Recent enforcement activity

Read details of some recent HSE prosecutions and enforcement action in the construction sector and find sources of relevant advice.

Work at height

1 December 2011 – Two construction companies have been fined a total of £60,000 following the death of a worker who fell from a cherry picker on a dual carriageway in Liverpool.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2011/coi-nw-02ameymouchel.htm?ebul=gd-cons/dec11&cr=7

5 December 2011 - A Pembroke Dock construction company was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,376.25 after a labourer suffered serious injuries after falling seven metres from a balcony on a construction site.  The company director was fined £4,000, with costs of £2,376.25 and disqualified from acting as a company director, managing or in any way controlling a company for at least two years.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2011/coi-w-preseliconstruction.htm?ebul=gd-cons/dec11&cr=8

14 December 2011 - Three contractors from Essex have been fined a total of £53,000 after a roofer fell five metres, sustaining life threatening injuries that confined him to a wheelchair.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2011/coi-e-4811.htm?ebul=gd-cons/dec11&cr=9

Further information

Assessing all work at height – http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/safetytopics/assess.htm?ebul=gd-cons/dec11&cr=10

Roof work – http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/safetytopics/roofwork.htm?ebul=gd-cons/dec11&cr=11

HSE is reminding construction managers to secure their sites to reduce the risks of accidents during the Christmas shut-down.

In past years, many members of the public have been killed and injured in construction-related incidents across Great Britain. These incidents have included material being blown off site, scaffolding collapsing or children gaining access to poorly protected sites.

Before closing sites for the holiday, contractors should carry out checks to ensure loose material is secure and scaffolding is properly supported. It should be checked particularly after bad weather. http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/safetytopics/scaffoldinginfo.htm?ebul=gd-cons/dec11&cr=1

Children often see poorly guarded sites as playgrounds, so contractors should do all they can to help prevent them gaining access in the first place. They should also ensure that potentially dangerous areas such as deep excavations are secure.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/safetytopics/publicprotection.htm?ebul=gd-cons/dec11&cr=2

Should the site be closed for a significant period, it may be sensible to arrange for regular checks to take place to ensure that the site remains safe and secure.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/safetytopics/index.htm?ebul=gd-cons/dec11&cr=3

Health and Safety Category C0-Sponsor

We are proud to announce that we are a co-sponsor for the Constructing Excellence in the North East Awards Health and Safety category. This category looks for the project or organisation where health and safety has been driven forward to go beyond what is required within the duties as stated in CDM2007. In order to be successful in this award the judges will be looking for evidence that best practice has been utilised in producing a scheme where buildability, future maintenance and final demolition have been fully considered and where both health and safety have been key drivers.

Information about the awards….

Held every year in May, the Constructing Excellence in the North East Awards are a celebration of everything the North East construction industry has to be proud of.

Over the last eight years the Awards have grown to become one of the highlights of the business year, with over 500 people regularly turning out to witness the best of construction in our region.

Winners are selected across 14 categories including Innovation, Integration, Value, Sustainability, Heritage and Student of the Year and go on to compete in the National Constructing Excellence Awards, held every year in the Autumn. For 2012 we are delighted to announce we have added two new categories to the Awards – Contractor of the Year and Consultancy Practice of the Year.

The Twenty Twelve Awards will be held on Friday 11^th May at the Newcastle Marriott Gosforth Park Hotel and we will launch for applications at the beginning of January 2012.

The closing date for all applications to be received in our office is on Friday 24^th February 2012 at 17.00.

Tickets are individually priced at £85+VAT CENE Members / £95+VAT Non Members, tables of 10 and 12 are available upon request.

Visit http://www.cene.org.uk/awards/ for further information to apply or to book a table.

What has changed

Recent changes to incident reporting arrangements now mean that only fatal and major injuries and incidents will be able to be reported by phone to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) using the Incident Contact Centre on 0845 300 9923 (opening hours Monday to Friday 8.30 am to 5 pm).

All other work-related injuries and incidents reportable under RIDDOR must be reported via one of a suite of seven online forms available on HSE’s website.

• Report of an injury
• Report of a dangerous occurrence
• Report of an injury offshore
• Report of a dangerous occurrence offshore
• Report of a case of disease
• Report of flammable gas incident
• Report of a dangerous gas fitting

Information on RIDDOR can be found at www.riddor.gov.uk. Employers should also be aware that a consultation to amend reporting requirements ended on 9th May 2011 and is likely to result in a further change to reporting requirements: reporting after an employee is absent from work for seven days following an incident rather than the current threshold of three days.

Out of hours contact

The circumstances where the HSE must be contacted out of hours are:

• following a work-related death, or where there is strong likelihood of death following an incident at or connected with work;
• following a serious accident at a workplace, to gather details of physical evidence that would be lost if you waited until normal working hours;
• following a major incident at a workplace where the severity of the incident, or the degree of public concern, requires an immediate public statement from either HSE or Government ministers.

If you feel that your incident fits these descriptions, or if you are not sure, then ring the duty officer on 0151 922 9235.

The duty officer will take your message and will ask you for a phone number to allow us to contact you. They will pass your details to an appropriate HSE officer, who may wish to contact you further. If the Duty Officer number is unobtainable please ring 0151 922 1221 (Duty Press Officer).

If you wish to report diseases, dangerous occurrences or work-related accidents resulting in work-related injury other than that mentioned above, the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) site provides more information.

We are sponsoring a work at height seminar held by the Constructing Excellence in the North East (CENE) and the HSE on the 17th November at our head office in Seaham between 8:30am and 11:00am.

Managing work at height follows a hierarchy of controls – avoid, prevent & arrest – which begins with the question – can the work be done safely from the ground?

The session is interactive and will look at the legislation, procedures and solutions to the risks of working at height.

Rob Hirst, Principal Inspector for the HSE will give a brief introduction about the legislation and then case studies of actual events whilst working at height.

Gordon MacPherson, Managing Director for Seaham Safety Services will discuss the hierarchy of controls and solutions to working at height.

There will be a number of demonstrations available such as:

• Gotcha (a rescue demonstration from height)
• Advanced Guard
• Tetra Ladder Safe Equipment
• And more!

To register for this event please contact Leanne at CENE on 0191 374 0233 or leanne@cene.org.uk

Cost: £20 VAT CENE Members / £40 VAT Non Members (Cancellation policy is within 48 hours notice)