Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court was told that the Slug and Lettuce employee was preparing to unload a drinks delivery on 18 October 2017. The internal cellar hatch door, which was open and unsecured, fell shut and he sustained several broken fingers. The prosecution was brought against Stonegate Pub...
29/01/2019
THINKING ABOUT C.O.S.H.H?
COSHH: Managing Hazardous Substances and the Legal Implications!
Moyna Merrison, Director of COSHH specialists Alcumus reveals the most common assumptions and subsequent mistakes businesses make:
“I have a list of chemicals and how they should be used, so I’m compliant”
Understanding the substances that are used within your business is just half of the COSHH challenge. Every business needs to document what substances are being used and, more importantly, how they are being used. A compliant COSHH assessment needs to detail how a substance is being used, for how long, in what type of environment and what protective measures need to be taken. This information then needs to be effectively communicated to the staff.
“I reviewed my COSHH assessments a few years ago, so I don’t need to do anything”
Effective COSHH management should be a cyclical process of continuous improvement – it is not a static task that should only be done once. Legislative updates, the introduction of different products or substances and personnel changes can all have a fundamental impact on a COSHH assessment. Businesses who are not proactively reviewing their COSHH assessments may as well not have any assessments in place at all.
“I’ve never had a COSHH incident, so my business doesn’t have a problem”
Ignorance is no excuse for failing to implement a robust COSHH management strategy. The symptoms of many occupational diseases caused by hazardous substances – lung cancer, occupational asthma, joint and nerve damage – can take several years to emerge. Therefore, while a business may not have had an incident to date, that doesn’t mean that its COSHH processes are effective. And if a worker develops an occupational disease in the future that can be related to a job they did in the past; their former employer will still be held responsible.
What are the legal implications of non-compliance?
One of the (HSE) Health and Safety Executive’s current priorities is on occupational health, with a particular focus on occupational lung disease, given the disease leads to an estimated 12,000 deaths each year. Health and safety lawyer, Elizabeth Hyde, Principal Associate at Eversheds Sutherland comments "Under UK health and safety law all the HSE must prove, to bring a prosecution against a company, is that the company has posed a risk to the health and safety of its employees or to those affected by the company’s activities. The HSE does not have to demonstrate that actual harm has occurred. Companies therefore run the risk of prosecution if they fail to properly implement effective COSHH processes”.
Source of information: sphonline
29/01/2019
THINKING ABOUT C.O.S.H.H?
HSE Prosecutions History
Details for Case No.4131800
Inadequate PPE leads to worker contracting dermatitis
A factory worker has been left with permanent disabilities after contracting a severe form of dermatitis at his workplace.
Prysmian Cables and Systems Ltd was fined £27,500 and ordered to pay £10,700 costs, at Southampton Crown Court on 9 September. The firm pleaded guilty to breaching reg.6(1)(a), 7(1), and 7(3) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002.
The court heard a workman had contracted dermatitis in October 2006 after being regularly exposed to a hazardous substance at the company’s factory in Eastleigh. The site made high-voltage cables containing paper insulation that was soaked in dodecylbenzene (DDB) oil.
The worker was stationed on the factory’s production line, and cut sections out of the cables to carry out quality-control tests. But he was not provided with adequate PPE and the oil regularly came into contact with his skin, which caused him to suffer skin irritations across his body. As a result of the illness he has been left with permanent scarring and has to avoid contact with substances that cause further skin irritation. He has been unable to return to work and has been forced to retire on medical grounds at the age of 48.
HSE inspector, Anne Bartlett, said: “All employers should undertake risk assessments in a way that correctly identifies all of the significant risks, including those to health, and as a result, ensure that an appropriate package of measures – including physical safeguards, safe systems of work, protective clothing, consistent training and appropriate health surveillance – are provided for the safety of all workers.
Cooplands has been fined £159,080 and ordered to pay £4,594 in costs after magistrates heard that employees at the Eastfield factory were consistently exposed to risks to their health over a period of 14 years.
An engineering company has been fined after an apprentice suffered serious hand injuries when he was drawn into machinery.
Cannock Magistrates’ Court heard how, on 3 March 2018, the 19-year-old apprentice was forming a piece of sheet metal into a radius using a three-roll bending machine. He was wearing gloves when his hand was drawn in by the in-running nip between two steel rollers. As a result, the apprentice had two fingers severed and also suffered crush injuries to his right hand.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that a safe system of work, adequate training and effective supervision were lacking. The use of gloves increased the likelihood of being drawn in to the dangerous parts of the machine.
Air Management & Design Ltd of Spencroft Road, Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,301.20.
HSE inspector Wendy Campbell said after the hearing: “A young man’s life has been changed because his employer failed to ensure adequate training in and supervision of a safe system of work for the use of a powered three roll bending machine.
“This is a reminder to all companies to check that fully fingered gloves are not worn, and safe systems of work are in place and being followed for operation of dangerous machinery such as three-roll bending machines.”
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We are a newly established company based in Gwynedd with the aim of providing small-medium sized businesses reliable and affordable solutions to fulfil their legal and moral obligations under current Health & Safety Legislation.
Let us take the stress away! There is no ignoring the fact that Health & Safety is a legal requirement but sometimes business owners and employers find it all worryingly expensive, time consuming and somewhat confusing trying to keep abreast of ever-increasing changes made in legislation. With our specialist help however, the Health & Safety aspects of your business operations need not be an expensive and confusing minefield after all! For example;
Our Health & Safety Essentials Starter Pack (priced at £39.00) includes; a Company Health & Safety Policy template and all necessary corresponding documents such as a Company Health & Safety Employee Handbook and Company Induction Training Records for independent completion. This essential starter pack also includes five copies of the official HSE approved leaflet "Health and Safety Law: What you need to know", a Data Protection Compliant Accident Reporting Book and First Aid Sign, and “Manual Handling”, “COSHH” and “Fire Safety” Instruction Posters.
As part of our aim to provide small-medium sized businesses reliable and affordable solutions to fulfil all their legal obligations under current Health & Safety Legislation, we are also offering a Company Safe System of Work Manual (made available from £29.00) with S.S.W. instruction sheets which can be tailor-picked to fit in with your actual business activities to demonstrate compliance and due diligence in providing employees safe working instructions to complete a variety of day to day work tasks.
Our Health & Safety Risk Assessment Packs (available from £39.00) covers the ‘mandatory’ legal requirement placed on employers to assess and control all the risks their business operations pose to the health & safety of employees.
What should you do now if you have no Health & Safety Policy or Systems in place? Well you could do nothing and risk ignoring the Law which places specific duties on businesses and employers to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees, customers and visitors to the workplace, OR, you could call us to arrange a free no obligation meeting to view the full range of Health & Safety packages we have on offer!
