Welcome!
Welcome to our September Health & Safety Brief - your plain English health & safety update.
In this edition, we provide information on:
- New guidance on Asbestos surveys
- Ladder Exchange Initiative 2009
- A lift is blamed for the death of a charity worker
- A crane company fined for accident in which two workers are killed.
New Guidance on Asbestos Surveys
Strict new guidelines on dealing with asbestos containing materials (ACMs) are being introduced for all those responsible for protecting residents in homes and employees in the work place by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Autumn 2009.
All duty holders have to provide information on the number of buildings being inspected, plans and surveys, building usage, known hazards and access details.
The new guidelines recommend a site meeting between the surveyor and duty holder to plan how the survey will take place, where all the information is gathered, assessed and taken into account, before the survey takes place.
It is required that the duty holders check that persons carrying out these surveys are competent and qualified to do so, by checking their qualifications, insurance, references and plans detailing where asbestos may be disturbed.
Once the survey report is issued duty holders must also be involved with checking accuracy of the survey. This should include that the survey is of the type requested, all areas have been covered in the survey and sufficient samples have been taken.
Under the new regime, there will be two types of survey:
- Management survey - designed to locate the presence and extent of ACMs, so that the duty holder can prepare a plan for the management of asbestos.
- Refurbishment/demolition survey - a much more intrusive survey, designed to locate all ACMs so they can be removed before refurbishment or demolition takes place.
Surveyors must be aware of the extent of the work expected to be undertaken and not be tempted to do a substandard job to keep the price of the survey down.
Ladder Exchange Initiative 2009
During 2007/8 58 workers died and an additional 3623 suffered a serious injury as a result of a fall from height. Ladders remain the most common agent involved - accounting for approximately a third of all reported falls from height incidents.
HSE is launching Ladder Exchange Initiative 2009 on 1 September 2009. It will run until December 2009.
Ladder Exchange is designed to help prevent ladder accidents by encouraging businesses to remove 'dodgy' ladders from the workplace. It also provides duty holders with an opportunity to review pre-use checks, training, supervision and other arrangements for ladder work.
The initiative is simple; if you have a ladder which is bent, broken or battered you can part exchange it for a new one at one of our partner outlets who are offering discounts at competitive rates.
View Ladder Exchange.
Lift blamed for the death of a charity worker in London.
A faulty lift is being blamed for the death of a charity worker from London. Christine Allen was trapped between the lift car and the outer door of the lift. Local fire and rescue officers attended and freed Mrs Allen but she was pronounced dead at the scene. The lift was in residential premises in Woodford Green and had been unreliable for some time. The victim’s daughter had previously expressed her concerns to the council a number of times before the incident.
The incident is being investigated by the police and the Health and Safety Executive.
Lifts are covered in Health and Safety legislation under Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) and Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER.)
Lifts must be inspected and maintained by a competent person annually if used for lifting goods, or sixth monthly if used for lifting people. Any company responsible for maintaining lifts has a responsibility to ensure that it is safe to use in between these periods also. If a lift is reported as faulty it must be taken out of service, if it could cause an injury or incident.
A provision must be made for:
- Regularly inspecting lifts for faults (e.g. not being level with the floor when doors are open or door interlocks not working properly.)
- Testing and recording of alarm and intercom systems regularly (weekly)
- Actions to be taken in a fire “Do Not Use” signs on lifts that are not designated as fire lifts.
- Evacuation of disabled people must be considered (such as providing an evacuation chair.)
- Maximum weights must be signified.
Do Not Assume that a third party is carrying out these checks, an employer has a duty of care to ensure that these are being carried out. Obtain test certificates, maintenance and inspection records from the company responsible for carrying out this, if it is contracted to a third party company.
Crane Company Fined over Employee Fatalities.
A crane company has been fined £125,000 and ordered to pay £264,000 in costs after two workers at a construction site were killed in an accident involving a tower crane. A third worker was seriously injured when he was thrown from the crane after he incorrectly tightened bolts on the cranes mast, without proper training. The crane tipped over when it was turned, causing it to collapse.
The two firms involved pleaded guilty to health and safety breaches. The Health and Safety Executive Inspector Peter Collingwood said that the accident could have been prevented if a thorough risk assessment had been carried out, employees had received adequate training and supervision.
Anyone who works on or with cranes must be competent to do so. Many accidents each year occur through the in-correct use of cranes. Any lifting activity must comply with the Lifting Operation and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER.)
Things to consider when using a crane:
- Is the ground able to support the crane (cranes often weigh a lot more than they appear to due to counterbalance weights)?
- Are all persons involved with the lifting activity properly trained, in their area of expertise (slinger, crane operator, banksman training)?
- Has an adequate risk assessment been carried out, by a lift supervisor?
- Has the crane been inspected and tested by a competent person in the last 6 months, if used for lifting people or in the last year if used for lifting a load only?
- Any attachments used on the crane need to be tested and inspected. This should be done, at the same time intervals as the crane.
- Is the load being lifted within the Safe Working Load (SWL) of the crane (a cranes capacity for lifting decreases the further away from the crane the load is)?
- Are there any nearby structures that could be damaged or collapse due to the weight of the crane (such as excavations, man hole covers, sewage pipes)?
- Are all operations supervised by a competent lift supervisor?
- Are only essential people allowed into the lift area?
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