Archive for May, 2010
24/05/2010
Check for asbestos before starting work!
A building contractor has been fined after visiting HSE Inspectors found refurbishment work in progress without adequate enquiries regarding the presence of asbestos containing materials (ACMs). Inspectors found refurbishment work being carried out without an adequate check (survey) for asbestos or asbestos-containing materials. A Prohibition Notice was issued immediately stopping construction work. Further investigations found large [...]
20/05/2010
Almost a third of construction sites visited in Nottinghamshire during March failed safety inspections.
Inspectors from the HSE carried out checks at 66 sites construction sites across Nottinghamshire during two days of intensive inspections. They issued a total of 21 enforcement notices, either stopping work immediately or requiring improvements to be made. The majority of the notices covered unsafe work being carried out at height. Nic Rigby, HSE’s Principal [...]
20/05/2010
Work/life balance plays a vital role in well-being
People who regularly put in overtime and work 10 or 11-hour days increase their heart disease risk by nearly two-thirds, research suggests. The findings come from a study of 6,000 British civil servants, published online in the European Heart Journal. After accounting for known heart risk factors such as smoking, doctors found those who worked [...]
17/05/2010
Company fined £70K following exposure to Carbon Monoxide
A construction company was fined £70,000 after a security guard died from carbon monoxide poisoning on a construction site in Scotland. Hamilton Sheriff Court heard that in February 2008, the security guard was overcome with fumes from a petrol generator used inside the site office. The Company pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the [...]
14/05/2010
Worried about your hearing?
Some 170,000 people in the UK suffer deafness, ringing in the ears or other ear conditions caused by excessive noise at work. The potential effects of noise induced hearing loss is shown in a brief video clip – reproduced from “The Hearing Video” by the kind permission of WorksafeBC. http://www.hse.gov.uk/noise/video/hearingvideo.htm?ebul=cons/apr10&cr=21
07/05/2010
How well do you comply with CDM?
Last week we reported that a roperty company has been ordered to pay £11,000 in fines & costs for failing to manage a construction project properly & breaching CDM 2007; the property company, as the Project Client, had not appointed a CDM Co-ordinator or Principal Contractor, had no suitable management arrangements in place and failed to check [...]
07/05/2010
Construction blitz produces poor results
Nearly a quarter of the construction sites visited by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) during March failed safety checks. Inspectors from HSE carried out checks at 2014 construction sites across Great Britain as part of an intensive inspection campaign aimed at reducing death and injury in one of Britain’s most dangerous industries. During unannounced [...]
01/05/2010
Finally…….Project Client fined for breach of CDM
And about time too! A property company has been ordered to pay £11,000 in fines & costs for failing to manage a construction project properly & breaching CDM 2007 The property company hired a contractor to manage the renovation of an old factory site; the contractor then sub-contracted an unskilled labourer to carry out the [...]
