Recycling firm fined £118,000 after worker loses arm

Ayrshire waste recycling firm Lowmac Alloys has been fined £118,000 for serious safety failings that left an agency worker with a severed arm. Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard yesterday (6 October 2014) that the worker was acting as a line supervisor when he tried to clear a metal container that had caught on the edge of the conveyor belts pulley on 8 February 2011. He opened an unsecured hinged guard to access the blockage, but his left hand and arm came into contact with the moving belt and the bottom of the pulley – resulting in his arm being severed at the shoulder. The HSE investigation concluded that the company: failed to provide interlocking guarding; failed to provide effective supervision; failed to provide a safe system of work to clear blockages, ensuring mains isolators were locked off; and failed to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks. Additionally, the court was told that the company had been served with a 'Deferred Prohibition Notice' in 2003 by HSE in relation to the lack of guarding on another conveyor belt at the Irvine premises. Says HSE inspector Mark Carroll: "This incident was entirely preventable. Lowmac Alloys had identified there was a high risk of crushing and trapping in the machinery. However, the company failed to provide interlocking guarding to the gate over the conveyor. CRS says yet another accident that could have been avoided. Visit www.crsrisk.com to find out more about our NEBOSH National Certificate in Occupational Safety & Health

No volume control cost Keighley company £15,000

A firm specialising in foam and feather furnishings has been fined after failing to protect its workforce from excessive noise levels made by production machinery. Keighley-based Fibreline Ltd was prosecuted recently (7 October 2014) by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) at Bradford Crown Court for breaching health legislation. The court was told that an investigation by HSE at the firm’s premises on Hard Ings Road found the company had not made a suitable assessment of the noise levels in the factory between 2006 and 2013.
Noise levels had become excessive from 2008 when a third machine was added to the feather pillow production process, reaching between two and three times higher than the maximum allowed; and from 2011 in the foam fabrication process when two glue-spraying booths were located side by side. Fibreline Ltd, as an employer, should have known its workforce was being subjected to loud noise, and made personal hearing protection compulsory in the two areas when the production changes were made.  However, wearing hearing protection was not introduced until 2013. In addition a health surveillance programme for noise exposure should have been operating for affected workers, but this was not brought in until 2013, when 40 employees had to be given a hearing test.
Fibreline Ltd, Victoria Park Mills, Hard Ings Road, Keighley, West Yorkshire, was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £4,457 in costs after admitting a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
After the hearing, HSE Inspector David Welsh said: “Prolonged exposure to excessive and often constant levels of noise where people work day after day is a recognised threat to health and can lead to noise-induced hearing loss – a condition that can be severely debilitating. It is very important for employers to do what is required to prevent employees from being exposed to potentially harmful noise levels.  If such exposure cannot be prevented, then they must ensure that workers are wearing the right kind of personal hearing protection and receive regular health checks.”
Ros Stacey, Sales Director at CRS said “Noise surveys are low cost and high value.  Industry has known about the effects of noise on the human ear since the now famous Noise and the Worker report published in 1960.  I urge all businesses where noise may be significant to contact me to arrange a competent noise survey.”

Derbyshire school fined after grandmother falls from stairs

A Derbyshire school has been prosecuted for safety failings after a pupil’s grandmother fell off the side of an unguarded staircase.
Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court today (2 Oct) heard 68-year-old Christine Bywater had been at Repton School watching her grandson play football.
She had gone to the pavilion for refreshments with the rest of her family but on leaving the building by the outside steps, she lost her balance when she moved from a wooden staircase to a stone one.
Mrs Bywater, of Shrewsbury, fell over the parapet on the stone staircase to the ground some two metres below and fractured three bones in her neck. She also broke the index finger on her right hand and lacerated her scalp in the incident on 30 November 2013. She is still recovering.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found there were handrails fitted to the wooden stairs leading from the pavilion to the stone staircase while the stone staircase had a 40 centimetre-high parapet running along the edge of the stairs but no handrail.
Repton School, of Repton, Derby, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1), contrary to Regulation 12(5), of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £534 in costs. Visit www.crsrisk.com to find out how our Health & Safety Training courses can help you to avoid this type of accident.

CRS steps back in time to the Golden Age of the Steam Train

Corporate Risk Systems (CRS) held their family social day on Saturday 27th September and visited the Severn Valley Railway, Kidderminster. A total of 28 staff members and their families took their seats for a memorable trip back in time on the 11.45am steam train from Kidderminster to Bridgnorth a trip of around 16 miles. The journey was full of interest, as the route follows closely the course of the River Severn for most of the way on its journey between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth. A highlight of the journey is the crossing of the River Severn by means of the Victoria Bridge - a massive 200-foot single span, high above the water which, incidentally, features in the film 'The Thirty nine Steps' with Robert Powell in the leading role. During the excursion everyone enjoyed a delightful meal in the restaurant carriage which was reserved for the day for CRS. The Severn Valley Railway is celebrating their Golden Jubilee in 2015. A remarkable feature of the Railway is that it is very largely run by unpaid volunteers. All staff and family agreed it was a very special day out. If you get the chance do make a visit to The Severn Valley Railway for a truly historic experience.

Earth lost 50% of its wildlife in the past 40 years, says WWF

pecies across land, rivers and seas decimated as humans kill for food in unsustainable numbers and destroy habitats

Photograph: Global Warming Images/WWF-Canon
Rubbish dumped on the tundra outside llulissat in Greenland stand in stark contrast to icebergs behind from the Sermeq Kujullaq or llulissat Ice fjord – a Unesco world heritage site.
The number of wild animals on Earth has halved in the past 40 years, according to a new analysis. Creatures across land, rivers and the seas are being decimated as humans kill them for food in unsustainable numbers, while polluting or destroying their habitats, the research by scientists at WWF and the Zoological Society of London found.
“If half the animals died in London zoo next week it would be front page news,” said Professor Ken Norris, ZSL’s director of science. “But that is happening in the great outdoors. This damage is not inevitable but a consequence of the way we choose to live.” He said nature, which provides food and clean water and air, was essential for human wellbeing.
“We have lost one half of the animal population and knowing this is driven by human consumption, this is clearly a call to arms and we must act now,” said Mike Barratt, director of science and policy at WWF. He said more of the Earth must be protected from development and deforestation, while food and energy had to be produced sustainably.
The steep decline of animal, fish and bird numbers was calculated by analysing 10,000 different populations, covering 3,000 species in total. This data was then, for the first time, used to create a representative “Living Planet Index” (LPI), reflecting the state of all 45,000 known vertebrates.
“We have all heard of the FTSE 100 index, but we have missed the ultimate indicator, the falling trend of species and ecosystems in the world,” said Professor Jonathan Baillie, ZSL’s director of conservation. “If we get [our response] right, we will have a safe and sustainable way of life for the future,” he said.
If not, he added, the overuse of resources would ultimately lead to conflicts. He said the LPI was an extremely robust indicator and had been adopted by UN’s internationally-agreed Convention on Biological Diversity as key insight into biodiversity.
CRS’s Head of Environment, Richard Ball commented ‘ the changes in the environment reflect the need of individual, organisations and nations to change; we are moving from an era of considering how we affect the environment, to having to plan how to adapt our activities to a changing environmental context. Changes to legislation, taxation, resource scarcity and costs make understanding the relevance of environmental management a must.’
A second index in the new Living Planet report calculates humanity’s “ecological footprint”, ie the scale at which it is using up natural resources. Currently, the global population is cutting down trees faster than they regrow, catching fish faster than the oceans can restock, pumping water from rivers and aquifers faster than rainfall can replenish them and emitting more climate-warming carbon dioxide than oceans and forests can absorb.
The report concludes that today’s average global rate of consumption would need 1.5 planet Earths to sustain it. But four planets would be required to sustain US levels of consumption, or 2.5 Earths to match UK consumption levels.
The fastest decline among the animal populations were found in freshwater ecosystems, where numbers have plummeted by 75% since 1970. “Rivers are the bottom of the system,” said Dave Tickner, WWF’s chief freshwater adviser. “Whatever happens on the land, it all ends up in the rivers.” For example, he said, tens of billions of tonnes of effluent are dumped in the Ganges in India every year.
As well as pollution, dams and the increasing abstraction of water damage freshwater systems. There are more than 45,000 major dams – 15m or higher – around the world. “These slice rivers up into a thousand pieces,” Tickner said, preventing the healthy flow of water. While population has risen fourfold in the last century, water use has gone up sevenfold. “We are living thirstier and thirstier lives,” he said.
But while freshwater species such as the European eel and the hellbender salamander in the US have crashed, recoveries have also been seen. Otters were near extinct in England but thanks to conservation efforts now live in every county.
The number of animals living on the land has fallen by 40% since 1970. From forest elephants in central Africa, where poaching rates now exceed birth rates, to the Hoolock gibbon in Bangladesh and European snakes like the meadow and asp vipers, destruction of habitat has seen populations tumble. But again intensive conservation effort can turn declines around, as has happened with tigers in Nepal.
Marine animal populations have also fallen by 40% overall, with turtles suffering in particular. Hunting, the destruction of nesting grounds and getting drowned in fishing nets have seen turtle numbers fall by 80%. Some birds have been heavily affected too. The number of grey partridges in the UK sank by 50% since 1970 due to the intensification of farming, while curlew sandpipers in Australia lost 80% of their number in the 20 years to 2005.
The biggest declines in animal numbers have been seen in low-income, developing nations, while conservation efforts in rich nations have seen small improvements overall. But the big declines in wildlife in rich nations had already occurred long before the new report’s baseline year of 1970 – the last wolf in the UK was shot in 1680.
Also, by importing food and other goods produced via habitat destruction in developing nations, rich nations are “outsourcing” wildlife decline to those countries, said Norris. For example, a third of all the products of deforestation such as timber, beef and soya were exported to the EU between 1990 and 2008.
David Nussbaum, chief executive of WWF-UK said: “The scale of the destruction highlighted in this report should be a wake-up call for us all. But 2015 – when the countries of the world are due to come together to agree on a new global climate agreement, as well as a set of sustainable development goals – presents us with a unique opportunity to reverse the trends.
“We all – politicians, businesses and people – have an interest, and a responsibility, to act to ensure we protect what we all value: a healthy future for both people and nature.”
Source: The Guardian,

New busy builder leaflets

HSE Construction Division has created four new Busy Builder leaflets - containing simple, straightforward guidance for those who run small construction sites. The leaflets also show real examples of good and unacceptable practice on site. 

Fragile roofs: What you need to know as a busy builder, contractor or maintenance worker

Fragile roofs: What you need to know as a building owner, user or managing agent

Keeping your site tidy: What you need to know as a busy builder

Protecting the public: What you need to know as a busy builder

And don’t for get to contact CRS www.crsrisk.com for all your Site Safety Training courses i.e. NEBOSH Certificate in Construction, SMSTS, SSSTS or IOSH Working safety if you need the green CSCS card.

Construction firm sentenced after barrier fell on baby’s pram

A construction firm has been fined for safety failings after a barrier was blown on top of a pram injuring an 18-week-old baby.

The baby boy was asleep in his pram while his mother used a cash machine outside a supermarket in Drip Road, Stirling, when the incident occurred on 24 October 2011.

Stirling Sheriff Court was told today (23 September) that Kier Construction Ltd was refurbishing the supermarket and had assembled barriers to separate the public from the work that was going on. Branding banners saying the supermarket was still open for business were attached to the barriers.

The court heard the baby’s mother parked the pram near to the barriers with her 13-year-old daughter, standing next to it. As she walked to the cash machine she heard her daughter scream. She turned and saw a barrier with banner attached had fallen on top of the pram hood, which had collapsed on the baby. They tried to lift the barrier off the pram and a passer-by came to their assistance.

The baby was taken to hospital with bruising to his forehead. He was discharged that day and suffered no more effects from the incident.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that contrary to manufacturer’s instructions, the barriers had not been filled with water to ensure stability and the barriers next to the cash machines had not been locked together.

Inspectors also discovered that the previous month, high winds had caused the barriers to fall over and the site manger had ordered the removal of the banners. Concrete blocks were then placed at the base of the barriers but they were not filled with water.

Kier Construction Ltd, of, Tempsford Hall, Sandy, Bedfordshire, was fined £4,000 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

Following the case, HSE Principal Inspector Isabelle Martin, said:

“This incident could easily have been prevented. If assembled correctly the barriers could withstand winds of up to 58mph. On the day of the incident windspeed was about 30mph and should not have been an issue.

“Instead, because Kier Construction Limited failed to properly construct the barriers, a young baby was hurt. Luckily, his injuries were minor but they could have been worse. This incident should serve as a reminder to construction companies about their duty to protect members of the public who may be affected by their work.”