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The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has withdrawn advice on the dangers of working with lead after an investigation found it greatly under-estimated health risks that could be affecting over 100,000 workers.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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HSE Leaflets for Safety Reps

Selecting Protective Gloves…

VDU Workstation/Display Screen Equipment Checklist for Safety Reps…

Consulting Employees on Health & Safety…
An overview of employers’ duties to consult with their employees on health and safety matters.

Hand-Arm Vibration…
Updated advice for employees.

Provision of Welfare Facilities at Fixed Construction Sites

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TUC Issues New Noise at Work Guide for Reps

The TUC has issued a new guide for safety reps on Noise at Work. This briefing document gives information to health and safety representatives on what the law is and what they can do to ensure that their employer does not put the hearing of their workers at risk.

Where there is an issue of noise exposure it is important that employers get competent advice. Noise control is more that checking levels with a meter and issuing ear plugs. Controlling noise requires professional help and expert advice. Employers should consult with health and safety representatives over the arrangements for the appointment of competent people.

Health and safety representatives should also be aware of the training and information arrangements where there is any potential risk and should ensure that their employer has given all their workforce appropriate training and information.

Health and safety representatives can identify if there is a problem with noise by carrying out a survey with workers who may be affected or by using body and risk mapping techniques. They can also do a special inspection that concentrates on noise.

Health and safety representatives should report their concerns and those of their members to management in writing.

Download the guide here:
http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/noiseatwork.pdf
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TUC guide to risk assessment

The TUC has produced a guide to risk assessment. It says the new resource provides safety reps with the tools to ensure their employer has done a suitable risk assessment and taken appropriate measures to implement the measures required. TUC adds that the guide ’should also help safety reps to challenge the employer if they do not do a suitable assessment or do not act to remove the hazards identified in the risk assessment.’

TUC guide to risk assessment [pdf]
TUC guide to inspections [pdf]
TUC risk assessment courses

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Safety reps in warehouses

Retail union Usdaw has produced a guide for safety reps working in warehouses. ‘Distributing safety’ says 10,000 work-related accidents in storage, warehousing and road haulage were reported to health and safety watchdog HSE in 2005/6. Over 1,700 of these accidents were classified as major injuries such as fractures and amputations. The main causes of deaths are being run over by workplace vehicles and falls from height. The union says it has over 20,000 members working in the sector. The guide contains guidance on slips and trips, manual handling, vehicle movements, lift trucks, falls from height, work in chillers and freezers, storage systems and welfare.

• Usdaw news release and Distributing safety guide.

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TUC charter for safety reps

TUC’s action plan, ‘Safety reps: A charter for change’, calls for:
• Safety enforcers to ask all employers how they consult with their workforce
• A campaign to show employers the value of consultation and remind them of their legal obligations
• More support for safety reps from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
• A recognition that the union model is the most effective one in protecting the health and safety of workers
• Free access to all official approved codes of practice (ACoPs) and guidance for safety reps
• Increased training for both HSE and local authority inspectors on the role and function of safety reps
• Greater enforcement of legal consultation requirements
• New sanctions against employers who deny safety reps paid release for training
• Penalties on employers who victimise a safety rep
• A new legal duty on employers to respond to issues raised by safety reps
• A duty on enforcing authorities to react to a complaint from a safety rep when their employer has not responded adequately
• A specific requirement on employers to consult safety reps on risk assessments and controls arising out of them
• An extension of Regulation 8 of the safety reps’ regulations to cover other industries with large numbers of short-term, temporary ’self-employed’ or freelance workers
• An extension of the ability of safety reps to act outside their immediate workplace or employer in certain circumstances
• The right for safety reps to stop unsafe and dangerous work
• A legal requirement on all employers with more than 20 employees to have safety reps and all employers with more than 50 employees to have a safety committee.
• Continuation of the Workplace Advisers scheme in construction
• A national worker adviser scheme for small and medium sized firms, using union appointed and supported safety reps

Safety reps: A charter for change – full document [pdf]

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Obstructed safety rep gets payout

A union safety rep on London’s Tube system who was prevented from fulfilling his health and safety role by London Underground has won thousands of pounds in compensation at an employment tribunal. London Underground was found to have ‘wilfully and deliberately’ flouted health and safety law by refusing to allow Paul McCarthy, 47, to inspect four tube lines. The tribunal said it could see ‘little if any attempt’ by London Underground to comply with health and safety law when it prevented Mr McCarthy from inspecting the Hammersmith and City, District, Metropolitan and Waterloo and City lines. As a health and safety representative it was his role to inspect the Tube network to check that it was a safe working environment for all staff. The tribunal, which awarded Mr McCarthy £11,500 plus costs, said it was surprising that senior management had not attended the employment tribunal to explain why they had decided not to comply with the law. It also found that London Underground’s defence of the claim had been ‘misconceived and unreasonable’. Mr McCarthy’s union representative, ASLEF district organiser Steve Grant, commented: ‘ASLEF will continue to defend all our members’ health, safety and welfare industrially – and if needs be, legally – regardless of where they work or what their operational grade. We will be asking the Health and Safety Executive to consider prosecutions for the people responsible for these breaches and asking LU what disciplinary action they are taking against them for compromising their employees’ safety.’

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Safety representatives effective in promoting Health and safety messages

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in partnership with Unite published a research report that evaluates the effectiveness of involving safety representatives in delivering health and safety initiatives in the workplace.

http://www.amicustheunion.org/default.aspx?page=7086

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Health and safety issues in flooded areas

Health and safety issues in flooded areas – Advice to safety representatives… The TUC has produced a briefing for safety representatives and union members, giving advice on what to do in those parts of the country that are flooded to ensure the health and safety of employees.

http://www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/tuc-13550-f0.cfm

Visit the address above to view the documents in full, in print format or in text-only format.

Advice from the Health Protection Agency:

http://www.hpa.org.uk/flooding/default.htm

Flood heath advice from NHS Direct:

http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=2284

Environment Agency advice on flooding:

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/flood/

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