HSE Releases Manual Handling in Construction Podcast Episode

This episode discusses what the industry can do to promote change and protect its workforce from the risks of MSDs.

It features a conversation with Matt Birtles, Principal Ergonomics and Human Factors Consultant at HSE, and Peter Crosland, National Civil Engineering Director at CECA.

They cover the impact that MSDs can have on workers, employers’ legal responsibilities and the sensible control measures that can be introduced regardless of the size of the construction site.

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HSE – Managing Work Related Violence

HSE defines work-related violence as any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work.

This can include verbal abuse or threats, as well as physical attacks.

The HSE website has a toolkit to help reduce the risk of work-related violence in licensed or retail premises.

The toolkit has links to useful resources and features practical advice on:

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HSE – New Research in Noise and Vibration

Research report 1182: Hand-arm vibration and noise emissions of battery-powered tools compared with equivalent traditionally powered tools

This report describes research to compare noise and vibration emissions by battery-powered hand-held tools with those by traditionally-powered equivalents.

  • The researchers made ‘in-use’ tests on a representative selection of tools,
  • they found that the noise and vibration emissions of battery-powered tools can be higher or lower than those of traditionally powered equivalents
  • These research findings support the use by duty holders of HSE’s existing guidance on power tool selection in order to protect workers’ health

Chris Steel, HM Principal Inspector of Health & Safety (Noise & Vibration Specialist):

“This means we can give solid advice to our inspectors on where battery powered tools will and won’t make a difference to HAVS risk. It will have a direct impact on the Noise and Vibration team’s enforcement activities.”

Read the research report in full:

RR1182 – Hand-arm vibration and noise emissions of battery powered tools compared with equivalent traditionally powered tools

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HSE to Swoop on 500 Sites in Machine Safety Programme

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to carry out more than 500 unannounced site inspections after an “unacceptable number of fatal and serious injuries” in the waste and recycling sector.

The regulator’s programme will cover the whole of Great Britain from now until March 2023.

It will target: (1) machinery guarding and (2) moving vehicles, referred to by the HSE as ‘workplace transport’. The HSE says these two issues account for most fatal injuries.

Data published by the HSE in December 2021 shows that 30% of fatal workplace injuries in the waste sector between 2016/17 and 2020/21 occurred after contact with moving machinery.

Find out more read the letsrecycle news here

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HSE – Safe & Healthy Workplace

You must provide the right facilities for everyone in your workplace, including people with disabled people.

You must have:

  • welfare facilities
  • a healthy working environment
  • a safe workplace

View our simple advice on exactly what must be provided for a safe and healthy workplace, including required toilet and washing facilities.

Visit the Health and safety made simple website for advice on other topics, such as reporting accidents and illness, preparing a health and safety policy, and assessing risks at work.

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HSE – Face Fit Testing requirement for use of RPE

As an employer, you’re required by law to protect your employees, and others, from harm.

To meet this requirement, you will need to complete a risk assessment to assess the risks posed by your work practices and implement identified control measures.

Where your risk assessment identified the need for tight-fitting RPE  to protect against the inhalation of hazardous substances in workplace air, it is your responsibility to ensure that the RPE will protect the wearer.

The Approved Code of Practice for the Control of substances hazardous to health regulations 2002 requires that tight fitting RPE should be face fit tested by a competent individual as part of the selection process and to ensure there is an adequate seal between the selected RPE and the wearer’s face.

Face fit testing is important because if the RPE doesn’t fit correctly, the protection provided to the wearer will be greatly reduced and may lead to ill health or even put the RPE wearer’s life in danger.

When conducting a face fit test, and where tight-fighting RPE is used, to achieve a good seal between the tight-fitting respirator and the wearer’s face, the wearer will need to be clean shaven Face fit tests should not be conducted if there is any hair growth between the wearers skin and facepiece sealing surface, this includes, stubble beard growth, beard, moustache, sideburns, or a low hairline. If the respirator has an exhalation valve, hair within the sealed mask area should not impinge upon or contact the valve.

Being clean-shaven when wearing tight-fitting RPE prevents inward leakage of contaminated air from around the edges of the face seal being breathed into the lungs. It is also very important that the RPE is put on correctly and checked for a good fit every time it is put on.

You should note that under health and safety law, employers cannot require workers to be clean shaven; this is because alternative RPE to tight fitting respirators are available and can be used instead.

Further information and resources

Visit the HSE website for information on fit testing basics.

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HSE – Wear-It Study: help us understand COVID-19 virus transmission risk in the workplace

The Wear-It Study, part of the PROTECT COVID-19 National Core Study, aims to measure and understand how people interact in the workplace.

HSE’s team of dedicated researchers has been joining forces with workplaces to generate detailed data on workers’ interactions and support national efforts to:

  • Better understand and control the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus which causes COVID-19) as we adapt to living with the disease
  • Develop our understanding of how we could better respond to future respiratory infectious disease outbreaks or pandemics if they occur

Your help is needed 

Workplaces of interest include those with indoor operational areas, such as large offices, food and drink manufacturing, engineering, warehouses and fulfilment centres, and others – ideally with 50+ workers on site.

If your organisation is willing to take part, we would invite workers to wear small devices while at work for up to two weeks.

Find out more by reading the Wear-It Study invitation letter and express your interest by contacting our research team:

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HSE – Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH)

New or revised limits for 13 substances introduced on. Please refer to Table 1 of EH40/2005 ‘Workplace Exposure Limits’ for the latest WELs as these supersede any WELs contained in other HSE guidance or publications.

 

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HSE Press Release – Skip hire company fined after employee’s arm was crushed in a conveyor belt

A Bristol based skip hire company fined after employee sustains crush injuries to his arm.

On the 30 May 2018, an employee of Bateman Skips Ltd was asked to repair a conveyor belt feeding the picking station. He was injured when his arm was drawn into the mechanism whilst realigning the belt. The employee was rescued by  the Fire & Rescue Service.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Bateman Skips Ltd failed to ensure that the workforce was provided with adequate training and suitable safeguards for dealing with blockages and adjusting the equipment.

Bateman Skips Ltd of Broadmead Lane, Keynsham, Bristol pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974. The company was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,205.80.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Berenice Ray, said: “Those in control of work have a duty to assess the risks and devise safe methods of working  to provide the necessary information, instruction and training to their workforce.

“Employers must ensure that the power source of machinery such as this is isolated and physically locked off whenever the guards are removed.”

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Updated Guidance from HSE on the Safe use of Ladders and Stepladders

Ladders and stepladders are not banned under health and safety law.

The law calls for a sensible, proportionate approach to managing risk, and ladders can be a sensible and practical option for low-risk, short-duration tasks, although they should not automatically be your first choice.

There are simple, sensible precautions you should take to stay safe when using portable leaning ladders and stepladders in the workplace.

Make sure that you use the right type of ladder and that you know how to use it safely.

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