October 2013 Health and Safety Legal Update
Changes to two regulations came into force on 1st October 2013 concerning how employers should deal implement Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrence Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) and the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981.
The changes were detailed by Wallett HSE Services Ltd in our September 2013 and August 2013 Legal Updates.
Both changes follow a review of health and safety legislation by Professor Ragnar Löfstedt in which he made a number of recommendations to the Government requiring the HSE to implement after a suitable consultation period.
See the following links to related to this months articles:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/fee-for-intervention/
http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2013/hse-legislation-changes.htm
Cases in court recently:
A recycling company has been fined £250,000 after a 21 year old worker.
A recycling company has been fined £250,000 after a 21 year old worker was fatally injured when he was struck by a skip lorry. The worker had only worked for the company for six months at the time of the incident. Inexperience can often be a leading factor in these types incidents.
Geraint Eagle of Nany-Y-Moel, near Brigend was cleaning sensors on a weighbridge at the site run by Nolan Recycling due to a build up of mud.
Mr Eagle has been working with a colleague initially but after taking a break returned to the cleaning job alone. A lorry drove onto the weighbridge, as it was still in use the whole time cleaning took place and Mr Eagle moved off it temporarily. The lorry driver went into the office and assumed that Mr Eagle was still not on the weighbridge and drove over Mr Eagle who died at the scene.
During the investigation it was discovered that no risk assessment had been completed. Barriers were available but had not been used. There was also ineffective segregation of pedestrians and vehicles.
Nolan Recycling had the fine reduced from £375,000 to £250,000 due to an early guilty plea. They also had to pay £53,100 costs.
A simple risk assessment, use of barriers during the work activity and better staff training could have easily prevented this fatality.
Look at December 2012 article about a similar incident at a Halfords site, it goes into detail best practice for pedestrian segregation.
12 Months Since Fee For Intervention (FFI) Scheme was introduced Companies complaining of a "Double Whammy!"
The fee for intervention scheme was introduced in October 2012 and has changed the way that Environment, Health and Safety Authorities enforce UK EH&S laws.
Many companies affected are complaining that in addition to costs associated with implementation of new procedures and policies, they have to pay for the inspectors time at £124 per hour, per inspector, right from the time that a "material breach" is identified, including writing of reports, investigation and return visits to verify new procedures have been properly implemented.
The Health and Safety Executive are required to review the FFI, now it is 12 months old and are being urged by business groups to more balanced in their approach. It is unlikely though that much will change as the whole idea of the scheme was to replace funding which was removed by the Government and in effect make the HSE more self financing. Companies with high levels of compliance with EH&S laws theoretically not being affected.
See our articles from last year to see what FFI is about:
A Hospital Trust given massive fine for two matters including a Legionella Outbreak.
Basildon and Thurrock University Hospital Foundation Trust was prosecuted for two serious health and safety failings. This conviction resulted in £350,000 penalty including prosecutions costs. As detailed in numerous publications by us and other H&S experts before though, the real cost to the Trust may be well over 3 million pounds with all the hidden costs associated with these case (e.g. defence solicitors costs, H&S experts costs, lost productivity, civil claims/ actions, bad publicity and loss of productivity of key staff.)
The first issue concerned an outbreak of Legionnaires disease at the hospital which infected at least seven patients. Two patients died in the outbreak.
The second incident involved a vulnerable 80 year old patient who fell 5 metres out of a un-restricted window opening. Carrying out an appropriate risk assessment and fitting window locks to limit the amount a window could open, would have easily prevented this incident from occurring Obviously the risk assessment would need to identify areas of higher risk such as areas used to treat the young, older patients, patients with any form of dementia or serious mental health issue.
On the 3rd September 2013 Chelmsford Crown Court was told that the Health and Safety Executive identified a catalogue of errors on both matters. In particular the trust had failed to adequately monitor hot and cold water systems to prevent Legionella bacteria from multiplying in these systems.
Legionella bacteria occur naturally in water, even in tap water. If the temperature is right, between 20 and 45 Celsius (temporarily or permanently) and a source of nutrition (e.g. scale, dirt, algae or moss) is available the bacteria can readily multiply.
Controlling the growth of the Legionella bacteria is relatively easy, keep the water systems clean, maintain temperatures below or above the ideal temperatures for bacteria growth (below 20 or above 40 Celsius), if at all possible. Regularly treat water which is stored at the ideal temperatures for growth with a chemicals or biocides (e.g. in cooling towers or storage tanks). If water is allowed to stagnate in pipes or tanks, flush the systems on a regular basis or drain them down. Test systems regularly for bacteria and disinfect them, when necessary. Outbreaks often occur in hospitals or similar buildings when wards or other areas have been shut down, if water systems are allowed to stagnate (e.g. not flushed or drained) and the put back into use.
The risks of a Legionella outbreak are well know and a number of very high profile cases have occurred over the years. One outbreak at Stafford Hospital in 1985 Killed 22 people and infected 68. Legionella Controls became part of UK health and safety law as a result of these now preventable outbreaks.
Outbreaks occur not just at hospitals any building, structure or organisation with quantities of water at the ideal temperature for Legionella to grow, who do not appropriately control the risk. Cooling towers, hot/ cold water systems, Jacuzzis or spas, wet air conditioning systems, showers, water fountains and any water system not properly maintained or tested are all capable of growing these bacteria and hence causing an outbreak of the illness.
Windscreen wash bottles fitted to cars have been known to cause the condition and the simple solution to prevent the growth Legionella bacteria is to use at least a 10% solution of screen wash (usually alcohol based Isopropyl Alcohol) even in the summer months.
Hard water areas can be worse as lime scale build up can create surfaces where algae, moss or other food sources can develop. So removal of lime scale build up is an essential safeguard. Obviously though the harder the water is the more often descaling will need to take place.
The big problem with Legionella outbreaks though is the relatively high mortality rate when compared to other similar illnesses.
The risk of an outbreak is higher if water droplets are formed such as in showers, water fountains (inside or outside) or cooling towers. Water based cooling towers in particular have been known to spread the bacteria over very large areas and are very high risk, as they usually have to operate in the 20 to 40 Celsius range.
The risk of an outbreak is also higher in buildings with large number of people who may have underlying health conditions such as: residential homes for the elderly, nurseries, hospitals, schools, shopping centres and medical treatment centres.
See the link for more details:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/legionnaires/what-is.htm
or call Wallett HSE Services Limited for advice on this issue.