Health and Safety

[treebloke]

I think we coud do with a HSE section on the forum. I had this e mail today from our HSE advisor. I might stop in bed Monday morning:thumbdown:

 

Hi All

 

 

This is not a wind up!!

 

 

From the 1st October 2012 if a HSE inspector finds a "Material Breach of Regulation at any workplace in the UK", then they can charge you a fee of £124 per hour for their time in dealing with the matter.

This includes: site inspection once the breach has been identified, any follow up research, writing reports, exchanging e mails & checking that improvements have been made etc.

This " FEE FOR INTERVENTION SCHEME" as it is called stops when the situation is remedied or other proceedings (Court action) are taken.

 

 

A "Material breach" is when any aspect of a current regulation is found to be less than acceptable or not meeting the standards required. Improvement or prohibition notices will still be issued as well if deemed necessary of course.

 

 

Some simple examples are below just to give you an idea of what " Material Breaches" could be:

Missing guardrails, toeboards or edge protection

Gaps in scaffold more that one board wide

Unguarded excavations

Uncovered fragile roofs or rooflights

Ladders or plant left so that it could be used by unauthorised persons

Lifting kerbs & other heavy items manually when mechanical means are available

Dry cutting with Abrasive wheel cutters or not wearing the right RPE or PPE

Working off a ladder when other access equipment is more suitable

Unsecure sites with gaps in fencing or unclipped Heras

Throwing items without a safe drop zone

Poor or non-existent welfare facilities without washing facilities

Poor housekeeping with trip hazards

Lack of first aid provision

Lack of scaffold or other inspections

Machinery used without guards or in poor condition

Lack of PPE or not using it

Risk assessments & method statements not used, followed or understood

Lack of inductions or signage

Lack of suitably competent supervisors who know what they are supposed to do

 

 

The above is not a full list, but ARE FAILURES THAT THAT WE HAVE FOUND DURING RECENT SITE VISITS.

 

 

Thus we strongly urge you to consider checking your arrangements & standards on site to avoid paying the fees, we are available to carry out site audit visits if you wish- better for us to find fault than the HSE?

 

 

The good news in this is that there are not very many HSE inspectors & if your workplaces are in good order then a visit may result in being congratulated by the HSE!

They are able to give simple advice at no cost if they spot some minor issues only of course.

[Johny Walker]

the answer is to have 2, ltd co,let them run a bill up then wen they take u to court ,that firm goes bust leaving them to pay the bill ,norty but nice

[Paul Jenks]

Not sure that would work, Johnny.

 

When looked at in totality H&S is pretty daunting. It's best to break it down and start picking off easy wins, (PPE, LOLER checks, etc), then move on to the more in depth areas once you and your staff are aligned to thinking about it, (SSRA and method statements, tool box talks, training matrices)

 

We used to invite the HSE rep into our yard and offices once a year for a good look round and we acted on his recommendations. Now the gits want to charge us for the privilage. Not the best way to get an industry sector on side.

[likeitorlumpit]

You're spot on Paul

Trouble is most people just hold their hand up, wail and do nothing.

Just start with the easy things and move onto the more troublesome.

We find risk assessments on site the hardest as we just want to get on once on site. Just need to have a 5 min talk through and an easy form to fill in- tick boxes and minimal writing. We're getting there. Library of risk assessments for sites and tools back at the unit and dynamic assessments on site. Getting 'everyone' on board is not always easy as most firms will have at least one employee or subbie who just doesn't want to get the message. I am told it is a disciplinary but don't want to get too heavy. Bit of thinking to do on this to encourage all!! Any ideas?

[Albedo]

It seems to me that if you made a decision to go down the H&S road, a good way to tackle it would be to go for Arb Assoc approval.

 

This has been made a bit easier and cheaper for small companies with the new honed down version, and ticks all the H&S boxes that are required.

 

You get something out of it this way with the logo in your advert.

[daveindales]

Health and safety is a good thing in the workplace. Nobody can disagree with that, But haven't things gone too far?? Sometimes you think risk assessments are just a way for clients to put the blame on anything that goes wrong down to the contractor, instead of a genuine attempt to reduce workplace accidents. It's often just a piece of paper for clients to file away. It does my head in.

[Rich2484]

It's all about covering your back.

 

A five min chin wag at the start of a job goes a long way. Ad ticking a few boxes is not a bad thing to do. Doesn't take long IMO.

 

And it's not like any data sheets (coshh, chipper risk assessments, etc) are not easily available to download and print off.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

sounds like theyve found another way to milk the working group!

[combined tree services]

To be honest this should start to eradicate the cowboy contractors , any firm that is serious about the industry should be able to get the H&S side of running a firm right !!

 

Having spoken too and worked with our local HSE officer it is quite clear as to what their intentions are and the decent firms out there should not have too much too worry about . Yes this initiative was brought about because the HSE has had its Government funding all but taken away so they now have to fund them selves . The scheme is intended to make the HSE more accountable for what they are doing and what they are acting on .

 

Ask your selves how many times you have seen a firm carrying out work in a dangerous manor that you know they have gone in cheep for and wish the HSE were about ???? Now it is totally possible to make the HSE act and be held accountable for not getting involved

[Yorkshireman]

HSE: Fee for Intervention