Construction/CDM update at HandS

The Construction/CDM section at HandS is updated today with several new additional links and downloads, from sources such as the International Labour Organisation Bookshelf, OSHA and several from the Construction Industry Council.  Included in the new downloads are two sample Risk Assessments — a Crane Lifting Plan Method/Risk Assessment, by Mark Sutton, made available by HSfB; and a Self-erecting Tower Crane Risk Assessment from R&B Construction Logistics, Ltd.

Click Here to receive email updates of HandS. Put ‘List’ in the Subject line and send.

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Warm temperatures at work

Information about how the temperature of the environment you work in can affect you and advice on how to manage it, from the HSE.  (assuming it ever stops raining!)

Here

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Who gets the most (and least) holidays

When it comes to holidays, it’s best to be working in Finland, and just about the worst to be working in the United States.  A new study by human resource consulting firm Mercer ranks countries by their paid time-off policies and finds that Finland has the most generous paid time off laws out of 49 nations surveyed by Mercer. Besides getting fewer paid holidays than workers in most other countries, Americans tend not to use all the days they do get, and what holidays they do take are spent in small slices and often in contact with their jobs, according to findings from other sources.” The typical practice in the United States – among large companies anyway – is 15 days paid vacation and 10 days of paid holidays for full-time employees with 10 years of tenure”, according to Mercer.  (There is no minimum paid-annual leave law in the United States.)

Here in the United Kingdom, we get a minimum of 20 days of paid leave, plus 8 paid national holidays, where the Working Time Directive provides entitlement to paid annual leave from the first day of employment (never mind after 10 years!!).  Most of our colleagues in the European Union, however, have moved ahead and totals of annual paid holidays of 30 to 36 are not uncommom. See the CNN article and the table of countries at: http://money.cnn.com/2007/06/12/pf/vacation_days_worldwide/

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HandSigns invited to Tigmoo.co.uk

An invitation to have ‘HandSigns’, the HandS blog, included in the UK trade union blog aggregate at Tigmoo is very much appreciated. ‘Hello’ to everyone on the blogs!

HandS is a free, union-orientated and non-commercial health and safety resource site providing links to information, law and downloads on a range of H&S topics, with emphasis on issues affecting employees in the engineering, construction, manufacturing and clerical fields. It offers research assistance to Safety Representatives, shop stewards, H&S professionals and those in studies by providing web links to pages and booklets on topics such as hazardous substances, manual handling, noise, heights, confined spaces, fire safety and many others.

The site offers a collection of sample risk assessments, inspection checklists, PowerPoint presentations, clipart, a guide to HSE publications, links to free publications, and links to all current UK health and safety legislation. HandS also supports the role of workplace representatives with pages on consultation and Safety Representative’s rights and responsibilities.

I began work on the site in 2003 while doing my IOSH course. I was having to roam all over the internet, researching different topics, and it occurred to me that — at the time — there wasn’t one website that centralised all of the links that safety reps could use in researching health and safety issues at work. I began work on the website with a single, one-page listing of useful bookmarks, and the site has evolved and expanded considerably since then, growing to some 66 pages.

The website has drawn the attention of many. It’s received recognition from the Amicus website; the HSE Revitalising Network; Hazards magazine, who published a safety rep profile on me; Rory O’Neill’s Risks newsletter; and the Unionreps website.  In 2005, with the support of Bro Rob Miguel of Amicus and Mr. Terry Aston of the HSE, I was honoured to receive a Ceramics Industry Pledge Award for the work done on HandS.

HandS maintains links with other H&S websites, as well as those of two legal firms who are specialising in H&S matters, and it has also been mentioned and given links on the BP (British Petroleum) Health and Safety page; on the ‘Activist’ page of the Royal College of Nurses website; in newsletter #17 (February 2005) of Hu-tech Ergonomics, and in the February 2005 issue of the Labour Research Department Workplace Report.

Currently, the site is enjoying a greater readership — no doubt due to it’s frequent appearance in Google — and evidenced by the logged visits by over 2,000 people in the last three months. The site is visited by people from all over the world, according to the statistics logged for me by a ‘hit counter’ company. Apart from the majority of UK visits, and those from the US, Ireland and the EU, I’m surprised to see visitors from as far afield as Azerbaijan, Iran (3 visits) and in this past week, even one from the People’s Republic of China (where they could do with a spot of health and safety!).

I hope you’ll drop in on the HandS website and find it useful, for yourself or for colleagues working with you. Please feel free to email me, or use HandSigns, with comments, suggestions or requests.

All the best,
Dennis Mac
handshealthandsafety@gmail.com

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Two companies heavily fined

Lessons to learn, about lessons that haven’t been learned, appear in two items of news in the recent Risks bulletin from Rory O’Neill of Hazards Magazine:

Firm fined after forklift worker is paralysed
A Berwick upon Tweed firm has been fined £20,000 after a worker was paralysed in a forklift truck incident. Silvery Tweed Cereals Ltd was fined and ordered to pay costs of £5,397 at Berwick upon Tweed Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to breaching workplace safety laws. Steven Rogers, 29, suffered the injuries in June 2006 after was pinned to the floor when a bin he was attempting to empty fell from the forks. Commenting on the case, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Martin Baillie said: ‘In this case Silvery Tweed Cereals Ltd did not ensure the load was adequately secured, nor did they make a suitable risk assessment and they did not ensure that all of their operators received adequate forklift truck training.’ He added: ‘The tragic result was that one of the employees, Steven Rogers aged 29 of Berwick, sustained injuries which have left him permanently paralysed after a downgrade bin which he was attempting to empty fell from the forks of a forklift truck and pinned him to the ground.’ The HSE inspector said forklift trucks were responsible for just under 2,000 reportable incidents last year, including seven deaths. ‘Risks include being struck by a moving truck, crushed by an overturning vehicle, becoming trapped between a truck and an object or, as in this case being crushed by a falling load,’ he said. ‘Employers must ensure they assess the risks involved in any use of these vehicles and take appropriate steps to counter those risks. They must also provide adequate health and safety training for any employees operating forklift trucks.’

HSE news release

House manufacturer fined £65,000 for death
A Birmingham firm manufacturing new build homes has been fined £65,000 after a worker was crushed by a machine. Space 4 Limited, the timber frame manufacturing subsidiary of house building giant Persimmon Homes, was fined £65,000 with costs of £60,000 at Birmingham Crown Court following a prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The case was brought after the death of Philip Macken, who was killed on 10 December 2001. Following a problem with an automated foam injection machine, he entered the enclosure to make an adjustment. While he was inside the enclosure the machine started automatically and Mr Macken was trapped against the machine and received fatal crush injuries. Speaking after the case, HSE investigating inspector Tony Mitchell said: ‘Companies need to ensure that all safety devices are fully operational. In this case properly fitted interlocks would have prevented access to the enclosure, and saved Mr Macken’s life.’ He added: ‘Guarding and fencing of automated machinery is a basic requirement and the standards are well known. Simple checks should be carried out to ensure workers are protected from dangerous parts and that safety features are fitted and in good order.’

HSE news release

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