Chemical and Downstream Oil Industries Forum (CDOIF)- Meeting 11 June 2003

03/06 Mins

Minutes of the next meeting held on Wednesday 11 June 2003 at HSE, Globe room, Rose Court, London

• HSE industry and topic advisory groups

Agenda

Present:

Chair:	Dan Mitchell	HSE, HID
Secretariat:	David Kyle	HSE, HID LD6
Advisors:	Ron De Cort	HSE, HID LD6
	Janet Etchells	HSE, HID CD5
Members:	Roger Alesbury	CIA
	Kevin Dixon-Jackson	CIA
	Douglas Leech	BCDTA
	Martyn Lyons	TSA
	Ian McPherson	UKPIA
	Mike Murray	ABPI
	Doug Russell	USDAW
	Mark Scanlon	IP
	Wayne Smith	BCF
	Jeff Watson	LPGA
	Ron Wood	TGWU
Speakers:	Alison Collins	HSL
	Bryan Denby	Nottingham University
	Deborah Keeley	HSL
	Tom Taylor	HSE, CSD 3A
Observers:	Neville Hill	HSE, HID LD
	Ian James	HSE, HID CD2
Minutes Secretary:	Gill Chambers	HSE, HID LD6

1. Welcome and introduction

1.1. The Chair welcomed everyone present and in particular a new member – Doug Leech from BCDTA who replaced Mike Wood upon his retirement. He also welcomed Alison Collins and Deborah Keeley from the Health and Safety Laboratories for item 5, Tom Taylor from CSD 3A for item 7, Professor Bryan Denby from Nottingham University for item 8, Ian McPherson substituting for UKPIA and Janet Etchells from HID CD5 substituting for Keith Wilson. Neville Hill, HID LD and Ian James HID CD2 were welcomed as observers to the meeting. The Chair informed the members that Kim Sunley is the contact at GMBU until a successor to Nigel Bryson is appointed. Jude Grandison is the new Senior Policy Adviser for Health and Safety at the CBI (replacing Mark Platt).

2. Apologies

Apologies were received from John Burns (SEPA), Duncan Foster (ABPI), Roger Jeary (Amicus), Jim Mowatt (TGWU) and Clive Sheil (UKPIA).

3. Minutes

3.1. There were no amendments to the minutes of the meeting held on 12 February 2003.

3.2. Matters arising

3.2 (7.2 )- Manual Handling Benchmarking Exercise – this is in the plan for this year.

3.2 (4.1)- DSEAR - It is planned to visit sites before guidance is given.

3.2 (13.2) – Assessment of Safety Reports/Common Inspector Group – as requested by members, the Lead Unit system will be used for multi-site establishments and additional oversight provided so that there will be a co-ordinated approach.

4.3 – Tank Construction - CIRIA – the comments from the meeting were fed back to the HSE representative on CIRIA.

4.4 – ROSOVs – feedback has been given as requested.

5 – Best Practice in Permissioning – Representatives from Industry have been invited to attend a meeting with HSE. The time and date have not yet been agreed

8.1 – Fundamental Review of Land Use Planning – The project definition and executive summary were sent out and some comments from members were received. There is still the opportunity for members to provide further comments if desired.

11.1 Falls from Vehicles – A meeting was held between HSE and Industry which was useful and provided valuable input to the topic. It is intended to hold a further meeting to resolve issues that have come to light.

4. COMAH and Pipelines Emergency Planning Liaison Group (CAPEPLG)

Members were given details of the membership and terms of reference of this group which meets twice yearly to develop and share best practice and to share experience and lessons learned. Recent/current issues considered by CAPEPLG include: Civil Contingencies Bill, testing arrangements, communications following major events, the Toulouse incident, FRLUP and societal risk.

5. Loss of containment

Members were given a presentation on the results of a project undertaken by the Health and Safety Laboratory looking at incidents leading to loss of containment having analysed 718 accident investigations. The final report will be available on the HSL website (www.hsl.gov.uk).

6. The role of safety representatives in trade Unions in promoting safety

6.1. Doug Russell briefed members on the role of Trades Union Safety Representatives in promoting health and safety.

6.2. Where Trades Union Representatives are involved in consultation on safety issues there has been a substantial reduction in the accident rate. A study by Riley et al in 1995 showed that in a comparison between companies without TU involvement and those where the TU representative had a role to play the accident rate was halved. Subsequent studies have confirmed this.

6.3. The Trades Unions are able to provide high quality training for their representatives which assists in promoting safety in the workplace.

6.4. The Trades Unions are able to provide advice and support on safety issues.

7. Research into short term exposures to carcinogens

7.1. Members were given a presentation on a project to look at the impact of short term exposure to carcinogens. Although carcinogens are normally contained within plant and equipment there are frequently operational requirements that can lead to short term high exposures. When more data has been collected on short-term exposures HSE will publish a guide to good practice. In the meantime members are asked to contribute their views and experience of identification and measurements of short-term exposures.

Action: All

8. Emergency response training using virtual technology

8.1. The Research Unit at Nottingham University has produced virtual reality reconstruction of actual hazardous environments which can be used for training and competence assessment or for illustration of certain points eg to communicate the impact of a major flood on the people and buildings in a town. The prevailing conditions can be changed to assess their impact on a given situation. It was now proposed to take forward the construction of a virtual COMAH site. The project could be a generic model suitable for use by different companies or could be specific to one company. Assistance was offered to help with development.

9. HSE inspector resource

9.1. Members were updated on the increased inspector resources within the Hazardous Installations Directorate for inspection of chemical and downstream oil sector activities. It is intended to increase the number and frequency of visits to ‘sub’ COMAH sites and bring inspection activities at COMAH sites up to the previously planned levels. Intelligence is being gathered to assist the targeting of sites to better direct the inspectors.

10. Incidents and events

Members were advised on recent significant incidents and events.

10.1. Two cases of loss of containment

10.2. Two fires

10.3. A fatality

10.4. Pump failure

11. Information items

11.1.Health and Safety (Employee Consultation and Safety Representatives ) Regulations – there will be a consultation document after the draft regulations have been considered by the HSC.

11.2. Work Related Road Safety – draft generic guidance – a copy was available for members to peruse.

12. date of next meeting

Wednesday 22 October 2003 (Bootle)