HSE withdraws lead safety advice

As reported in the Risks Newsletter 432…

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has withdrawn advice on the dangers of working with lead after an investigation found it greatly under-estimated health risks that could be affecting over 100,000 workers. The HSE move came after a report by academics at Stirling University said the official health and safety warnings about the dangers of lead were so complacent the watchdog was guilty of ‘extreme recklessness’ with workers’ health. The current UK maximum exposure limit for males is set at 60 microgrammes of lead in 100ml (µg/100ml) of blood, at which level workers must be suspended until their blood lead level falls. But the Stirling University report, ‘Dangerous lead’, points to substantial scientific evidence that much lower levels – as little as 10 to 20 (µg/100ml), a fraction the current UK standard – can cause chronic, long-term ill health. ‘Lead and you’, HSE’s main guidance for workers on the issue, takes a different line. It says: ‘Serious ill-health problems rarely occur unless people have at least 100 microgrammes of lead per decilitre of blood.’ After publication last week of the Stirling report, which was also featured on Channel 4 News and in The Guardian, HSE admitted the leaflet is misleading and has since removed it from the HSE website. However, despite a series of recommendations from HSE expert committees that the lead standard should be reviewed in the light of evidence of risks significantly below the currently permitted exposure levels, HSE maintains it has ‘no intention’ of doing anything about it, the Stirling report says. HSE’s attitude was described as ‘blinkered’ and ‘wrong’ by Professor Andrew Watterson, whose University of Stirling department analysed the data. ‘HSE medical staff identified evidence of the health threats which existed to a significant number of workers several years ago,’ he said. ‘Yet remarkably HSE policy still remains unchanged.’

• Dangerous lead, Hazards magazine, October-December 2009. Channel 4 News report and video clip. The Guardian. HSE statement. Green jobs blog.

 

Good news for Reps on HSE priced publications

News from HSE’s Revitalising Network Newsletter:

“From 1 September 2009, the content of HSE’s series of priced publications will be made freely available online through the HSE website. Initially around 100 of the most popular titles will be available in a fully accessible ‘web‐lite’ format. It is expected that the remaining titles will be converted to this format by 31 March 2010. Further information will be available in due course.”

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Excellent Timesonline article in defence of HSE

TIMESONLINE
April 21, 2009

Health and safety: a grave error of judgment
They have been blamed for banning everything from conkers to classical music, but alll the Health and Safety Executive is really responsible for is ‘topple-testing’ in cemeteries, its chairman says…
…
Judith Hackitt travels home to Oxford most nights by train. “There is hardly a week that goes by,” she says, “when somebody doesn’t come on the tannoy and say ‘we can’t bring the trolley round tonight because of health and safety’. And actually, no.”

No?

“No,” says Hackitt. “You can’t bring the trolley round because the aisles are stacked with people. Or, you can’t bring the trolley round because the trolley dolly hasn’t turned up for work. It’s one of the two. It sure isn’t health and safety.”

Judith Hackitt is chairwoman of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). People, she says, are always stealing its phrase. “It’s a good one to hide behind,” she says.  There is Health and Safety, you see, and health and safety. People are forever confusing the two.

…

Last year, 229 people were killed in workplace accidents. “But actually, that is a gross underestimate,” says Hackitt. “Add to that the 2,000 people who died prematurely last year because they had been exposed to asbestos at work, the several thousand who had been exposed to other harmful substances. There are 100,000 people in Britain who have been injured at work, 28,000 with amputations. Two million off work, half of whom will never work again …” The fuss about health and safety, she says, makes it so much harder to promote Health and Safety. Forget about conkers and gravestones,” she says, “and let’s focus on the real problems. If I find all of this rubbish demoralising, imagine what it’s like for our inspectors. They’re the ones who visit families after someone has died. And to be called the Health and Safety Taleban? It’s horrible.”

I’ve only provided a couple of clips from this excellent article…
Give it a full read — see the Comments, and copy it to people.

TIMEONLINE article.

There are two seperate issues. Health and Safety and the ‘Sue’ culture. The first is use some sense and understand risks. The second came about when a certain government decided that solicitors could advertise.
- S G Robinson, Harlow, UK

Journalism feeds on negativity. In the case of safety this encourages accidents, because it discourages the necessary change in thinking that is required to reduce the level of accidents and illness created by doing ones job. Typing for a living can give you some quite painful industrial injuries.
- Karen Leader, Orpington, Kent

Rename the HSE the Occupational HSE (OHSE). The Legal fraternity, Magistrates and Judges have a lot to answer for us becoming such a litigious society and perhaps it is they who need a dose of Common Sense training. Don’t forget the insurance industry who can be just a silly and of course councils.
- Tony Horsfall, Caversham, England

Totally agree with Judith Hackitt – lets deal with the compensation culture, solicitors advertising no win no fee and employers who still see health and safety as getting in the way, while their workers are injured or worse – media – get some perspective. Well done the Times – an objective piece.
- Keith Allen, Rudgwick, UK

Consultation on recognition of Worker’s Memorial Day

The UK government announced on 28 April that it will hold a consultation to examine the official recognition of Workers Memorial Day, which commemorates the thousands of people who have been killed, seriously injured or made ill through work.  The importance of health and safety in the workplace would achieve an annual focus point through that recognition.

James Purnell, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, who is launching the formal consultation, said:

“I would like to send my support to all those people around the world commemorating Workers Memorial Day. I want to look at how the UK could join the many other countries that officially recognise the day.

“The fact that some people go out to work and never return home to their families is a human tragedy.  Workers Memorial Day is a mark of respect to those killed and injured at work and to the bereaved.

We will seek the views of trade unions and other interested parties.  I know there is a huge amount of support for the Day and there are many ideas for consideration, including a lasting memorial to all those killed and harmed by work activity.”

Workers Memorial Day was started in Canada in 1984 and is already a recognised national day in many countries around the world including Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Luxembourg, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Thailand, Taiwan and the USA.

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New law introduces stiffer penalties

As reported in the Risks Newsletter 378…

The Health and Safety (Offences) Bill became law on 16 October, when it received Royal assent. The Bill, put forward by Labour MP Keith Hill cleared it last hurdle earlier that month, when it passed a third reading in the House of Lords. Under the new legislation, the Health and Safety (Offences) Act 2008, the maximum fine in magistrates’ courts will be raised to £20,000 for most offences and imprisonment will be made an option for a wider range of breaches. The Act, which applies throughout the UK, makes most offences triable either way’, which in effect means unlimited fines. TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson said the realising the benefits of the new law would require the courts to treat safety offences as serious crimes.

The TUC welcomes the fact that this bill has finally made it on to the statute book,’ he said. ‘The need to increase fines was first recognised by the government over eight years ago and trade unions have been campaigning hard for stronger penalties to be available for those who are convicted of criminally putting the health or safety of their workforce at risk.’ He added, however, ‘these increased penalties will only make a difference if courts actually impose fines that act as a meaningful deterrent rather than just a slap on the wrist as is so often the case today.’ Health and safety minister Lord McKenzie said: ‘These changes will insure that sentences can now be more easily set at a level to deter businesses that do not take their health and safety management responsibilities seriously and further encourage employers and others to comply with the law.’ The minister added: ‘Furthermore, by extending the £20,000 maximum fine to the lower courts and making imprisonment an option, more cases will be resolved in the lower courts and justice will be faster, less costly and more efficient. Jail sentences for particularly blameworthy health and safety offences committed by individuals, can now be imposed reflecting the severity of such crimes, whereas there were more limited options in the past.’

• DWP news release. Health and Safety (Offences) Bill [pdf].

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Most workers won’t blow the whistle

As reported in the Risks Newsletter 372…

Fewer than one in every three workers would blow the whistle on their employer if they broke health and safety laws, according to the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). A YouGov poll commissioned by IOSH found that only 28 per cent of people would report their company or organisation to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) if it was in breach of health and safety legislation. The survey of 1,332 employed people from across Britain found that 35 per cent would report their line manager or supervisor to their boss if they felt there was a risk they or a colleague could get hurt at work. Almost threequarters (74 per cent) said they would tell their line manager or supervisor if they felt there was a risk they or a colleague could get hurt at work. And just 50 per cent said they would tell their colleagues if they felt there was a risk they or a colleague could get hurt at work. Five per cent said they wouldn’t do any one of these. The poll found workers massively under-estimate the numbers killed and injured at work each year. ‘The fact that more than two-thirds of people said they wouldn’t blow the whistle on their employer for doing something illegal suggests a few things,’ said IOSH president Ray Hurst. ‘It could be that people are very loyal to their employers or, more likely, that they’re scared of the consequences if they get found out having told. It’s also quite possible that people don’t know how to report to the HSE.’

• IOSH news release.

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USA: How manufacturing doubt kills workers

As reported in the Risks Newsletter 370:

It happens all the time. When a study is published linking a workplace chemical to serious disease, a scientist working for the industry disputes the finding. Writing in the current issue of Hazards magazine, US academic David Michaels reveals industry has taken its lead ‘directly from the tobacco industry’s playbook’, employing the same tactics and the same public relations firms. Michaels, who heads up the Washington DC-based Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy (SKAPP) and is the author of the acclaimed book ‘Doubt is their product: How industry’s assault on science threatens your health’, obtained thousands of secret documents that reveal how this ‘product defence’ strategy has ensured the continuation of high workplace exposures to substances including chromium 6, beryllium, dyestuffs, lead, benzene and other potent causes of cancer and other occupational diseases. In one example, a DuPont factory in the US, he obtained a letter sent by the firm’s medical director admitting 100 per cent of the workers manufacturing a particular chemical developed bladder cancer; as is the norm, the workers were unaware of the risks they faced. Michaels concludes: ‘If a scientist is paid by a polluter or a manufacturer of dangerous products, her or his judgment is inevitably clouded by that financial relationship; this is true even for scientists who have great integrity and who try to be honest.’ In the future, he says, there must be a strategy designed to ‘reduce hazards before people get sick or the environment is irreparably damaged. We don’t need certainty to act. It is time to return to first principles: use the best science available, but do not demand certainty where it does not exist.’

• Spincycle: Product defence – how industry money protects killer chemicals,
• Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy (SKAPP).
• Doubt is their product: How industry’s assault on science threatens your health

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Two companies fined £44,500 after man paralysed in fall at work

HSE Press Release:

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is urging employers to ensure safe working at height after a man was left paralysed from the waist down following a fall of two storeys at a construction site in central London.

T. J. Myles & Co (Contractors) Ltd of Ickenham, Hillingdon, was found guilty of breaching section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. They have been fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,339.20 at City of London Magistrates Court.

Crispin & Borst Ltd, of Watford, was found guilty of breaching section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. They have been fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,155.20 at City of London Magistrates Court.

HSE Inspector Lisa Chappell said: “The risks of working at height are well-known, yet falls from height remain a common cause of death in the construction industry.  The victim suffered serious injuries, which have left him paralysed, but this incident could well have resulted in his death.  This case again highlights the absolute necessity for the creation and implementation of a site-specific assessment of work at height that is fit for purpose in order to identify appropriate measures to prevent injury.”

On the 11 January 2007, the victim involved in the incident, was working on a construction site at Grosvenor Street, London W1, where two buildings were being converted into one. A steel structure was being installed to support the building and being lifted into place by a hoist from the ground floor.

Whilst part of the structure was being moved it became stuck and when freed moved very quickly out of place. The individual was struck and dragged through a hole in the floor, falling 7.3 metres down two storeys to land on the ground floor and as a result is now paralysed from the waist down.

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Following death of a man in Smethwick HSE warns of the dangers of working at height

HSE Press Release:

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning of the importance of carrying out risk assessments and implementing safe systems for working at height following the prosecution of a company and one of its employees after an incident in which an elderly man died.

Pervez Mohammed Iqbal, was (on Friday 21st November) ordered, by Wolverhampton Crown Court, to pay £15,000 in fines, with £2,800 costs after earlier pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. This case followed a Police and HSE joint investigation into a fatal incident on 20 April 2007.

The court heard that, on that day, Mr Satnam Singh, 62, fell 5-6 metres (16-20 feet) through a fragile rooflight whilst preparing to undertake work on the roof of a textiles factory in Smethwick. Work had already been undertaken to replace plastic rooflights following a burglary at the site and further work was being undertaken by Kundi Electrical to repair recurring roof leaks. Mr Singh was working under the direction of Pervez Mohammed Iqbal who was carrying out the work for Kundi Electrical.

In undertaking this roofing work, equipment and building materials were being carried across roofs, which are well known in roofing and building industries to be fragile, when Mr Singh fell through and died later in hospital from the injuries sustained.

The roof of the textiles factory was being accessed up a ladder and across several different types of pitched roofs of several factory units and an adjacent engineering company, below which employees were working.

At an earlier hearing, on 11th February 2008, Surjit Singh Kundi trading as Kundi Electrical, from a base in Oldbury, had been ordered, by West Bromwich Magistrates, to pay £25,000 in fines, with £2,301 costs after pleading guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. This case followed the same investigation into the fatal incident on 20 April 2007.

HSE Inspector Georgina Speake said:

“The roofs which were being repaired and those being used for access were totally unprotected, exposing anyone crossing them to the most serious risks.  Iqbal had failed to undertake a suitable and sufficient risk assessment to identify the risks associated with the work being undertaken. Findings should have been passed on to employees so that they were aware of the hazards and then measures needed to minimise the risks put in place. The risk was wholly predictable, therefore avoidable. Such falls remain one of the biggest killers in the construction industry and last year, across the country, 45 people died after falling while working at height.

“Many incidents can be avoided if employers identify a safe way of tackling a job, provide all necessary protective equipment and ensure that workers or casual employees are fully trained and properly supervised. In this instance there were a number of optional methods and routes of access which would have greatly reduced the risk. Precautions that need to be taken to prevent falls are often simple and there is free guidance readily available to help employers take the right action.”

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New HSE figures confirm work deaths plateau

The workplace fatality rate has not changed appreciably in the last six years, latest Health and Safety Executive figures show (HSE). Statistics released in November reveal 229 workers were killed in 2007/08. This is down five per cent on 2006/07 when 247 workers died, but higher than the figure for either 2004/05 or 2006/07. HSE says reported major injuries at work fell by around 9 per cent since the start of the decade and this trend continues. Work-related ill-health has also fallen across the period, ‘although the rate of improvement here is not as great as hoped,’ HSE concedes, admitting it is ‘probably not on track’ to meet its ill-health reduction targets. HSE chair Judith Hackitt said: ‘Any improvement in the number of people being injured or made ill by work must be welcomed. However, there is a need for a step change. Of particular concern are the agriculture, construction and waste and recycling industries.’ She added: ‘HSE is developing a new strategy that seeks to renew commitment from all those involved in health and safety to tackle these challenges and more. In the difficult and uncertain months ahead I urge employers not to take their eyes off the ball. Good business management will be vital and good health and safety management is an integral part of that. Health and safety contributes positively to competitiveness and should not be sacrificed in times of financial pressure.’

The number of HSE prosecutions, convictions and enforcement notices were all lower than 2006/07.

• HSE news release. HSE statistics 2007/08. HSE statistics webpage.

As reported in the Risks Newsletter 380 –  see post below, ‘Health & Safety Statistics’
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