This consultation sets out HSE's proposals to introduce revised Control of Asbestos Regulations to implement changes required to comply with the European Commission's reasoned opinion on the UK Government's transposition of Directive 83/477/EEC as amended by 2003/18/EC on the protection of workers from the risks of exposure to asbestos at work.
Views are sought on; the proposals; the guidance to be produced to explain how the changes will work in practice; and the impact on business.
The consultation closes on 4 November 2011.
Following success in previous supply chain project initiatives a new project is being launched. It is aimed at improving control and management of health risks in the construction and maintenance of paving, roads and highways. This will be launched at Transport for London’s offices in Southwark on the 6th October 2011. This meeting will bring together representatives of the construction supply chain from designers and clients through to contractors, product suppliers and worker representatives. The meeting will discuss the aims and objectives for the work and hear proposals to manage and deliver these through people who wish to play an active role or contribute.
HSE, via this website is enabling the delivery of free of charge asbestos awareness training. The response from training providers has been very good and, as at 21 September, they have pledged 5008 hours of free classroom based training, plus 3067 hours of e-learning courses. Use this website to find out where the training is along with details of how to book onto the training.
New incident reporting arrangements were introduced on 12 September 2011.
Only fatal and major injuries and incidents will be able to be reported by phone to HSE, with all other work-related injuries and incidents reportable under RIDDOR to be reported via one of a suite of seven online forms available on HSE's website.
Read details of some recent HSE prosecutions and enforcement action in the construction sector and find sources of relevant advice.
6 September 2011 –Two Sheffield firms have been fined after a worker fell through a fragile rooflight while removing asbestos at the city's now-demolished college.
Mr Nikitas Coulson, 40, from Middlesbrough, broke his arm after falling three and a half metres from a flat roof to the ground below. He needed surgery to insert a plate into his arm following the incident. He was part of a team stripping asbestos from Sheffield College before its planned demolition and re-build.
HSE prosecuted both Mr Coulson's employer, Lilquest Asbestos Management, and the principal contractor for the project, JF Finnegan Ltd, who were responsible for access to the roof.
Magistrates fined JF Finnegan £15,000 with £5,179.90 costs for failing to provide suitable protection for any fragile surfaces on the roof under the Work at Height Regulations 2005. Lilquest were fined £3,000 with £2,000 costs for the same offence. Both companies pleaded guilty.
8 September 2011 - Two roofers were caught working on a Swadlincote roof without any safety equipment.
Passing HSE inspectors noticed the men using no safety equipment to prevent falls whilst cleaning the roof of the property. This unsafe system of work risked injury to the roofers themselves and the homeowner.
Aquacoat Ltd, of Derby, were found guilty of breaching sections 4(1) and 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. It was fined £10,000 with £4,177.65 costs.
9 September 2011 - A Brigg firm has been prosecuted after two of its staff were caught working unsafely on a seven metre high roof by two passing HSE inspectors.
The inspectors were shocked by the obvious dangers and stopped to take photographs and to issue a prohibition notice to immediately stop the roof repair work.
HSE told the court that the company had failed to provide suitable equipment to prevent a fall from or through the roof, such as a mobile elevating platform or standard platform with handrails. There was also nothing in place, such as netting or a boarded platform underneath the roof, which would have caught anyone falling.
Brigg and Humberside Roofing Services Ltd, of Brigg, North Lincolnshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. They were fined £5,000 with £1,887 in costs.
21 September 2011 - A Shetland engineering company has been fined after a worker was severely injured when he fell while dismantling a redundant aerial mast.
David Thomson, 22, and his colleagues were working from inside the mast and were unbolting pieces of metal and wood and loading them into a telehandler with a bucket attachment, so that they could be safely lowered to the ground. When they encountered some difficulty unbolting a piece of metal they could not fully reach from inside the mast, the men agreed to stand in the bucket attachment so that they could be lifted up and unbolt the metal from the outside.
They then balanced the piece of metal, which was about four metres long, on the bucket as it was lowered to the ground. But when they were still eight or nine feet off the ground the metal slipped, and a smaller piece of metal caught the back of Mr Thomson's boiler suit, catapulting him out of the bucket to the ground below.
An HSE investigation found that although Ness Engineering Ltd had carried out a risk assessment for the dismantling operation, it was not part of the planned system of work to use the bucket attachment on the telehandler, nor to access the mast from the outside.
Ness Engineering Ltd, of Stuartfield, Virkie, Shetland pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Etc Act 1974 and was fined £26,700.
5 September 2011 –Birmingham City Council and a Solihull refurbishment company have been sentenced for exposing three men to asbestos during work on a school.
Solihull Supplies Ltd was contracted by the council to refurbish the reception area at William Cowper Community Primary School, Newtown, Birmingham. Solihull Supplies then sub-contracted another firm to remove ceiling tiles at the school without carrying out a proper risk assessment.
The HSE investigation found the tiles contained brown asbestos and the work lasted several hours, exposing both workers and the school caretaker to asbestos. The subcontracted firm did not have a licence to undertake work with asbestos, had no knowledge of how to deal with asbestos and had given its employees no training in dealing with this dangerous substance.
Birmingham City Council pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £1,091 costs.
Solihull Supplies Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(1)(a) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 and was fined £1,750 and ordered to pay £1,091 costs.
7 September 2011 - A Grantham building contractor and a local authority have been fined after a spread of asbestos during bathroom renovation work at a flat in the town.
HSE brought the prosecution after workers from Belton Developments disturbed asbestos at the property owned by South Kesteven District Council (SKDC), on 30 March 2010 while converting a bathroom into a wet room.
The workers removed asbestos insulation board from around the bath and then carried it through the flat and communal areas of the housing complex in an open wheelbarrow before loading it into an open-topped van.
South Kesteven District Council pleaded guilty to breaching regulations 4(1)(a) and 10(1)(b) of the Construction Design and Management Regulations 2007. They were fined a total of £16,600 and ordered to pay costs of £3,486.
Trevor Hague, of Albourne, Lincolnshire, his son Neil Hague, of Nottingham, and David Couth, of Grantham, each pleaded guilty to breaching regulations 10(1)(a) and 16 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006. They were fined a total of £3,003 and ordered to pay costs of £900.
5 September 2011 – A Surrey-based company has been fined after the floor of a marquee collapsed just as 150 guests sat down to enjoy a wedding breakfast.
HSE prosecuted Block Scaffolding Limited over a scaffold collapse that saw the false floor drop more than four feet at the wedding venue in Newbury.
West Berkshire Magistrates' Court heard the bridal couple had organised for scaffolding to be erected to counteract the slope of the lawn and keep the marquee floor level, at West Woodhay House.
Block Scaffolding Limited of Camberley, Surrey, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,370.
19 September 2011 - A Hastings firm has been fined after handing over unsecured scaffolding to a client, putting builders at risk.
An HSE inspector found that scaffolding erected by Totalscaff (GB) Ltd, trading as Total Service Group (TSG), around the building had not been adequately tied, meaning it was unstable.
By law, all scaffolding must be inspected by a competent person before it can be used. Hastings Magistrates' Court was told the worker who undertook safety checks, Christian Ball, had been previously been advised of the need to adequately tie scaffolding but had overlooked this advice. He was also fined.
Totalscaff (GB) Ltd, of Bexhill-on-Sea, was found guilty and Christian Ball, of St Leonards-on-Sea, pleaded guilty to a breach of Regulation 28(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. Totalscaff (GB) Ltd was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 in costs, and Mr Ball was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £2,274 costs.
8 September 2011 - A worker was left with permanent damage to his arm after being told by his site manager to use a heavy-duty core drill by hand on a construction site in Huddersfield.
The 32-year-old worker, from Rochdale, was instructed by site manager Matthew Saville to remove a 34 kilogram, one-metre high, diamond core drill from its stand and hand-hold it to tackle a job. The drill's instructions specifically prohibited hand-held use.
After an investigation, HSE brought a prosecution against Matthew Saville of Oldham, for failing in his responsibilities to properly manage the construction site under his control.
Mr Saville, who pleaded guilty to breaching the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007, was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £2,388 in costs.
HSE's Infoline telephone service which currently provides a basic information service to callers will end on 30 September 2011. Those seeking information and official guidance are encouraged to visit HSE's website - a huge knowledge bank where they can access and download resources and use interactive web tools free of charge.
Improve the health and safety of your business by attending a health and safety event near you.
Places are available at the following Working Well Together (WWT) events:
The Buckles Inn (off A64), Askham Road, near York
Evening 'surgery' 5-7pm. No need to book, just turn up.
Plus many more WWT events over the forthcoming year
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