How the World has Changed in Ten Years: 2000 – 2010

• World population: 2000 = 6.1 billion / 2010 = 6.9 billion
• Billionaires: 2000 = 306 / 2010 = 1011
• The under-nourished: 2000 = 857 million / 2010 = 925 million
• Terror attacks: 2000 = 423 / 2010 = 11000
• Tallest building: 2000 = Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur (452m) / 2010 Burj Khalifa, Dubai (828m)
• Internet users in China: 2000 = 22 million / 2010 = 420 million
• Cell phones in India: 2000 = 2 million / 2010 = 545 million
• Bentleys sold in Russia: 2000 = 0 / 2010 = 103
• US Defence budget: 2000 = $316 billion / 2010 $693 billion
• Polar ice cap: 2000 = 7 million km2 / 2010 = 4.9 km2
• UK Workplace fatalities: ye2000 = 220 / ye2010 = 152

Source: Time magazine

Christmas safety moment

Christmas is a time when your home might be full of people and it is in the excitement of the season that accidents can happen. But one of the good things about Christmas is that there are typically more people around to supervise young children and, with a little care and forward planning, accidents can be avoided.

At CRS, we’ve done a ‘safety moment’ in our office to identify the best safety tips, and present here the best ones which you may find useful:

* Be a good neighbour – if it snows or ices over, clean the paths around your home
* Look out for small items that could pose a choking hazard to young children, including parts that have fallen off toys or from Christmas trees, button batteries and burst balloons
* Keep decorations and cards away from fires and other heat sources such as light fittings
* If you have old Christmas fairy lights, seriously consider buying new ones, which will meet much higher safety standards.  Keep the lights switched off until the tree is decorated, and don’t let young children play with lights (some have swallowed the bulbs).  Remember to switch off the lights when going out of the house or to bed
* Remember, Christmas novelties are not toys, even if they resemble them, and they do not have to comply with toy safety regulations. Give careful thought to where you display them, for example, place them high up on Christmas trees where they are out of the reach of young hands
* Beware of hot fat, boiling water and sharp knives and keep young children out of the kitchen. Wipe up any spills quickly
* Beware of trailing cables and wires in the rush to connect new gadgets and appliances
* Falls are the most common accidents so try to keep clutter to a minimum. Make sure stairs are well-lit and free from obstacles, especially if you have guests
* Plan New Year fireworks parties well in advance and follow the Firework Safety Code – see http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/the%20fireworks%20safety%20code.pdf  
* Never drink and drive, and plan long journeys so you won’t be driving tired

Team CRS

CRS are proud to announce that we will again be sponsoring TEAM CRS for 2011.

Please look out for us at the Mighty Mini events and watch out for the competitions in our news letter.

As a thank you for our sponsorship we have been given a great year planner for you to download.

 

Please feel free to download and distribute.

Concorde Paris Crash - Continental guilty

Continental Airlines and one of its mechanics were this week found guilty of criminal negligence in causing the French Concorde crash that killed 113 people 10 years ago.  Air France Flight 4590 was a flight Paris Charles do Gaulle Airport, Paris to New York.  On 25 July 2000 it crashed in Gonesse, France shortly after take off. All one hundred passengers and nine crew on board the flight perished. On the ground, four people were killed.

A Paris court ruled on 6 December that the company and mechanic John Taylor must pay fines over the July 2000 disaster.  Taylor was also given a 15-month suspended prison sentence. All other defendants were acquitted in the verdict.

Investigators said a Continental DC-10 dropped titanium debris on the runway at Charles de Gaulle airport before the Concorde took off.  The debris cut the Concorde's tyre, hurling bits of rubber into the fuel tanks and starting a fire.  The airline was fined £170,000, and Taylor £1,700.  Three former French officials also facing manslaughter charges were acquitted.

While France's aviation authority concluded the crash could not have been foreseen, a judicial inquiry said the plane's fuel tanks lacked sufficient protection from shock and that airline officials had known about the problem for more than 20 years.  The families of most of the crash victims were compensated years ago, so financial claims were not the trial's focus - the main goal was to assign responsibility. It is not uncommon for such cases to take years to reach trial in France.

Continental is now part of Chicago-based United Continental Holdings , which was formed in October as the holding company owner of United and Continental airlines, which will eventually be combined into a single airline.  The court also ordered Continental to pay Air France £847,000.

A round up of construction prosecutions.

HSE has recently issued several safety alerts which have relevance to the construction industry. Please read them to check if there are actions you need to take.
Deterioration and failure of cold / frozen food store ceilings
HSE recently completed a fatal accident investigation following the failure of the ceiling of a frozen food store. The store was constructed in the 1970s and the ceiling panels were bolted to a metal support frame. The investigation revealed that the bolts had failed primarily due to fatigue and corrosion.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/safetybulletins/coldstoreceilings.htm?ebul=cons/nov10&cr=1
'False' engagement of tipping hooks on 'builders' skips
A fatality during the tipping-out of a 'builders' skip has identified a potential danger whereby fabrication of the skip can result in a lip on which tipping hooks may 'falsely' engage.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/safetybulletins/tippinghooks.htm?ebul=cons/nov10&cr=2
2. ++ Ladder Exchange ++
Ladder Exchange is helping to remove dodgy ladders from Britain's workplaces. This year's initiative ends on 30th November - so if you have a ladder which is broken, damaged or bent, hurry now to exchange it for a safe, new one at one of our partner companies.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/falls/ladderexchange.htm?ebul=cons/nov10&cr=3
3. ++ HEALTH AND SAFETY STATISTICS 2009/10 ++
Statistics released by HSE show that despite a significant fall in the number of recorded deaths and injuries construction is still one of Britain's most dangerous industries. Falls from height remain the biggest cause of fatalities with the other main causes being struck by a moving/falling object, being struck by a moving vehicle and collapses.
Further information
HSE Press Release - http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2010/hse-statistics2010cons.htm?ebul=cons/nov10&cr=4
Construction statistics - http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/industry/construction/index.htm?ebul=cons/nov10&cr=5
4. ++ RECENT ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITY ++
Read details of some recent HSE prosecutions and enforcement action in the construction sector and find sources of relevant advice.
Work at height
17 November 2010 - A foam manufacturer has been fined after a worker fell through a roof at its Derbyshire factory. The worker had repaired a leaking roof and was walking back down when he fell through a fragile roof light.
The HSE investigation found Recticel Ltd had failed to properly plan the work and consider the risks.  The company admitted breaching regulations 4(1) and 9(1) of the Work at Height Regulations and was fined a total of £13,000 and £5,098 costs.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2010/coi-em-10010.htm?ebul=cons/nov10&cr=6
Further information
Working at height - http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/safetytopics/workingatheight.htm?ebul=cons/nov10&cr=7
Roof repair work - What you need to know as a busy builder http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/site3.pdf?ebul=cons/nov10&cr=8
Roofwork - http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/safetytopics/roofwork.htm?ebul=cons/nov10&cr=9
Struck by
10 November 2010 - Two Black Country construction firms have been fined after a worker was severely injured by falling timber.
Neil Anson was struck by timber roof trusses being unloaded by a mobile crane from a lorry trailer.
HSE prosecuted Kent Road Construction Limited and Mr S K Sharma, trading as Fortmere Construction. Kent Road Construction Ltd was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £4,496 costs while Mr Shiv Sharma, trading as Fortmere Construction, was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay £899 costs.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2010/coi-wm-22810.htm?ebul=cons/nov10&cr=10
17 November 2010 - A Cardiff-based recycling company has ordered to pay over £230,000 after an employee died following an incident at its premises.
John Penhalagan, 44, was employed by Celsa Manufacturing (UK) when he was struck by a crane hook weighing 3.7 tonnes used to convey ladles of molten steel.
An HSE investigation found that while there was no mechanical defect with the crane, the hooks were able to move at head height near to operators on the ground without adequate safeguards.
Celsa Manufacturing (UK) pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It was fined £200,000 and ordered to pay costs of £36,294.38.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2010/coi-w-1110ap.htm?ebul=cons/nov10&cr=11
Further information
CDM Regs 2007 -http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/cdm.htm?ebul=cons/nov10&cr=12
Lifting Operations - http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/safetytopics/cranes.htm?ebul=cons/nov10&cr=13
Power cables
11 November 2010 - A Birmingham heating company has been convicted after one of its workers suffered serious burns from a power cable. The worker was using a hand held mini breaker to dig through concrete in an alleyway when he struck an 11kv cable under the pavement.
The Magna Heating Company Limited which is no longer trading pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 13(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 The company was fined £1.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2010/coi-wm-26710.htm?ebul=cons/nov10&cr=14

Lords debate on Lord Young’s review

As you may have noted there was a debate in the House of Lords yesterday on Lord Young’s recent review, ‘Common Sense, Common Safety’ to which RoSPA contributed views and evidence.

(It can be accessed again via http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=6977 Lord Young speaks at 47 mins into broadcast

or The Hansard link is at Lords debate on Lord Young’s report http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/text/101125-0001.htm#10112529000774
On the whole the debate was quite broad and thoughtful. Clearly many of Lord Young’s proposals are to be supported, including his underlying message about proportionality and simplification for small firms - on which RoSPA have been campaigning for some time.



There were lots of good points raised by peers, particularly about the need to free up outdoor education and to bear down on aggressive claims advertising. Also, the need to see safety essentially as a matter of balance and good judgement seems to be widely shared.



At the same time, several peers, including Lord Jordan, Lord Brougham and Vaux, Lord McKenzie, Baroness Turner, and Baroness Donaghy drew attention to the continuing costs of accidents and ill health, the strong business case for health and safety  and the extent of work still to be done in this area, including in apparently ‘low hazard’ settings.



In the coming months RoSPA will be continuing to work with other organisations, including feeding in to consultation on implementation on various parts of the review. And we will be continuing to work via the All Party Group on Health and Safety to explain to parliamentarians the patient work which goes on every day, largely unseen, to prevent work related accidents and health damage.

Civil sanctions for environmental offences England and Wales

The Environment Agency in England and Wales will start using new enforcement powers, called civil sanctions, from 4 January 2011. Civil sanctions can be used against a business committing certain environmental offences, relating to harm to water resources, hazardous waste and packaging waste, as an alternative to prosecution. The new civil sanctions the environmental regulator can use against a business committing certain environmental offences include:

·         Compliance notice - written notice to take steps to ensure that an offence does not continue or recur.

·         Restoration notice - written notice to restore harm caused by non-compliance.

·         Enforcement undertaking - voluntary agreement by business to take corrective action to make up for non-compliance.

·         Fixed monetary penalty - a low level penalty for minor offences fixed at £100 for an individual and £300 for a company.

·         Variable monetary penalty - a monetary penalty for more serious offences with a maximum of £250,000.

·         Stop notice - written notice to stop an activity which is causing harm.

Legal action will be taken against anyone not paying monetary penalties, whilst anyone not complying with restoration notices or stop notices will usually be prosecuted.

Corporate manslaughter update

The first case to be prosecuted under section 1 of the Act has been postponed a number of times and the trial will not now be take place until 24 January 2011.

Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings and its director, Peter Eaton, were initially charged with corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter respectively following the death of Alex Wright in September 2008.  Mr Wright, who had been employed by the company for a number of years as a junior geologist, was taking soil samples from inside a pit that had been excavated as part of a site survey near Stroud in Gloucestershire. During this exercise the sides of the pit collapsed, burying Mr Wright in soil. By the time that a rescue team had managed to reach him, he had suffered fatal crushing injuries.

The trial was initially listed for February 2010 but has since been pushed back on a number of occasions due to concerns regarding Peter Eaton’s health, with a judge commenting that it would be "unfair and oppressive" for him to participate in a trial at the same time as he required medical treatment. However, one can understand that the presiding court will be keen to avoid any further delays, given that the matter will have been delayed by nearly a year come January 2011. This is especially so given that it is likely a number of further prosecutions under the 2007 Act are awaiting the outcome of this first trial before proceeding.

If the company is found guilty of the charges against it then it could face an unlimited fine. In guidance finalised earlier this year, the Sentencing Guidelines Council recommended that the appropriate fine following conviction for corporate manslaughter will seldom be less than £500,000 and may even amount to millions of pounds. There is, however, a lack of certainty over the level of fines, other than the broad certainty that figures of £500,000 or more will be contemplated initially. How this will be applied to a relatively small company like Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings, which will be unable to pay a fine of £500,000, is yet to be determined.

In a hearing earlier this month, the charge of gross negligence manslaughter against Eaton has been dropped, due to continuing concerns regarding his health. While this allegation has been abandoned, he still faces a charge under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 in his personal capacity as director of the company, for which he could still face imprisonment if found guilty.

It is hoped that when the trial finally does go ahead it will clarify the extent and scope of the 2007 Act and, in particular, the practical interpretation of section 1 of the Act. It will be interesting to see what factors the court will take into account when deciding whether an organisation’s activities were managed in such a manner as to be causative of a person’s death. As mentioned above, it is possible that a number of future prosecutions under the Act in relation to currently ongoing investigations are waiting to see how the court applies the relevant parts of the statute.

Changes to Health and Safety Laws from 6 April 2011

Corporate Risk Systems Limited (CRS) is committed to helping our clients and other organisations to prepare for and adapt to changes in occupational health and safety laws and practices.

HSE now implements changes that arise from within the UK on only two dates each year, and extends this to legislation arising from Europe wherever it is in their control to do so.

This statement lists the regulations that are due to commence on 6 April 2011. As a service to our newsletter subscribers, we update the list every 6 months.

Legislative Reform (Contained Use of Animal Pathogens) Order 2010 (LRO)

The proposed LRO will amend Section 1(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA) to remove the restriction that limits the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) legal powers to protecting human health. The LRO will extend the general purposes in HSWA to protecting against risks to animal health arising from work with animal pathogens and those pathogens not being adequately contained and provides the legal mechanism to enable HSE to make regulations in relation to animal pathogens.

A formal 8 week consultation ended on 28 March 2010

Amendment of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act (Application Outside Great Britain) Order 2001

The 2009 Variation Order was introduced to ensure that certain high risk offshore work activities (e.g. the construction of wind farms beyond our territorial sea) were subject to the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA). The 2009 Variation Order had a sunset clause until 5 April 2011. As such work activities are ongoing, and HSE is not yet in a position to introduce a new Order, a 2011 Variation Order is proposed to maintain the current position. The 2011 Variation Order will result in no additional costs to industry.

The Docks (Amendment) Regulation 2011

This is a proposal to remove the requirement in Reg 8(2)(f) of the Docks Regulations 1988 for a certificate confirming the safety of a vessel used to transport a person at work in dock operations to or from any working place in dock premises. It does not include vessels such as tugs and pilot boats.

A public consultation ended on 22 January 2010.

Pipelines Safety Regulations

The Pipelines Safety Regulations (PSR) 1996 provide for the management of pipeline safety and apply to all pipelines in Great Britain and to all pipelines in territorial waters and the UK Continental Shelf.

When the Regulations were introduced in 1996 there were some elements that were withdrawn from the Regulations that required further consideration, with the understanding that they would be provided for by way of amendments to the Regulations. Following a further review by HSE the proposed amendments to the Regulations went out to formal consultation which ended on the 1st March 2010.

An update on the proposed amendments is available.

The Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations 2011

Updates fee levels and allows for charging for conventional health and safety inspection (in certain circumstances) on Nuclear and COMAH sites and part of the Gas Transportation networks.

USA, WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 5 2010. ROYAL DUTCH SHELL, OTHERS PAY $236M IN BRIBE CASES

The companies fined are:

Royal Dutch Shell, which will pay a $30 million fine and disgorge $18.1million for $2 million in bribes in Nigeria.

Transocean, which will pay $13.44 million in fines and disgorge $7.2 million for $90,000 in bribes in Nigeria.

GlobalSantaFe, now part of Transocean, will pay a $2.1 million fine and disgorge $3.7 million related to payments to Nigerian officials.

Tidewater Marine, which will pay $7.35 million in fines and disgorge $8.3 million for $1.7 million in bribes in Nigeria.

Pride International, which will pay a $32.6 million fine and disgorge $23.5 million for $800,000 in bribes in Venezuela, India and Mexico.

Noble Corp, which will pay a $2.59 million fine and disgorge $5.5 million for $74,000 in bribes in Nigeria.

Shell's Bonny Island terminal in the Niger Delta. Some of the charges related to the company's Nigerian unit.

Shell's Bonny Island terminal in the Niger Delta. Some of the charges related to the company's Nigerian unit Seven companies - Royal Dutch Shell PLC, a big Swiss freight company, four oil service companies and a U.S. shipping firm - have agreed to pay $236.5 million to settle criminal and civil charges that they bribed foreign officials, the government announced Thursday. The companies were accused of paying customs officials in a dozen
countries millions of dollars in exchange for favorable treatment in customs duties, imports and taxes. In addition, they allegedly also paid bribes to get phony documents enabling oil drilling rigs to be brought in to countries. The companies agreed to pay $156.5 million in criminal fines to settle proceedings with the Justice Department, and about $80 million in
civil fines and restitution to settle related charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. SEC officials said the agency's cases constituted its first "sweep" of a specific industry sector to crack down on public companies and third parties that are paying bribes abroad. Big oil company Royal Dutch Shell of Britain and the Netherlands, along with an exploration subsidiary, agreed to relinquish about $18 million in profits and interest. In addition, Shell Nigerian Exploration and Production Co. Ltd. will pay a $30 million criminal fine. In court documents filed in Houston, Panalpina World Transport (Holding) Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland, and its U.S. subsidiary agreed to criminal fines of almost $70.6 million. The company also will give up $11.3 million in profits to settle with the
SEC. Panalpina acknowledged paying $27 million in bribes from 2002 to 2007 to officials of Angola, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Russia and Turkmenistan. The oil service companies are Houston-based Pride International Inc., Swiss firm Noble Corp., and Transocean Inc. and GlobalSantaFe Corp., both based in the Cayman Islands. The shipping firm is New Orleans-based Tidewater Inc. The other countries involved were said to be India, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Mexico and Venezuela. The settlements marked the latest action in the government's efforts to combat overseas corruption in international business. The bribery charges were brought under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it unlawful to bribe foreign government officials or company executives to secure or retain business. A number of U.S. and foreign companies have been charged with violating the law in recent years. "Bribing customs officials is not only illegal but also bad for business, as the coordinated efforts of law enforcement increase the risk of detection every day," SEC Enforcement Director Robert Khuzami said in a statement. "These companies resorted to lucrative arrangements behind the scenes to obtain phony paperwork and special favors, and they landed themselves squarely in investigators' crosshairs."

Also in the New Settlements:

Pride International agreed to pay about $23.5 million in restitution; the company and its Pride Forasol subsidiary are paying a $32.6 million criminal fine.

Tidewater around $8 million in restitution and a $217,000 civil fine. Subsidiary Tidewater Marine International: a $7.3 million criminal fine.

Transocean about $7.3 million in restitution. Transocean Inc. and Transocean Ltd.: a $13.4 million criminal fine.

GlobalSantaFe: about $3.7 million in restitution and a $2.1 million civil fine.

Noble: about $5.6 million in restitution and a $2.6 million criminal fine.

IOSH Approves the Unique CRS Risk-based Auditing Course

Corporate Risk Systems (CRS) is pleased to announce the approval by IOSH (the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health) of its risk-based auditing course.

The five-day course – called 'SHE Auditing – A Management Systems Approach' - is the only integrated management systems auditing course fully approved by IOSH. It is based on both ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001, and is one of the best courses managers have ever attended – so say CRS's past delegates. It is suitable for external accreditation of Auditors and Lead Auditors after suitable practical experience.

Participants work as auditors to appraise the Health, Safety and Environmental Management System (HSE-MS) of Petros Barola Ltd, a fictitious but highly realistic case study based on the distribution department of an integrated petrochemicals company located on the Caribbean island of Barola.

The course is designed to introduce new and experienced auditors to a dynamic risk-based approach for assessing the effectiveness of any HSE-MS, including those based upon ISO 14001 and/or OHSAS 18001. It has also proven extremely beneficial for preparing technically competent line managers and supervisors prior to secondment to an audit team.

The intensive programme consists of a rich blend of tutorials, workshops and hands-on activities within the audit case study. Participants work in small teams, and each team is led by an experienced Lead Auditor. They prepare an audit work programme and have an opportunity to meet and interview a variety of Petros staff. Interviewees provide documents for the auditors to review, analyse and use as they would in a real audit. The culmination of the class is a presentation to the senior management of the company.

In addition to the open course dates offered on our website www.crsrisk.com, the course will be offered by IOSH as a part of its popular CPD programme. It is available as an in-company class for a minimum of six (6) delegates.

The tutorial team will be lead by Stephen Asbury, Managing Director of CRS and author of the book the best-selling course book ‘HSEQ Audits - A Risk-based Approach’ [ISBN 978-0-750-68026-4] which is provided to all participants on the course.

Participants who successfully complete the course work, and pass the moderated examination are issued with certificates by IOSH.

Britain has the lowest rate of fatal occupational injuries in Europe

New figures released today confirm that Britain has the lowest rate of fatal occupational injuries in Europe and one of the lowest levels of work-related ill health.
The statistics published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show that in Britain between April 2009 and March 2010:
There were 152 workers fatally injured - down from 179 the previous year. This is the lowest level on record in Britain, with 0.5 deaths per 100,000 workers.
There were 26,061 major injuries, such as amputations and burns, to employees - a rate of 101.5 per 100,000 - compared with 27,894 in 2008/09.
There were 95,369 injuries serious enough to keep people off work for three or more days - a rate of 371.5 per 100,000 - down from 105,261 the previous year.
An estimated 1.3 million people said they were suffering from an illness caused or made worse by their work, up from 1.2 million in 2008/09. Of this, 555,000 of these were new illnesses occurring in-year.
A further 800,000 former workers claim they are still suffering from an illness caused or made worse by work.
Judith Hackitt, Chair of HSE said:
"It is encouraging to see further reduction in the number of people being killed and seriously injured at work. We now need to ensure that the improvements which are being made continue. Every statistic represents an individual or a family which is now suffering as a result of health and safety failings at work.
Britain remains one of the safest places to work in the EU and we are rightly proud of this record. The challenge now is to focus on those areas where improvement is slow to emerge. We know what good practice looks like but there remain significant areas of poor practice which still result in serious harm to people at work. These statistics also remind us yet again of the significant gains which are yet to be made in reducing the harm caused to people's health by work."
The construction and agricultural industries continue to report the highest levels of work-related injuries and ill-health, with disproportionately high numbers of incidents.
The toll of injury and ill-health resulted in 28.5 million working days being lost, an average of 1.2 days per worker - 23.4 million to ill-health and 5.1 million to injury.
HSE continues to take a tough line with employers who put workers at risk of injury or illness. It issued 9,734 enforcement notices requiring firms to stop dangerous activities or make improvements to the way they manage safety. It also took court action against the 1,026 most serious offences.

The Occupational Safety Consultants Register (OSCR)

A new national register of occupational safety consultants will be set up to help employers access good quality, proportionate advice, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has confirmed. The Occupational Safety Consultants Register (OSCR) will go live in January 2011. It will provide firms with details of consultants who have met the highest qualification standard of recognised professional bodies and who are bound by a code of conduct that requires them to only give advice which is sensible and proportionate.

The register has been developed by HSE and a network of professional bodies representing safety consultants across Britain. Employers will visit a single website that help them to find local advisers with experience relevant to their sector.

Judith Hackitt, the HSE chair, said: "Lord Young quite rightly recognised that businesses find it difficult to know when they need expert safety advice and where to go to get it. The Occupational Safety Consultants Register will make it easier to identify consultants who meet the highest standards within their professional bodies. There are already many very good safety consultants who give sensible advice to employers - the register will help recognise their professional skills and also encourages those who do not yet meet these standards to do so. It will help to raise the standard of advice available to employers and increase their confidence in the advice they receive."

To be eligible to join the register, individual consultants will need to be either Chartered members of the safety bodies IOSH, CIEH or REHIS or a Fellow of the IIRSM. Membership will mean they have a commitment to continuous professional development, a degree equivalent qualification, two years' experience, professional indemnity insurance and are bound by a code of conduct to only providing sensible and proportionate advice.

The scheme will be managed by the professional bodies themselves through a not-for-profit company, with HSE providing support. Membership of OSCR will be voluntary. There will be an annual administration fee to be paid, although the level has yet to be set. A further announcement on the detail of the scheme will be made later in the year.

Burton Mail Business Awards 2010 - Results

Corporate Risk Systems - in its first year of entry - was delighted to have been shortlisted in two categories for the finals of the Burton Mail Business Awards 2010. Nominated as 'Best Small Business' and 'Best Green or Environmental Initiative' (for its pioneering carbon reduction and offsetting strategy over the last five years) across the East Staffordshire and South Derbyshire, the awards dinner was held at the home of Burton Albion FC, the Pirelli Stadium on 21 October 2010. CRS was represented by Stephen Asbury, MD and Andrew Arkinstall, Head of Training.



Paul Peschisolido, Manager of Burton Albion, a former Canadian international player who scored 118 goals in 447 appearances at English Football League clubs collected an award on behalf of Burton Albion for 'Best Performance which has raised the profile of East Staffordshire and South Derbyshire'.

[caption id="attachment_104" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Paul Peschisolido and Stephen Asbury, MD of CRS"][/caption]

In the awards ceremony, CRS was delighted to have been awarded 'Runner Up' in both of the categories it was nominated for. Stephen said "It has been a very good evening for our region where a broad range of individual and organisational talent has been showcased. We were very pleased to have been a small part of it, and very happy to have been recognised for our contributions in our region, our country and worldwide. We draw great energy from these two awards, and it spurs us on to higher and greater things in the future".

[caption id="attachment_105" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Stephen and Andrew with the awards presented to Corporate Risk Systems Limited"][/caption]



The Lord Young Report – Common Sense Common Safety

It seems to all of us at CRS that there seems to be more positives than negatives in Lord Young’s report on health and safety.

The report, called ‘Common Sense – Common Safety’ was released on Friday 15 October 2010 following a Whitehall-led review of health and safety laws and the growth of the compensation culture.

The positives to come out of the report include:

• Recognition that “good health and safety is vitally important” and that the Health and Safety at Work Act has led to an “enviable record” on safety
• The so-called compensation culture is a problem of “perception rather than reality”
• Acknowledgement of the need for health and safety consultants to be well-qualified and experienced (we see all-to-often what happens when ‘cowboys’ try to advise)
• More transparency about local authority decisions and for the public to be able to appeal against these.

The potential concerns from Lord Young’s report include:

• The potential to lessen RIDDOR reporting
• Employers may be exempt from risk assessments for “low hazard” workers such as home workers and those self-employed
• It doesn’t tackle the need for better education and management skills
• It doesn’t tackle the ‘silly safety’ stories published by media which discredit sensible health and safety management

The report also includes four consultations where IOSH members and the public can contribute. These include:

• RIDDOR
• Implementing improved systems for assessing health and safety standards for larger organisations
• Consolidating the current array of health and safety legislation into a single set of ‘accessible’ regulations
• Reform of civil justice and compensation

New government consultant register

The new government register for safety consultants is likely to be announced soon, as part of a package of recommendations under the Lord Young review into health and safety in the UK.

Plans to regulate safety consultants had been under discussion before Lord Young began his review, but his widely voiced concerns resulted in the scheme development being pulled forward by the Health and Safety Executive. The register is now scheduled for launch early next year.

IOSH members working as safety consultants will have to be Chartered to join the scheme. While the register is voluntary, Lord Young has made no secret of the fact that if it doesn’t succeed in raising standards, the government will look at making it statutory.

This new national register will be the only independent, HSE–backed scheme for safety consultants. The HSE has made it clear that it will be referring businesses to consultants on the register. We recommend that if you’re Chartered and working as a consultant, you should join the scheme. We’re still waiting for some of the details to be settled, including how much it will cost to join and stay on the register, but know that the HSE is keen to keep costs down, to cover administration only.

If you’re a Graduate currently working towards Chartered status, we’d encourage you to continue your development so that you’ll be able to join the scheme later. If you need help with the IPD process, then please get in touch with IOSH’s Membership team on 0116 257 3198, membership@iosh.co.uk – the team will be pleased to give you the support you need.

SCOTLAND, GLASGOW, OCTOBER 8 2010. ENGLISH CHANNEL COLLISION BENZENE TANKER BEING TOWED BY TUG

The YM Uranus struggles off the French Atlantic coast, 8 October The YM Uranus was bound for the Netherlands.

A chemical tanker which collided with a cargo ship off France's Brittany coast overnight is being towed to a French port, officials say. A French salvage team boarded the YM Uranus which was attached to a tug boat at 1100 French time (0900 GMT), the ship's operator told BBC News. None of the 6,000 tonne cargo of Heavy Pygas gasoline escaped, V Ships said. The tanker is said to have taken on water and the crew have been winched to safety by a French helicopter. It was said earlier to be listing badly to port after its collision with the Panamanian-flagged Hanjin Rizhao, 50 nautical miles (100km) south-west of the French island of Ouessant, which is at the mouth of the English Channel. The Channel is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, with more than 400 vessels using it daily, and collisions continue to happen despite use of a radar-controlled traffic separation system. Heavy Pygas (pyrolysis gasoline) is a product of ethylene manufacturing and contains a large amount of the industrial solvent benzene.

'Favourable Situation'

Aude Flambard, a press officer at France's Atlantic Maritime Prefecture in Brest, confirmed to the BBC News website that the YM Uranus was under tow, and was not expected to reach port until the evening. We're in more of a favourable situation than an unfavourable one" She said the Hanjin Rizhao (initially identified by officials as the Hanjin Richzad) had proceeded on its way because it had not been damaged in the collision. Travelling from
Porto Marghera in Italy to Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the YM Uranus collided with the Hanjin Rizhao in darkness, France's AFP news agency reports. The Hanjin Rizhao had been travelling between Las Palmas in Spain and Rotterdam in the Netherlands, reportedly with a cargo of steel. V Ships spokesman Pat Adamson told the BBC News website that the YM Uranus had been struck on the stern by the other, much larger ship. No Heavy Pygas had escaped, he said, adding that while the gasoline was flammable, it would quickly evaporate in the event of a spill. The 13-strong crew of the YM Uranus took to liferafts at around 0330 GMT, from which they were winched to safety by a French helicopter and taken to a military base south of Brest. Maritime officials quoted by AFP said the ship had taken in "large amounts of water". The French coastguard said later that they had started to pump some of the water out, and no pollution was visible. "We're in more of a favourable situation than an unfavourable one," maritime authority spokesman
Marc Gander told journalists in Brest. He estimated it would take the tug and the tanker between 12 and 13 hours to reach port.

'No Imminent Threat'

Peter Bullard from Falmouth Coastguard in the UK said no pollution had been reported.

It'd be foolish of me to say that pollution would never reach us but there's certainly no imminent threat" "There's certainly no imminent threat," he told BBC Radio Cornwall. "It'd be foolish of me to say that pollution would never reach us but there's certainly no imminent threat. And that's not our concern at the moment." Mr Bullard said the UK Coastguard's role at this stage was chiefly to assist their French colleagues. "But obviously, the environment is of interest to all of us whether it's the French coast or
ours," he added.

To keep up to date with the latest environmental news why not follow us on twitter?

Interested in gaining environmental qualifications?

A round-up of recent successful prosecutions by the Environment Agency.

Waste offences

Suspended prison sentence for owners of a skip company in Bolton
Waste site owners prosecuted for breaching permit conditions

Wine company fined for waste packaging offences
A wine importation and distribution company has been ordered to pay more than £8,300 in fines and costs for failing to comply with waste packaging regulations.

Frozen dessert company fined for packaging offences
Tring company ordered to pay £26,615.00 after failing to register as a producer of packaging waste, and recover and recycle packaging waste.

Former waste company boss fined for failing to remove stockpile of waste
South Devon businessman Anthony Small has been ordered to pay £13,500 in fines and costs for failing to remove thousands of tonnes of waste from a site near Newton Abbot

Registered Waste Carrier fined for dumping skip waste
Local waste carrier Richard Goodwin has been fined a total of £2,000 for illegally dumping building waste on land at Monkey Oak Farm at Rolster Bridge,  Harbertonford, Totnes, Devon.

Company director sentenced to two year conditional discharge
On 27 August 2010, Edward O’Neill, of Blacksmiths Close, Nether Broughton, Melton Mowbray pleaded guilty to three charges relating to the illegal dumping, keeping and shredding of tyres.

Pollution offences

Fined for petrol station leak
ROC UK and Esso have been fined £7,000 and £3,500 respectively after a fuel leak from a Cambridge petrol station and ordered to pay £2,000 and £2,983 in costs.

The impact of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 on the construction industry in the UK

Frontline has been commissioned by HSE to evaluate the impact of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 on the construction industry in the UK.  It is hosting a number of open forums and workshops to get views from the industry.  These free events will last for three (3) hours and places are available on a first come, first served basis.  In inviting CRS's clients, HSE says that it genuinely wants to hear people's views 5th October 2010 - Cardiff:
6th October, 2010 - Exeter
13th October, 2010 - Glasgow
14th October, 2010 - Newcastle
19th October, 2010 - Surrey
20th October, 2010 - Kent
Register online if you would like to attend at http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/cdm.htm?ebul=cons/sep2010&cr=3

Auditing Standards ISO 19011 v. ISO/IEC 17021-2

When ISO 17021-2 is published, will ISO 19011 be needed? This blog article explains the differences between the two auditing standards and an update on the current revision of ISO 19011.
ISO is an organization that develops, produces and provide technical standards to encourage standardisation. You might well ask yourself how there can be two working groups developing separate standards relating to auditing competency:

• ISO 19011
  
• ISO/IEC 17021-2
  

The simple answer is that ISO/IEC 17021-2 is a requirements standard intended for use by accreditation bodies to assess management systems certification bodies while ISO 19011 provides guidelines for first-, second- and third-party auditors for auditing management systems. Thus ISO 19011 identifies best practice and provides information on what should be done in carrying out an audit without specifying how it must be done.
How then are the two standards going to be used, whether separately or together? The third-party certification industry will use ISO 17021-2 to define requirements for audits and audit arrangements and accreditation bodies will determine whether a certification body’s auditing arrangements and activities comply with those requirements. Those developing ISO 19011 hope that enlightened people involved in third-party certification will also use the guidance standard to continue to develop their auditors, programmes and the audit process.
The ‘New’ ISO 19011
At the same time as ISO 17021-2 is being developed, the working group charged with reviewing ISO 19011 has been revising the standard. The main changes from the 2002 edition include an extension of the standard’s scope of application from quality and environmental management systems to all types of management systems auditing.
Continuing the development of management systems standards for health and safety, food and information security, for example, means that ISO 19011 must be able to accommodate differing requirements while still providing useful guidance. One phrase that has been used many times in the development process is: ‘An audit is an audit, is an audit.’
The revision will include an enhanced section 7 of the main standard which deals with auditor competence. The section covers:

• Behavioural aspects, such as generic knowledge and skills
  
• Discipline or sector-specific skills
  
• Evaluation and maintenance of competence.
  

An additional annex will provide standard specific guidance for auditor competence for quality, environment, occupational health and safety, security, preparedness and continuity, transportation safety and records management. For each standard the competence requirements are broken down into:

• Systems and principles
  
• Legal requirements
  
• Techniques used within the discipline
  
• Terminology and technology
  
• Sector- or organization-specific knowledge
  

A further annex provides examples of a process for evaluating auditor competence for combinations of management system standards in various sectors. The ISO working group developing ISO 19011 is encouraging more management systems standards committees within ISO to produce their own sector-specific guidance on competence before the next scheduled working group meeting in December 2010.
Risk-based auditing will be acknowledged for the first time in the revision. While the topic is not dealt with as a separate issue, the standard emphasizes the need to assess what an organization does and, by extension the significant risks associated with its activities in developing an audit programme, audit plans and in selecting competent auditors.
Integrated audits are also covered in sections five and seven, but without any specific guidance as to how an integrated audit differs from an audit of a system designed to meet one management system standard.
Annex C now includes further guidance on the use of alternative audit methods such as remote audits as part of a programme, more on the audit process and help in the use of audit sampling. The section on judgemental sampling even includes an attempt to capture the ‘auditor’s nose’ that many have seen in action where an experienced auditor uses their knowledge and skills and chooses the single record that contains a nonconformity from the hundreds available to select.
The revised ISO 19011 has been updated and restructured throughout to reflect changes to the auditing profession over the last eight years, but there is still extensive duplication between sections. For example, guidance for audit methods is mentioned in nine separate sections and has a whole annex of its own. It depends on your point of view as to whether having all the information available in one section at the expense of this duplication works well.
At the working group’s last meeting in Mexico, it dealt with more than 200 pages of comments from national standards bodies and produced the draft international standard that is currently being reviewed and commented on. From this point on it becomes more difficult to make substantive changes to the standard but the working group can still refine the text.
Publication of the revised standard is planned for late 2011.

Oil and Gas Industry warned about Safety Record

The British offshore oil and gas industry has been warned about its safety record as new statistics show an increase in major injuries and hydrocarbon releases:

 

Fatalities and Major Injuries

Figures released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show that there were fifty RIDDOR major injuries reported between April 2009 and March 2010, an increase of twenty on the previous year.

For the third consecutive year, there were no fatalities in the areas that HSE regulates.  BUT this doesn't take into account seventeen lives that were lost in offshore-related transport incidents.

 

Hydrocarbon Releases

There was also a significant increase in the number of major and significant hydrocarbon releases. These include unplanned gas releases and can potentially lead to major incidents. There were eighty five compared with sixty one in 2008/09 - an increase of twenty-four.

More Money, More Credibility & More Security for H&S Practitioners

Long-gone are the days when a ‘good old boy’ became the Safety Officer, or was made redundant. Today’s Chartered Safety and Health Practitioner is more credible, more qualified, and better paid than ever before.  In 2003, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) gained its Royal Charter, signifying it’s pre-eminence. Two years later, suitably qualified individual members of IOSH  became eligible to be personally Chartered, and to add the designatory letters CMIOSH or CFIOSH to their names. This puts them on a similar professional footing to other Chartered professions such as Accountants, Engineers, and Solicitors.  IOSH, which is now the world’s largest membership body for safety and health practitioners, accepts three types of qualifications for Chartered membership - a NEBOSH Diploma, an approved university degree in OSH, or the Occupational Health and Safety Practice (OH&SP) NVQ4. At CRS, we believe that our mentored NVQ4 programme in OH&SP provides the best route to Chartered status for practical people, as the competencies you will demonstrate in order to qualify are flexible for the busy practitioner, and wholly work-based.
The benefits of professional qualifications:

• CREDIBILITY – in the workplace
• SECURITY – with millions of employers, and just 14000 Chartered members of IOSH, you’ll probably have one of the securest jobs around
• EMPLOYABILITY – naturally the best jobs go to the best candidates, and the best candidates attract the best salaries

Our OH&SP NVQ Programme

The team at CRS probably provides the best Occupational Safety and Health Practice NVQ4 programme of its type in the World. Our team includes a former External Verifier from the awarding body (City & Guilds); we have more international candidates than any other centre; and we are the third largest provider for this qualification in the UK. Our experience and excellent reputation has led over 750 candidates - over 240 currently – to pass through our hands. Our candidates have virtually all progressed to CMIOSH, and considerably enhanced their salaries and career prospects with organisations such as:

• Goodyear Dunlop
• DairyCrest
• Intercontinental Hotel Group
• Ministry of Defence
• The Prison Service
• NHS

How does the programme work?

Your development and learning is demonstrated by progressively assembling a portfolio of evidence which confirms your competence to do the essential work of a Safety and Health Practitioner. You will have a personal mentor throughout your study to help and support you to meet the required standards. This mentor support is one-to-one, with planned, regular meetings, as well as contact by telephone and e-mail. Our approach works well for distance learning too – we have recently worked with candidates from China, the Netherlands, Qatar and Romania.
The evidence necessary to show your competence is normally generated in your work. Your reflective reports will describe the evidence, and explain your approach to each of the ten (10) units.
With an average level of effort, you will complete the programme within a year, though the speed will largely be determined by your own requirements – you can progress more quickly, or more slowly. This is for you to decide! Either way, after completion, IOSH will accept your qualification for Graduate membership (Grad IOSH). After completing a programme of IOSH Initial Professional Development (IPD), you will be welcomed to CMIOSH status. For further information please visit http://www.iosh.co.uk/membership/about_membership/about_ipd.aspx

Getting Started

Once enrolled on our occupational health and safety practice NVQ4, candidates are provided with a password to obtain all of the programme materials via our very convenient and secure internet site.
This website includes very useful information and guidance, including framework units upon which to base your submissions – contents include:

• The Occupational Health and Safety Practice NVQ4 Standards with Guidance
• A helpful and instructional document ‘How to Assemble your Portfolio’
• Templates reports for each unit (611 – 620)
• All the forms and paperwork; plus:

• • Mentor Profiles
  • IOSH Membership Application Form
  • IOSH CPD/IPD Information
  • Useful Web Links

Programme Entry Requirements

CRS welcome experienced health and safety managers, officers, and advisors to its occupational health and safety practice NVQ4 programme.  There are no formal entry requirements, although we favour those with two years experience and/or holders of a NEBOSH Certificate, for example the NEBOSH National General Certificate, the NEBOSH International General Certificate or the NEBOSH Construction Certificate.

Final Points

CRS has experience of occupational health and safety practice NVQ4 qualifications since their launch 1995, and is one of the most experienced providers in the world.   We'll also be a provider of the new Occupational Health and Safety Practice NVQ from 1 January 2011 - it will be called the 'NVQ5 Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety Practice'.  This will be the fourth version of the qualification in fifteen years, and we will continue to provide excellent service when it is launched.
Corporate Risk Systems is externally certified to ISO9001:2008, and is an Investor in People as an additional reassurance of our quality provision. We aim to provide excellence in certified training, with real career and salary advancement, and practical hands-on learning as the reward for you.
Our approach is one-to-one with unlimited e-mail and telephone support, and we structure our assistance to suit your needs. The programme is ultimately for your professional development - you dictate the pace, you are in control, and we provide the level of support that matches your demands.
Payments by instalment are available upon request for candidates paying for their own professional development.
Contact Charles Ford to enrol or for more details. You’ll be glad you did.
E: cmf@crsrisk.com T: 01283 509175 M: 07968 483615

Lord Young delays report

Further to our earlier forecast that Lord Young would present his report today (21 September 2010), it now seems that it will now be further delayed - following the Cameron paternity and bereavement until the Conservative Party conference to be held in Birmingham 3-6 October 2010.  The report is eagerly awaited by health and safety practitioners and the media alike.  In a move clearly designed to play to the party faithful, the government seems set to scrap a number of what right-leaning newspapers call “petty rules and laws”; it blames the previous Labour government for allowing a rise in bureaucratic health and safety red tape.
In moves presumably intended to pave the way for the Prime Minister’s presentation of the report, a number of newspapers, including the Daily Telegraph, are using increasingly divisive language. A comment article published by the Telegraph talks about health and safety laws as “weapons” used to “pursue an impossible object: the elimination of risk from human activity”. The same article summarises that “if the report succeeds in bringing an end to the caution that is paralysing public services and strangling individual initiative, it will have achieved an enormously important change. With the exception of those over-zealous, interfering officials – who no doubt do all they can to frustrate its implementation – it is a blueprint from which everyone will benefit.”
Stephen Asbury of Corporate Risk Systems says: "We have waited long enough for this report, and its publication is now overdue.  Whatever its says, we'll still be here providing sensible and proportional health and safety advice and training.  Its frustrating that deregulation and lowering of standards in the world's safest country is being used by the coalition as part of a political football match."

The Case for Safety

Originally published in ‘Foundry Trade Journal’ Volume 184, No. 3676, July / August 2010
The United Kingdom has led the way on legislating to provide safe and healthy workplaces since 1802, when the world’s first workplace health and safety law was enacted to protect young people in textile mills. Unbelievably, workplace safety laws pre-date legislation to prohibit slavery; the British Slave Trade Act was passed in 1807 and the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 made the slave trade illegal throughout the British Empire.
A reminder of the dark satanic mills of George III’s Britain and an Empire trafficking humans for profit remind of the progress we’ve made in a couple of hundred years, but many people still think we have some way to go. In the coming weeks, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will likely report that for the year to April 2010, UK workplaces sustained the lowest number of fatalities ever recorded¹, but this ‘low’ figure still comprises about a car-load of people every week. And the UK, along with Sweden, is often regarded as the safest country in the world in which to work…
Our journey towards continual improvements in workplace health and safety has been characterized, particularly in recent years by:

• Increased legislation and mandated requirements
• The rise of a compensation culture
• Some trivializing of ‘elf and safety by the media, as myths and poor practice are publicized
• The development of structured means of control and management systems

Increased Legislation
Qualified majority voting at European level has tended to increase worker protection laws in the last twenty years. Few business managers welcome increased ‘red tape’ of any variety, whether employment laws, tax laws, or safety laws. However, experience from the world’s workplaces suggests that there is a significant and measurable impact of principal health and safety legislation.
You can research your own countries experiences later, but recent data from the UK and the USA presented here show the magnitude of the ‘improvement’ in tables 1 and 2 below.
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974

	Year of inception	2007
Fatalities	651	229
Fatality rate / 100,000 workers	2.9	0.8

Table 1 – Impact of principal health and safety legislation in the UK
Occupational Safety and Health Act 1970

	Year of inception	2007
Fatalities	13,800	5657
Fatality rate / 100,000 workers	18.0	3.8

Table 2 – Impact of principal health and safety legislation in the USA
Compensation Culture
It seems that every radio commercial, every newspaper and every hospital waiting room is smothered with advertisements from lawyers touting their trade; “If there’s blame, there’s a claim” is the genus of what most of us have seen.
What is certainly true is that the injured employee (‘the claimant’) has to show that the employer has either:

• Broken a health and safety law enacted to protect them, or
• Been negligent, to the extent where a civil court judge feels it more likely than not that the employer could have taken further reasonable actions to prevent the injury

Certainly, we seem to be a more litigious society in recent years. Lord Young, appointed to conduct a review of health and safety in the UK and reporting directly to the Prime Minister, spoke on BBC breakfast news on 14 June 2010 to signal an intention for change saying that "The [British] health service paid out £8bn in five years; only one third went to the claimants, and two thirds went to all those other parties. Now that is really something that should be stopped". David Cameron, Prime Minister, writing in The Times the same day said that Lord Young would “investigate concerns over the application and perception of health and safety legislation, together with the rise of the compensation culture over the last decade”.
"What actually happens is they investigate your claim, decide you have a good one, they then auction it to the lawyer who will pay the most for it".
"So you don't get the best lawyer, you get the person who pays the most, therefore probably scrimps the most to win."
"The [British] health service paid out £8bn in five years - only one third went to the claimants, and two thirds went to all those other parties. Now that is really something that should be stopped."
"Money in the health service should be spent on health, not on these things."
- Lord Young, appointed to conduct a review of health and safety in the UK, 14 June 2010
‘Elf & Safety
Most people have heard about the restaurant that banned tooth picks because of ‘elf and safety. Or the pancake race ‘banned’ in case people tripped. Or the ladder which ‘negligently’ failed to display a ‘stop’ sign on the top rung. Even HSE has set up a website to answer some of these absurdities².
What seems clear is that there are high hazard industries, including foundries, where sensible attention to improve health and safety saves lives and prevents injuries. The challenge for businesses is to know just what is significant…
The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health is the world’s largest membership body for health and safety practitioners with over 37,000 members – including over 14,000 Chartered Health and Safety Practitioners. These can be recognised by the post-nominal letters ‘CMIOSH’ or ‘CFIOSH’. Chartered Members and Fellows of IOSH hold recognised qualifications, and undertake mandatory continuing professional development (CPD) to remain up to date. To retain anyone else to advise your organisation for advice is to risk ‘silly safety’.
Health and Safety Management Systems
Some people think the origins of modern management systems lie with the thoughts and writings of W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993). His popular ‘Plan-Do-Check-Act’ model for continual improvement has slipped into common language, and remains popular in boardrooms.
Published in 1991, and comprehensively revised in 1997, HSE published its seminal publication ‘Successful Health and Safety Management’; commonly known by its catalogue number HSG65. Building on the Deming Wheel (see Figure 1), the model shows how in six steps, any organisation can be successful in workplace health and safety:

• Policy – A clearly expressed document providing direction and a commitment to high standards endorsed by top management
• Organising – An effective management structure with arrangements for delivering the policy, empowered motivated staff, and a positive culture
• Planning and Implementing – Use of risk assessment to identify the priorities and set objectives for improvements
• Measuring performance – Checking as you go provides real-time indicators of progress, and identifies where improvement is needed
• Audit – An independent and systematic appraisal to provide assurance that the systems are working as intended, and providing an alert when they are not³.
• Reviewing performance – Periodic review by top management to ensure the organisation learns from its experiences and applies the lessons

A possible alternative to Plan-Do-Check- Act is ‘React-React-React-React’. This react and remedy approach may seem easier and cheaper than the former, but, as many organisations have found to their cost; over the longer term “predict and prevent” is not only better, but also the lower cost.
Your Prescription for Health and Safety Improvement
1. Convince yourself that incidents and injuries are not inevitable; that with your involvement as a catalyst, your organisation too can be ‘great’ at health and safety. And don’t stop if you’re already doing well – this is a journey, not a destination.
2. Retain the services of a Chartered Member (or a Chartered Fellow) of IOSH. You’ll probably use the services of a Chartered accountant for your books; and a Dentist for your teeth. So a properly qualified and up-to-date safety practitioner is the logical source of advice to help you to focus on the health and safety priorities.
3. Take an hour to read HSG65 (£12.50 from all good book sellers), and make sure that the approach in your enterprise is aligned. When the regulator has provided consistent guidance for almost twenty years, why would you consider anything less?
4. Seek an independent Health and Safety Auditor to review your current performance. Only when you know where your performance may be impaired may you re-focus your endeavours. Health and safety is no accident…
The Programme Paid for Itself…
Stephen Asbury was appointed health and safety manager for an international engineering group with 60,000 employees operating in over thirty countries in 1991; as a part of this responsibility, inheriting a foundry in Yorkshire where standards had fallen to rather low levels.
“Visiting this hell-hole for the first time”, Stephen says, “I had men rolling their sleeves up to show me horrific burns which they wore as a badge of honour”. Stephen continues “Management thought that injuries were inevitable, that training was a luxury, and had seemingly done little or nothing to change the working conditions in many years”.
Working with his (extremely proactive) Chief Executive, Stephen and his team were able to turn the site’s health and safety performance around, and the result four years later was the presentation of a RoSPA Health and Safety Gold Award in 1995.
Stephen summarises the programme - “All it took was sustained leadership, a clear plan, and a determined implementation. Our workers were worth the investment of our time, and the programme paid for itself over five years”.
About the Author:
Stephen Asbury is a Chartered Fellow of IOSH, and Chair of the IOSH Professional Committee. Professionally, he is the Managing Director of Corporate Risk Systems Limited, and Author of the best-selling book ‘Health & Safety, Environment and Quality Audits – A Risk-based Approach’ and over 30 other books and articles.

1 http://www.hse.gov.uk/foi/fatalities/2009-10.htm provides a list of their names and occupations.

2 http://www.hse.gov.uk/myth/index.htm

3 From ‘HSEQ Audits – A Risk Based Approach’ by Asbury & Ashwell ISBN 978-0-7506-80264

CRS Double Finalist in Business Awards

Corporate Risk Systems have just received advance notification from the Chair of the judges in the Burton Mail Business Awards 2010 that they are short listed for two prestigious awards. This will be the essence of an article in the Burton Mail on Wednesday 22/9/2010:

CRS is Double-nominated as Finalist in 2010 Business Awards

Leading Health, Safety and Environmental Training and Consultancy Group Corporate Risk Systems (CRS) has been nominated as a Finalist for two business awards. CRS is a finalist in the 'Best Small Business' and the 'Most Effective Environmental or Green Initiative' categories of the Burton Mail Business Awards 2010. The competition is judged by representatives from East Staffordshire District Council, South Derbyshire District Council, Burton College and the Burton Mail newspaper.

CRS Managing Director Stephen Asbury said "We've had a marvellous twelve years developing our company, and to be nominated for not one, but two, business awards at this time feels very special indeed. We're looking forward to the awards dinner at the Pirelli Stadium on 21 October 2010".

CRS is nominated as a finalist for these awards along with an accountancy practice, a security group, an enterprise centre, and an NHS Trust hospital.

Nebosh Courses

NEBOSH (The National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health) was formed in 1979 as an independent examining board and awarding body with charitable status. We offer a comprehensive range of globally-recognised, vocationally-related qualifications designed to meet the health, safety, environmental and risk management needs of all places of work in both the private and public sectors.

Our qualifications are recognised by the relevant professional membership bodies including the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM ) and the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA).

Who are Corporate Risk Systems?

Corporate Risk Systems (CRS) is accredited to deliver Safety, Health and Environmental training courses throughout the UK and internationally. We have gained a reputation for excellence, demonstrated by our student's achievements, company testimonials and professionally qualified tutors.

Whether it is one of our NVQ4, NEBOSH National General Certificate, IEMA , NEBOSH Certificate in Environmental Management or IOSH Managing Safely courses, our tutors deliver a friendly and informative training course where the use of practical exercises, syndicate and group activities are included. Our high pass rates for all of our courses including the NEBOSH and IOSH training courses and our excellent testimonials from our NVQ4 and AIEMA candidates demonstrates that we are providing the correct learning experience where our students come first.

Our aim is to help our students to achieve their full potential and create increased career opportunities in their life through learning and improved qualifications.