety services you could be putting lives at risk and end up with a fine or worse still, a prison sentence.

Adjusting Rollers Could Have Proved Fatal

A recent case in Cannock shows that many employees are not doing everything in their power to protect workers. In this case a worker was making sure that a multi-roll forming machine was operating correctly. As Adrian Taylor worked on the machine making sure the rollers were adjusted correctly his clothing got caught up in the machinery. The rollers needed adjusting as the steel sheet that was being used was unusually large.

Mr Taylor was wearing a high visibility jacket which was trapped in the multi-roll forming machines spindle. During the accident Mr Taylor suffered a number of injuries which included cuts to his face and back of his head, bruises and punctured skin. Although he has since returned to work the employee of Stakapal Ltd still has bed headaches and muscle pain as a direct result of the injuries he sustained in the accident.

The HSE investigated the accident and visited the scene of the accident. They saw that the special guard rail that should be surrounding the parts of the machine which cause the most risk to the employees had been removed, and it is possible they were removed around two or three years previous to the incident involving Mr Taylor.

Regulations Ignored

In addition to the missing guard rail the Health and Safety Executive inspectors found there were not any interlocking guards around the rolling mills and there was one emergency stop button when their should have been more.  Mr Taylor was working on the machine on his own and he should have been supervised and there had been no proper risk assessment surrounding the adjustment of the rollers.

Stakapal Ltd which is based in Cannock were fined £10,000 and had to pay £5500 in costs after admitting they were guilty in breaching one of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations of 1998. The regulation which they had ignored is in place to ensure that every employer takes effective measures to stop any access to the dangerous parts of machinery in the workplace.

Protect Your Workers and Your Business

Health and safety consultants can help you to prevent any accidents like these in the workplace. This incident highlights the need to follow the regulations and laws to protect workers from serious harm and even death. Simple changes in the workplace such as ensuring there are guards and rails as well as correct supervision and training can make all the difference.

Call 0800 1488 677 to discover which health and safety services can be of use to you and your company.  Whether you are a large or small company, you have responsibilities to do everything possible to prevent this type of incident from occurring. Don’t wait until the HSE inspectors visit, or for an accident to happen, prevention is better than a cure.

Why the roofing trade needs more H&S inspectors

Darren Rickett, the managing director of DPR Roofing, explains why having more health and safety inspectors in the roofing trade is a matter of life and death.

Every week I seem to read another story on the internet about a roofer getting seriously hurt or losing their life because of a company’s lack of diligence when it comes to health and safety. I’ve been in the roofing game for more than 20 years and it would appear that things are now worse than they have ever been.

Let’s look at some figures.

According to the HSE (Health and Safety Executive), falls from height are the single biggest cause of fatalities in the construction industry. Which should come as no surprise to anyone who works in the roofing trade.

4,000 employees are said to have suffered major injuries after falling from height at work last year while a further 21 workers lost their lives.

Of those that died, over half of the roofers did so after falling through fragile materials while 30% fell from edges and openings. Things that health and safety regulations are set up to prevent.

But it’s not just the fatalities. We’re talking serious injuries too.  Heartbreaking stories like this one are all too commonplace: Paralysed roofer rams home safety message (http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2011/09/15/paralysed-roofer-rams-home-safety-message/)

Now, I’m not completely naive. I know that proper health and safety procedures have an impact on the bottom line and sometimes get, unintentionally, neglected when deadlines are tight.

As a result, I think that it is fair to say there is almost never a willful desire to harm. But ignorance is no excuse. Neglect is no excuse. Forgetting is no excuse. And a recession is no excuse. Not when lives are at stake.

Thankfully, some companies that do fail to follow the rules are caught out. The HSE (again) frequently highlights the problem. Here’s an example: Derby firm fined for unsafe roof work:  http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2011/coi-em-23311.htm

I bet they won’t do that again. Unfortunately not all companies suffer that same fate.

From my point-of-view, the important sentence in that story is this one: “Passing Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors.”

And now we get to the point of this blog. In my eyes there is a way to bring the fatality and injury count down. But it won’t be popular. And it will cost money.

The best way to reduce the number of companies flaunting the regulations – and therefore putting the lives of roofers at risk – is to increase the number of inspectors to such a level that there is a real possibility that they might get caught. As it stands, I would suggest that most companies that are doing wrong, are doing so in the belief that they won’t get caught.

More inspectors means more chance of getting caught = less people breaking the rules. It makes sense to me.

The other thing to do is to make the regulations more sensible so that I don’t spend half my days reading updates and completing forms. But that’s a topic for another time.

At my company, DPR Roofing, the fulfillment of health and safety regulations is a priority. And even though that means I spend a lot of time on paperwork we do it for a good reason: to avoid fatalities and injuries.

We arrange regular on site inspections, produce management reports and gather feedback about how we can do things better.

And I make absolutely certain that each roofing site is closely supervised from the erection of the scaffolding to the point at which our materials are removed from it.

I don’t do it for my own health. I do it for the well being of my workers. All companies should do the same. And they would, even the unscrupulous ones, if they thought they would get caught if they didn’t. More inspectors are required. End of.

Darren Rickett is the managing director of DPR Ltd, a firm of Leeds roofers that provide roof repair services for homes and businesses across West Yorkshire. You can follow Darren on Twitter (@leedsroofer )

Molten Metal Burns Worker in Avoidable Accident

Copper Alloys, a foundry based in Stoke on Trent in the West Midlands, has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive after one of their workers was seriously injured. A 28 year old man, who has not wished to be named, suffered terrible burns caused by molten metal which was around 900 degrees Celsius.

Unprotected Pit Containing Molten Metal Mould – An Accident Waiting to Happen

On May 5 2010 the employee was using a tool which allows the workers to remove the impurities off the top of the poured casting. The pit which was where the cast mould is situated was unfenced, and when the worker tripped he very nearly fell into the mould.  Luckily with his quick thinking he used the tool he was working with to save himself. However, his arm was immersed into the molten metal and he was also injured by the hot impurities which he had recently removed from the top of the mould.

The Stoke on Trent employee suffered terrible burns on his left are as well as his upper legs. His injuries required skin grafts and now he is scarred for life. The worker is also extremely traumatised and therefore he is unable to return to his old job at the Copper Alloys foundry.

Investigation by the HSE Followed the Incident

After the incident the Health and Safety Executive visited the foundry and discovered that the pit containing the mould was not properly fitted out with the necessary guard rail.  The investigation also highlighted the company had not taking into account the extreme risks that a worker could easily fall into the moulds containing the molten metal.

At the court case Copper Alloys pleaded guilty to breaching the regulation of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations which states that all employers must ensure that any pit, structure or tank needs to be covered or fenced if there is any danger of an employee falling into a dangerous substance.  For this breach the court fined the firm £8000 and they were ordered to pay an additional £4798 in costs.

No Excuses for Breaches in Health and Safety Regulations

It is sad that cases like this are still happening in the West Midlands and all over the UK where health and safety services are easy to come by. By working with health and safety consultants the firm would have been made well aware of the risks that their workers were facing on a daily basis. A risk assessment would have showed the risks and the consultants could have explained the Workplace regulations to make sure that both the company and their workers remained safe at all times.

The employee who suffered the burns could very easily have died if it wasn’t for his quick thinking. As it stands his life has been changed forever and he will require physiotherapy for a long time in order to regain full use of his arm.  It is imperative that all firms where workers are working around dangerous substances are able to create safe working environments.

If you require assistance to discover if you are meeting all the demands of the laws and regulations it is advisable to contact the health and safety consultants. Veritas have a huge range of health and safety services which can mean the difference between life and death. Call 0800 1488 677 today and speak to the experts.

Are You Taking Notice of the Advice Given to You by Health and Safety Consultants?

It is important to respond to any of the suggestions that are provided to you by your health and safety consultants.  Just enquiring into improving your health and safety procedures and policies is simply not enough.  In a similar vein it is essential that if you have been given any notices from the Health and Safety Executive then you need to act on them to avoid prosecution.

Notices are given as a way of a warning to companies in the UK.  The Health and Safety Executive plan unannounced visits to check out workers up and down the country.  This allows them to see normal day to day activities of employers and employees as they carry out their usual working methods.   If you are served with an improvement notice on one of these visits it is then your responsibility to make changes.

Building Site Manager Ignores Notices

In a recent case a Cardiff building site manager was given two Improvement Notices after a surprise visit from the HSE inspectors. Mr Zamen who trades as Pride Builders was working on two properties in Cathays.  The inspectors discovered that there were not enough adequate safety procedures in place for working at height.  There were additional problems with the asbestos training as well as structural problems discovered by the inspectors.

The Improvement notices that were served to Mr Zaman allowed him time to make the necessary changes by a set date, in this case that date was May 10 2011. Unfortunately Mr Zaman did not comply with the notices and therefore the Health and Safety Executive had no other option than to prosecute.

Mr Zaman pleaded guilty in court to breaching two sections of the Health and Safety at Work Act. He was given a fine of £1280 and ordered to pay the additional court costs of £1500 and £15 as a victim extra.

Notices Must Be Complied With to Avoid Prosecution

If you have been served with notices from the HSE then you should consider yourself lucky to be given a chance to improve the working environment.  If you act on the notices then you can avoid prosecution, a fine and the bad reputation that comes from being fined by the HSE.

If you are not sure about what you can do to adhere to the notices then it is advisable that you make contact with health and safety consultants.  They will be able to advise you on the best health and safety services to take and provide you with those services.

Some of the areas where Health and Safety consultants could have helped Mr Zaman are:

• Providing a full asbestos survey
• Providing health and safety training to the manager and his employees
• Highlighting the risks involved with working at height and providing solutions

Simple health and safety services such as these would have helped the site manger to avoid prosecution.  More importantly it would have educated the manager and his employees on health and safety issues and made sure that all of their future work was carried out in a safe and professional manner.  Call 0800 1488 677 to find out how the health and safety consultants can transform your working environment.

Calls for a Health and Safety Shake Up After Four Miners Lose Their Lives

Four miners working at the Gleision drift mine in Swansea sadly lost their lives on Thursday September 15 after the mine shaft flooded with water.  The Health and Safety Executive are currently investigating the scene trying to establish where the water came from and exactly what went wrong. Health and safety consultants and the miners themselves all know that mining is fraught with danger, but now calls for a complete water risk health and safety overhaul in this industry are coming in.

Although it would be impossible to make mining safe, no matter what the health and safety services and HSE are able to change, it is possible to minimise the water risks by changing the current assessments that are taking place in mines throughout the UK.  As Thursdays tragedy shows more needs to be done in order to protect the miners who risk their lives every time they enter the shafts.

A Full Report into the Incident is expected from the HSE

The Health and Safety Executive and the police are investigating fully and a full report is to be published. It is hoped that this report will identify areas of weakness where the changes can be made. This will be very much like a risk assessment that needs to be carried out in any workplace.  The job of the risk assessments is to identify any problem areas before were has even begun.  By identifying the issues in a risk assessment a plan can be created to overcome these problem areas safely and effectively.

Speaking about the incident at the Gleision mine Dr Wade from The Open University suggested that abandoned mines in the area where miners will be working need to be fully drained before work commences. It has been suggested that a water filled abandoned mine was the cause of the flood in Swansea which resulted in the loss of lives.

The Extensive Mine Shafts in the UK need to be Drained Close to Mines Still in Use

The four men, Garry Jenkins, David Powell, Phillip Hill and Charles Breslin were working along with three other miners when a retaining wall inside the shaft which was holding back the water gave way.  Mining goes back for centuries in the UK, there is a complete maze of abandoned mine shafts all of which will need reviewing if the Health and Safety Executive decide that draining the mines is an essential part of mining risk assessment.

Risk Assessments Are Required in Every Business

Companies in the UK can learn from this incident, even if they are not in the mining industry. The Health and Safety Consultants, Veritas Consulting, help businesses with their risk assessments on a daily basis.  It is essential to try and minimise and control any dangers in any industry, no matter how small the job is.  If you would like to discuss risk assessments or any other health and safety services give the experts a call.  Telephone 0800 1488 677 for more information.

How Health and Safety goes Hand in Hand with Insurance

Health and safety in the workplace and insurance go hand in hand.  Businesses need adequate insurance to cover them for risk in the workplace whether it’s risk to their employees or people visiting the site.

Putting in place and maintaining the correct health and safety procedures means that insurance premiums could be lower, as the business is less likely to make a claim.  Any business with employees needs to have Employers Liability Insurance to cover a member of staff having an accident at work or falling ill.  If the correct health and safety procedures aren’t followed, accidents and injuries are more likely to happen.

Insurers look at the risk of a business before deciding on whether they can insure that business or not or how much the insurance premium will be.  If the business is following health and safety procedures correctly they are more likely to be able to secure a lower premium as they are less likely to have to make a claim on their Employers Liability Insurance.

Depending on the type of business it might be wise to choose to take out other kinds of Liability Insurance.  Product Liability Insurance or Public Liability Insurance cover other circumstances that could arise, for example accidentally supplying a faulty product, or a customer injuring themselves on your premises.

A business that owns it’s own fixed premises will need Buildings Insurance to protect the actual structure of the building.  This cover isn’t always sold with Business Insurance but it is essential if a business operates out of premises that it owns itself.

Health and safety is an important consideration for companies. Firstly it’s an important part of running a successful business in terms of legal requirements, employee well being, motivation and professional image.  And secondly, following correct health and safety procedures can mean you are more likely to be approved for insurance cover, together with an increased likelihood of cheaper business insurance premiums.

Free Asbestos Awareness Training Drive Push from HSE

Asbestos is a killer.  Unfortunately despite everyone knowing about the dangers of working with asbestos, many employees fail to protect the lives of their employees.  So to help encourage better safety procedures involving asbestos the HSE have asked for health and safety consultants to provide a few hours of free asbestos awareness training.

4000 Hours of Free Training about the Hidden Killer

In total the HSE are hoping to offer 4000 hours of free training from various health and safety services.  They choose 4000 as their target for September as that is approximately the amount of deaths which are caused by asbestos related diseases every single year.

In addition to the 4000 training provided by health and safety services, the HSE will add an additional 4000 hours’ worth of free training which will be available online.  The free training will be available to tradesmen throughout October and November.  The HSE wish to train up the tradesmen as it is estimate that 20 tradesmen die from being exposed to asbestos.  The tradesmen being targeted in particular include:

• Plumbers
• Electricians
• Joiners

Asbestos is a Present Danger

The director of the Health and Safety Executive, Karen Clayton, said that there are around 500,000 buildings in the UK which still have asbestos present.  The training is going to be aimed at giving tradesmen lifesaving information about how to protect themselves from the hidden killer.  It is the aim to prevent another generation suffering from the diseases caused by the substance.

In the UK, since the 1960’s, there has been over 40,000 deaths from the Cancer mesothelioma, which is asbestos related.  The Chair of the Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum, Tony Whitson, said that many of the cancer sufferers inform them that they were never even told about the dangers of working with the material.

Asbestos Related Diseases Caused By the Fibres

The four main diseases related directly to asbestos are:

• Asbestosis which is the scarring of the tissue in the lungs caused by asbestos fibres
• The cancer mesothelioma
• Asbestos related lung cancer
• Diffuse pleural thickening, a lung disease which is non-malignant

Health and Safety Consultants Offer Training

If you are unable to get to any of the free training sessions there is always training which is available from the health and safety consultants such as Veritas Consulting.  There are three types of training which are stated in regulation 10 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations of 2006.  The three requirements include:

• Asbestos Awareness.  This is the training provided by the health and safety services and informed employees which will educate workers who may come across and disturb asbestos in their work.
• Licensable Work. This is the training for workers who will be licensed to remove the asbestos insulation and the insulating board,
• Non-licensable Work. This will train up people who are not licensed to remove the asbestos.  This may be roofers or people who work in demolition.

Health and safety consultants are the best people to turn to about asbestos training. Call 0800 1488 677 and speak to the experts today.