Welcome back to the latest periodic news update.
You will find more important updates from the Health and Safety Executive, prosecution information on companies found in breach of Health and Safety legislation and lots more information that we hope you find relevant to your company.
If you wish, you can download a copy of the newsletter by clicking the button:
In this edition we look at……
Company news
We would like to introduce and give a warm welcome to a new member of the team who joined us recently.
Matthew Dyer joined us as Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) Advisor, bringing a wealth of experience and skills gained mainly in an engineering and manufacturing capacity in the north east of England. He is currently being introduced around our customer base.
Katie Innes has recently completed IOSH Managing Safely Certificate to complement her professional development. Well done Katie!
North Durham Safety LTD are now in their 6th year of operating thanks to a brilliant customer base and their dedicated employees and partners.
Covid-19
It was announced by the government in February 2021 that a 4 stage road map would be followed to enable the United Kingdom to return to a normal way of life once again. Come July 2021, Stage 4 of that plan was reached successfully and included the removal of most restrictions such as mandatory face coverings in public spaces and social distancing measures. It is advised that work places continue to do all they can to reduce the spread of infection amongst staff by promoting good hand hygiene, sufficient cleaning and adequate ventilation. These controls should all be referred to as part of employers Covid Risk Assessment for their place of work. Follow the link for more information https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/working-safely/risk-assessment.htm
Other good practices include Staggered working patterns amongst staff to promote social distancing in high traffic or communal areas and continue to promote the use of technology to hold meetings virtually where possible.
WHO’S IN THE DOCK
First Successful Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution resulting from Covid Spot Checks
A contractor has been given a community sentence following the first successful prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive as a result of multiple failings uncovered during a COVID “spot check”.
According to a statement, inspectors uncovered multiple breaches at a new-build residential construction site in Longsight, Manchester while it was subject to a check on whether it was following coronavirus control protocols.
A breach of the Health and Safety At Work Act 1974 Section 21 regarding Improvement Notices and also a breach of Regulation 13(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 – Duties of a Principal Contractor were discovered during the visit.
More information on the Case can be found below.
Company fined over £22,000 for failing to ensure the safety of Employees.
A shopfitting company has been fined for breaching the Health and Safety At Work Act 1974 Section 2 (1) – Failing to ensure the Health, Safety and Welfare of all employees – An inadequate installation and inspection of a scaffold that was being used by a worker to fit out a new shoe store in Manchester’s Trafford Centre, resulted in the worker falling 15 feet leading to injuries which included several broken ribs and a collapsed lung.
https://press.hse.gov.uk/2021/09/24/contractor-fined-after-employee-falls-from-scaffolding/
As well as a fine from the HSE, there are other less obvious costs to the business in the form of lost man hours caused by the employees requirement to take time off to recover, damage to the reputation within the industry and financial implications from an increase in insurance premiums. All of which could have been avoided by the appointment of a competent person to build and inspect the scaffold.
Falls from height remains the biggest Cause of Construction Fatalities. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has recently published its Construction Statistics in Great Britain, 2020. The statistics reveal that there is still a way to go when it comes to ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of those who work in the construction industry.
Quick quiz
Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) 2002
How compliant is your business?
01. Does the business have a COSHH Register?
02. Is every hazardous substance used within the business on the Register?
03. Do all hazardous substances have a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) available to view?
04. Has a COSHH risk assessment been carried out for all hazardous substances, by a Competent Person?
05. Are all hazardous substances stored and transported correctly?
06. Are staff provided with information, instructed and trained in the correct use?
07. Are staff issued and trained with the correct PPE where relevant. Is it stored and maintained correctly?
Unless you have answered YES to all of the above, it is likely your business is:
• Not complying with Legislation;
• Putting employees at risk;
• Putting the environment around you at risk;
• Putting your Business at risk.
This legislation requires employers to control substances that are hazardous to health. There are multiple ways in which a business can prevent or reduce workers exposure to hazardous substances. North Durham Safety Limited are qualified to carry out risk assessments of all substances hazardous to health and help implement proportionate control measures.
If your business is not 100% please give us a call.
Legislative updates
The Fire Safety Act 2021 – Drive to Avoid Grenfell Tower Repeat
Since the Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017, the suitability of existing fire safety legislation has been much debated and publicised. To improve the fire safety of buildings in England and Wales, the Fire Safety Bill was introduced by the Home Office and in April 2021 received Royal Accent, setting it on the path to becoming law.
Amending the existing Fire Safety Order 2005, the Fire Safety Act 2021 (as it is now known) clarifies several points, including the responsibilities of duty-holders and/or building owners, known as ‘Responsible Persons’.
What does it mean?
The Bill has been designed to ‘ensure that people feel safe in their homes and a tragedy like the Grenfell Tower fire will never happen again.’
The changes that come with it mostly apply to multi-occupied, residential buildings – any premises that comprise of anything other than a single dwelling, whether that be a house converted into 2 flats or a high rise apartment block.
Now, the Responsible Person – such as the Leaseholder – must ensure a fire risk assessment is completed for the structure, external walls, windows, and attachments such as balconies, cladding and insulation. Action to remove or mitigate the risks identified must then be taken. All doors that open into a communal area must be certified fire doors, with fire rated, intumescent hardware and also be risk assessed.
Additionally, the Fire Safety Act now makes enforcement action far easier by the fire service and Government. As such, risk assessments are the Responsible Persons best defence as they enable you to not only ensure you’re doing everything practically possible to prevent and protect against fire in the first place, but also to demonstrate it.
When does it come into effect?
Although the law was passed on 29th April 2021, it is unlikely to come into effect until Early 2022, at which point a grace period will be published before enforcement commences.
Mental Health in the Workplace – Summary of 2019/2020 mental health statistics
828,000 workers suffered stress, anxiety and depression (new or longstanding) in the period 2019/2020 according to a labour force survey.
This very serious ill health condition accounted for 17.9 million lost work days as a result.
Big steps have already been taken in the workplace however these recent figures suggest much more needs to be done.
Mental health, along with other health conditions does not present obvious symptoms and can take a long time to affect a persons wellbeing.
The predominant cause of work-related stress, depression or anxiety can be workload, in particular tight deadlines, too much work or too much pressure or responsibility. Other factors include lack of managerial support, organisational changes at work, violence and role uncertainty.
Causes
https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/stress.pdf
How do we start to improve
The HSE have published a suite of management standards which covers six key areas of work design that, if not properly managed, are associated with poor health and wellbeing, lower productivity and increased sickness absence. In other words, the Standards cover the primary sources of stress at work.
1. Demands – Includes issues such as workload, work patterns and the work environment.
2. Control – Includes, how much input workers have over the way they work?
3. Support – Includes encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation, line management and colleagues.
4. Relationships – Includes promoting positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour.
5. Role – Do people fully understand their role within the organisation and does the organisation ensure roles are not conflicting?
6. Change – How is organisational change (large and small) managed and communicated?
For each Standard there must be systems in place locally to respond to any individual concerns. These Standards are aspirational and define a desirable set of conditions for organisations to work towards.
There is a lot of help and information already available. Might we suggest look at the following link in the first instance https://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/ and give us a call if you would like more information and support.
If you want more information regarding anything in this publication or need support please give us a call on 0333 2228959 or email at info@northdurhamsafety.com