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Health and Safety with Nigel Mair

Posted on: December 10th, 2010 by Louise

5 Days of Christmas

In view of the fast approaching festive season I thought that I would enter into the spirit and present this month’s article in the theme of the 12 days of Christmas (although I have only come up with 5!).

5 Steps to Risk Assessment: I know that this is perhaps an old theme, but it is always going to be important to keep on top of your risk assessments. You should really be looking at them regularly and making sure that they are current and effective……it is all too easy for them to become just documents on a shelf and not something that really informs the H&S management on site.

4 Years Remaining: I have mentioned this in a recent article, but a major issue for most of you is gradually ticking away……..don’t forget about the Driver CPC requirements. The date for LGV drivers is September 2014, so only another 4 years left to fit the 35hours in!

3 Days of RIDDOR: this is probably a major shortfall in the way that companies manage incidents on site. There is a natural resistance to report things to regulators, but by impressing on staff the need to report “near misses” to you and then using this information to review operations, is really important if H&S improvements are to be made. Ultimately this should have the knock on of reducing accidents and hopefully reducing the number of RIDDOR incidents.

2 concerns: if I was to be pushed, then I would probably suggest Working at Height and Vehicle Segregation as my two main problem issues for the sector. The former is still very apparent on many sites and is an area where serious accidents are waiting to happen. Whilst the latter is an ever present issue and all too often it is more a case of “when”, rather than “if” an accident will occur.

1 Key Priority: you might expect me to say this, but H&S should still be one of your top business issues. The industry is still seen by the HSE as a high risk, so don’t lose your focus and let things slip.

Anyway, have a good Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year!

Health and Safety “Paints a Stark Picture” of the Waste and Recycling Industry

Posted on: December 8th, 2010 by Louise

It seems there’s a drop in the level of injuries occurring at work, but there still seems to be a general complacency amongst workers and employees in this industry.

The “stubbornly consistent” level of fatalities and major injuries in the waste and recycling sector “paints a stark picture” of the task facing the industry in addressing the issue, the Health and Safety Executive has claimed.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) made the comments as it published provisional fatality and injury figures for 2009/10, which showed that the sector was still among the most dangerous professions with an injury and fatality rate four times higher than the all-industry average.

Over the 2009/10 period, a total of 530 major injuries – such as broken bones or amputations – were recorded, which was a 10/% decrease from the 590 incidents reported in 2008/09. This decline was coupled with a fall in the number of fatalities in the sector.

The provisional fatality figures for 2009/10 show that there were seven fatalities in total related to waste and recycling, including four employees and three members of the public. In September, the HSE had predicted that the number would be below the 12 to 16 fatalities usually recorded in the sector each year.

On the issue of injuries that kept employees away from work for three days or more, the HSE reported that there was “little discernible improvement” between 2008/09 and 2009/10 – during which period the number of incidents fells from 2,225 to 2,151, or roughly 1%.

Commenting on the figures, Geoff Cox, head of manufacturing at the HSE, said: “We are encouraged by fewer deaths and injuries in waste and recycling, but the injury rate, which is stubbornly consistent with that of the previous year, paints a stark picture of how much more needs to be done.”

Mr Cox said that the HSE will continue to work with the industry through the advocatory body the Waste Industry Safety and Health Forum to help “prevent people being killed or injured needlessly”.

Across all industries for 2009/10 there were a total of 152 workers fatally injured in Britain, which was a fall from 179 recorded in 2008/09. This represents the lowest level of deaths on record, equating to 0.5 deaths per 100,000 workers.

Nigel Mair – Health and Safety: Driver CPC

Posted on: November 20th, 2010 by Louise

Driver CPC

I decided upon this month’s topic after having spoken to quite a few companies over the last few weeks. On each occasion the manager did mention “it”, but admitted that they needed to do something, but hadn’t gotten around to it yet! Therefore, “Matthew, this month I am going to talk about Driver CPC.”

Who does it apply to?

There are different rules for new drivers and existing drivers, but essentially professional drivers will need to complete 35 hours of approved training every 5 years.

When does completion of Driver CPC have to be demonstrated?

A number of deadlines apply depending upon the driving licence category held, but for those drivers who obtained a vocational licence (C, C1, CE and C1E licence categories) before 10 September 2009, they have until 9 September 2014 to complete the 35 hours.

What happens if I don’t do anything?

It will be an offence to continue to drive without the necessary evidence of your Driver CPC. This will usually be through a Driver Qualification Card. It is also useful to know that it is enforced across the EU, so it will also be an offence to drive in the EU without the Card.

How is the Driver CPC demonstrated?

The training can only be delivered through approved Providers. The topics included in the training courses can be quite varied, although they must be based upon the content of the relevant EC Directive e.g. H&S, driving economically, tachographs, customer service etc.

The 35 hours can be completed in one lump sum (i.e. 5 consecutive days), or by completing blocks of 7 hours over the 5 year period. The 7 hours can be delivered in smaller chunks, although there are restrictions with the minimum training period set at 3.5 hours. In addition, if this is the chosen delivery method then the next 3.5 hours must be delivered within the following 24 hours. Therefore it is probably as easy to just stick with a 7 hour block and get it out of the way!

How much does it cost?

There are quite a few providers out there and the going rate seems to be somewhere between £70-90 per person for a 7 hour course. What we would suggest is that you look at the content of the course………does it cover a topic that you want your drivers to know more about and also see whether there are any “additionalities”. For example, we are currently offering a triple decker of a NVQ: Driver CPC: CSCS. This enables drivers to not only complete a 7 hour H&S CPC course, but to have this eligible for a CSCS card, combined with a Level 2 NVQ in Waste Management……with funding currently available to soften the costs!

What do you need to do next?

It is advisable not to leave the completion of the training too late as the deadline is ticking. If you want more details then please get in touch with me at the Centre (nigel@envirolead.co.uk) (Tel: 01204 658691).

Is Health and Safety becoming impossible?

Posted on: June 19th, 2008 by Dave No Comments

In this month’s article I have returned to H&S having discussed the new WAMITAB Competency scheme last month. The stimulus for the title is actually based on some real conversations that I have had this month when out and about visiting sites. I think that almost everywhere I went the issue of H&S came up, with most people feeling that it was effectively stopping the job… at least where it was being followed!
I can certainly understand where these concerns come from, particularly as more and more pressures are placed on managers from all sides. I am sure that most of you will feel that H&S is just another example of the vice being tightened and making previously simple tasks even more impossible.
It is probably true that H&S has become a bit of a weight for us all to carry, but I think that it is too tempting to blame it for everything that is wrong in the world! At the end of the day most H&S legislation is founded on common sense and if you look closely it tends not to be terribly prescriptive, with most requirements based on the completion of risk assessments.
The HSE web site is an excellent resource and I would recommend you look at it as there is a great deal of information and it is pretty easy to navigate around. One of the more humourous parts of the website is a section on H&S myths, all of which have received some publicity and false claims as fact. I thought that bringing your attention to some of these might give you some appreciation of how H&S is given a bad name…
MYTH ONE : ALL OFFICE EQUIPMENT MUST BE TESTED BY A QUALIFIED ELECTRICIAN EACH YEAR.
I thought this was a good one to start with, as it is something that I come up against quite a lot. Portable Appliance Testing can be a costly expense and I can understand why you might want it to be carried out… many of you mention it to me, describing it as a bit like an insurance policy, stating “well at least we have done everything we can”.
All of this is perhaps reasonable, but actually, the law doesn’t require you to have PAT testing undertaken, it just requires employers to assess risks and take appropriate action.
The HSE’s advice is that for most office electrical equipment, visual checks for obvious signs of damage and perhaps simple tests by a competent member of staff are quite sufficient.
MYTH TWO : KIDS MUST WEAR GOGGLES TO PLAY CONKERS.

I remember reading about this in the papers last year and thought that it was a case of H&S gone mad. Unfortunately the reality is that some schools did in fact require kids to wear goggles when playing conkers, but the HSE maintain that this has nothing to do with them. Quite rightly they say that the risk from playing conkers is incredibly low and just not worth bothering about. They go on to recognise that if kids deliberately hit each other over the head with conkers, that’s a discipline issue, not health and safety.
I appreciate that skip hire staff won’t be playing conkers at work, but there are parallels, as all too often companies jump straight into issuing PPE for tasks, without really thinking about other (and better) control measures. A decent risk assessment should be the starting point, particularly where the precautions are based on the risk hierarchy.
MYTH THREE : WORKERS ARE BANNED FROM PUTTING UP CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS IN THE OFFICE.
This has a seasonal airing and some companies may be banning such frivolity, but again this shouldn’t be pinned on H&S. This doesn’t mean that it is a free for all, with you still needing to take some basic precautions… use a stepladder and not a chair, also use sensible footwear when using the steps and think about where you are putting the decorations, avoiding sources of heat. All of this seems to be common sense and doesn’t stop the festive season!
Again, this can have broader relevance, as the risk is from staff doing tasks in a dangerous manner, rather than the activity being dangerous in its own right. Make sure that a decent risk assessment has been undertaken, precautions have been communicated and, importantly, that they are enforced.
These three myths are based on well intentioned concerns, but all too often H&S seems to make people switch off their common sense and either do nothing, or do too much. Both can be dangerous and both certainly give H&S a bad name.
The HSE refer to “sensible risk management” and we would certainly concur with this principle.
Nigel Mair is a WAMITAB assessor and verifier and runs the North West Regional Assessment Centre, delivering WAMITAB qualifications and other H&S, waste and environmental training.
If you have any questions for Nigel, please email them through to nigel@theskip.net

HOW COMPETENT ARE YOUR STAFF?

Posted on: March 22nd, 2008 by Dave No Comments

In this month’s article I am afraid that I am going to return to a familiar theme, with yet another tragic accident occurring in the industry.
Many of you will probably have already seen the news reports which give some details of the accident which occurred 2 years ago in Coventry when an 11 year old school girl was killed after being struck by a refuse lorry on her way to school.
As is so often the case, there was previous form leading up to the incident, which with the correct level of control should have prevented the death from occurring. These circumstances once again shine a very bright spot light on the working practices of the sector and although it was a refuse vehicle, the lessons should resonate loudly with all of us involved in waste transport.
In addition to the trauma and sorrow surrounding the loss of life, the council was also fined a hefty £125,000 and a further £40,000 in costs when it admitted breaches under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act in a prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
You may be surprised to learn that the police had actually been secretly watching and filming bin crews over several months following a number of complaints about the way that the lorries were being driven.
These were presented as evidence in court and showed lorries reversing at considerable speed over long distances around blind bends and being driven erratically, to include mounting the pavement.
What makes the circumstances even worse is that the council had already had one “wake-up call” only three months earlier when a 15-year-old girl was also run over by a reversing bin lorry. Fortunately she escaped with only minor injuries but the court was told that the council failed to take any significant action after the incident.
The council admitted failing to operate a safe system of work including inadequate supervision, information and instruction for the refuse collection service. It also admitted failing to ensure suitable risk assessments for refuse employees.
Paul Smith, the investigating inspector for the Health and Safety Executive said: “There is a tragic history of pedestrians, particularly children and old people, being run over by refuse collection vehicles.
These incidents must act as a stimulus for the industry to review it’s procedures, making sure that vehicle risks are properly controlled.”
Lessons?
I think we all have a duty to learn from these incidents… I am sure that the council concerned have made several major changes to their processes and procedures, but I would urge you all to do the same before you become involved in such a tragic situation… “barn door, horse, late” springs to mind.
I would suggest that you could look to the failings mentioned above and make sure that you are not also in danger of making the same mistakes.
It mentions a safe system of work, to include adequate supervision, information and instruction and suitable risk assessments. I have mentioned all of these in previous articles, but have you done anything about it… I am wagging my finger school teacher like at the computer screen as I type this!!
Ask yourself a question…
When was the last time you actually considered providing any training or instruction to your drivers/crews?
If the answer is never, or not very often, then I am afraid that you could be moving in the direction of the council mentioned in this article. I think we are all aware of the risks of operating vehicles, so you are not really going to have any defence should something go wrong, unless you can demonstrate that you have that elusive “safe system of work” in place.
It doesn’t have to cost the earth
The cost of doing nothing is certainly not “nothing” as the council found out with a hefty fine and costs. Also, just think about the damage to your business from being involved in such an emotive incident. This of course certainly doesn’t reflect the loss suffered by family and friends of the individuals involved in any accident, but it probably brings it home to you and your company.
Nevertheless, I think that we have to live in the real world and recognise that monetary costs are going to be a factor in how far you are prepared to go with changes. But, with a bit of planning and a few phone calls you might even find that all this doesn’t have to cost you very much. For example, are you aware that there is funding available to help with training and the delivery of NVQs to staff? This would go some way towards helping you to introduce and, perhaps more importantly, be able to demonstrate that you have introduced, a safe system of work.
If any of this strikes a chord with you and you want to discuss the options available to you in more detail, then please contact me as we need to try and stop these tragic incidents from occurring again and again.
Nigel Mair is a WAMITAB assessor and verifier and runs the North West Regional Assessment Centre, delivering WAMITAB qualifications and other H&S, waste and environmental training.
If you have any questions for Nigel, please email them through to nigel@theskip.net