HSE clampdown to reduce death and injury on London construction sites

Construction sites in London are being put under the safety spotlight as part of an intensive inspection initiative aimed at reducing death, injury and ill health.

Between 20 February and 16 March, inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive are visiting sites in London where refurbishment or repair works are being carried out. This is part of a national month-long drive to improve standards in one of Britain’s most dangerous industries.

Their primary focus will be high-risk activity such as working at height and also ‘good order’ such as ensuring sites are clean and tidy with clear access routes.

The purpose of the initiative is to remind those working in construction that poor standards are unacceptable, and could result in enforcement action.

During 2010/11, eight workers were killed and more than 440 others were seriously injured while working in construction across London.

Norman Macritchie, a principal inspector in HSE’s Southern Region Construction Division, said:

"The refurbishment sector continues to be the most risky for construction workers, all too often straightforward practical precautions are not considered and workers are put at risk. In many cases simple changes to working practices can make all the difference.

"Poor management of risks in this industry is unacceptable. As we have demonstrated in the past, we will take strong action if we find evidence that workers are being unnecessarily put at risk."

1.     During the inspection initiative, HSE inspectors will be looking at whether:

o    Jobs that involve working at height have been identified and properly planned to ensure that appropriate precautions are in place

o    Equipment is correctly installed / assembled, inspected and maintained and used properly

o    Sites are well organised, to avoid trips and falls

o    Walkways and stairs are free from obstructions

o    Work areas are clear of unnecessary materials and waste 

2.     Falls from height remains one of the most common causes of fatalities and major injuries in the construction sector in Great Britain, with more than five incidents recorded every day.

Source: http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2012/coi-ldn-construction.htm#?eban=rss-

Perry Scott Nash employs experts in construction health and safety consultancy and management. Our CDM Co-ordinator function is genuinely a 'one stop shop' which provides bespoke solutions and we offer a wide range of specialist support which we will tailor to your exact need to deliver long term safety. Further details can be found at http://www.perryscottnash.co.uk/services/construction-design-and-management/

UK construction industry continues to falter

The UK construction industry continued to stall during the final three months of 2011, as doubts were cast over the Government's ability to boost private funding to deliver on proposed infrastructure projects, according to the latest RICS Construction Market Survey.

Only 14% of surveyors stated they felt the Government would be successful in its Autumn Statement pledge and generate sufficient institutional funding for planned infrastructure projects.

There was also a healthy degree of scepticism about the Get Britain Building Fund, with only a quarter of surveyors across the UK believing that it would have impact positively the sector.

This rather pessimistic assessment reflected the overall position of the industry in the final quarter of the year, with a net balance of 7% more respondents reporting falling overall workloads (from -1%).

Once again, there was a divergence between private and public sector workloads. Private sector construction remained relatively flat towards the end of 2011 whereas overall public projects continued to fall, with 17% more surveyors reporting falls rather than rises in levels of public housing construction.

Across the UK, the North-South divide was once again in evidence with only London and the South East reporting positive net balance readings. Significantly, there are also no signs that the pressure being felt by the SME sector is lessening. Indeed, a small majority of respondents see recent Government initiatives as being unhelpful for this segment of the industry.

Looking forward, surveyors expect overall workloads to stagnate over the next 12 months and employment in the construction sector to fall further. Input costs continue to rise - albeit at a slower pace than previously - with a net balance of 19% of surveyors reporting increasing costs. As result of this, expectations for future profits were firmly downbeat as 44% more surveyors predicted future margins to decrease rather than increase over the coming year; this is the 16th consecutive quarter with a negative reading for this series.

Simon Rubinsohn, RICS Chief Economist, said: "Predictably, with workloads continuing to fall and costs slowly increasing towards the end of the year, the outlook for the construction industry remains rather downbeat with no prospect of improvement in sight.

"Particularly worrying are the questions being raised over the Government's plan to secure institutional funding for infrastructure projects. We would hope that this scepticism proves to be overly pessimistic, but the responses highlight the sizeable job the Government still has to do in convincing industry professionals that this approach is going to deliver."

 

Source: www.eurolink.co/news/uk-construction-industry-continues-to-falter/

Face to face training is here to stay

There has been much debate over whether Face to Face training is better than e-learning or vice versa.  The technologies used to deliver distance training courses can be appealing in terms of speed and ongoing expense.  However, they are not appropriate for all training situations, are generally not as effective and are not necessarily less expensive.  When choosing which method is best for you the subject matter and level of training is paramount in deciding which approach is best.  Also deciding what you want to get from the training is a key decision that needs to be considered before deciding which path to follow.

For me, one of the fundamental differences between Face to Face training and e-learning can be summed up in terms of passing or educating.  E-learning tends to focus on maximising pass rates and in this instance is much more a tick box exercise to ensure that staff have received the necessary training, whereas Face to Face training is much more concerned with ensuring that students understand the training well enough for them to retain the necessary information.   

This is why I said earlier that the subject matter is paramount in deciding which approach to training should be followed – do you need your staff to make a short term difference or have a real long term impact?

Certainly, in the health and safety arena we need to ensure that knowledge is retained in order to affect the longer term issues as well as the short term fixes.  For this reason alone, Face to Face training would seem to be the best approach for all health and safety training.  

In my opinion, there are also a number of other key reasons that make Face to Face training so appealing:

• Versatile approach – courses can be tailored to specific requirements
• Wide range of delivery options – from scheduled courses to in-house delivery to tailored or new course development
• Increased participation by students, allowing an interaction that is not available with other methods
• Tutor assessment of individual student’s learning and potential
• Adaptation of tutor instruction to best meet the needs of students
• Allows students to share personal experiences, thoughts and challenges in relation to course content. This can be a rich source of learning.
• Utilises the experience and knowledge of leading industry practitioners with first-hand experience
• Dynamic relationship and course instruction between instructors and students results in an affective achievement of training goals
• Ability to fact check on the spot can add real benefits to a discussion
• Coaching people to learn how to effectively participate
• Places candidates in a stimulating, challenging and rewarding group environment
• Facilitates networking with colleagues and with others from across the industry

It's important that training gets the respect it deserves and the value of Face to Face training is preserved, otherwise training could simply become a box ticking exercise.

Andy Cox, Business Development Manager

www.perryscottnash.co.uk

Mandatory display of food hygiene ratings

Late in December 2011, the Welsh Assembly Government set out their plans that could ultimately lead to all food businesses in Wales needing to display their food hygiene ratings on their premises.  The aim of course, to give more information to consumers whilst at the same time providing the necessary motivation for business to improve their food hygiene practices which should then result in less food related incidents.

The introduction of a mandatory scheme should achieve an improvement in food hygiene standards, which would only be a good thing. After all what good is a scheme that inspects premises, highlights them as being unsatisfactory but then does no more?  Making the display of ratings mandatory should ensure that those premises that get low ratings make the necessary improvements.  It could also prove proactive in encouraging premises to put practices in place before any inspections take place to increase the likelihood of them achieving a good rating.

Under the new proposals, businesses that fail to display their rating in a prominent position could face a fine of up to £200.There are also powers to prosecute with a proposed maximum fine of £1000.

However, I have a word of caution, especially before we contemplate making the display of such ratings mandatory across the rest of the UK.  There are obvious limitations in that the inspection is merely a snapshot in time and is very much open to the individual interpretation of EHOs.  For example we know of a premises that had 3 pages of actions but was still awarded 5 stars, whereas a premises that had just 2 actions received only 2 stars.  Of course it depends on the severity of the actions but you can clearly see the inconsistency of approach here.

Another thing that needs to be considered is the fact that all premises in Wales operate under the same scheme, whereas Scotland has a different scheme and England has multiple schemes.  If mandatory display of notices is enforced in the UK before all schemes are brought in line with one another then the confusion to the consumer will outweigh any good that comes from it.

In the meantime, if you need help understanding the requirements, or want to get an idea of what your premises may score then contact me direct on a.cox@perryscottnash.co.uk and I will happily send you a free copy of the PSN Star Rating Scheme for Food Safety

Andy Cox, Business Development Manager

www.perryscottnash.co.uk

The Lofstedt Review - reclaiming health and safety for all

So Professor Löfstedt has published his report on the review of health and safety and made his recommendations.

What will it all really mean?

The Löfstedt report suggests some sensible steps for clarifying the requirement of health and safety.  Reviewing, amending, repealing, clarifying some regulations will be a great step forward.

We think it makes perfect sense to remove the HSE’s approval of first aid training courses and providers.  After all, commercial reality should eliminate any “cowboys” who are providing these courses.

Another good idea is consolidating legislation into one set of regulations as this should ease the burden on business as everything will now be in one place.

Are there any downsides?

Well, there seems to me to be a gloomy future for regulatory enforcement in the local authority sector.

The authority for a national health and safety inspection regime will be with the HSE.  The HSE will be the Primary Authority for multi-site national organisations and Earned autonomy will be available for those multi-site operators. 

Local authority enforcement will be restricted to reactive inspections for accidents and complaints and even then, it may be that the HSE will dictate the approach and expected outcomes. 

It will be the HSE that call the shots, rather than the LAs and EHOs.

What’s the real cost to businesses?

Now there’s a question! If the HSE goes ahead with the “fee for intervention” proposal it will, by default, apply to all those businesses which are currently under local authority control for health and safety enforcement when those businesses transfer to the HSE. 

All businesses will soon be paying fees to be regulated.

As for earned autonomy, what will stop the HSE imposing an annual “compliance fee” on all businesses? Another way of raising revenue?

Pat Perry, Executive Chairman

www.perryscottnash.co.uk 

Alleged food poisoning cases – is a trend emerging?

Interestingly, over the past few weeks there has been a small, but perhaps significant, rise in the number of alleged food poisoning cases that have focused on pate as the cause. More specifically, pate containing chicken livers.

Armed with this alarming trend, or at least the start of what might look like a trend, I thought it sensible to outline a few guidelines for those preparing and/or serving chicken liver pate:

The first piece of advice is to ensure that the livers used in pate are fresh, have been purchased from a reputable supplier and display a health mark that shows they have come from an approved source. Additionally, the livers should be in date (where applicable) and have been correctly refrigerated right up until the point of use.

Far from a complete list, but here are some specific things to watch:

PREPARATION - Chicken livers should be handled carefully. They are likely to be contaminated on the outside. If they are washed, this should be done in a sink which is not used for other ready to eat foods such as salad, as there is a risk of cross contamination.

Sanitise all surfaces which have been in contact with the chicken livers.

STORAGE - If the chicken livers are to be set aside for later use, they should be placed into a container and refrigerated in a fridge used for raw meat/on a bottom fridge shelf only used for raw meat.

COOKING - All chicken livers which are cooked to make pate must be thoroughly cooked through. It is not safe to simply sear the outsides of chicken livers as they are likely to be contaminated

throughout.

Chicken livers must achieve a core temperature of not less than 75°C for a minimum of 30 seconds - check using a clean, sanitised and calibrated probe thermometer.

COOLING - Once the pate ingredients have been blended, and placed into a bowl or terrine, the pate must be refrigerated as soon as possible and be placed into a fridge within no more than 90 minutes. The pate must be hygienically covered and placed in a cooked food fridge/on an upper shelf away from raw food in a fridge.

The pate should be used within 3 days of production i.e. the day of production plus 2 days.

There are other controls, but it’s clear that this type of foodstuff requires respect in its purchase, handling, cooking and serving to avoid unwanted issues and to protect the consumer.

Andy Cox, Business Development Manager

www.perryscottnash.co.uk 

St. Pauls health and safety concerns

A week after protesters were urged to move, amid concerns over health and safety, St Paul's Cathedral finally reopened.  Demonstrators camped outside the cathedral, which held services behind closed doors for the first time since 1940.  But is it right to blame health and safety for the closure?  It seems to me that whenever something controversial happens, it’s all too easy to wheel out the same old excuse and blame things on health and safety.

It prompted me to recall some of the more ridiculous sounding, but unbelievably, all genuine stories that have used health and safety as an excuse for their actions.  Here’s my top 5:

At Number 5: Some local authorities banned Royal Wedding street parties in fear of something dreadful happening.  At a Royal Wedding Street Party ???!!

At Number 4: Wimbledon officials decided that Murray Mound (or Henman Hill to those traditionalists) could not be used as it was wet and people may slip over on it.  Thank goodness for the roof on centre court…..

At Number 3: The decision by holiday camp owners to ban bumping on its …..bumper cars!  And now the dodgems are exactly that, dodgems

At Number 2: The banning of conkers in schools.  That decision was bonkers!

And now for the coveted Number 1 spot, which surely has to go to:

Those who thought that the pinning on of poppies by volunteers should be banned.  In many cases these are men and women who have fought in wars.  Somehow it puts the pinning on of a poppy completely into perspective.

We all need to take our responsibilities under health and safety seriously, but that doesn’t mean that we need to take away the fun.  So if you’re tempted to take the easy way out and blame something on health and safety, don’t.

Andy Cox, Business Development Manager

www.perryscottnash.co.uk