Farmers Banned from Using Illegal Sheep Dip
For the past three years, Welsh sheep farmers in the Ceredigion and neighbouring authorities area have been making illegal use of the toxic pesticide Cypermethrin, intended for carrots and other root crops, as a sheep dip. The arable form of the chemical agent is considerably cheaper than that designed for livestock, but it has a high aquatic toxicity and lacks a binding agent. Negligent use and poor disposal have led to contamination of the rivers Teifi and Usk, killing insects and leading to a decline in fish stocks, as well as jeopardising the health of farm workers.
Environmental Health Officers from West Wales checked with distributors and found that the product, marketed as Toppel, had been sold to more than 300 non-arable farmers. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate was alerted and an investigation launched.
In early April 2006, the sale of Cypermethrin sheep dips was suspended by central government with immediate effect. Manufacturers were asked to provide a further risk assessment along with information on risk management measures. The ban was opposed by the Farmers' Union of Wales.
Power Plant Fined for Flawed Safety Management System
Eggborough Power Limited, the owner of Eggborough Power Station in Yorkshire, was fined £33,000 and ordered to pay £60,289 costs at York Crown Court in April 2006 for breaches of health and safety legislation, following the death of a worker in July 2003 who fell 70ft when the staircase on which he was working came away from a landing and collapsed.
The man was employed by a contractor to undertake repair work on damaged brickwork. The employee had raised concerns about the safety of the staircase three months before the accident, but the company did nothing to address corrosion on the 40-year-old staircase, and no regular safety checks were carried out.
Lift Companies Fined £400,000 After Fatal Accident
Lift operating company Otis Investments (formerly Otis Plc) and Otis Limited (formerly Express Lifts Company Limited), both sentenced as a single company, were fined £400,000 following an incident in which two employees died after falling down a lift shaft of Shirley Towers, a high-rise block of flats in Southampton in February 2001.
The two men fell against the lift doors, which swung open like a cat flap due to inadequate fixings on the lower rail of the opening, and they both fell about 30 metres down the shaft.
The prosecution was brought by the HSE following a breach of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 and the trial took place at Southampton Crown Court.
Maintenance had not been carried out on a regular and frequent basis and the lift landing entrances and lift doors were not designed and constructed to withstand the anticipated use, thus placing people at risk. The hearing highlighted the importance of a maintenance regime in which particular account is taken of the door retaining system.
The judge also awarded costs of £145,000 against the defence.
Second Buncefield Inquiry Report Published
In early April 2006, the HSE published its second report by the Buncefield investigation board, dealing with progress on the investigation into the explosions and fire at the Buncefield Oil Storage Depot on 11th December 2005 (see the Winter 2005 and Spring 2006 e-Newsletters).
The second report focuses mainly on the environmental impact of the incident, especially the impact of escaped fuel and fire-water on land and on surface and ground-water. There were, and still are, concerns about the potential for contamination of public drinking water supplies and monitoring is continuing to see if such contamination is taking place; contamination may not appear for months or years. The board concluded that the incident has not had any major environmental impact so far.
However, later press reports indicated that the Environment Agency is aware that several hundred litres of diesel fuel seeped into a borehole next to the Buncefield depot, contaminating ground-water. On 19th April 2006, the Environment Secretary admitted in an answer to Parliament that 400 litres of diesel had already been pumped from the borehole.
The HSE report makes clear that there were significant failures of the bunds that were intended to hold the liquids escaping from the damaged storage tanks and the fire-fighting waters. The reasons for the failures are still being investigated.
Storage site operators should take note of the bund failures at Buncefield and consider the adequacy of existing bunds on their sites as part of their on-going safety and environment reviews.
The next stage of the investigation is to establish exactly how the fuel escaped and formed a flammable mixture which exploded.
The Camelford Water Poisoning Legacy
The drinking water supplies to 20,000 people in and around Camelford in Cornwall were contaminated in July 1988 when a lorry driver dumped around 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphate, used in the early stages of wastewater treatment, into the wrong tank at the former South West Water Authority (SWWA) water treatment works at Lowermoor. People across a large area of north Cornwall were exposed to levels of aluminium 500 to 3,000 times the acceptable limit as defined by the European Union. The water was so acidic that it leached copper and lead from the supply pipes, creating an even more toxic concoction.
The disaster happened a few months before the privatisation of the water industry, causing such embarrassment to the Government that calls for an inquiry were ignored. After a trial at Exeter Crown Court in 1991, SWWA was fined £10,000 with £25,000 costs for supplying water likely to endanger public health. Compensation payments to some of the victims ranged from £680 to £10,000.
Several subsequent independent reports into the incident were published, concluding that it was unlikely that the substance involved would have caused any persistent or delayed health effects. However, a woman who was exposed to the agent died in 2004 aged 58. A post-mortem examination of her brain revealed a rare form of early-onset Alzheimer's disease, and very high levels of aluminium were also found in the affected areas of her brain tissue. Although the woman had a genetic predisposition to developing a more common form of the disease later in life (through a gene called APOE), the possibility is raised that her aluminium exposure may have accelerated the onset of Alzheimer's.
There have been calls made for a carefully planned monitoring programme of the health of the people affected to see if they have sustained any impairment to their intellectual capacity.
A Parliamentary investigating committee into the Camelford incident was due to meet again in the summer of 2006, but no date has been given for the publication of their final report.
Of the 20 most common elements on Earth, aluminium is the only one not involved in any essential biological process because of its chemical reactivity when in solution, producing very 'sticky' ions which bind to proteins. Aluminium is firmly linked to some temporary forms of dementia. Kidney dialysis patients living in areas where water is high in aluminium sometimes experience 'dialysis dementia', as a result of the large quantities of contaminated water passing through their bodies. The link between aluminium and Alzheimer's disease has been more controversial.
Twenty Years After Chernobyl
On 26th April 1986, an accident took place in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. It was the worst nuclear accident in global history in terms of human lives and ecological damage. A runaway nuclear reaction was triggered by a faulty safety test, exacerbated by a design flaw, which caused a catastrophic temperature rise in the reactor core. Around 6.7 tonnes of radioactive material was released to the air and spread for hundreds of kilometres around the site.
The two most hazardous elements in the isotope mixture were iodine and caesium-137, the latter having a half-life of 30 years. The most serious effects of the fallout were within a few tens of kilometres of the reactor, but in the ensuing confusion local people continued to graze and milk their cattle on contaminated land, and eat contaminated vegetables.
Official studies into the health effects of the accident concluded that no more than 4,000 excess cancer deaths were likely. This contentious figure was based on what was known about the survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, where exposure involved whole body radiation rather than inhalation or ingestion of radioactive particles. Also, far less is known about the health effects of lower doses of radiation. It is estimated that among the people who lived further from Chernobyl, another 5,000 will die prematurely.
So far the fallout has caused about 4,000 cases of thyroid cancer, mainly in children and adolescents. Among those highly exposed rescue workers who brought the reactor under control, 62 deaths have been attributed directly to the incident so far.
The 30-kilometre radioactive exclusion zone around Chernobyl is likely to remain off limits for centuries.
It has been suggested that the radioactive plume which spread across the whole of Europe is likely to cause 16,000 deaths among the 570 million people in Europe at the time, representing 0.01% of all cancer deaths; but it would be virtually impossible to assess the ultimate death toll.
In 2006, Welsh hill farmers still have to move their sheep to graze on lower pastures to eliminate residual Chernobyl radioactivity before they can be sold for human consumption.
Asda Fined for Electrocution Incident
In mid-April 2006, the supermarket chain Asda was prosecuted by Sefton Council at South Sefton Magistrates' Court, after a Merseyside worker suffered burns from a damaged electric cable hanging outside a metal-framed window at the Asda Aintree store. Because a double wall socket in a room next to the staff canteen had not been repaired, a ten-metre-long electrical cable had been pushed out of a window and threaded back in through another window where a television was situated. Notches made in the window frames by the fitters had caused the cable to fray in places, leaving internal wires exposed. In December 2004, an employee opened one of the windows and suffered an electric shock and burns to her hands.
Following the incident, inspectors from Sefton Council and the HSE visited the store. They found the wall socket had still not been repaired and multiple appliances were plugged into a similar extension cable. An HSE inspector concluded the accident resulted from the use of an unsafe temporary electrical installation and the store had failed to adhere to basic practice. The failure to repair the faulty socket was likely to have exposed other staff to danger for some time. The condition of the cable confirmed Asda's scheme of preventative measures was insufficient to prevent danger to members of staff.
The company admitted liability and was fined £10,000 plus £2,288 costs.
Hospital Fined over Violent Patient
After staff were threatened by a violent patient wielding a chair, the George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £3,500 costs in April 2006 when it pleaded guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 at Nuneaton Magistrates' Court.
The incident took place in November 2004 when an aggressive patient shut himself in a room with another patient and threatened staff with a chair before breaking a window, jumping out and running away.
An HSE investigation found failings relating to violence and aggression, and insufficient attention was being given to health and safety. The hospital had failed to undertake proper assessments of risks from patients, and had not implemented precautions, such as adequate individual assessments and emergency procedures, to prevent the escalation of a situation whereby it might cause injury to members of staff or other patients.
The George Eliot Hospital has a history of safety offences related to workplace violence. In 2001 it was served with an improvement notice for failings relating to violence and aggression, which it complied with. In 2005 during a routine HSE audit a number of failings were again identified which related to violence and aggression.
Anthrax Outbreak in South Wales
Anthrax is a highly infectious and contagious disease, which in the UK is uncommon in humans. An anthrax infection can be treated successfully with antibiotics, provided the disease is identified at an early stage. The biological agent can form spores under certain conditions and persist in a dormant state in the soil for many years.
Cutaneous anthrax is the most common type of infection, accounting for 95% of cases. Spasmodic outbreaks occur in the UK every few years in cattle, and are usually spotted by local veterinary inspectors who monitor all reports of unexplained sudden death in livestock.
On 24th April 2006, it was reported that six cows from a herd of about 35 sucklers had died of anthrax at Ynys Gau Farm, near Gwaelod-y-Garth, Cardiff. The same farm had tested positive for anthrax 35 years ago, when seven cattle died.
The farm was isolated and presented no risk to the public; no animals or people were allowed on or off the farm without a licence and footpaths across the land were closed. Restrictions were to remain in place until experts were satisfied the disease had been "completely contained".
HSE Issues Scaffolding Safety Alert
On 25th April, the Health and Safety Executive issued a safety alert to the construction industry following a catastophic scaffolding collapse in central Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, on 11th April 2006 (see the Spring 2006 e-Newsletter). Three workers were injured and one of them later died in hospital. An investigation was initiated.
The warning aims to alert those working on similar projects to the importance of their arrangements to provide and maintain stable scaffolds. The HSE recommends that those arrangements are reviewed regularly and that reviews take account of factors which include, but are not limited to:
- Scaffolding design implementation.
- Arrangements for securing scaffolding to structures.
- Intended and actual loadings on scaffolds, including the impact of wind.
- The risk of direct impact by construction plant or vehicles.
- The frequency and thoroughness of scaffold inspection arrangements.
- Systems in place for the handover of new or adapted scaffolds.
- The training and competence of scaffold erectors.
- The adequacy of the scaffold foundations.
- The prevention of unauthorised modifications.
Manufacturer Fined for Lifting Equipment Death
On 20th April 2006, Birmingham company Joseph Ash (Galvanizing) Limited was fined £150,000 with costs of £11,722 at Birmingham Crown Court, after pleading guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974, Section 2(1); the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, Regulation 23; and the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 , Regulation 7(c).
The case was brought by the Health and Safety Executive following an investigation into the death of an employee who was fatally trapped by a steel gantry. The employee was not given sufficient information about the load he was moving and was operating lifting equipment which was not correctly marked or identified.
The HSE commented that companies must ensure that appropriate safety measures and safe systems of work are implemented to prevent this type of accident happening and provide a safe working environment. Those managing lifting operations must provide those working with lifting equipment with sufficient information, instruction and supervision to allow them to sufficiently plan and carry out their work in a safe manner, to ensure that safety measures are implemented, and once implemented, that they are maintained appropriately.
Regulation 23 of PUWER 98 states that every employer shall ensure that work equipment is marked in a clearly visible manner with any marking appropriate for reasons of health and safety.
Regulation 7(c) of LOLER 98 requires that accessories for lifting are also marked in such a way that it is possible to identify the characteristics necessary for their safe use.
Airport Baggage Handler Appeals Against Improvement Notice
On 13th May 2005, an HSE improvement notice was served on Menzies Aviation (UK) Ltd at Manchester Airport after an inspection of manual handling of baggage risks was carried out. The notice required Menzies Aviation to provide belt loader conveyors, or any other equally effective method, to assist in the loading and unloading of luggage to and from the carts used to shuttle luggage onto and from aircraft.
Menzies Aviation appealed to an employment tribunal against the HSE improvement notice, but in late April 2006 the appeal was rejected and the notice upheld. The company will now have to comply with the instruction to make increased use of lifting aids as an effective way for the industry to reduce risks further.
Construction Company Fined for Entanglement Injury
CET Group Ltd, of Maidstone, Kent, was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £30,000 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 at the City of London Magistrates' Court on 25th April 2006. The case followed an investigation by the HSE into an incident in which an employee from Essex suffered major injuries when he became entangled in a lorry-mounted rotating drill being used to dig a borehole at Ellenborough Table Tennis Club, Enfield, in March 2004. The machinery stripped and shattered his forearm, broke his humerus and a femur, damaged his ribs and caused extensive bruising. The HSE investigation found that the company had not carried out a proper risk assessment. The drill was completely unguarded and its emergency stop device did not work.
The HSE commented that such accidents are eminently foreseeable when using large, dangerous pieces of machinery without the proper safeguards being in place. The need for proper risk assessment and the provision of effective guards or other protection devices are well known within the construction industry. The guidance produced by the British Drilling Association (BDA) with the HSE was specifically designed to deal with such situations and makes it extremely clear how companies involved in such activities should go about complying with the relevant law.
HSE Report on Respiratory Disease Outbreak at Powertrain
On 1st May 2006, the Health and Safety Executive published online an update on its investigation into the outbreak of occupational lung disease at the Powertrain Limited plant in Longbridge, Birmingham. The HSE investigation began in March 2004, since when 101 workers at the former car plant have been diagnosed mainly with either occupational asthma or extrinsic allergic alveolitis. (The company went into administration in 2005 and the assets were subsequently sold to Nanjing Automobile (Group) Corporation and removed to China.) Both diseases cause breathing difficulties which are severe and in some cases can be long lasting. The HSE served three improvement notices on Powertrain in 2004 once the scale of the outbreak became apparent. The notices required Powertrain to take action in line with the increased risk and they were complied with.
The outbreak at Powertrain is thought to be both the world's largest linked to metal- working fluids and the largest single outbreak of occupational asthma. It has changed the perception of the risk arising from exposure to mist from metalworking in the UK. The precise agent within the mist that triggered the outbreak is unknown, although links were found to bacteria and used metalworking fluid.
Other possible causes, such as metals leaching into the mist from the machining and washing of components, were investigated and thought unlikely to have caused the outbreak.
As a result of the outbreak, the HSE updated its guidance on metalworking and this is now available via the HSE website. In summary, the guidance is that in the light of the increased risk revealed by the outbreak, risk assessments must deal with the risks of occupational asthma and extrinsic allergic alveolitis; direct means of monitoring bacterial contamination in metalworking and wash fluids, such as dip slides, must be used; exposure to mist needs to be prevented or better controlled; and health surveillance must be carried out where there is exposure to mist.
Longer-term investigations and research into aspects of the outbreak continue, although no further legal action is proposed by the HSE.
Computer Use and DVT Risk
In early May 2006, a freelance computer programmer from Whitchurch, Bristol, collapsed with deep vein thrombosis after an eight-hour shift at home, sitting at his desk working on a computer (he is a vegetarian and not overweight). The clot, which had formed in his leg, moved to his lung, causing excruciating pain and leaving him coughing up blood. The pulmonary embolism, caused by part of the clot breaking off and travelling to his lung, was diagnosed after he went for a scan at the Bristol Royal Infirmary.
He gave a warning to other desk-bound workers who may not be aware of the risks of developing DVT, advising people to try to do a few simple stretching exercises to help minimise the risk as prolonged immobility is the risk factor. However, he did not mention that the self-employed are also subject to the DSE Regulations . Now dubbed e-thrombosis, there is a growing awareness of the risk potential to millions of office workers, because of the established trend for a sedentary lifestyle and long hours spent at work in front of a screen.
Waste Collection Deaths on the Increase
A decline in safety standards by both public and private waste collection and recycling operations has lead to a dramatic increase in the number of fatalities suffered by members of the public, as well as refuse collection workers. In the year 2001/02 there were two reported deaths and in 2005 there were nine. Most of the deaths were caused by people being struck by a moving vehicle, such as a street bin lorry or a passing car; or a site forklift, mechanical shovel or bulldozer.
The HSE has stated that vehicle risks must be properly controlled. Wherever possible, pedestrians and vehicles should be segregated, paying special attention to transfer stations and sorting areas. Street collection activities should address the risks to collection staff and other road and pavement users. The use of reversing aids such as mirrors, CCTV, detectors and beacons will reduce the risks. In most public access areas it is usually necessary to provide reversing assistants to help the driver and prevent or warn pedestrians entering manoeuvring areas when the risks cannot be controlled adequately by other means.
The HSE has developed specific guidance with the Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) Forum, available from the HSE website at:
www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/web/wastetransport.pdf.
At the beginning of May 2006, a man living in Camperdown was struck and killed by a bin lorry belonging to North Tyneside Council.
Sellafield Leak Leads to Prosecution
On 3rd May 2006, the HSE announced that it was bringing a criminal prosecution against British Nuclear Group Sellafield Ltd (BNGSL) in connection with an incident at the Sellafield reprocessing site. The prosecution followed an investigation by the HSE Nuclear Installations Inspectorate into a leak of radioactive liquor inside a heavily shielded facility at the THermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) in April 2005.
The charges related to alleged breaches of three conditions attached to the Sellafield site licence granted under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 (as amended). The conditions require the licensee: to make, and comply with, written instructions; to ensure safety systems are in good working order; and to ensure radioactive material is contained and, if leaks occur, they are detected and reported.
It was found that acid containing around 20 tonnes of uranium and 160 kg of plutonium had escaped from a ruptured pipe into a sealed concrete holding cell. There were no injuries or escape to the atmosphere, but the spillage was not spotted for eight months.
In early June, the company pleaded guilty at Whitehaven Magistrates' Court in Cumbria. Sentence was due to be passed later.
Asbestos Compensation Limited
Following decisions by the House of Lords in the cases of Barker v. Corus (UK) plc, Murray v. British Shipbuilders (Hydrodynamics) Ltd and Others and Patterson v. Smiths Dock Ltd and Another , published in early May 2006, full compensation is unlikely to be forthcoming for workers who contracted mesothelioma after being exposed to asbestos dust by more than one employer. The House of Lords ruled that liability should be shared by multiple employers, many of whom have ceased trading.
Steel Stock Company Fined for Stacking Fatality
On 8th May 2006, Clifton Steel Limited of Birmingham was fined £150,000 with £20,000 costs after admitting a breach of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 at Birmingham Crown Court. The prosecution followed the death of an employee in January 2002. The man was using a crane to move a steel coil when he died. He was trapped and crushed against the coil when a nearby stack of coils moved. That stack of coils had not been set up safely and the smallest vibration, perhaps caused by the operation of the crane, would cause it to slip and move.
The HSE commented that this death was the result of a failure to pay full attention to the very risky business of storing and moving steel coils. In the Midlands especially there are many companies who do this sort of work, and they must realise that common sense does not provide all the answers. The safe storage and movement of coils, often weighing many tonnes, should be subject to careful risk assessment and, where necessary, expert help.
Third Buncefield Progress Report Published
On 9th May 2006, the HSE published its third progress report on the investigation into the Buncefield oil depot fire. It comes to the conclusion that human failures and faulty safety equipment were responsible for the explosion. The inquiry team established that the sequence of events began when storage tank 912 in bund A, with a design capacity of 5,000 tonnes of fuel, was overfilled by some 300 tonnes with unleaded petrol, the spillage creating a vapour cloud which eventually ignited.
At 19.00 hrs on 10th December 2005, operators began filling the tank at a rate of 550 cubic metres an hour via a pipeline. At 03.00 hrs on 11th December, fuel continued to be pumped into the tank but the float gauge indicating the fuel level became stuck in the two-thirds full position. At 05.20 hrs the tank was full but the safety valve, which should have automatically cut off the fuel input to the tank when full, failed to work and filling continued. The report does not state whether alarms sounded in the control room. For 40 minutes fuel poured from the breather vents at the top of the tank to the ground in the bund. Ten minutes before the explosion the flow increased to 890 cubic metres an hour.
Deflector plates around the top of the tank, designed to catch water sprayed on tanks during emergencies, caused the fuel to shoot into the air before falling. Holes in the deflector plate allowed some of the fuel to run down the sides, but more was forced into the air when the liquid hit a protruding bar circling the tank. The effect was to increase the speed with which the vapour cloud formed by mixing the fuel with the air more quickly.
Nobody onsite noticed the vapour cloud forming, even though it was visible and recorded on CCTV for 23 minutes before the explosion, which ignited another 20 storage tanks.
Apart from these issues, there were also questions raised about the design of the storage tank, and the siting of fire-fighting equipment in the depot.
The power of the explosion and the intensity of the fire destroyed much of the evidence of where the spark that ignited the vapour came from, but the investigators suggest that the most likely points were a generator just outside the site and a fire-control plant on the site. It has not yet been determined why the explosion was so powerful, as for this type of incident the blast pressure generated should have been around 20 to 50 mbar; it was in fact between 700 and 1,000 mbar.
Keep the Old Car for a While Yet
The EU End-of-Life Vehicles Directive (ELV) was introduced in 2003. It requires all road vehicles to be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner by licensed automotive treatment facilities (scrap merchants) rather than by tinkers. The legislation is applicable to around 2.2 million vehicles in the UK, the cost falling upon the last registered keeper of the vehicle, who is responsible for delivering the vehicle to a treatment centre, usually via a local council who will charge for providing the service.
The dismantler must provide premises lined with concrete surfaces and sealed drainage; storage tanks for fluids must be present and tanks must be inspected and approved. The dismantler must drain or remove toxic liquids and substances from the vehicle; batteries, tyres, brake linings and shock absorbers must be removed and stored. Vehicles from which pollutants have been removed may be stored on a hard standing and then recycled. The ELV Directive requires 85% of the weight of the vehicle to be recycled; some heavy metals may not be recycled. From 2015 the legislation requires that 95% of the vehicle must be recycled.
From 1st January 2007, the cost of depolluting and recycling will pass from the end user to the manufacturer. All vehicle manufacturers will be required to operate a free take-back service and set up an approved network of licensed dismantlers for customers.
Construction Company Prosecuted for Lifting Operations Fatality
On 9th May 2006, the HSE warned that anyone involved in lifting operations on building sites should ensure they are properly planned and appropriately supervised. The risk of serious injury or worse from badly planned lifting operations is well known in the industry, as are the measures necessary to manage them. The comments followed the prosecution of two construction companies at the Old Bailey, namely John Doyle Construction Limited of Welwyn Garden City, Herts; and Exterior International Plc of London, EC2.
The companies were fined a total of £350,000 following an investigation into a fatal incident on a building site on 6th August 2002, at Albion Riverside Development, Hester Road, Battersea, London. John Doyle Construction Limited, the dead man's employer, was fined £200,000 for contravening Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 and £50,000 for contravening Section 3(1) of the same Act. Exterior International Plc were fined £100,000 for contravening Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974.
The employee died when a large timber shutter panel struck him as it fell to the ground whilst it was being lifted from ground level to the ninth floor on the north- west corner of the site.
This avoidable accident was described as an example of how badly things can go wrong when lifting operations are not planned or supervised properly. When carrying out lifting operations on site, three key elements must be in place to ensure the safety of the lift: a competent person is involved in planning the lift; the lift is adequately supervised; and the lift is carried out in a safe manner.
Chemical Leakage in Sudbury
On 15th May 2006, the Antec International factory on the Chilton Industrial Estate, Sudbury, Suffolk, which manufactures disinfectants used to sterilise operating equipment, was sealed off along with a large area of the eastern part of Sudbury after the release of toxic fumes.
The plant stored drums of xylenol (a group of monohydric phenols derived from xylene) which should have been kept at a steady 50°C. They overheated to 150°C whilst the factory was shut down over the weekend. The drums were found to have become decomposed and the superheated liquid had started to fume off.
The fire services attempted to cool the tanks and contain 1,000 litres of the hazardous spill, sealing it off to prevent contamination of watercourses. An investigation into the incident will involve the Fire Service, the HSE and the Environment Agency.
The HSE has published Biological agents, The principles, design and operation of Containment Level 4 facilities, by the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens, HSE, DEFRA and the Department of Health. The document contains new practical standards for safe working with high-hazard pathogens. It can be downloaded as a PDF file from http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/web09.pdf?ebul=hsegen/8-may-06&cr=12.
New Standard for Work with Biological Agents
The HSE has published Biological agents, The principles, design and operation of Containment Level 4 facilities, by the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens, HSE, DEFRA and the Department of Health. The document contains new practical standards for safe working with high-hazard pathogens. It can be downloaded as a PDF file from http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/web09.pdf?ebul=hsegen/8-may-06&cr=12
Vandals Cause Chemical Alert
Persons unknown dumped 21 45-gallon drums of dimethylamine on derelict land off Hollins Grove Street, Darwen, Lancashire, over a weekend in mid-May 2006. The hazardous materials were found by a gang of local youths who proceeded to pierce some of the drums with abandoned metal rods, releasing a spillage to the ground. They then torched a portable cabin on the site and dispersed before the police arrived.
The spillage was discovered by police and dealt with by the fire service using absorbing powder to soak up the leak from six of the drums that had been deliberately punctured. The incident also involved the borough environmental protection officer, the county analyst, the Lancashire Fire and Rescue hazardous materials officer, and the fire service environmental protection unit. The drums were eventually removed by a specialist waste management contractor.
Dimethylamine (DMA or N-methylmethanamine) is generally used in a water solution as a dehairing agent in tanning; in dyes; in rubber accelerators; in soaps and cleaning compounds; and as an agricultural fungicide. It is also a raw material in the production of many pharmaceuticals and of the chemical warfare agent, tabun. The substance is harmful by ingestion, skin contact or inhalation and is an eye, skin and respiratory irritant. It is covered by Risk Phrases R12, R20, R21, R22, R29, R34, R36, R37 and R41.
Updated BSI Standard on Electrical Cables and Installations
The BSI has published a new edition of BS 6007:2006, Electric cables. Single core unsheathed heat-resisting cables for voltages up to and including 450/750 V , for internal wiring. This revised standard reflects developments in European cable standardisation. It specifies constructional and performance requirements for single core unsheathed heat-resisting cables for operation at voltages up to and including 450V AC to earth and 750V AC between conductors, intended for use as internal wiring. It includes methods and conditions for routine mechanical and electrical tests. BS 6007:2006 supersedes BS 6007:2000, which is now withdrawn.
Shopping Area Closed by Falling Glass
On 18th May 2006, police evacuated part of Birmingham city centre when glass fell from the listed Rotunda building, which was being gutted before being turned into luxury apartments. The High Street and New Street areas near the Rotunda building were closed off. There were no reports of injuries but the HSE was notified of a dangerous occurrence incident.
Contractors were also involved in another recent incident when scaffolding fell from the Beetham Tower when it was under construction in February, leading to delays for drivers and pedestrians in the Holloway Circus area of Birmingham.
Proposed Revision of the Asbestos Regulations
The HSC has proposed new regulations on asbestos which will repeal and replace with a single set of regulations the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002, the Asbestos (Licensing) Regulations 1983, as amended, and the Asbestos (Prohibitions) Regulations 1992 (Prohibitions Regulations), as amended. The objective is to strengthen overall worker protection by reducing exposure limits, simplify the regulatory regime and implement revisions and amendments to the EU Asbestos Worker Protection Directive.
The proposed regulations suggest a single lower Control Limit of 0.1 fibres per cm3 of air for all types of asbestos, measured over four hours. The Approved Code of Practice recommends a maximum peak level exposure of 0.6 fibres per cm3 over ten minutes, which is tighter than the current limits.
There will be a new concept of "sporadic and low intensity exposure", meaning a peak exposure level of less than 0.6 fibres per cm3 of air measured over a ten-minute period, as determined by a risk assessment.
There will be a risk-based approach to the licensing of asbestos, with licensing reserved for high-risk products and processes.
The HSE has yet to decide on a wider range of issues around asbestos licensing and relative areas of risk. It is suggested that work with textured coatings containing asbestos will be delicensed in the new regulations.
HSE to Provide Free Access to ACoPs and Guidance Documents
The TUC Risks Newsletter of 20th May 2006 carried the news that the Health and Safety Executive has made an 'in principle' decision to make almost all of its priced publications available free online from Spring 2007. Most importantly, this will include the Approved Codes of Practice and guidance necessary for any health and safety compliance. Most government regulators already provide free public access to relevant statutory provisions and guidance. However, the accident book and health and safety law poster will remain as priced publications.
Asbestos Exposure Risk in Automobile Parts Reprocessing
Asbestos is a widely used material which, although now banned, is much in evidence in many workplaces. Its most common use is in insulation and fire-resistant material, and it is also a friction lining in machinery (brakes, clutch plates, etc.). The risk of contracting lung cancer to those working with asbestos is ten times greater than that of the general population.
A paper by Kiyoshi Sakai, et al, published in the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health , Volume 12, Number 2, April - June 2006, deals with "Asbestos Exposures during Reprocessing of Automobile Brakes and Clutches".
Asbestos exposures of workers in three small factories in Japan reprocessing automobile brakes and clutches were investigated over a seven-year observation period from 1982 to 1989 (the use of asbestos in brake pads, linings and facings was banned in Japan in 2004). Airborne asbestos was collected on a membrane filter using an air sampler and asbestos counting was performed on 295 samples (198 personal and 97 stationary), using phase contrast microscopy. Only chrysotile (white asbestos, the most common form) was detected.
Workers who reprocessed automobile brakes and clutches were exposed to asbestos concentrations of 0.025-76.4 fibres per cm3. Geometric mean asbestos concentrations during attaching linings to brake shoes and attaching facings to clutch disks were 0.859 fibres per cm3 and 0.780 fibres per cm3 respectively. Concentrations during stripping worn brake linings and clutch facings were 0.484 fibres per cm3 and 0.382 fibres per cm3 respectively.
The researchers conclude that machine grinding and levelling of new brake lining surfaces represent potential sources of heavy asbestos exposures, unless work enclosures and local ventilation are efficient.
Lidl UK Fined £50,000 for Safety Management Failings
The German-owned supermarket giant Lidl was fined £50,000 in May 2006 after pleading guilty at Gloucester Crown Court to two offences under the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 . The local authority prosecution arose from two separate incidents at the company's store in Bishop's Cleeve, Gloucestershire, in which two delivery drivers were seriously injured, one suffering permanent brain damage.
In August 2004, a driver for a haulage firm was struck on the head by the arm of the loading lift as he worked in the Lidl warehouse, sustaining serious injuries. The lift is used by workers to load produce from their delivery vans into supply bays. A triangular bracket was missing from the metal arm used as a safety gate to keep workers inside the lift. The company had been warned of this problem a month before the accident.
In September 2004, Lidl had still not fixed the arm, according to a report by insurers Zurich, and another HGV driver was hit over the head by the same lift arm, sustaining lesser injuries. The court was told of a similar offence in 2002 when Lidl was found guilty of twice breaching health and safety legislation after two delivery drivers were struck on the head by a faulty arm on another scissor lift.
The company had failed to respond to the series of similar incidents and was fined £25,000 for each offence, with costs of £10,531.50 awarded to Tewkesbury Borough Council. Undisclosed compensation was awarded to the drivers.
New Standards on Environmental Management
The BSI has announced some new standards dealing with Environment and Sustainability:
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BS 8900:2006 Guidance for managing sustainable development, designed to help organisations develop an approach to sustainable development that will continue to evolve and adapt to meet new and continuing challenges and demands. It gives practical advice enabling meaningful contribution to sustainable development by guiding organisations towards effective management of their impact on society and the environment, along the route to enhanced organisational performance and success.
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International Standard BS ISO 14064-1:2006 Greenhouse gases. Specification with guidance at the organisation level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and removals, which details principles and requirements for designing, developing, managing and reporting organisation or company-level greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories. It includes requirements for determining GHG emission boundaries, quantifying an organisation's GHG emissions and removals and identifying specific company actions or activities aimed at improving GHG management. It also includes requirements and guidance on inventory quality management, reporting, internal auditing and the organisation's responsibilities in verification activities.
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International Standard BS ISO 14064-2:2006 Greenhouse gases. Specification with guidance at the project level for
quantification, monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions reductions or removal enhancements, which focuses on GHG projects or project-based activities specifically designed to reduce GHG emissions or increase GHG removals. It includes principles and requirements for determining project baseline scenarios and for monitoring, quantifying and reporting project performance relative to the baseline scenario and provides the basis for GHG projects to be validated and verified. -
International Standard BS ISO 14064-3:2006 Greenhouse gases. Specification with guidance for the validation and verification of greenhouse gas assertions, which details principles and requirements for verifying GHG inventories and validating or verifying GHG projects. It describes the process for GHG-related validation or verification and specifies components such as validation or verification planning, assessment procedures and the evaluation of organisation or project GHG assertions. The standard can be used by organisations or independent parties to validate or verify GHG assertions.
Also published in May 2006 was PAS 61:2006 Determination of priority pollutants in surface water using passive sampling, which describes a method for the determination of time-weighted average concentrations of priority pollutants in surface water by passive sampling, followed by analysis. Pollutant levels in surface water have traditionally been monitored by spot sampling, which gives a snapshot of pollutant levels at a particular time. But since pollutant levels in surface water have a tendency to fluctuate, it is desirable to monitor pollutant levels over time. Passive sampling involves the deployment of a calibrated device that uses a diffusion gradient to collect pollutants over a period of days to weeks, followed by extraction and analysis of the pollutants in a laboratory, thus providing a measure of time-weighted average concentrations of pollutants to which the sampling device was exposed.
Priority pollutants have been defined by the EU and are listed in Council Decision 2455/2001/EC.
Health and Safety Statistics 2004/05
In May 2006, the HSE published online Health and Safety Statistics 2004/05 , a summary document giving the latest statistics on work-related health and safety in Great Britain.
The key numbers for 2004/05 are:
Fatal injuries: 220 workers were killed, a rate of 0.7 per 100,000 workers; 361 members of the public were fatally injured.
Non-fatal injuries: 150,559 other injuries to employees were reported, a rate of 587 per 100,000 employees. There were 363,000 reportable injuries, according to the Labour Force Survey, a rate of 1,330 per 100,000 workers (2003/04).
Ill-health: 2.0 million people were suffering from an illness they believed was caused or made worse by their current or past work. Some 576,000 were new cases in the last 12 months.
Working days lost: 35 million days were lost overall (1.5 days per worker), 28 million due to work-related ill-health and 7 million due to workplace injury.
Revitalising Health and Safety targets:
- Injury: there was no change in the incidence rate of fatal and major injury. The 5% target was not met.
- Ill-health: there was a reduction in the incidence rate of work-related ill-health. The 10% target was "probably" met.
- Days lost: there was a reduction in working days lost per worker. The 15% target was "possibly" met.
Details of all the HSE statistics publications are available online at http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/books.htm#whass
BBC Has Problems with a Light Bulb
The failure of a light bulb illuminating one letter in a sign at the BBC's West London headquarters has been causing problems. Formerly, the bulb would have been replaced by two workers using a cradle, but now two outside contractors have been called in. The first is to erect hydraulic platforms 50 ft in the air, in preparation for changing the bulb, while the other has been asked to assess the cause of the problem, as it may be necessary to replace the whole sign.
The cost of the two contractors is alleged by staff to be more than £1,000, although this figure is disputed by the corporation.
Monoclonal Antibody Drug Trial Disaster
In a report published on 25th May 2006, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) heavily criticised the American company, Parexel, which administered a drug trial with a monoclonal antibody and left six volunteer guinea pigs seriously ill. All six previously healthy men who took part in the tests at Northwick Park Hospital in North London suffered multiple organ failure after being given TGN1412, a drug designed to treat rheumatoid arthritis, leukaemia and multiple sclerosis. The Agency reported that Parexel failed to follow proper procedures and good clinical practice in the way the trials were undertaken for this type of drug, although they also said that the adverse reaction suffered by the men was the result of an unexpected biological effect.
Other workers with monoclonal antibodies have claimed that the unwelcome outcome of the trial could have been predicted from preceding literature and data supplied by the company. The number of subjects used simultaneously also gave rise to concern.
The MHRA listed a catalogue of administrative errors, but found the drug was given in correct doses and there was no sign of contamination or manufacturing errors. The drug was manufactured by the German company, TeGenero, which filed for insolvency in early July 2006 due to the consequent damage to its reputation.
The Department of Health set up an expert group to produce an interim report and provide advice on how future trials of monoclonal antibodies should be designed.
Company Fined for Forged Asbestos Safety Check
In a hearing at Liverpool Magistrates' Court in May 2006, a company licensed by the HSE to carry out asbestos removal was fined £15,000 with £10,000 costs for forging an airborne asbestos test certificate. TW Insulation of Victoria Way, Leigh, stripped out asbestos from a building without running the essential safety checks. The company director was also ordered to pay a £3,000 fine and £2,000 costs.
In 2001, the firm was contracted by the owners of Graeme House in Liverpool city centre to remove asbestos during the renovation of lower floors. At the time the upper floors were occupied by civil servants. The work was carried out, but TW Insulation did not bring in a specialist to undertake an asbestos survey to check there were no airborne fibres. The company director produced a bogus air test certificate which suggested that there were no risks. By the time the forgery was detected, it was too late to know if the air had been contaminated.
The company admitted breaches of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 by failing to conduct its undertaking as asbestos removal contractors in such a way as to ensure, so far as was reasonably practicable, that persons not in its employment were not exposed to risk to their health by the company's failure to prepare an adequate asbestos survey report. The director admitted breaching the Act by not taking reasonable care for the health and safety of others who might be affected by his acts or omissions at work in that he promulgated a forged air test certificate with the intention that people would rely on it.
Passengers Trapped in Tube Train
On the night of 29th May 2006, Bank Holiday Monday, 146 passengers were marooned in a Tube train in a tunnel beneath Islington for more than two hours after midnight, while a maintenance team worked on the line ahead. When the work was finished, the power could not be turned on again as one of the workers could not be accounted for. The passengers eventually had to leave the train and be lead back along the tracks to Highbury and Islington station, where buses and taxis were arranged to take them home.
One passenger was treated by paramedics. Transport for London began an investigation into the incident.
HSE Warning on Working Below Head Height
On 25th May 2006, the HSE issued a warning on the dangers of working below head height, for example falling or over-reaching when distracted by the appearance of a cup of tea, or answering a mobile phone whilst up a ladder or on a trestle board. The new campaign is called Height Aware and is designed to raise awareness among tradesmen of the dangers faced by those who operate at relatively low heights. In a sample of tradespeople questioned recently, one in three admitted to putting their safety at risk by answering their mobile phones while working below head height. Nearly half of those questioned had nearly slipped or fallen in the past three months. Reaching down from a ladder to answer a phone is asking for trouble. The survey also indicates that tradespeople routinely underestimate the risks associated with working below head height, believing it to be less dangerous than lifting heavy objects.
Company Fined for Serious Hand Injury
At Trafford Magistrates' Court in late May 2006, Eurofabs (UK) Ltd of Shawclough was fined £7,000 and ordered to pay £1,588 costs following a prosecution by the HSE. The case resulted from an accident in which a company employee had three fingers on his left hand amputated as he was carrying out a lifting operation in November 2004.
The company claimed to have passed several safety audits prior to the incident, but have now been obliged to further revise their safety management systems to prevent such accidents recurring.
Employer Fined for Construction Site Pelvic Injuries
In a case heard at the Old Bailey in late May 2006, Byrne Brothers of Barnes were fined £60,000 and ordered to pay £12,026 costs after an HSE prosecution for an accident in June 2003 in which an employee was struck onsite by an unsecured pipe whilst working at the Exchange Square, near Liverpool Street in the City of London. He had been washing near the pipe when a blockage caused it to whip away, fracturing his pelvis in three places. The man was disabled by the accident and has been unable to work since.
Roofing Contractor Fined for Employee's Fall
Letchworth Roofing Company, a construction contractor of Hertfordshire, was fined £50,000 with costs of £23,000 at Birmingham Magistrates' Court following an accident in which an employee suffered a fractured jaw and soft tissue injuries. The trainee roofer fell approximately eight metres through a rooflight at the Curry's Store on the Kingsbury Road, Erdington, during rooflight replacement works in January 2005.
The HSE said that the company had not put in place simple and cost-effective measures which would have prevented the fall and provided a safe working environment.
The company pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974.
Billingham Chemical Plant Explosions
Shortly after midnight on 1st June 2006, a series of fireball explosions took place at the former ICI chemical works in Billingham on Teesside, now owned by Terra Nitrogen (UK) Ltd. Cleveland Fire and Rescue declared a major emergency at the site, but the fire was later brought under control. The incident was believed to have originated with a ruptured pipe. A release of ammonia was contained, the fire apparently being caused by a mixture of gases including hydrogen, nitrogen and ammonia. Two workers were treated for shock and minor injuries but there were no other casualties.
The plant was shut down and a joint investigation was launched by the HSE and the Environment Agency. Terra Nitrogen (UK) acquired the ammonia-production business from ICI in 1998; the plant employs around 250 workers and is subject to the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1999.
Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order Delays
As noted in earlier issues, implementation of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRFSO) has been delayed until 1st October 2006 due to the absence of the essential official safety guides which support the new legislation. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) announced in June that half of the new fire safety guides are now available, specifically those covering educational premises; offices and shops; factories and warehouses; small and medium places of assembly; large places of assembly; and premises providing sleeping accommodation. They can be downloaded from the ODPM website at http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1162101.
The remaining guidance documents yet to be published will deal with residential care premises; theatres and cinemas; outdoor events; healthcare premises; transport premises and facilities.
The enforcing authority for fire safety will vary according to the type of work activities. For most premises it will be the local Fire and Rescue Authority, but for Crown-occupied/owned premises, Crown fire inspectors will enforce; for premises within armed forces establishments, the defence fire and rescue service will enforce; for certain specialist premises including construction sites, ships (under repair or construction) and nuclear installations, the HSE will enforce; and for sports grounds and stands designated as needing a safety certificate by the local authority, the local authority will enforce.
Feedback on Buncefield Safety Alert
Following the first report on the Buncefield Major Incident Investigation by the COMAH Competent Authority, the HSE issued a Safety Alert to all COMAH operators, asking the operators of oil or fuel depot storage installations similar to Buncefield to complete a review of key design and operational aspects of their installations to ensure that they were complying with current good practice and relevant standards. The review was backed up with site inspections to ensure that any immediate safety concerns were being addressed.
Responses by the COMAH operators were analysed and in June 2006 an Initial report on the findings of the Oil/Fuel Depot Safety Alert Review was published online at http://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/buncefield/reviewjune06.pdf.
In summary, the findings were that major incidents on the scale of Buncefield at fuel/oil storage sites are extremely rare and overall there was good compliance with current guidance, codes and standards at the majority of installations:
- 86% of issues reviewed were found to be satisfactory.
- 12% of issues reviewed were found to give rise to minor concern.
- 2% of issues reviewed were found to be below good practice.
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Six significant issues were found at five sites. They related to inadequate:
- Bunding.
- Risk assessment.
- Maintenance of fire-fighting systems.
A finding of the review was inconsistent interpretation of the current, broadly-based HSE and industry guidance for sites that store and manage very large quantities of highly flammable liquids. This resulted in considerable variation in the standards adopted at different sites in some key areas. A thorough review of relevant guidance, codes and standards will therefore be undertaken by the Safety Standards Task Group.
Mental Health of Workers Being Neglected
The Shaw Trust, a disability charity, believes that managers are not paying sufficient attention to the mental health of their staff. A recent survey of 550 senior managers from the public and private sectors found only 3% claiming to have an effective policy in place covering stress and mental ill-health due to, or affected by, work.
According to mental health charities, a quarter of workers are likely to suffer a mental health problem in any one year, whereas the majority of managers questioned thought that no more than 5% of their staff would suffer any mental health problems in the whole of their working lives. Among managers in large companies, one in ten considered that none of their employees were ever likely to suffer from mental health problems.
These differing views can partly be explained by different conceptions of what constitutes mental ill-health. Many managers are thought to exclude stress and depression, in spite of the fact that these are common causes of absence from work and, in the public sector, are increasingly becoming the subject of lawsuits.
Unguarded Power Press Amputates Operator's Fingers
Crane Hill Engineering of Northampton pleaded guilty to contravening Regulation 9(2) and Regulations 11(1) and 33(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and was fined a total of £12,000 plus a further £2,300 costs by Northampton Magistrates' Court on 9th June 2006. The prosecution was brought after an 80-tonne power press was left without side guards and amputated three fingers from the operator's hand.
The HSE commented that stringent requirements apply to power presses with good reason and there have been Regulations relating to their use since 1965. In saving pennies by skimping on worker safety, an employer could face a very large financial impact following a prosecution for a serious injury of this type. The employer may struggle to cover costs resulting from lost earnings, sick pay, sick leave cover, loss of output or compensation claims, together with having to pay legal fees and court fines.
Hazardous Waste Producer Registration
The Environment Agency (EA) issued a reminder in June 2006 to businesses that produce hazardous waste to re-register their premises. As from one year ago, any business producing hazardous waste must register with the EA. The registration is valid for 12 months only and the first registrations came up for renewal in July 2006.
Companies that produce hazardous waste and do not register or re-register face prosecution and will lose the ability to find a contractor who can legally take their waste away for disposal, as it is an offence to handle such waste from an unregistered producer.
The EA also warn that waste classed as hazardous includes computer monitors, fluorescent tubes and batteries containing lead. The interpretation of the definition and classification of hazardous waste is still under review.
Government Abandons Sick Pay Reform
In January 2006, the UK Government published a Green Paper entitled A New Deal for Welfare: Empowering People to Work in which, among other measures designed to simplify the complex rules on statutory sick pay, it was proposed that employers would be required to provide sick pay from the first day of illness, rather than the fourth. That proposal was abandoned in mid-June 2006 under pressure from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), who claim that the move would increase the number of sick days taken by people who were not genuinely unwell. The BCC consider that not providing sickness pay during the first few days of an employee's illness is a useful tool for discouraging absenteeism.
10,000 Tonnes of Phosphoric Acid to be Released from Shipwreck
In January 2006, the freighter "Ece" was in collision with another cargo vessel in the English Channel 30 miles north-west of Guernsey. The "Ece" was carrying more than 10,000 tonnes of phosphoric acid. As she was being towed to Le Havre, the ship sank in 70 metres of water. So far an increase in phosphoric acid levels has only been detected in the immediate vicinity of the wreck, but the entire cargo will inevitably be released into the sea as the containers fail by oxidation and corrosion.
An impact study by French and British maritime experts stated that a controlled and programmed release of the acid into the sea would avoid any harmful impact to the marine environment. The acid is to be released deliberately and gradually over the summer months by a marine salvage company supervised by British and French observers, as well as by the French Navy, the operation finishing by mid-September. It is also planned to recover 40 tonnes of fuel in the ship's tanks. A fishing ban will be enforced for more than half a mile around the wreck until the operation is completed.
Revised British Standards on Machinery Safety
The BSI has announced the publication of two newly revised standards.
BS EN 60204-1:2006 Safety of machinery. Electrical equipment of machines. General requirements - this standard covers compliance with the Machinery Directive 98/37/EC. It provides requirements and recommendations relating to the electrical equipment of machines so as to promote:
- Safety of persons and property.
- Consistency of control response.
- Ease of maintenance.
The standard applies to electrical, electronic and programmable electronic equipment and systems to machines not portable by hand while working, including a group of machines working together in a co-ordinated manner. It is relevant to the electrical equipment or parts of the electrical equipment that operate with nominal supply voltages not exceeding 1,000 V for alternating current (AC) and not exceeding 1,500 V for direct current (DC) and with nominal supply frequencies not exceeding 200 Hz.
BS EN 614-1:2006 Safety of machinery. Ergonomic design principles. Terminology and general principles - this standard has been revised and updated with the ergonomic principles to be followed during the designing process of machinery. It applies to the interactions between operators and machinery when installing, operating, adjusting, maintaining, cleaning, dismantling, repairing or transporting equipment. It outlines the principles of good design to be followed in taking the health, safety and wellbeing of the operator into account.
New Treatment for Toxic Manganese Exposure
High-level exposure to the toxic metal, manganese, has been known to cause neurological damage since the 1800s. Exposed workers often exhibit tremors, rigidity and co-ordination problems strikingly similar to those observed in Parkinson's disease.
More recently (Gerd Multhaup et al, Biochemistry , 13th June edition) manganese has been implicated in causing the body proteins called prions to distort into an abnormal conformation, causing the degenerative and transmissible brain condition Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).
However, drugs developed to treat Parkinson's disease, such as Levodopa, have little effect in people poisoned with manganism.
A paper published in the June 2006 edition of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine by Wei Zheng and colleagues reports a case study in which they followed the clinical history of a Chinese woman who worked for 19 years at a manganese milling facility. She was hospitalised several times in the 1980s. In videos taken in 1987 her movements are unsteady and halting, and she struggles to touch a finger to the tip of her nose and perform other simple tasks. Then, over three months, she received an experimental treatment of 15 intravenous infusions of para-aminosalicylic acid (PAS), a relative of aspirin that is used to treat tuberculosis. Nearly all of her symptoms disappeared and she has remained healthy ever since. The researchers tried PAS in 85 additional patients in China and found that the drug seems to help about two-thirds of them, but so far those results have only appeared in Chinese-language journals.
If similar results are found in larger-scale trials, the drug PAS could provide the first effective treatment for thousands of workers exposed to high levels of manganese through mining, steel production, and other occupations.
Toxic Spill Procedural Blunders
In July 2002, a forklift driver working for Woodland International Transport of Coggeshall, Essex, punctured a drum of tributyl tin oxide, a chemical agent used in anti-foul paint and timber treatment. The safety guidelines for dealing with a spillage of this substance give strict instructions that it must not be flushed with water and must be prevented from discharging to a sewer. The supplier of the chemical had provided a document covering recommended ways of dealing with spillage. The fire service and the Environment Agency were called and fire-fighters in protective clothing dealt with the spill using a dry agent before handing the site back to the transport company to arrange specialist decontamination.
Rentokil Initial UK was contracted for the job, but the employees they sent were not qualified to deal with hazardous spills. They hosed the company yard and lorry for about ten hours and allowed the contaminated water to run into the drains. Rentokil then issued a certificate stating that the contaminated areas had been cleared of all risks and were safe; a risk assessment was completed which stated there was no environmental risk to animals in the area.
One month later, Braintree District Council was asked to clear the drains. A tanker pumped out the drains and the effect of the pollution was felt in the River Blackwater immediately after it rained. Some 5,700 coarse fish and tens of thousands of fry died over six miles of the river. The incident also caused the closure of an estuary shellfish farm and destroyed the river's insect population for nearly five miles. Abstraction of water from the river to Hanningfield and Langford reservoirs had to be stopped for a month.
Woodland International, Rentokil and Braintree District Council were prosecuted by the Environment Agency in Chelmsford Crown Court, where in June 2006 they all admitted causing polluting matter to enter the Blackwater and its tributaries. The three parties were fined a total of £130,000 with £104,000 costs.
Eleven Unsafe Foreign Ships Held under Detention in the UK
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) announced in June 2006 that 11 foreign ships were held under detention in UK ports during May 2006 after failing Port State Control safety inspection. The number of new detentions compared to April 2006 had increased by 233%, but the overall rate of detentions compared with inspections carried out over the last 12 months as a whole had increased by 5%.
The failed vessels included one bulk carrier, two refrigerated cargo vessels, five general cargo vessels, one chemical tanker and one passenger vessel. The chemical tanker had inoperative and improperly maintained fire pumps, inoperative ventilation and insufficient cleanliness of the engine room. The remaining ships all had serious nonconformities for emergency preparedness and maintenance of the vessel and its equipment. A Russian cargo ship was also suspected of illegal discharge of oil through an oily water separator bypass. A Korean bulk carrier, the "Hyok Sin 2", was in such poor condition that it has been banned from all EU ports, but it is not in a sufficiently safe state to sail out to a repair yard.
Employer Fined after Chronic Fatigue Death
In June 2006, The Produce Connection of Chittering in Cambridgeshire, a potato farming company, was fined £30,000 with £24,000 costs at Cambridge Crown Court after one of its workers crashed his van into a lorry and died whilst driving home on the A10 near Ely in 2002. He had just completed his third consecutive working shift of nearly 20 hours and was thought to have fallen asleep at the wheel from fatigue.
The company admitted to charges of failing to ensure the health and safety of its employees and of the public. It was the first health and safety case of its type in the UK as the employee had died outside his working hours. He had worked on average 17 hours a day for 11 consecutive days prior to his fatal crash, and was getting only three to four hours' sleep a night. It was alleged in court that other company employees were working similarly long hours. Workers were paid strictly by the hour.
Welder Dies of Opportunistic Lung Infection
A Cambridge Coroner's Inquest found that a contract welder was killed by a lung infection brought on by inhaling toxic gases at work. His lungs were invaded by bacterial pneumonia following exposure to gases from his own welding torch, while working for four weeks onboard a poorly ventilated ship with inoperative extractor fans in Holland. He was employed through a Glasgow agency by a Dutch company, Intec Marine and Offshore. The court was told by a consultant pathologist at Addenbrooke's Hospital, who carried out the post mortem , that the bacterial pneumonia the welder had contracted would not have been fatal if his lungs had not been fatally weakened by exposure to toxic fumes.
The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death, but because it occurred as a result of workplace exposure abroad, the death will not appear in UK occupational fatality figures.
Safety of Shell's North Sea Operations Questioned
In 1999, Shell conducted a platform safety maintenance review (PSMR) of its facilities in the North Sea, bringing in one of its senior engineers based in The Hague to assist the local audit team in the task. This internal audit found extensive safety violations, which included deferrals of the testing of key safety equipment and alleged falsification of maintenance records for safety equipment. The audit team recommended immediate action to reduce risk.
Shell maintains that it undertook improvements following the report and before two workers died on the Brent Bravo platform in September 2003, when gas escaped while they were inspecting a temporary pipe repair. A team was set up to confirm the integrity of offshore installations and an investigation failed to find definitive evidence of falsification. The senior engineer involved in the 1999 PSMR has since retired but claims that Shell's response was inadequate and that an internal safety audit following the 2003 accident found much evidence of procedure and maintenance violations, with staff afraid to draw attention to safety problems.
North Sea oil and gas unions have called for a Government investigation into Shell's North Sea safety record.
Investigation Begins into Defence Factory Explosion
On 26th June 2006, an industrial oven exploded at the Wallop Defence Systems factory at Middle Wallop, near Andover in Hampshire, killing one employee and causing minor injuries to four others. The 200-strong workforce was removed from the site by the police and nearby roads were closed over fears that other ovens could explode. The factory makes advanced electronic countermeasures and decoys for aircraft. The explosion took place in a building used to produce explosive flares. Part of the building was completely demolished and a debris field spread over a wide area. There was a fireball and a plume of smoke, but the fire extinguished itself. The police and HSE began an investigation into the incident.
Royal Mail and Romec Fined for Engineer's Death Fall
The Royal Mail and one of its contractors were fined a total of £250,000 after an engineer fell to his death at a sorting office. The employee was working on the main roof of the West London Mail Centre by Paddington station in July 2003. He was installing a new lighting system and also supervising an apprentice. The two men were working next to fragile skylights which were not boarded or marked as being dangerous and there were no safety guardrails to prevent someone falling. The engineer stepped forward to inspect an infrared light fixing by the apprentice and fell 30 feet to his death through one of the fragile skylights and into a corridor below. He died of multiple injuries.
At Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court in June 2006, Royal Mail and Romec pleaded guilty to breaches of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 (HSWA) after being prosecuted by Westminster City Council following an investigation.
Romec admitted failing to ensure that the systems they laid down on paper for safe working were put into practice by their employees, a breach of Section 2 of HSWA. Royal Mail admitted failing to ensure the fragile rooflights at the sorting office were properly identified by signs and did not install a protective barrier round them, a breach of Section 3 of HSWA.
Royal Mail were fined £150,000 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of nearly £25,000. Romec was fined £100,000 with costs of nearly £22,000. Following current practice, the scale of the fines imposed was reduced below the maximum by the court as the defendants had pleaded guilty. The sums mentioned do not include personal injury litigation costs and compensation, which may bring the total cost of the accident to around £750,000.
HSE Issues Consultation Document on Workplace Transport Safety
The HSE has published a Consultative Document entitled Proposals for managing workplace transport risk - a route map, available online in PDF format at: http://consultations.hse.gov.uk/inovem/consult.ti/wptms/listdocuments.
The document describes a new set of management standards relating to use of all forms of vehicular transport in a work environment. It sets out four key areas to be considered as part of the risk assessment process:
- site layout and design;
- vehicle selection and maintenance;
- personnel matters;
- management responsibilities;
and describes what employers have to do to manage safe working.
The HSE does not propose to introduce new legislation dealing with workplace transport, as it is already covered by the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992; the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998; and the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 . Instead they plan a Workplace Transport Route Map, by which they seem to mean a document equivalent in status to a Code of Practice but with a more fashionable name.
Limiting Air Travel Would Not Stop the Spread of an Influenza Pandemic
It might seem a logical step to ban air travel from cities affected by a dangerous new influenza strain in order to slow the subsequent global spread of the virus, but a new study has found that limiting air travel would have little effect on such an influenza pandemic. Earlier studies had suggested that once a pandemic starts, it would take at least six months to develop and mass-produce an effective vaccine against the offending strain of virus. Thus several recent modelling studies have compared strategies designed to buy more time. A paper published online by Nature on 26th April 2006 by Neil Ferguson of Imperial College, London and colleagues, considered various strategies which the United States and the United Kingdom could implement. They found that closing borders and limiting domestic travel were not very effective; but isolating patients, quarantining their household contacts, and prophylactic use of an antiviral drug were effective.
A paper published in the June issue of the online journal PLoS Medicine considered travel bans on a global perspective. Ben Cooper and colleagues at the Health Protection Agency in London used data from the International Air Transport Association about air travel between 105 major cities around the world to model a hypothetical influenza pandemic that started in Hong Kong on 1st June of a given year.
They found that banning travel from cities affected by 100 symptomatic cases of sickness had little effect on the overall spread of the pandemic. The virus simply reached cities elsewhere on the planet a couple of days later than it did without grounding aircraft. Only when a travel ban is implemented immediately after the first detection of the virus, and it is 99.9% effective, will it slow down the pandemic significantly. The research confirmed on the global scale what local scale modelling had suggested. Influenza spreads so explosively that only draconian measures would stop it. The published study adds to the evidence that international travel restrictions have little role in how health authorities should respond to a new influenza pandemic.
NHS Consults on Workplace Violence
In June 2006, the Department of Health, as the body responsible for NHS premises in England, published a Consultative Document concerning proposals for a new law to tackle nuisance or disturbance behaviour on NHS premises in England. Plans include a new offence which could lead to prosecution and a £1,000 fine, plus the power for NHS bodies to remove individuals from their premises.
Employee safety is the responsibility of the Security Management Service (SMS), a part of the Counter Fraud and Security Management Service, which in turn is part of the NHS Business Services Authority, the division having overall responsibility for all policy and operational matters related to the management of security in the NHS.
Violent attacks in the workplace have become a major issue for Health Service employees. The most recent statistics produced by the NHS SMS show that in 2004/05 there were 43,097 physical assaults against NHS staff working in mental health and learning disability establishments; 10,755 in the acute sector; 5,192 in Primary Care Trusts and 1,333 in Ambulance Trusts.
At present the Crown Prosecution Service prosecutes the perpetrator of an attack, and in serious cases the relevant NHS Trust or Authority is also prosecuted by the HSE or local authority for safety management failings.
Link Between Parkinson's Disease and Pesticides
A study by a team from Harvard School of Public Health in the USA has found new evidence that exposure to pesticides may be linked to the development of Parkinson's disease. Their study carries more weight because participants were asked about their exposure to pesticides long before they developed the disease, eliminating the possibility of answers coloured by awareness of a possible link.
The researchers used data from a study of the link between diet and cancer, begun in 1992, in which one of the questions asked was about exposure to pesticides. A follow-up questionnaire in 2001 was used to establish the incidence of Parkinson's disease among those who had answered the question on exposure to pesticides in the 1992 survey.
Analysing the results, the team found that those who had been exposed to pesticides were 70% more likely to have developed the disease, after taking age, sex and other risk factors into account.
The findings of the study, published in Annals of Neurology , lead the authors to conclude that the link between Parkinson's disease and pesticides is probably real and that further research is needed to establish which pesticide or class of pesticides is involved.
European Week for Safety and Health at Work 2006
This year the European Week for Safety and Health at Work campaign, which runs from 23rd to 27th October, is called "Safe Start" and is dedicated to the occupational safety and health of young people. The purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness on the topic of occupational safety and health of young people through the distribution of Action Packs; by providing links to key stakeholders' webpages (for example, the IOSH wiseup2work website, which is specifically aimed at young people); and through the production of other guidance, events and competitions. Details are given on the website of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work , which also gives information about the European Good Practice Awards 2006.
ILO Propose Global Ban on Asbestos
In June 2006, the 95th Annual Conference of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) adopted a series of standards and measures addressing the health and safety of workers, the employment relationship, and asbestos.
The new Promotional Framework Convention on Occupational Safety and Health and accompanying Recommendation incorporates measures based on the ILO Global Strategy on Occupational Safety and Health adopted by the 2003 ILO Conference, which concentrated on the importance of building and maintaining a national preventative safety and health culture, and a systems approach to safety and health.
The 2006 Conference also adopted a Resolution concerning exposure to asbestos, which causes some 100,000 deaths worldwide per year. The Resolution declares that the elimination of the future use of asbestos and the identification and proper management of asbestos currently in place are the most effective means to protect workers from asbestos exposure and to prevent future asbestos-related diseases and deaths. It also resolves that the ILO Asbestos Convention 1986 (No. 162) should not be used to provide a justification for, or endorsement of, the continued use of asbestos.
EU Ban on Use of Toxic Metals in Manufactured Goods
At the end of June 2006, the use of toxic metals such as lead, mercury, chromium and cadmium was banned from a wide range of electric and electronic equipment and components. The removal or reduction of hazardous substances applies to such equipment as televisions, computers, toys and lighting for any products sold on the European market. Although the legislation can be enforced only within the European Union, most major manufacturing countries have adopted the new regulations in order to be able to sell their products on the European market.
The new requirements are known as RoHS (Reduction of Hazardous Substances) and were announced by the European Parliament in 2002; they came into force on 1st July 2006. The purpose is to protect human health and the environment.
Substances such as lead are, or were, used in soldering components on printed circuit boards in many electronic products. Although only small quantities of lead are used in these products, because of the enormous number of televisions and computers that are simply thrown away and end up in landfill sites, those small amounts soon add up to hazardous amounts in a throw-away society. Most electronic products have no repairable parts and the EU insists these hazardous substances be reduced. The directive has been supported by every major manufacturing country and companies have had to redesign their electronic products, for example by using nickel as a solder, which is inert and unlikely to contaminate groundwater.
The directive applies to lead, chrome, cadmium, mercury, polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) used in household appliances, IT and telecommunications equipment, light bulbs, electric and electronic tools, toys, sports equipment and automatic dispensers. Spare parts used to repair equipment put on the market before 1st July are exempt from the regulations.
Fire-Fighting Systems Standards
In early July 2006, the BSI published two new Codes of Practice replacing BS 5306-1:1976, which has now been withdrawn. The two documents are:
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BS 9990:2006 Code of practice for non-automatic fire-fighting systems in buildings, which gives recommendations for non-automatic fire-fighting systems in buildings. It covers good practice in matters affecting the design, installation, testing and maintenance of such systems including wet and dry fire-fighting mains. It does not cover hose reels, foam inlets, automatic foam systems and portable fire-fighting equipment, which are dealt with by BS EN 671-1, BS 5306-1, BS 5306-3, BS 5306-8 and BS EN 3-7.
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BS 5306-1:2006 Code of practice for fire extinguishing installations and equipment on premises - Part 1: Hose reels and foam inlets. This standard gives recommendations for hose reels and foam inlets. It covers good practice in matters affecting the design, installation, testing and maintenance of such systems. It does not cover wet and dry fire mains, automatic foam systems and portable fire-fighting equipment, which are dealt with in BS 9990, BS 5306-3, BS 5306-8 and BS EN 3-7. Requirements for the hose reels are specified in BS EN 671.
The BSI also advised that later this year they would publish the following:
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BS 7273-1 (2nd Revision) Code of practice for the operation of fire protection measures. Electrical actuation of gaseous total flooding extinguishing systems.
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BS EN 54-2/A1 Fire detection and fire alarm systems. Control and indicating equipment.
HSE Issues Second COMAH Safety Alert
Following the publication in June of an HSE COMAH Safety Alert (see Feedback on Buncefield Safety Alert) the HSE issued a second Safety Alert on 4th July 2006 to operators of COMAH oil/fuel storage facilities and others storing hazardous substances in large tanks where level gauges are used. The details of the Safety Alert can be found on the HSE website at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/alerts/sa0106.htm
The Alert came as a result of new information from the on-going investigation into the Buncefield incident. Scrutiny of the workings of the high-level safety system at the site, which is designed to prevent tank overfill, indicated that certain aspects of its installation and testing are critical in ensuring that it operates correctly. The HSE requested that operators of similar facilities carry out immediate checks where TAV level switches manufactured and supplied by Cynergy3 Components Limited or their predecessor companies are fitted to their storage tanks and carry out the actions detailed in the Safety Alert. The HSE also served improvement notices on the company, requiring them to alert operators using this system to the steps outlined in the Safety Alert. TAV level switches (a brand name) are a type of high-level safety system fitted to tanks to sense when liquid reaches its maximum level, providing the operator with a visual and/or audible alarm should all other alarms and controls fail to respond.
Coast Path Declared Unsafe for Postmen
A group of crofts on the Ardmore peninsula in north-west Scotland will no longer receive a postal delivery following a decision by Royal Mail that a coastal path is too hazardous for postmen to walk along. A mountaineering adviser, asked to assess the path, described it as "a well-maintained footpath", "an easy walk", but after an incident in which a relief postman slipped and fell on a grassy slope, Royal Mail decided that the path was "fundamentally dangerous" and that the risk to its staff was compounded by the fact that there is no mobile phone reception for much of the route.
The seriousness of the relief postman's injuries is disputed by residents and he is said not to have worn the high-quality mountain boots normally issued to postmen walking the path.
Now that the postman is no longer making the 30-minute journey each way, residents must walk themselves to a car park near the start of the path to collect their mail.
Surgeon Wins Damages for Slipping Accident
A general surgeon at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, West London, ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in October 2000 when he slipped on some custard while crossing a covered bridge at the hospital. He required reconstructive surgery and progress in his career to the post of consultant was delayed. He sought compensation in the High Court from St Mary's Hospital NHS Trust and the catering company, Sodexho.
The defendants claimed that the injured surgeon failed to watch his step, but in July 2006 he was awarded compensation of £38,928. He had sought £250,000 but the award was reduced to 40% of the full liability in recognition of the fact that he had suffered other injuries to the same knee. The judge also assessed the delay to his career progress to be one year rather than the four that he had claimed.
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