Construction Infonet is a free e-Bulletin from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to provide a regular update on health and safety issues for all in the construction industry.
HSE Construction inspectors will be carrying out an intensive inspection initiative during February and March 2012. These inspections will focus on the refurbishment/building site risks that make construction one of Britain’s most dangerous industries – working at height safely, good order on site, and the risks associated with the removal of asbestos.
HSE will not hesitate to take action if we find poor practice that is putting the lives of workers and the public at risk.
Many incidents are completely avoidable by taking simple commonsense precautions. Find out what you can do to improve health and safety on your site before an inspector calls:
Mobile Elevating Work Platforms, MEWP's, have been increasingly used as a safe means of access when working at height. They are used extensively in the construction sector and more widely for maintenance type jobs in wider industry.
Although MEWPS are considered safer than alternatives, e.g. working from ladders, HSE has seen a recent trend where operators have been crushed between an overhead structure and the control panel in the basket while manoeuvring the MEWP.
HSE is working closely with industry to raise awareness of the problem, develop safe working practices and encourage the development of design solutions.
The Leadership and Worker involvement toolkit has moved to the construction website homepage. If you have bookmarked the toolkit you may now need to refresh your links.
Read details of some recent HSE prosecutions and enforcement action in the construction sector and find sources of relevant advice
12 January 2012 - A Lancashire roofer has been fined £350 and ordered to pay £300 costs after he and two employees were spotted on a shop roof without any protection to stop them falling.
13 January 2012 - A Liverpool businessman has been fined £112,000 after a labourer died following a fall from the roof of an industrial unit, just months after another worker was injured in a fall at the same site.
16 January 2012 - A Leicester man has been given a 12 month suspended prison sentence after a worker was killed when he fell through a roof at a disused factory unit in Leicester. He was also ordered to pay compensation of £13,800 to the deceased worker’s family and full costs of £17,337.
24 January 2012 - Three Dundee companies have been fined a total of £336,000 after a worker fell six and a half metres through a roof light onto a concrete floor.
26 January 2012 - A construction firm has been fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £19,000 costs after a scaffolder suffered multiple injuries when he fell seven metres through a roof in Stoke-on-Trent.
6 January 2012 – Gas fitter sentenced to eight months imprisonment after dangerously installing a gas boiler at an address in Rhyl.
6 January 2012 – Landlord fined over £6,500 after he failed to make sure gas safety checks were carried out at a house in Blackburn, putting a family of eight at risk.
9 January 2012 – A Milton Keynes plumber has been given a three month community order and ordered to pay £475 costs after putting a householder at risk by illegally installing and working on a gas boiler.
13 January 2012 - Two men who operated a Harrogate-based plumbing firm have been handed suspended prison terms for falsely claiming to be Gas Safe registered engineers and leaving one local family in "immediate danger".
12 January 2012 - A demolition worker from Croydon has been ordered to undertake 120 hours community service and pay £500 in costs after his actions left one of his colleagues with serious leg injuries.
13 January 2012 - A specialist crane supplier has been fined £180,000after a worker was killed when a large steel beam fell on him at an incinerator in Slough, Berkshire.
23 January 2012 - An engineering contractor has been fined £12,750 and ordered to pay costs of £29,660, after a worker suffered severe injuries when his excavator struck a bridge on the M1 motorway in the East Midlands.
27 January 2012 - Major construction firm fined more than £100k after 23 year old man died from massive crush injuries when his head became trapped in the jaws of a grab machine being wrongly used to move a pallet of cement bags.
30 January 2012 - A Bristol building firm has been fined £2,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,014 after it failed to provide basic washing and welfare facilities despite enforcement action at another of its sites.
An independent panel to consider challenges to health and safety regulatory advice has been established.
The Independent Regulatory Challenge Panel will look into issues raised by business where they believe a HSE or local authority health and safety inspector has given advice that is incorrect or disproportionate.
RPE is used on many construction projects to control exposure to hazardous substances.
The RPE Selector Tool has been developed jointly by HSE, NHS Scotland and Scottish Healthy Working Lives.
Improve the health and safety of your business by attending a health and safety event near you. Most of the Working Well Together (WWT) events we list are FREE and all provide an opportunity to meet like-minded people, see interesting new equipment and get confidential advice.
Places are available at the following Working Well Together (WWT) event.
Plus many more WWT events over the forthcoming year.
The Health for work adviceline provides free advice and information for your organisation on all health issues affecting your employees.
We issue e-Bulletins on a regular basis and would welcome your feedback and views as well as any suggestions/contributions for future articles.
Contact us - construction-manager@bulletins.hse.gov.uk
View past e-Bulletins – http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/ebulletins/index.htm
News on support for the e-Bulletin and How to sign up -http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/infonet.htm
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