Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Construction
Welcome to the latest edition of Construction Infonet.
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 has issued a safety alert to inform employers and employees about recent structural failures of the main support structure (chassis) on Liftlux models SL260-25 and SL245-25 scissor lifts. This information is being provided in advance of the conclusion of HSE’s investigations so that the industry can take prompt action to prevent a recurrence.
If you have one of these machines and have not completed the inspection as required by the manufacturers’ bulletins, you should immediately withdraw it from service so that it can be examined by a competent person.
Read more at Failures of Liftlux Scissor lifts Models SL260-25 and SL245-25
A campaign has been launched to inform Romanian, Polish and Indian construction workers based in London about on-site health and safety.
The new HSE campaign wants to get the message across to workers from these communities about the role of the HSE in helping to protect them using existing law and making them aware that they have just as many rights to a healthy and safe working environment as indigenous workers.
As well as employing Romanian, Polish and Indian outreach workers, HSE has produced health and safety information in different languages, for example wallet-sized cards which will be distributed among the communities.
A dedicated phone line, web pages and an email address have been set up so workers can contact HSE with confidence.
You can contact the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) by calling one of these Helpline numbers (English also spoken):
Please note: All calls made to these numbers are confidential and you do not have to give your name if you don’t want to.
Alternatively you can email us at: outreach@hse.gsi.gov.uk
Visit the dedicated website - Construction workers - Your safety at work
HSE seeks your comments on proposed new regulations requiring the notification of tower cranes. Please note that the consultation period ends on 9 October 2009.
The proposed regulations will require employers who use 'conventional' tower cranes on construction sites to notify certain information about the crane to HSE and for HSE to make arrangements for this information to be made publicly available in a national register.
To help you present your views, there is an online questionnaire, or a form to download and complete.
Read details of some recent HSE prosecutions and enforcement action in the construction sector and find sources of relevant advice.
Work at Height remains the single biggest cause of workplace deaths and one of the main causes of major injury.
31 August 2009 - HSE warned of the dangers of working on or maintaining fragile roofs, following the conviction of a Scottish company, TQR Ltd of Dalkeith and a sub-contractor, David O’Neil of Cleland, near Motherwell, for breaching health and safety regulations.
The warning follows a serious incident in which a 19 year old worker fell almost 10 metres into an occupied factory whilst carrying out refurbishment work on the roof of a building at Buttlerfield Industrial Estate, Bonnyrigg, in April 2008.
TQR Ltd was fined £6,000 after pleading guilty to charges under sections 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
David O’Neil, a sub contractor, was fined £3,000after pleading guilty to charges under section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
10 September 2009 - A Glasgow-based construction company has been convicted of failing to ensure proper health and safety standards after an apprentice joiner was severely injured.
The 20-year-old worker fell nearly four metres through an opening in the floor after the loose sheet of plywood which had been placed over the opening gave way. The incident happened because the floor opening had not been suitably protected by either robust edge protection or properly supported and fixed boarding. As a result of the fall the worker sustained serious neck and other injuries.
City Building (Glasgow) LLP, was fined £20,000 after pleading guilty to a breach of Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
21 September 2009 - HSE is warning employers to ensure their workers are well trained and supervised when working at height, after a man was killed when installing a temporary office unit in West Bromwich. David Boulton was unloading a temporary accommodation unit from a lorry. He was standing on top of the unit in order to attach a sling from a crane when he fell on to the road, suffering fatal head injuries.
The supplier of the office unit, Stockton-on-Tees-based Mobile Mini UK Ltd, was fined £80,000 and ordered to pay costs of £8,000. It had pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
25 September 2009 - Businesses are being warned to take correct precautions when their staff work at height, after a roofer sustained serious head injuries when he fell nearly four metres through a roof he was working on. Adam Lambert, an employee of 1st Response Roofing Ltd, suffered a fractured skull after falling through a skylight whilst replacing a roof at the garage of Peter Watson Ltd in Skipton.
1st Response Roofing Ltd, of Ilkley, West Yorkshire pleaded guilty to all three charges under the Work at Height Regulations and was fined £23,500 in total and ordered to pay £3,452 costs.
The fines are substantially higher than in previous cases of this nature because two of the three breaches continued on the day after the roofer, Adam Lambert, suffered his fall. This meant the new Health and Safety Offences Act 2008 came into force, which gives Magistrates more power to hit guilty parties in the pocket. 1st Response Roofing Ltd is believed to be the first company to be successfully fined using the powers in the new legislation.
17 September 2009 - Construction companies must assess and manage the risks from overhead power lines and working at height, HSE has said, after three employers were prosecuted for an incident in which a worker received an electric shock and subsequently fell from a roof he was working on.
Thomas Bates was working on the construction of a poultry shed directly under a 11kV overhead line at a farm at Rhiew Banc, Bwlch y Ffridd, Newtown when the incident occurred on 7 March 2006. Mr Bates was carrying metal roofing material, which either contacted the power line or came in close proximity to it. The electric shock resulted in burns to his body and he collapsed and rolled off the roof, falling around 2.5 metres to the ground below.
Three employers all pleaded guilty to one charge each under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. John Bowler Ltd was the principal contractor for the job and were fined £16,000 and ordered to pay £5,408.40 Harlow Bros Ltd were the building supplier and contractor for the erector of the building and were fined £16,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6171.60. Philip James Bates, the father of Thomas Bates, was subcontracted to build the shed and was fined £12,000 with costs of £2,062.40.
8 September 2009 - Scaffolding companies need to double check their structures are safe and secure, the HSE has warned following the collapse of scaffolding at an industrial unit in Caerphilly.
The incident on the Western Industrial Estate resulted in a fine for the Cardiff-based scaffolding company responsible for the unsecured structure which collapsed in June 2006. Fortunately, no-one was injured in the incident, which occurred just 20 minutes before a change of shift at the factory.
Linmar Scaffolding Ltd, of Cardiff, pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 8 (b) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £1,800 and ordered to pay costs of £5,400.
23 September 2009 - HSE warned tower crane suppliers to make sure staff are adequately trained when carrying out high risk operations.
The warning follows the prosecution of Select Plant Hire Company Ltd after a crane driver suffered severe injuries in an incident in Croydon in June 2007.
The company, based in Dartford, Kent, pleaded guilty to a breaching regulation 9(2) (b); regulation 9(2) of the Provision and use of work Equipment Regulations 1998 and; section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.The company was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay costs of £33,196.45.
The court heard that on 2 June 2007, the jib of a tower crane owned and operated by Select Plant Hire toppled backwards and became detached from the mast. The jib together with the drivers cab fell through the air, crashing onto the roof of the Croydon Park Hotel. The incident happened during a relatively rare operation to extend the height of the tower crane using a piece of equipment known as a climbing frame. The team employed to extend the height of the crane had not used the equipment before and had not had any specific training on its use.
The crane driver was trapped on the roof for over an hour before rescue services were able to get him down. The driver suffered extensive injuries and two years on has been unable to return to work and is still suffering from his injuries.
HSE is making changes to the First Aid at Work (FAW) training regime to make it more flexible – saving businesses time and money without compromising health and safety.
The new guidance will see the mandatory four-day FAW training courses reduced to three days and there will be an option for a one-day course for smaller businesses. All FAW qualified first aiders will still have to attend a two-day requalification course every three years.
For more information on the review of the regulations visit: Programme of Work - Review of the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981
Try the new HSE Books website – HSE priced publications free to download
Free HSE leaflet INDG73 - Working alone Health and safety guidance on the risks of lone working [PDF 80KB]
Hand arm vibration (HAVs) publications
A series of DVDs have been produced by the construction industry - including input from RIBA, Constructing Excellence, Construction Confederation, IOSH and HSE. They are aimed at architects (including trainees) and other construction professionals. The DVDs are endorsed by RIBA and can count towards your yearly CPD quota.
HSE is pleased to support National Stress Awareness Day 2009. This year’s International Stress Management Association campaign is focused on ‘stressing the positives’.
Please note that the NWSi conference advertised in the last edition has been postponed.
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Call 0845 300 9923 or visit the RIDDOR website.
We issue e-Bulletins on a regular basis and would welcome your feedback and views as well as any suggestions/contributions for future articles.
Thank you to those who have provided feedback on the previous editions - we have tried to incorporate as many of the suggestions as possible.
You can contact us at: construction-manager@bulletins.hse.gov.uk