Archive for June, 2011
29/06/2011
Harsh lessons to learn – Ken Woodward’s story
In 1990 Ken Woodward was working at a Coca Cola Schweppes factory in Sidcup, acting as a Team Leader on a line handling returnable bottles.. When changing product, the lines have to be cleaned and sterilised. The normal chemical they used was a mixture of Caustic Soda and Sodium Hypochlorite (bleach). They ran out of [...]
27/06/2011
FREE Guarding Video for Vertical Spindle Moulders
One of the most versatile machines in woodworking, but a Vertical Spindle Moulder it can be dangerous if not used correctly, because of the risk of contact with the tool, and ejection of the tool part or workpiece. Click on the link for a great video on controlling the risks – http://www.hse.gov.uk/woodworking/spindlemoulder.htm#?eban=rss-
24/06/2011
Are you really listening to your workers safety concerns?
A new report has claimed that the majority of UK employees regularly have to take decisions at work that they are not trained for or feel qualified to make, leading to increased stress levels. The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) study also found most workers felt their boss had a lack of competence for the job. [...]
22/06/2011
HSE Infoline shutting
In a move to improve efficiency further and deliver value for taxpayers, HSE’s Info line telephone service, which currently provides a basic information service to callers, will end on 30 September 2011. Businesses and members of the public seeking information and official guidance on health and safety can use HSE’s website – a huge knowledge [...]
17/06/2011
Appointing a Director for Health & Safety
To better comply with the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 your board of directors should consider the presence on the board of a health and safety director which can be a strong signal that the issue is being taken seriously and that its strategic importance is understood. Setting up a separate risk management committee [...]
15/06/2011
Dangerous assumptions led to fatal machine crush
A textile company failed to ensure that staff followed a safe system of work when cleaning a baling machine, which was involved in a fatality. Bradford Crown Court heard that an employee was asked to clean a baling machine, despite not being trained how to do so. He was given a brief demonstration of how [...]
10/06/2011
HSE investigation into wood dust
The HSE is to investigate the occupational risks facing those in the furniture and woodworking industries, more than 10 years after the last checks. It says about 50 people a year are diagnosed with nasal cancer which may have developed decades after their exposure to wood dust, while others have asthma as a result of [...]
09/06/2011
Plea for help on illegal asbestos dumping in the North West
A lorry load of asbestos was found to be dumped on the Ribble Link way in Preston on Tuesday 31 May 2011. The Environment Agency in the North West is appealing for information to find how this illegal waste came to be there. A member of the public informed the Environment Agency of the dumping [...]
08/06/2011
Safety Consultancy fails to identify risks
The HSE has prosecuted a recycling firm after an ex-serviceman had his lower arm cut off in a baling machine at its plant. The machine had been risk assessed by consultants who had overlooked poor guarding. The worker tripped on a scaffold tube in front of the machine — a waste compactor – and [...]
07/06/2011
Worker pulled through 5″ gap
Two firms have pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety rules after a worker miraculously survived being dragged through a gap in a machine no wider than a CD case. The worker suffered horrific injuries when he was dragged through the machine for processing heavy steel beams at a factory; he broke his back in [...]
