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"Managing Safety" Survey

Last year the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched its Simplification Plan, committed to better, smarter regulation. The Plan aims to make legislation easier to understand and apply, therefore securing stronger commitment to comply from business. The aim is to provide clearer and simpler advice and information.

RRC Training commissioned an independent research agency to conduct a survey on “Managing Safety” amongst H&S managers the results of which are illuminating and will have implications for managers, directors, CEOs and anyone with responsibility for health and safety and personnel.

The report is available to download from our website, the link is http://www.rrc.co.uk/ManagingSafetySurvey.aspx

May Podcast now available

Our latest FREE podcast on The Myth Surrounding the NEBOSH Diploma is now available at www.rrc.co.uk/Podcasts.aspx

Some think the NEBOSH exams are unattainable and riddled with unfairness and inconsistencies. The truth is quite different. David Towlson, Director of Training at RRC and Dee Arp, Standards Manager at NEBOSH dispel these and some other myths surrounding the NEBOSH Diploma. Meanwhile, John Caruthers, our resident devil's advocate, tries to gain the diploma using only his wit, charm and ... a credit card ...

NEBOSH News

NEBOSH International Diploma

The pilot for the International Diploma has now been completed with the qualification going on general release. Based on the NEBOSH National Diploma, this international qualification takes a risk management approach based on best practice and international standards instead of being guided specifically by a UK framework. RRC will be launching our first course from September 2008 (subject to successful accreditation).

NEBOSH National Diploma in Environmental Management

A new syllabus has just been launched for this course which will take effect from the December 2008 examinations. This new syllabus has been updated to reflect changes in both legislative requirements and best practice within environmental management and it also now satsifies the requirements for membership of IEMA. RRC will be launching our new course later this summer.

NEBOSH Certificate in Environmental Management

NEBOSH are still on track to launch the new Certificate in Environmental Management in the Summer. This course will initially only be available as a pilot programme before opening up to a full programme and RRC hope to be in on this first stage (subject to accreditation).

NEBOSH Level 2 Certificate

This short Level 2 course has been developed by NEBOSH to provide a basic introduction to the world of health and safety, as well as acting as an introduction to one of the NEBOSH Level 3 Certificates. RRC are well into the development of this new course and are just awaiting the formal launch by NEBOSH before making this available (subject to accreditation).

News In Brief

• A two-year-old British girl staying at a luxury hotel in Cyprus in February suffered burns to her mouth, throat and upper respiratory organs when she drank the watered-down orange juice her father had ordered for her. The barman had mistakenly used dishwasher detergent instead of water. The detergent, a clear odourless solution, had been poured into a plastic water bottle.

• A fire at a retirement home in Egg, Austria, in February killed at least 11 people. Twenty-four residents were housed there and fire-fighters struggled to put out the flames on the higher floors. The cause of the blaze was not known.

• A city council meeting in St Louis, Missouri, ended in tragedy in February when a gunman stormed in and killed two police officers and three council officers. Ten days earlier he had lost a lawsuit against the council over 150 parking tickets.

• The collapse of a walkway in 2003 that killed 16 people led to substantial fines for a shipbuilder and a subcontractor in February 2008. Les Chantiers de l’Atlantique, builder of the cruise ship “Queen Mary 2”, and Endel, the subcontractor, were each fined €177,500 (£132,000).

• Spanish authorities complained to the British Government in February about the handling of the case of the “New Flame”, a cargo ship that spent six months aground in the Strait of Gibraltar following a collision in August 2007 and then sank, creating a minor oil spill. Most of the beaches affected had been cleaned up already but the president of the regional government of Andalusia said that his government would have removed the ship from the Strait months ago.

• A psychologist working at her clinic in New York in February was attacked by a man with a cleaver and slashed to death. A therapist who went to her aid was also injured. Police believe the perpetrator may have been a patient.

• Police in Brazil raided illegal sawmills in the Amazon in February, seizing the equivalent of 500 trucks of timber. They also shut down 43 furnaces making charcoal from wood. Illegal tree felling has been increasing again after a three-year decline and this was one of the biggest operations yet in the fight against deforestation.

• US Gulf Coast hurricane victims have been housed in mobile homes provided by the Government. Health officials, however, said in February that the residents should be moved out as quickly as possible, as tests had shown toxic levels of formaldehyde fumes.

• A British couple on holiday in New York in February were killed when a lorry mounted the pavement and ploughed into them near their hotel. The driver of the lorry had suffered a seizure because he had failed to take his medication. He was charged with two counts of manslaughter and two of criminally negligent homicide.

• Six people were killed in central Russia at the end of February by icicles falling from buildings. Five died in the city of Samara and one in the nearby town of Otradny.

• An explosion at a poultry processing plant in north-west Germany at the end of February injured 37 people, four of them seriously. The blast was caused by an ammonia gas leak and most of the victims suffered from inhaling the chemical.

• The Chinese Government plans to extend a high-speed magnetic railway line in order to connect two airports in Shanghai. Residents living nearby believe that the line could damage their health but were refused permission to hold a demonstration against the construction of the railway. They expected the Government to cancel the project if it could not be proved that the line was safe.

• On 3rd March 2008, a pump exploded in a Beijing sewage works, killing three workers and releasing toxic gas that affected at least 16 people. The state news agency Xinhua reported that the cause of the accident was under investigation as the workers were unable to account for what happened. Beijing City officials have been making special efforts to upgrade safety and minimise accidents on worksites.

• A bus full of tourists was hit by a train on a crossing in Dolores, Argentina, in March, killing 18 people and injuring 47 others. Officials reported that the bus had crossed on to the line while the barriers were down. The driver of the bus was arrested.

• An ambulance driver in Portugal drove his vehicle round the barrier at a railway crossing and collided with a train. He was killed along with his passengers, a couple and their daughter. The accident occurred 75 miles (120 km) north of Lisbon. There were no casualties on the train.

• Thirteen people have been charged with negligence following the deaths of two British children in Corfu in October 2006. The children, brother and sister, died from carbon monoxide poisoning at their hotel. Those charged include two employees of Thomas Cook.

• Five workers died in Bombay in March when fire broke out in a perfume factory. Forty-five people were rescued from the blaze and it took at least six fire engines three hours to extinguish it. Thirty-five workers were injured in the fire. Its cause was not immediately known.

• The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration has published an online advisory guidance document dealing with the prevention of skin problems from working with Portland cement at http://www.osha.gov/dsg/guidance/cement-guidance.html. It is intended to assist employers in providing a safe and healthy workplace and does not represent a new standard or legal regulation.

• In March 2008, the Intute Consortium, Intute: Health and Life Sciences, launched an open access online resource called Focus on Biodiversity and Conservation . It contains Web links to high quality sources of information on this topic, and is aimed particularly at students in Higher and Further Education.

• An explosion took place on 19th March 2008 at a hydroelectric power plant construction site in the province of Kahramanmaras, central Turkey, leading to the deaths of four workers and injuries to five others. A valve on a pipeline broke and a water gate burst, releasing pressurised water which swept away the workers and drowned four of them. One worker remained unaccounted for. The power plant is owned by a private company.

• Two workers died in Miami in late March when a crane collapsed at a skyscraper building site. The crane smashed into a flat that contractors had been using as their office. Five other workers were injured in the accident, which followed a similar incident ten days earlier in New York in which seven people died and at least 17 were injured.

• Survivors of the cyanide gas leak at the Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal in 1984 walked 500 miles (800 km) to Delhi to demand a clean-up of toxic waste in their city and compensation for victims who have suffered health problems. The original death toll of 3,500 has since risen to 15,000 according to the Indian Government. Dow Chemical took over Union Carbide in 1999 and claims that all liabilities were settled by a payment of $470 million in 1989.

• Fire destroyed part of the historic market in Dubai in early April, reducing 14 shops to ashes. The cause was being investigated but the fire is thought to have started when an air-conditioning unit short-circuited. There were no casualties. A week earlier, eight people died in a blaze at a fireworks warehouse in Dubai.

• Two workers died at a nuclear plant in Khushab, northern Pakistan, in April. They had been trying to control a gas leak. The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission stated that the plant had been closed for maintenance work.

• A primary school dormitory in Uganda was destroyed by fire in April, killing 19 girls and two adults. There were 58 girls in the dormitory at the time and it was locked. Many of the girls escaped through narrow windows. Police suspect that the fire may have been started deliberately.

• Extensive bush fires started by cattle ranchers and soya bean farmers in Argentina left a cloud of smoke hanging over Buenos Aires, which extended as far as Montevideo, capital of Uruguay, 140 miles (224 km) away. Roads, the port and the airport were closed in Buenos Aires and hospitals were filled with people complaining of respiratory and eye problems. The Government stated that those responsible would face charges for damaging the environment and health.

• The European Union issued a warning to Poland in April that its environmental protection laws fail to reach EU standards. It must upgrade them as a matter of urgency or risk losing billions of euros in aid.

• An elephant being used in a Hindu festival in southern India in late April went on the rampage, charging through a temple compound and killing three people, including its handler who was trying to control it. According to police the cause of the incident was not clear. The animal was later brought back under control.

• A stunt man taking part in filming in northern Italy in late April suffered head injuries when the Alfa Romeo he was driving crashed into a wall during a chase sequence. The accident took place on the Gardesana, a twisty road by Lake Garda, during work on a new James Bond film.

Safety and Health Expo 2008

Come and see us at Safety and Health Expo at the NEC in Birmingham on 13-15 May 2008. Our Director of Training, Dr David Towlson, and one of our most popular associate tutors, Wendy Claxton, will be on hand to discuss topics of interest with students and provide some face-to-face guidance on queries.

Dr Towlson, the star and writer of the RRC podcast series , will also be handing out FREE cd-roms of some of our most recent podcasts, including those with guest appearances by both NEBOSH and the Health and Safety Executive. There will also be the chance to win one of six Ipods in our prize draw.

We’ll be in Hall 9 on Stand G40. We look forward to seeing you there.

Assessment

By Dr. David Towlson, BSc, PhD, MIOSH

In case you have second thoughts already about the rather unexciting title, you should note that this article draws heavily on some far more learned sources referenced at the end, to which you are referred. Assessment is a tool to monitor learning and student achievement. To some it is a pariah and to others it is a friend. Sounds romantic and poetic but we do it all the time and in lots of different ways – from the “quick and dirty” to the ultra sophisticated.

Assessment is generally recognised as having at least three uses (I have neglected to mention the half dozen other household uses that could spring to mind):

• Diagnosis (for example to establish entry standard onto a course)

• Feedback (both to students on their progress and also to teachers on the effectiveness of their teaching strategies)

• Standards (for example, to make sure students have achieved a certain standard – some of which may be used for national comparisons, as is the case with GCSEs and other national punishments).

Noticeboard

RRC Student Achieves NEBOSH Best Candidate Award

Many congratulations to RRC student Paul Moore for being awarded the NEBOSH Best Candidate Award for the NEBOSH Diploma Part 2. Paul is no stranger to such success, having also received the Best Candidate Award for Part 1 of the Diploma.

“Studying via distance learning is a challenge, demanding inspiration and self discipline”, Paul says. “Through studying with RRC, I achieved Distinctions and Best Candidate Awards for both NEBOSH Diploma Part 1 and 2. Central to my strategy was the adoption of a structured programme of study and ensuring I mapped all my learning to the NEBOSH syllabi. However, there is no doubt that the expertise of RRC’s tutors, comprehensive study materials and online resources facilitated my success.”

We would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of our other successful NEBOSH students who have recently received their results.

Health and Safety of Young People at Work in the UK

By Dr. Richard Griffiths, PhD, MSc, MEd, Cert Ed, Grad R.S.C, CMIOSH, MIIRSM, AIEMA, FRSH, FRIPH

Young people are considered especially vulnerable to health and safety risks in the workplace. As a result of this, there are specific health and safety laws in place to protect them against such risks.

Let’s get a few definitions straight to start with. A young person is anyone under eighteen years of age; the term includes children (which is anyone who has not yet reached the minimum school leaving age (MSLA), currently 16 years of age). A young worker is, simply a young person who is in employment. It is now quite common for children in their final two years of compulsory education (years 10 – 11, that is 14-16 years of age) to go on work experience placements. In general, children under 13 are not allowed to work (though there are exceptions). Children aged 13-16 are only allowed to do light work, with minimal risk.

RRC Middle East Course Dates 2008

Please click the following link to access RRC Middle East course dates and fees for 2008.

RRC ME Course Dates 2008