Minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 20 October 2004 at HSE, Rose Room, Rose Court, London
Present:
| Chair: | Kevin Allars | HSE, HID CI |
|---|---|---|
| Secretariat: | David Kyle | HSE, HID CI4 |
| Advisors | Keith Morris | HSE HID CI4 |
| Members | Chris Ball Duncan Foster Ian McPherson Malcolm Bonnett Mark Scanlon Jeff Watson Ron Wood Tony Watkins Doug Leech Martyn Lyons |
AMICUS ABPI UKPIA AEEU EI LPGA TGWU CIA (Basell) BCDTA TSA |
| Speakers: | Mike Skellett Andrea De Cort Andrew Hitchings |
HSE, HID CI1 HSE, HID OSD1 EA |
| Observers: | Tony Killen | HSE, HID CI4 |
| Minutes Secretary: | Colette Fitzpatrick | HSE, HID CI4 |
1.1 Kevin welcomed all to the meeting. He introduced Mike Skellett, a mechanical engineer from HID CI’s Edinburgh office for item 7, Andrea De Cort, a regulatory inspector from HID OSD1 in Bootle for item 8, Tony Killen from HID CI4 who is involved in work on stakeholder engagement, and Colette Fitzpatrick who has taken over from Gill Chambers as Minute Secretary. For information members will be pleased to hear that Gill Chambers has been successful in a recent trainee inspector panel and will begin her training in the next few weeks.
1.2 It was noted that Tony Watkins from Basell has replaced Kevin Dixon-Jackson as Chairman of CIA’s Safety Advisory Group and will address item 5.4.
1.3 Andrew Hitchings, PIR Policy Advisor, EA, is attending on behalf of Ian Haskell and will address item 5.3
1.4 Ian McPherson, Director, Environment, Health and Safety at UKPIA, is attending in place of Clive Shiel.
1.5 Chris Ball, AMICUS, is attending in place of Paul Reuter.
Apologies were received from Jim Mowatt (TGWU), Wayne Smith (BCF), Paul Reuter (AMICUS), Nick Berentzen (CIA), Paula Woolgar (SEPA) and Alan Tyldesley (HSE HID SI5).
3.1. There were no amendments to the minutes of the meeting held on 23 June 2003.
3.2. Matters arising
(10.1) OIAC Safe Isolation of Plant and Equipment – to be taken under item 5.
(10.2) Permit to Work Guidance – to be taken under item 5.
(4.1) Hydrazine - a CD has been passed to Anton Wilson and Doug Leech has offered to email further information to Dave Kyle.
Actioned by Doug Leech – electronic copy sent 26/10/04
(11.1) Select Committee on the work of HSC/HSE – the Government has now responded and produced a report.
Actioned by Secretariat: electronic link to report sent to Members on 1/11/04.
4.2 Information on conferences/workshops – to be taken under item 4.
5 Review and Revision of COMAH safety reports - Keith Morris to address under item 5.
6 Intermediate Bulk Containers - Doug Leech and Martyn Lyons to update at item 9
11.1 Public Information Leaflet – due for publication next spring. All comments received from members have been fed into discussions.
4.1 The workshop will take place on Wednesday 16 March 2005 at the Hilton Hotel, Birmingham airport. Aiming for approx 150 delegates. There will be no charge for attendance. Most of the funding has been secured from HSE. TAs are being offered the opportunity to sponsor the event.
4.2 Jane Kennedy, the minister, will address the opening session, followed by an address by HSC Chair Bill Callaghan and by Judith Hackitt, CIA Director General. Judith will also chair a panel discussion, as will Justin McCracken, HSE Deputy Director General.
4.3 It is hoped David Jennings from DTI will chair the final panel discussion on a forward look (now confirmed). David is the chair of the newly formed Chemical Regulatory Forum (CRF). It is intended the panels will comprise representatives from HSE, TAs and the TUs.
4.4 It is proposed to cascade invitations to the conference through TAs, TUs, OGDs etc. Approximately 60 companies will be personally invited by HID’s CI operational managers in the field units. EA and SEPA will be attending. HID CI4 will coordinate responses to achieve a representative balance of delegates.
4.5 The programme will be confirmed in the next few weeks with the aim of sending out invitations by mid-November. Copies of the draft programme were circulated to members and an electronic version would be included with the Minutes.
Actioned by Secretariat – electronic copy sent 26/10/04
4.6 Following discussion it was agreed the timescales suggested in the proposed “looking ahead” panel discussion would be reviewed.
5.1. COMAH– members were updated on current position and informed that Anton Wilson has moved from HID CI to take up a policy post in HSE but will still be involved in major hazard work.
5.1.1 Consultation on the new COMAH regs had been completed. Guidance L111 is being updated and a limited round of consultation will commence at the end of November. CDOIF members will be consulted.
Action: Secretariat
5.1.2 New guidance on the review and revision of safety reports on which CDOIF have been consulted will be published on HSE web site at the end of November. Note: Guidance has now been published on HSE’s web site – link as follows: Revised guidance for operators of top tier COMAH establishments
5.1.3 A press release had been put out at the end of September on latest CEMAP position. Kevin will be writing, in November, to all COMAH operators about this and on the new guidance on the review and revision of safety reports.
Action: Kevin
5.1.4 Kevin confirmed L111 would not provide guidance on societal risk. The topic was being considered by a ministerial task force to agree unified government policy. At this stage it was not possible to give any indication of when this work would be concluded.
5.1.5 In response to a question about information contained in safety reports that might present risks to national security, Kevin reported that there might be a conflict between current procedures and the requirements in the FOI Act which comes into force on 1 January 2005. HSE policy of not releasing information of this nature would continue although it might be subject to challenge in court. HSE solicitors were trying to sort this out. CDOIF will be kept informed.
Action: Tim Beals
5.2 Guidance:
5.2.1 OIAC– Guidance on Safe Isolation of Plant and Equipment. The work on the selection tool is complete and members should be receiving information on this shortly.
5.2.2 Permit to Work Guidance – Work is now proceeding and it will be available from HSE books as a purchasable publication when complete. No firm date for this but the secretariat will provide information when it is available.
Action: Secretariat
5.2.3 Overfilling guidance – Peter O’Grady from HID’s Technical and Internal Guidance Unit is working on the new guidance. Peter is asking for volunteers to work with him on developing this guidance. Ian McPherson, Martyn Lyons, Duncan Foster and Tony Watkins all indicated willingness on behalf of their associations to give support. Peter will provide more details.
Actioned: Letter from Peter O’Grady to Members sent out on 26/10/04
5.3 Impermeable bunding
5.3.1 Andrew Hitchings, EA, provided an update on current guidance and standards.
5.3.2 Andrew reported that the implementation issues were complex. There should be little difficulty for new establishments complying with the proposed standard. However many existing establishments may need to be upgraded. EA is working with the oil industry and Energy Institute to develop a risk assessment approach to the implementation of the guidelines at existing sites.
5.4 CIA Indicators of Performance
5.4.1 Tony Watkins gave a presentation on this CIA initiative and handouts were produced showing industry performance from 1990. Copies of the presentation would be sent out with the minutes.
Action: Secretariat
5.4.2 There was discussion in respect of the performance of contractors working on chemical sites. Various schemes had been put in place throughout the country to train and “certificate” contractors but there was inconsistency. Kevin Allars said HSE was in the process of producing guidance using the SMS approach to achieve some consistency. There was general agreement that the adoption of such schemes should be encouraged.
6.1 Dave Kyle informed members of a workshop on failure frequencies which is scheduled to take place in Italy on 9/10 March 2005. A copy of the draft invitation letter from the Dutch National Institute of Public Health and the Environment was circulated to members. An electronic copy would be sent out with the minutes.
Action: Secretariat
6.2 Dave asked members to draw this workshop to the attention of their colleagues.
Action: Members
7.1 Mike Skellett gave a PowerPoint presentation on this topic and handouts were circulated. An electronic copy would be sent out with the minutes.
7.2 The presentation was well received by members. Kevin Allars said that Mike’s work had been developed into an internal guidance note that inspectors are using at site visits.
7.3 Mark Scanlon said guidance was also available on this topic in Code of Practice IP13 produced by the Energy Institute.
7.4 Mike was asked if a web site link to this guidance could be included in the minutes.
Action: Secretariat
Note: An electronic copy is attached for information.
8.1 Andrea De Cort from HID (OH) OSD1 gave a presentation on CID’s occupational health priorities for 2005/06 and HSE’s guidance on asbestos. Andrea brought copies of available HSE guidance which members were invited to look at. Handouts were provided for members to forward to their colleagues. CI is planning to organise some local asbestos workshops next year to share best practice. The message was that asbestos continues to be a big issue for HSE.
8.2 Standards for the control of Legionella continues to be a concern. In a recent local initiative 12 improvement notices were served following 12 site visits. Andrea offered to give presentations to members’ organisations on current OH initiatives.
8.3 Kevin informed members that asbestos and legionella visits would be included in CID’s programme of work next year and that this was a good opportunity to remind Members of the hazards and guidance available.
Action: Members
9.1 Doug Leech updated members on actions taken by BCDTA to raise awareness of safety issues in connection with the storage of IBCs following the HSL presentation at the previous meeting. He has also been in dialogue with the Industrial Packaging Association. The standards of design and construction for transport are satisfactory but there is limited guidance on safe storage and use. Guidance is available from the Solvents Industry Association (SIA). BCDTA had also been in dialogue with European colleagues to gain support.
Actioned by Secretariat: electronic copy of SIA Guidance Notice 51a sent to Members on 26 October
9.2 Martyn Lyons from Simstor gave a PowerPoint presentation to members on behalf of the Tank Storage Association outlining the issues relating to IBCs for his members. Handouts were produced and an electronic copy would be sent out with the minutes.
Action: secretariat
9.3 In conclusion Kevin thanked Doug Leech and Martyn Lyons for their presentations and said this appeared to be a topic on which further work was required and the standards needed to be clarified. He supported the BCDTA and TSA with the work they had done on this topic and agreed that HSE needed to consider how to take it forward. He proposed it should be put on the agenda of the next meeting for further review.
Action: secretariat
10.1 Dave Kyle informed members of 3 recent incidents, namely (i) a M6 road tanker incident on 10 September when 2 people were killed. This was primarily a RTA; (ii) a release of toxic gas from European Vinyls Corporation plant in Runcorn on 10 August; and (iii) a fatality at Grosvenor Chemicals on 7 October. Investigation of all these incidents was continuing.
10.2 Jeff Watson, LPGA, reported on 3 incidents, 2 of unauthorised access to sites in Turkey and Poland and an arson attack on a UK installation.
10.3 Doug highlighted the increasing incidents of colleagues getting emails from animal activists.
11.1 Cost Benefit Analysis– Dave Kyle reminded members of the information that had been sent out to them about the advice and guidance being prepared on this topic. Comments should be sent to Stuart Reston in HID CI4.
Action: Members/Secretariat
11.2 HSE publication – Comparison of the fire hazards presented by plastic and timber pallets – a new research report has been published which concluded plastic pallets perform less favourably. Members will be emailed with the appropriate web site link when it is available electronically.
Action: Secretariat
11.3 Leadership for the major hazard industries– a photocopy of the advance of this publication was circulated to members for promotion and distribution to their colleagues. Note: this has now been published (INDG277(rev1)). A hard copy will be sent to all Members.
11.4 Manual handling - Peter Marlow, HSL is preparing some information packs which can be sent out to members. Members were asked to respond directly to Peter on the numbers they were likely to require.
11.5 ROSOV publication is now out – HSG 244.
11.6 Note new information: a chemical and offshore oil and gas industry alert is available on the website at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/notices/sn_03_04.htm
12.1 Kevin gave brief outline of a new stakeholder forum, namely the Chemical Regulatory Forum (CRF). CRF met on 19 October and is chaired by David Jennings, DTI. The membership includes: CIA, Cabinet Office, DEFRA, EA, SOCSA, BCF, BAMA, BCDTA, UKCPI, CTPA, BASA, BCMA and HSE. CRF will be reviewing 21 sets of cross government regulations. Dave Jennings would be invited to CDOIF to provide an update on the work of CRF.
Action: Secretariat
13.1 kevin thanked Duncan Foster for his participation in the CDOIF meetings and wished him well on his forthcoming retirement.
13.2 Kevin thanked everyone for their attendance at this meeting and for the presentations and handouts provided.
Wednesday 23 February 2005 (Bootle)
Wednesday 22 June 2005 (London)
Wednesday 19 October 2005 (Bootle)
