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.
If you are developing property which you don’t intend to live in, you are likely to have legal responsibilities for health and safety.
HSE has prepared clear guidance to help you plan a successful refurbishment project.
This health and safety induction presentation has been prepared by Site Safe Scotland with assistance from the construction industry, WWT Campaign and HSE. The slides and speaker notes in this presentation are designed for a short (1/2 to 2 hour) induction session for workers arriving on site.
New case studies giving examples of good practice to reduce injuries due to falls from vehicles through sensible management of health and safety risks in the workplace are now available.
Donaldson Timber Engineering Ltd identified that customers had problems when unloading trussed rafters from the lorry by crane. Find out what action they have taken to improve the situation.
Read how Balfour Beatty assessed the risk of falling from vehicles and implemented solutions.
The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) website has been re-launched with a new structure and style as well as the addition of a number of new features including:
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. More workers are injured falling from a ladder than any other access equipment. In 2007/2008, 16 workers died and over 1,100 suffered major injury following a fall from a ladder.
5 March 2009 - Building contractors are being warned to ensure they carry out regular safety inspections after HSE prosecuted a Horsforth firm over a worker's fall.
Allerton Dale & Co Limited of Horsforth, Leeds were fined a total of £3,000 after pleading guilty to offences under Regulation 26(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 and Regulation 12(2) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
The prosecution arose from an incident on the 9 October 2007 in which 33-year-old electrician, Simon Hunter, fell three metres through a void on the first floor of a new sports pavilion being built at Bradford Grammar School. Mr Hunter was installing a fire alarm cable when scaffolding guardrails, which were only properly secured at one end, collapsed as he leant over them.
23 March 2009 - HSE is warning roofing businesses to take proper precautions to protect workers after the prosecution of a Yorkshire company.
Richard Moulton Ltd of Embsay near Skipton pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 6(3) and 10(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and were fined £2,000 on each breach, a total of £4,000, and ordered to pay costs of £1,000.
The prosecution came because of work undertaken to the roof of one building at Embsay Mills in Embsay in March and April 2008. The system of work used by the company was determined to be so unsafe that the work was stopped by serving a Prohibition Notice. The company, which had failed to put the required scaffolding around the building, put at risk not only the safety of the worker but also members of the public. There was a risk of falling objects or materials at an entrance to their workplace and when they were in the office, as the roofing job was taking place overhead.
The call comes after the prosecution of Mr Andrew Howard of High Wycombe, partner in the Beechdean Dairies partnership. Mr Howard pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,000, plus a victim surcharge of £15.
The prosecution found that the Beechdean Dairies partnership did not ensure the health and safety of his employees when working at height, which lead to a member of staff being injured at work. On 19 June 2007, an employee was felting a link roof and filling in gaps between the link roof, freezers and walls, when the ladder he was standing on slipped or fell and he fell. He broke both his wrists.
HSE is warning construction companies and property developers to ensure they operate safe systems when erecting scaffolding after a pole fell and gashed the leg of a lady pedestrian. HSE is also reminding them that they should segregate dangerous overhead activities from the public when working on scaffolding.
Sky Scaffolding (Midlands) Ltd of Warwick, was fined a total of £4,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,761 after pleading guilty to breaching both Regulation 10(2) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and Regulation 3[1](b) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
R.J. Heale and Co Ltd, based in Bridgend, pleaded guilty to two charges under the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 and was fined a total of £5,000 and ordered to pay £6,605.25 costs.
An employee was standing on a mezzanine floor while it was being dismantled. He was removing the floorboards, at a disused factory and passing them down colleagues when he fell 2.85m through a gap he had created onto the concrete floor below and suffered a number of injuries, including a fractured skull and fractured vertebrae. He remained in hospital for three weeks after the incident and has not worked since.
25 March 2009 - HSE is warning councils and their contractors to have properly planned maintenance programmes and testing regimes in place, following the prosecution of Camden Council over the electrocution of a scaffolder.
The London Borough of Camden was fined £40,000 and ordered to pay costs of £16,445 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
This follows the electrocution of Ralph Kennedy on 15 September 2006 who was employed by Beacon Scaffolding, a company the council had subcontracted the work to. Mr Kennedy and his colleague were dismantling a scaffold. While standing on the first 'lift' of the scaffold, Mr Kennedy came into contact with an external security lamp which was attached to the wall. The metal casing of the light was conducting an electrical current of 240v and the shock killed Mr Kennedy instantly.
31 March 2009 - HSE is warning contractors of the dangers of allowing areas of construction sites to be used as sleeping accommodation, especially where there is a substantial fire risk.
Asaad Al-Helu of Hull pleaded guilty to two offences under Section 33(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. He was fined £1,000, and ordered to pay costs of £1,149 plus a Victims' Surcharge of £15.
The prosecution came because of construction work undertaken at Edgecumbe Street in Hull during February 2008. Asaad Al-Helu, as the principal contractor undertaking the work, had allowed five migrant Polish workers to use the site as sleeping accommodation. Asaad Al-Helu had also failed to prepare a construction plan before the start of construction work, which should have brought to light the risks from fire, work at heights and site electrics. The plan would have enabled safe working practices to be used.
27 April 2009 - HSE has warned construction employers and developers that the risks on refurbishment sites must be controlled to protect the safety of both workers and the public. The warning follows the prosecution of a developer after the collapse of a building which was undergoing refurbishment.
Bukan Singh Hothi, of, Leicester, was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay court costs of £7,500 at Nottingham Crown Court today after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, for failing to ensure the health and safety of persons not in his employment during his role as director of 426 Leicester Ltd, the company involved in the development.
Are you a gas engineer? Have you registered with the Gas Safe Register, the new registration scheme for gas engineers which replaced CORGI from 1 April 2009?
Employers have a duty to protect workers and the public from dangers caused by their work. But health and safety isn’t entirely someone else's responsibility.
We all have a duty to keep ourselves safe, by co-operating with safety measures and not putting ourselves or others in danger. This is just common sense - something we all use every day.
Priced HSE publication - The safe use of vehicles on construction sites (HSG 144, second edition)
This guidance is aimed at all those who can influence construction vehicle operations, including clients, designers, employers, managers, the self-employed, safety representatives and plant hirers. It provided information on planning and managing vehicle operations on construction sites; selecting and maintaining vehicles; and safe driving and working practices.
New version of Health and Safety Law poster
Employers have a legal duty under the Health and Safety Information for Employees Regulations (HSIER) to display the poster in a prominent position in each workplace or provide each worker with a copy of the equivalent leaflet outlining British health and safety laws.
As from 6 April 2009, HSE is publishing new versions of its approved health and safety poster and leaflet. Employers can, if they wish, continue to use their existing versions of poster and leaflet until 5 April 2014, as long as they are readable and the addresses of the enforcing authority and the Employment Medical Advisory Service up to date.
HSE is sad to report the death of Ian Whittingham. Ian was a former roofer who, following a fall at work that confined him to wheelchair, worked unstintingly to improve health and safety in construction. He became closely involved with HSE’s work and the Working Well Together Campaign (WWT) All of Ian's work was voluntary, and he visited workers on numerous sites up and down the country telling his personal story and raising awareness of site safety. Ian was awarded an MBE in 2003 for his services to promote health and safety on construction sites.
For health and safety information and advice call 0845 345 0055 or visit our contact us website.
Call 0845 300 9923 or report online.
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