| Attendees | Apologies | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gary Booton | Engineering Employers Federation (EEF) (Chairman) | David Brotherton | Metalforming Machinery Makers Association (MMMA) | |
| Bob Hanlon | EEF West Midlands | Tim Albutt | MMA | |
| Alan Robson | Confederation of Shipbuilding & Engineering Unions | Mat Albutt | MMA | |
| Graham Watson | The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) (Secretary) | Tony Romanuik | Motor Industry Safety Group | |
| Tim Ward | HSE | David Marshall | Society of British Aerospace Companies Ltd | |
| Jeane Anderson | HSE | Steve Franklin | Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders | |
| Bob Taylor | The British Turned Parts Manufacturers Association | David Jeffery | Rolls Royce | |
| Peter Wilson | Industrial Noise and Vibration Centre | Geoff Field | Confederation of British Metalforming | |
| Tim Humphreys | The Association of British Insurers (ABI) | Colin Holdhusen | Corus | |
| David Powell | ABI | Martin Bevan | General Municipal Boilermakers & Allied Trades Union | |
| David Frost | Corus | John Rowse | Transport and General Workers Union | |
| Tony Brown | Federation of British Engineering Tool Manufacturers | Graham Watson | HSE (late arrival) |
Those present introduced themselves and the organisations they represent. Alan Robson, Jeane Anderson, David Frost and Bob Taylor were welcomed to their first meeting.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and accepted as a true record although Tony Brown is wrongly designated as belonging to the Federation of British Hand Tool Manufacturers when in fact he is a member of the Federation of British Engineering Tool Manufacturers.
There were no such matters.
At the previous Task Group meeting Graham Watson had undertaken to try and increase membership from sectors previously not approached such as shipbuilding and repair. At the September meeting of the Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Health and Safety Consultative Committee the work of the EINTG was raised and new members sought. Unfortunately this had only a limited response. Further letters have also been sent out to relevant trade unions to try and increase trade union involvement in the task group. The Royal National Institute for the Deaf has been contacted to inform them of the work of the task group and to ask if they would be interested in joining the Task Group. A decision is awaited from the charity's chief executive.
Gary Booton had produced a spreadsheet containing the contact details of Task Group members. As this takes up only a single page it was agreed that it be would be useful to forward it onto members. Gary Booton to e-mail an updated spread sheet to Graham Watson for circulation.
Action: Gary Booton and Graham Watson
Graham Watson informed members that the draft Engineering and Utilities Sector Information Minute (SIM) Control of Noise in Heavy Fabrication sent out with minutes from the previous meeting had been finalised (text of draft unaltered) and was waiting to be issued. A SIM had also been drafted bringing the work of the task group to the attention of HSE Inspectors asking that they in turn raise awareness of the task group amongst engineering firms that they visit. A copy of the SIM was circulated to those present.
Update: since the meeting both SIMs have been issued. A copy of the SIM highlighting the work of the task group is attached as document one.
Jeane Anderson explained the work of the Section. This involves providing a link between technical experts, field inspectors, Ministers and the wider world. In particular this involves: producing generic guidance on noise for employers and employees; negotiating European Directives on noise; keeping Ministers abreast of developments with noise; keeping Parliament informed of developments through the Parliamentary Scrutiny process; producing regulations on noise and consulting widely in the process; commissioning and publishing research on noise and liasing with other Government Departments with an interest in noise e.g. DTI and DEFRA.
Jeane Anderson updated members on the current position of the Directive. Political Agreement on the Directive was reached on 11 June, common position is expected to be reached by the end of October. The European Parliament will then have to until the end of January to comment. At the time of the meeting it was not known what the European Parliament opinion was likely to be but it was thought that the Commission would lobby to have its reserves reinstated. Several of these, and particularly those relating to health surveillance where an acceptable compromise was achieved in Council, would be very difficult to implement and enforce. It is expected that the Directive will be adopted early in the new year.
A revised Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) of implementing the Directive in the UK has been produced based on the current text of the Directive. This was due to be submitted to the Minister and then onto the Parliamentary Scrutiny Committees. Once the Minister has seen it Jeane will issue it to Task Group members for information.
Action: Jeane Anderson
All members of the Task Group have been added to the Noise Policy Section's consultation database. This will ensure that all members are kept informed of progress with the Directive.
Alan Robson expressed concern about the limits set by the Directive and thought that the UK should not agree to them. However, Jeane explained that some Member States were already operating to the proposed levels and UK Ministers will not argue that the UK should be allowed to operate lower levels of health and safety. It was mentioned that to help meet the lower noise levels it was important that people specify quiet machinery when placing orders for new machinery.
Members were asked to consider how the Task Group should respond to policy developments. Alan Robson felt that the group's common position should be pushed. A discussion was held on whether the Task Group could decide on a common position regarding the Directive in order to lobby. Tim Ward expressed the concern that he did not believe that this was the role of the Task Group. Furthermore as the Task Group's membership included HSE employees, for the Task Group to have a common view that may be different to HSE's would cause difficulties. However, some Task Group members felt that the Group's Terms of Reference and in particular item 5 indicated that the Task Group would seek to help form HSE opinion and influence strategic planning regarding noise enforcement within the Sector. It was though mentioned that any person can write to the European Union to express an opinion on a Directive.
Jeane Anderson gave details of the review of HSE generic noise publications started in 2000 and timed to coincide with the Noise at Work Regulations having been in force for 10 years. A small working group was set up to look at HSE's 3 priced and 6 free noise publications. Many of these publications were due for an update so this was an opportunity to revise the information and introduce new designs. One of the main recommendations of the review was to reduce the number of publications dealing with noise. Due to changes in staffing within the unit the work was not as advanced as planned. A first draft of the new employers leaflet and the new employees pocked card had gone out for consultation within HSE for comment. A copy of the drafts was issued to those present, comments were requested by the end of November.
Tim Ward stated that he has been asked to produce some generic guidance on noise control and may be in a position to report back on this at the next meeting.
Action: Tim Ward
Gary Booton requested final comments on the Task Group's noise leaflet. Once these have been received the leaflet will be issued in electronic and other formats. It will be sent to all Task Group members for them to do use as they wish, members were however asked to report back on how it has been used.
Action: Gary Booton and Task Group Members
Graham Watson distributed photocopies of relevant pages from Noise at work marketplace and related HSE publications - Report on a Survey (Document 2 attached), which provides the findings of the review of HSE generic noise guidance referred to by Jeane Anderson. The implications of the review for any guidance produced by the task group were raised. In particular more than 50% of small, medium and large premises who replied to the survey (and where noise was a hazard) owned a HSE priced noise publication and had a HSE free noise leaflet. A minimum of 75% of each size group was satisfied with the guidance's level of detail, ease of understanding, length and practicality. There was also no clear majority as to whether industry specific or general noise publications were preferred. Graham Watson felt that this did not lend support to the Task Group attempting to produce simpler, engineering specific versions of generic HSE noise guidance. Instead it may be more worthwhile the Task Group complementing existing noise guidance by producing guidance on issues not already covered.
The survey also found that the preferred format for receiving information was a free leaflet, a poster and information sheets were also widely supported. It was felt that free leaflets should however be easier to photocopy. Graham therefore suggested that the Task Group could perhaps usefully produce a suite of information sheets covering such issues as: a check list approach on the regulations covering do's and don'ts (signposting to other guidance); worked example of a noise assessment, means of controlling noise exposure at low cost; examples of quiet tooling, noise reduced blades etc.; noise reduction for angle grinders; positive machine purchase policy - examples of noise reducing measures utilised by new machinery and industry specific examples of noise enclosures. The papers produced by Peter Wilson could also be issued as part of the series.
The noise guidance survey identified several areas where the publication Sound Solutions required improving. If relevant case studies from Sound Solutions are therefore placed on a Task Group web site these issues would need to be addressed.
Gary Booton asked members to read the pages copied from the noise survey for discussion at the next Task Group meeting.
Action: Members
Peter Wilson from the Industrial Noise and Vibration Centre expanded on the techniques discussed in the document. Members agreed that it was an extremely useful document, which should be more widely circulated.
Gary Booton was to be meeting with the Chair of the European Health and Safety Agency on the 14 November when European funding of the web site will be discussed. At the previous meeting Task Group members were asked to write to Gary providing their support for the work of the Task Group in order to assist in the application for funding. Replies had been received from HSE and ABI. A request was made for other organisations to provide similar support in order to provide a wider support basis.
Action: Members
A discussion was held whether it would be possible to place a list of suppliers of noise reducing materials on the web site. Whilst the Institute of Acoustics (IoA) have such a list it is only available to IoA members. Peter Wilson mentioned that he had a list of suppliers, which could be used as a starting point. Possible legal problems of placing such a list on the web site were discussed. Graham Watson and Gary Booton agreed to get legal advice on this from their respective organisations.
Action: Gary Booton and Graham Watson
Peter Wilson played a CD containing an audiogram demonstration developed by the Industrial Noise and Vibration Centre. This played noise at different frequencies and could usefully be used as part of a toolbox approach. By playing it to a mass audience and getting people in the audience to admit that they have problems hearing it helps to make the fear of hearing loss personal, the aim being to get people interested. Peter has also found that showing pictures of people's damaged ear cells also helps to make people think.
An audio demonstration produced by HSE's Textile Industry Advisory Committee was also played. This reproduces the effects of noise-induced deafness at various ages. Tim Ward explained that HSE are looking to produce a generic version of the tape placing more emphasis on noise control. It will also be designed to be more positive, for example focusing on the benefits of wearing ear protection. The tape will be free and will also be produced as a CD.
Jeane Anderson outlined some research being undertaken by Nottingham University. This looks at how leaflets are "framed" either positively or negatively. They reviewed HSE publications and found that 98% were framed negatively. The research findings so far indicate that if you want to get someone to change their behaviour you need to show them how they will benefit, by for example saying "Having good hearing helps us to keep touch with the world around us" rather than "Damage to hearing can make us lose touch with the world around us. " Other points to bear in mind when writing guidance is that the UK has the second lowest literacy level in Europe with 1:5 illiterate compared to 1:20 in France. When writing guidance it should be pitched at a reading age of 11 - 12.
Tim Ward explained that HSE uses a competition of ideas to encourage new approaches to health and safety problems. Two particular noise problems, which HSE is addressing in this way, are discussed in the document Overview of HSE Research on Noise (attached as document 3) circulated at the meeting. Tim mentioned that HSE does not get a great deal of responses to such requests however it was worth the Task Group knowing that research money is available for these two areas. For further details see the HSE web site.
Tim then ran through the seven areas of ongoing research detailed on the back of document 3. While the research on noise emissions from paper making machine couch rolls was specific to another industry it nonetheless illustrates the type of research HSE can commission. Tim mentioned that young people of today have worse hearing than before and that this is generating a lot of research. It is therefore important to get the right message across to the young. Alan Robson expressed a worry that if you overly emphasise the risk of hearing damage you may scare the young away from the industry at a time when it has enough problems trying to get people in.
It is hoped that the research on what motivates people to wear ear protection will be completed in February 2002. This will be useful as it will give an indication of the type of intervention that works. Jeane Anderson offered to send out the resulting Contract Research Report for distribution to Task Group members.
Action: Jeane Anderson
Graham Watson explained that the Health and Safety Commission's Strategic Plan for 2002 - 2003 establishes 3 priority Sectors, the Engineering Sector is not one of them. As a result the Sector's contribution in 2002 -2003 to HSE's Field Operating Divisions noise programme mentioned at the last meeting, is not going ahead and will instead be subsumed into the overall noise programme. However, in practice this is likely to have little impact and HSE Inspectors will continue to raise the issue of noise when visiting engineering premises where it is seen as a hazard. It will however have a knock on effect for item 3 of the Task Group's terms of reference.
22/01/02 at EEF West Midlands, St James's House, Frederick Road, Birmingham.
