Author Archives: Shirley Cullen

Global Energy Firm fined

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Global Energy Firm fined £1.4m after worker killed in refinery fire

Date:
29 July 2015

Total UK Limited have been fined £1.4 million after a major fire led to the death of a worker at an oil refinery in North Lincolnshire.

Twenty-four year old Robert Greenacre from Grimsby was working near a crude oil distillation unit just before the fire broke out at the Lindsey Oil Refinery (TLOR) in Immingham on 29th June 2010.

The Health and Safety Executive prosecuted the oil giant after an investigation found a fire was caused by an uncontrolled release of crude oil.

Hull Crown Court heard today (29 July) that Mr Greenacre who was a contracted fitter was working with a colleague beneath a distillation column containing hot crude oil. The job required them to open equipment beneath the column. When an item of equipment was opened, the crude oil was released. A short time later it ignited. Mr Greenacre’s colleague was able to escape the scene suffering minor burns, Robert did not escape and died beneath the column.

The court also heard operators of major accident hazard establishments must have in place a functioning system of risk assessment for all tasks where hazardous substances could be released.

Operators should always try to eliminate risk through hazard avoidance. In many circumstances this could be achieved by carrying out the task during shut-down conditions. Where this is not practicable, the highest achievable levels of isolation to industry standards are required.

Total UK Limited of One Euston Square, 40 Melton Street, London, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4 of the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1999 (COMAH) and were fined £1.4 million and ordered to pay costs £34,084.05

Speaking following sentencing, Mr Greenacre’s family said:

“Despite the outcome of this case, it doesn’t change how we have been affected.  Rob was our world. We have been left with a shattered and empty future, we are heart broken and changed forever”

Speaking after the hearing HSE Inspector John Moran said:

“If Total had followed well established principles of risk assessment this major fire and the subsequent fatal injury to Robert Greenacre could have been easily prevented.

“Although the accident arose from a simple task, the magnitude of the risk was great. The risk should have been identified before the task started, and action taken to either eliminate or control it. This did not happen.

“Total UK Limited as operator in control of a major accident hazard establishment fell far short of the standard required of them.

“This tragic incident should serve as a reminder to all such operators that if they fail to assess the risks associated with even simple and routine maintenance tasks, the consequences can be severe, and irreparable to the people involved and their families”

More information on COMAH can be found here: http://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/

Notes to Editors

  1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to prevent death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training, new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
  2. Footage from the scene filmed by Humberside Police Helicopter Support Unit can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndk1qSxDycc link to external website

Scaffolding Unsafe Operation

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Extendable Scaffolding Loading Bay Gate – use of cable ties to secure loose mesh and unsafe means of operation

Health and Safety Executive – Safety Alert
Department Name: Construction Sector
Bulletin No: FOD 2-2015
Issue Date: 21 July 2014
Target Audience: Construction industry; scaffolding companies; scaffolding suppliers; scaffolding manufacturers
Key Issues: Poor design of scaffold loading bay gate, providing inadequate edge protection to prevent falls from height.

Introduction:

HSE has become aware that a number of manufacturers/suppliers are marketing an extendable scaffold loading bay gate that does not satisfy legal requirements or applicable standards when in some configurations. When extended the loading bay gate, which forms part of the edge protection on a scaffold, is not robust enough to fulfil this function and is therefore not suitable and sufficient to comply with the Work at Height Regulations 2005. This safety notice applies to all similar types of loading bay gate as described below.

Background:

Extendable loading bay gate without a horizontal midrail

[1]Photo 1: Extendable loading bay gate without a horizontal midrail

The loading bay gates subject to this safety notice originate from a variety of manufacturers/suppliers and comprise two panels made up of tube and mesh (see photo 1). One panel section is fixed length and the other is telescopic and can be adjusted to the required width of the loading bay. This allows a width adjustment from approximately 2300mm to approximately 3900mm. The mesh infill spans the full width and height of each panel. There is no horizontal mid rail. This loading bay gate design is reported to be available in steel and in aluminium.

The mesh infill is typically 3 mm gauge on a 50 mm square pattern and each edge is welded to the fixed length panel. To allow the telescopic panel to slide during adjustment the mesh on this section is loose. Supplier instructions seen suggest the loose mesh should be fixed to the gate perimeter using plastic cable ties after this panel has been telescoped to a width suitable for the loading bay.

Loose mesh panel not secured to extending frame

[2]Photo 2: Loose mesh panel not secured to extending frame

This type of gate has been found on a number of construction sites where the mesh was loose and able to detach when pushed (see photo 2) so would not be able to resist a person leaning or in particular falling against it, and would also allow loose materials to fall from the platform.

The gates in question open by rotating upwards around a pivot fitting mounted approximately 500mm inboard of the gate (see photo 3). Because this type of gate has very short rear levers it is usually opened by lifting the handles on top of the gate, placing a worker right at the edge of the platform with a gap beneath the gate that can exceed 1.5 metres high. When fully open there is a gap beneath the gate of approximately 1 metre height although this is about 1 metre inboard of the open edge of the loading bay (see photo 3).

Gate in open position folded up and over to rest on fixed edge protection

[3]Photo 3: Gate in open position folded up and over to rest on fixed edge protection

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 Schedule 2 requires edge protection used for construction purposes to be of suitable strength and rigidity and to comprise the equivalent of a top rail, a mid-rail and a toe board. Where no mid rail is present any mesh panels or similar must be able to achieve an equivalent level of containment.

This safety alert does not apply to designs of upward rotating loading bay gate that are robust and are operated from the rear of the loading bay and which close off access to the loading bay when the gate is open. These should already comply with BS EN 12811-1:2003 ‘Scaffolds – Performance requirements and general design’ which sets out the standards expected for loading bay gates.

Action required:

  • For gates of the type described in this safety alert stainless steel cable ties will be accepted as an interim measure for securing the mesh panel, and should be installed to the gate supplier’s instructions. Typically this will be one cable tie per 300mm. Unless the gate manufacturer/supplier allows a lighter duty cable tie, ties rated at minimum 75kg loop tensile strength should be used. Note that most cable ties are not designed to be suitable for reuse following loosening or removal. Alternatively, this aspect of the safety alert can be complied with by installing the extendible gate in the fully closed (narrowest) configuration thereby not requiring the use of cable ties.
  • Stainless steel cable ties should be included as part of the 7 day scaffold inspection.
  • Options to allow the gates in question to be opened without workers being able to slip or trip and fall through the gap underneath the open gate or the large gap while opening the gate include remote opening using rope over a scaffold rail or pulley fixed above and inboard of the closed gate. Or moving the gate pivot further inboard and extending the operating levers – this may remove the need to fully rotate the gate during opening. Both these methods allow operation from the rear of the loading bay platform – ie at least 2m back from the open edge.
  • HSE has been informed that the supplier of one model of the gates in question is working on a design change to bring the gate to a standard that meets EN 12811-1 during operation and use. HSE expects manufacturers/suppliers of similar gates to do the same. These improvements will need to address the securing of the mesh infill panels; the risk of the gate opening due to a person or materials falling against it; and the level of fall protection provided when the gate is operated or open.
  • Cable ties are not a permanent solution, However it is appreciated that many of these gates are manufactured and shipped from overseas and that changes will take time to implement. HSE will accept the correct use of stainless steel cable ties as an interim measure until the end of December 2016. After that date Enforcement Notices will be considered on a case by case basis for inadequate gates and/or gate designs. During the interim period gate installations that do not meet the minimum standard set out in this document will be subject to appropriate enforcement action.

Relevant legal documents:

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 – Regulations 8a, 10 and Schedule 2

References:

BS EN 12811-1:2003 Temporary works equipment- Part 1: Scaffolds – Performance requirements and general design

NASC Safety Guidance SG 4:10 Preventing falls in scaffolding

Safety Guidance SG 33:14 Guide to the construction and use of scaffold loading bays and loadbearing platforms.

Technical Guidance TG 20:13 A comprehensive guide to good practice for tube and fitting scaffolding. Operational Guide. Design Guide

Note: the NASC is currently reviewing its guidance in relation to loading bay gates and preventing falls in scaffolding.

The Scaffolding Association has stated that it intends to produce guidance on loading bay gates.

Further information:

Health and; Safety Executive,
FOD CD Construction Policy and Sector Unit
Rose Court
2 Southwark Bridge
SE1 9HS

General note:

Please pass this information to a colleague who may have this Product/ Equipment or operate this type of system/process.

HSE Fatality Statistics

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Fatal injury statistics

Summary for 2014/15

The information in this document relates to the latest ‘full-year’ statistics on fatal injuries in the workplace, for 2014/15.

  • The provisional figure for the number of workers fatally injured in 2014/15 is 142, and corresponds to a rate of fatal injury of 0.46 deaths per 100,000 workers.
  • The figure of 142 worker deaths in 2014/15 is 9% lower than the average for the past five years (156). The latest rate of fatal injury of 0.46 compares to the five-year average rate of 0.53.
  • The finalised figure for 2013/14 is 136 worker fatalities, and corresponds to a rate of 0.45 deaths per 100,000 workers.
  • Over the latest 20-year time period there has been a downward trend in the rate of fatal injury, although more recently (since 2008/09) the trend is less clear.
  • There were 102 members of the public fatally injured in accidents connected to work in 2014/15 (excluding railways-related incidents).

Figure 1: Number and rate of fatal injury to workers1[1], 1995/96 – 2014/15p

Number and rate of fatal injury to workers, 193/94 - 2012/13p

p = Provisional

r = Revised

1 The term ‘workers’ describes both employees and self-employed combined.

Close Shave

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Close Shave Video

 

Please click on the link above and take the time to watch this short video clip it could save you from harm.

This happened recently on a petrol forecourt in London. The engineer was lucky to escape unharmed.

As part of the training received on the SPA Petrol Retail course you learn how to safely barricade off your work area. 

Staffordshire Company sentenced over cooker death

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Staffordshire Company sentenced over cooker death

Date:
29 June 2015

A Staffordshire animal rendering and food waste recycling company has been fined £660,000 after a worker died as he tried to fix an industrial cooker.

Self-employed contractor Mark Bullock, 50, of Milton, Stoke on Trent, was carrying out repairs inside the cooker at John Pointon & Sons Ltd when the incident happened on 5 November 2011.

While he was inside, steam from elsewhere in the system fed into the area where he was working. He was badly scalded and died in hospital the following day from his injuries.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Mr Bullock was allowed to enter the cooker without the proper precautions being taken. The company had not properly considered the risks of entering the cooker, had failed to put in place a safe system of work, and did not competently manage the work as it was taking place.

Stafford Crown Court heard that in 2004 another employee was killed at the same site when he entered a confined space without proper precautions being taken.

On Monday 29 June 2015, John Pointon & Sons Ltd, of Bones Lane, Cheddleton, Leek, was fined £660,000 and ordered to pay a further £187,632 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

After sentencing HSE inspector Wayne Owen said: “The cookers in operation at the company form the core part of the business. Steam and hot vapours getting into the cookers from other connected pieces of equipment is foreseeable, and precautions should have been taken to ensure all avenues which had the potential to allow steam to be fed back into the cooker had been suitably isolated.

“John Pointon and Sons Ltd failed to do this and it cost Mark Bullock his life.

“Work in confined spaces can be extremely dangerous, which John Pointon & Sons Ltd were fully aware of having already had a fatality at the site. Companies must identify what measures should be taken to ensure the safety of their workforce. I would urge any company that carries out work in confined spaces to double check their procedures.”

Mr Bullock’s partner of 27 years, Christine Knowles said: “Mark had a great passion for life. In some ways he never grew up. He loved fairgrounds and holidays and loved to sing and dance. He had an extremely generous nature and a wicked sense of humour.

“To die that young is a tragedy. He was so fit and healthy. In 2009 we moved to a beautiful house on the canal. He built a balcony and bought a boat and had hoped to retire early. We had started to really look forward to retirement and lazy sunny days on or near the water.

“Mark’s friends put some money together and have had a tribute put up at the site – a tree and a stone with the inscription “How difficult can it be?” He was a practical man and used to say that a lot.

“The company should have made sure that Mark was safe. Every company should do the same for their workers. Mark was a great man. He touched many people’s hearts and broke mine when he died.”

Notes to Editors:

  1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk[1]
  2. Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.

Death of young worker

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Death of young worker leads to court for recycling company

Date:
12 June 2015

A recycling company in South Devon has been sentenced for serious safety breaches after a worker was killed after likely being thrown from a six-tonne dumper truck.

Ben Sewell, 30, from Dartmouth, was found lying on his back on a bank, a few metres behind the overturned dumper, on a sloping dirt track at Dittisham Recycling Centre on 21 September 2012. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the firm after an investigation discovered that Mr Sewell, who was single, had not been properly trained by his employer to use the vehicle. The company had also failed to properly enforce the wearing of seat belts fitted to the dumpers used by Ben and other staff.

Plymouth Crown Court heard that HSE’s investigation uncovered a catalogue of dangers at the Dittisham Recycling site and served a total of eight Prohibition Notices on the company preventing its use of various plant and machinery until adequate safety measures were taken.

The court was told that on the day of the incident Mr Sewell was using the dumper to take loads of oversized material from one part of the centre to another. The extensive site sits in a steeply sided valley. At one point he stopped at the top of the site to deal with a customer before setting off in his empty dumper down to the bottom of the site along the main dirt track.

The customer noted the truck was going at speed and that Mr Sewell was not wearing the seat belt. Minutes later, a colleague at the bottom of the site noticed smoke rising from a section of the dirt track above where he was working and he could just see the overturned dumper. He rushed to the scene and found Ben lying on his back at the side of the track some ten metres from the dumper truck.

Paramedics later confirmed he had been fatally injured.

HSE found a series of safety failings with other dumper trucks, a tracked excavator and with processing machinery for rock crushing and screening. Tipping operations were also unsafe and some of the roadways about the site were inadequately protected. Inspectors issued two Improvement Notices requiring safety changes to the site’s roadways and tipping safety measures.

Having taken into account the current financial circumstances of the defendant Company, the Judge – His Justice, Judge Dingemans ordered Dittisham Recycling Centre Ltd, of Dittisham Cross, near Dartmouth, South Devon, to pay a fine of £50,000 and also ordered them to pay £25,000 towards the prosecutions costs (all payable over the next 5 years) for breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.

After the case, HSE inspector David Cory said: “Ben’s death was entirely preventable. The lack of competent training, poor monitoring and inadequate supervision of staff added up to a fatal combination. Although there were no witnesses, his injuries were consistent with being thrown from the truck.

“Dumper trucks are inherently unstable and dangerous machines to operate and the company had not enforced the necessary rules to make sure they were driven safely, including the full and proper use of the seat lap belts. Just under a third of all fatalities in the waste sector over the last five years have involved vehicles.

“If a vehicle has a roll over bar fitted to it the driver will also always need to use the seat belt – the safety place in an overturn is securely in the driver’s seat, protected by the roll over bar and seat belt. Many people think they can jump clear but this is wrong. Roll overs just happen too fast and they get injured or killed by the vehicle as the try to jump clear.

“Dittisham Recycling knew about the importance of having staff competently trained. It had used an external trainer for staff in the past but had not done so for Ben or one of his colleagues at the time. Instead they relied upon in-house verbal and basic hands-on training, which was inadequate.

“Had Dittisham Recycling ensured staff were sufficiently trained, equipment was properly used and the legally-required and frankly common sense safety rules enforced – especially for dumpers – then Ben Sewell would most likely be still be alive.”

“Ben’s mother Anna Sewell had previously told the HSE that ‘Ben was our only son and his death has left a massive hole in our lives – our house was always full of life. From the day of his death to the day of his funeral life was just a blur. It was all very distressing’. Our memories of Ben will never go away.”

Visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/waste/safety-topic.htm for guidance on safety in the waste industry.

Notes to Editors:

  1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
  2. Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: “It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.”
  3. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk/.

The Petrol Retail Safety Passport

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The Petrol Retail Safety Passport ensures that contractors working on petrol retail forecourts understand the risks involved.  The scheme is managed by the Safety Pass Alliance (SPA) and overseen by the by the Petrol Retail National Steering Group (PRNSG) whose members include contractors, trade associations, Cogent, forecourt operators organisations such as BP and Esso as well as numerous supermarkets. The PRNSG meet regularly and the passport has been in circulation since 2001.

Contractors are an integral part of the everyday workforce and  retail forecourt owners and operators have a responsibility to them as well as their fulltime employees.  As a responsible industry, access to training of the highest standard is available to enable contractors to work safely minimising risk to themselves and others.  Failure to ensure the safety of contractors or employees could result in prosecution or in the worse cases Corporate Manslaughter charges.

The Passport scheme has resulted in positive feedback from the industry. Russell Best, HSE Advisor at JET says:   “We require that any contractor employed by JET to work on a forecourt holds a valid Forecourt Passport, this gives assurance that anyone working on our behalf has the same understanding of the hazards of working on a forecourt and the behaviours expected of them.  We would encourage all Forecourt operators to check that anyone working on their site has a valid passport”.

There are currently over 18,700 valid Petroleum Retail Passports in circulation across the UK, with numbers continuing to rise. The safety passport is undertaken as a 2 day course and is valid for 3 years.  Contractors then have the option to take a 1 day renewal course ( which can be taken up to 6 months before the expiry of their current passport).  Completion of refresher training is cost and time efficient for employers, and ensures that the level of competency is maintained.

For retail site operators and owners the SPA Petrol Retail Safety Passport provides assurance that holders have been trained by approved trainers; have received consistent levels of knowledge and have been tested to confirm their understanding.  The training aims to advance delegates knowledge of safe working practices, improve behaviours and attitudes as demanded by industry and raises awareness of the implications of accidents.

Forecourt Managers should always ensure that contractors working on their site hold a current SPA passport – if in doubt contact SPA Administration for clarification:

Visit www.safetypassports.co.uk or call on 01926 817450.

 

 

Alton Towers The Smiler Rollercoaster

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Health and Safety Executive statement – update on investigation into incident at Alton Towers

Date:
5 June 2015

HSE will today remove the carriages involved in the incident on ‘The Smiler’ rollercoaster on 2 June and transport them to the Health and Safety Laboratory in Buxton for further analysis.

The investigation into the incident continues and HSE inspectors remain on site. They have served a Prohibition notice on the rollercoaster stopping its use until action is taken to deal with the cause of the failure.

Neil Craig, Head of Operations for HSE in the Midlands said:

“The Notice is specific to the ‘Smiler’ ride and does not affect other rides at the park. HSE expects the park operator to apply any early learning from the incident to wider risk management at the site.

“The decision about when to re-open the Park is for the owners to make.”

(Ends)

  1. HSE has a range of enforcement powers, ranging from verbal and written advice, Improvement Notices, Prohibition Notices and prosecutions under various health and safety laws in England and Wales
  2. More information about enforcement notices is available here: http://www.hse.gov.uk/enforce/enforcementguide/notices/notices-intro.htm[1]
  3. The Health and Safety Laboratory is the research arm of the Health and Safety Executive. It supplies science-based research, technological support, and incident investigation

SPA MPQC Refresher Course Update

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REFRESHER COURSE
UPDATE 2

Training Providers and Trainer Workshop

Full Agenda with presentations by Trainers. Come along to hear about the new interactive course & lots more.

VENUES

Scotland ,East Midlands & South Midlands
We can now confirm the dates and locations for the
Refresher Day Familiarisation Workshop which are
as follows :-
Tuesday 21st July 2015 – Southam, Warwickshire

Wednesday 29th July 2015 – Stirling, Scotland

Wednesday 19th August 2015 – Nottingham

Just a reminder that all Trainers who currently deliver the 2-day Contractor Safety Passport Course will be required to attend one of the above workshops if they wish to deliver the NEW REFRESHER COURSE.
Please can you confirm to Zoe Starbuck, MP Awards,
(Zoe.Starbuck@mpawards.co.uk) which of the above
workshops you wish to attend by
Friday 26th June 2015

 

SPA MPQC NEW REFRESHER COURSE

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The new Refresher Course will be introduced on 1 September 2015 and all trainers who wish to run this course must attend a familiarisation day for the new course prior to running the course.

 

Refresher Day Familiarisation courses will be run in the South Midlands area on Tuesday 21 July,  East Midlands area on Wednesday 19 August and Central Scotland on Wednesday 29 July.  Actual venues and other details will be announced shortly.

To find out more please do not hesitate to contact us.