A self-employed scaffolder was killed when he fell 19 metres from a scaffolding platform. This tragic death could have been avoided and was a result of poor health and safety management and a lack of training. The case has highlighted the need for all those in the construction industry to be aware of the risks and learn management techniques from courses such as the SMSTS. Russell Samuel died after suffering from a fractured skull and multiple injuries after he slipped and fell of some scaffold. His injuries could have been prevented if he had received adequate health and safety training.

Carillion Construction and Febrey were prosecuted on November 23 at Swansea Magistrates Court. The HSE inspection that took place after the accident found that Febrey, the company who contracted Russell Samuel had very poor health and safety management systems. There was no communication between them and the workers, no instruction and this led to extreme risk of accidents for their workers and contractors. The management had not been trained and they consistently ignored the warnings they were given by their health and safety consultants. Carillion Construction was prosecuted because they were the principal contractor. They knew that Febrey were failing in their health and safety yet they failed to make the company improve.

Judge Wanted to Fine Febrey £250,000

Carillion Construction were fined £130,000 and ordered to pay £52,500 in costs after appearing in court to plead guilty for breaching two Health and Safety Regulations. Febrey would have also been fined £250,000; however the firm went into liquidation and so the judge could only fine them £85.00

Health and safety training must be a priority for all construction companies. Working from height is the biggest cause of fatalities and injuries which is why the Work at height Regulations has to be followed. Lives are at risk every day and so it is up to you to do everything possible to reduce the risks and help to keep your employees safe from harm.

SMSTS training courses are excellent courses aimed at managers within construction industries. The course only lasts for five days and in those five days multiple topics are covered, including working with scaffold. Call 0844 576 6750.

You might talk to employees about what they have to do on a day-to-day basis; but are you communicating effectively with them? If you hire people, whether they are employed by you or contracted you have a responsibility to inform them of the risks they are facing when carrying out the work. If you are unsure how to communicate these risks you can learn the skills through health and safety training.

Another of your duties is to ensure that they are involved in health and safety consultations relating to their work. You can provide the information in a number of ways, through your policies, face to face meetings, discussing the findings of risk assessments, training working methods and supplying equipment and protective gear. It’s important to consider their level of understanding, especially if you hire people who do not speak English as their first language. In these circumstances you may need to have the information translated.

What Should You Communicate to Your Workers?

The information you communicate to your employees needs to include:

• Who the competent person is in the organisation that they can approach when discussing health and safety concerns?
• What should they do if they notice any risks or hazards?
• What work or precautions are there to reduce the risks and how they can introduce them into their work?
• What risks are they facing with their work?

Communicate with Your Representatives Too

When dealing with health and safety representatives you need to be aware that they are entitled to view your safety documentation that is required to be created and kept by law. This might include your risk assessments and records of any accidents or incidents.

Health and safety training for directors and managers can help you to learn the methods of effective communication. These courses are available all year round and in most towns and cities. Some are just one day long while others can run into several days or even months. Our team will help you to find the right one to suit you and benefit your health and safety management. Speak to one of our advisors on 0844 576 6750.

One of the reasons why health and safety training is so important is because it can highlight the serious hazards present in all businesses. One of these hazards comes in the form of slips and trips. These are the most common cause of injuries and can lead to days off work, prolonged injuries, prosecution and having to pay out for compensation.

It’s not only employees who are at risk of injuries caused by tripping up. They are also a common cause of accidents for the public. Anywhere that permits public access must consider how they will reduce the chances of the public being hurt by slipping over or tripping over objects.

As an employer or a business owner you have to think about what could cause an employee or member of the public to slip in your work premises. You will also need to work out if you are doing enough to prevent these types of accidents and introduce new measures if you find your current prevention techniques are failing.

Prevention Tips

There are many ways you can work to help stop these incidents from occurring:

• Provide your employees with suitable footwear that are designed for the type of environment they are working in.
• Installing the appropriate flooring.
• Cleaning up spills quickly.
• Routine cleaning plans and responsive actions in place.
• Keeping walkways and corridors clear.
• Preventing floors getting wet.
• Not allowing anyone to walk on areas that are wet from cleaning/spillages until the floor is dry.
• Be aware of and fix tripping hazards such as cables and wires.

Why Health and Safety Can Help

To introduce health and safety measures it’s important to be considered competent. Health and safety training will give you skills and a formal qualification that will show any inspectors that you have been formally educated at an appropriate level. Choose a course that will teach you the important of recognising the risks from slips and falls and how to recognise hazards in the work place. Risk assessment techniques are another must as they can help you to establish risks and evaluate the control measures at regular intervals.

Health and safety training will help you work to ensure the safety of your employees. You will be more likely to be in compliance with the law with the right training.

A construction firm in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire has been fined after an on-the-spot inspection discovered several men using incomplete, unstable and generally unsafe scaffolding while working on a barn conversion. The men were ordered to cease work and come down from the scaffolding immediately by the Health and Safety Executive inspector and a Prohibition Notice was served.

The employer, Bailey Developments, was prosecuted in the Magistrates Court in Accrington for failing to take the appropriate health and safety measures which would prevent workers from being injured in a fall. They were found responsible for breaching safety procedures and guilty of putting their workers in danger due to health and safety negligence.

More than Five Metres Above the Ground

The inspector had spotted the workers near the farm in Mellor Brow standing on scaffolding platforms which were more than five metres above the ground and did not have the required health and safety measures set in place to make them acceptable to work upon. The workers had been using them, even though they were missing several guard rails, deck boards, toe boards and other safety features. The unstable scaffolding also had unsafe ladders leaning against it. The workers who were using these platforms were very much at risk of falling.

Breached the Work at Height Regulations of 2005

The company admitted that they had breached the Work at Height Regulations of 2005 and they were fined £5,000. The company will also be required to pay an additional £2,000 in prosecution costs. Working at Height health and safety concerns are very serious, because a fall from a height can be very dangerous for a worker and can result in serious injury or even death.

On-the-spot Inspection

It is lucky that an on-the-spot inspection brought attention to these health and safety breaches, before any of the company’s workers were seriously hurt by a fall from unsafe scaffolding. The workers could have fallen from their scaffolding and been seriously injured if they had continued to work in this unsafe manner. Now that the problem has been brought to the attention of the company, they will hopefully be more careful about meeting health and safety requirements with their scaffolding in the future.

Scaffolding Training Courses

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In the West Midlands, a worker has fallen into a sewage well as a result of health and safety negligence. The company he worked for has been fined.

The 34 year old worker from Walsall, who has asked not to be named, was working for Tardis Environmental UK at a partially completed housing development. He was attempting to clear a blockage at the bottom of the sewage well which had caused the pump to stop working. It had been clogged by a large amount of waste material such as paper and nappies.

The worker was using a road tanker with a pump and hose attachment to remove the waste from the sewer. He opened up a grid on top of the well and he was standing above it to manipulate the hose into the right spot. As he was doing this, the hose kicked back and as it hit him he fell into the chamber. He managed to grab onto the hose as he fell in order to slow down his fall and he was stuck at the bottom of the chamber, dizzy and disoriented before he realised that he had his mobile phone and was able to call for help.

He had suffered a head injury in the fall as well as friction burns to his arms, elbows and knees and had ingested raw sewage. If he had not been able to grab the hose on the way down, he could have even been killed.

When the Health and Safety Executive investigated, they found that the employee had not received any training in the correct and safe procedures for emptying deep, below-ground sewage wells according to proper health and safety regulations. The company was found guilty of breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974 and was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £3,000 in costs.

Although the worker was working at ground level, the depth of the pit meant that he should have been following the health and safety procedures for working at height. The company should have been responsible for providing him with equipment which would have prevented his fall, such as a harness or a restraint.

Putting your employees at risk is morally wrong; it also breaches health and safety laws. By putting people at risk you could be the reason why they become injured or involved in an accident at work. You would have to live with the guilt and could face being prosecuted by the HSE and sued by the person who was hurt. Health and Safety training courses can help you to recognise if you are doing enough to prevent your workers being exposed to risks.

The IOSH and NEBOSH have several excellent courses that will teach you some important skills for the workplace. You can find out areas of weakness and work on implementing new policies and procedures to protect those who are working hard for you.

How Can You Do More

One of the first things to do is conduct a risk assessment for each of the jobs that are being carried out. You also need to get used to performing risk assessments for each new job that comes in. The assessment needs to be complete, taking into consideration the work that is being carried out, any items, equipment and gear being used, the environment where the work is taking place and the person/persons performing the tasks. The point of the assessment is to highlight any hazards or risks that could be missed without carefully examining the job. By highlighting these hazards you can move towards successfully eradicating any potential dangers in your working environment.

Once the assessment has been completed and new safety measures introduced you need to discuss it with the affected employees. Make it clear what is expected of them and how important each step is for their own safety, and the safety of their colleagues and the public. Communication is vital for health and safety so remember to include it in your managing style.

Learn more about reducing the risks with an IOSH Managing Safely or NEBOSH General Certificate course. The training covers the production and monitoring of risk assessments as well as how to spot the hazards in your workplace. You will also learn different managing practices and principles and how to plan, create and implement actions and working methods.

Call us on 0808 1966 830 and ask us about our wide range of health and safety training courses.

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Basic health and safety training isn’t enough for your key personnel. If you have people that are responsible for managing the health and safety of your office or business they have to be competent. The skills that are learnt on training courses will ensure they are able to do their job and carry out their responsibilities. As an employer this is good news as it could help to save you money.

Accidents and incidents cost you money. You may have to pay sick pay, lose out on work due to absences, pay for temporary cover, pay compensation, intervention fees and even fines and court costs if you are found to be breaching the health and safety legislation. Finding a suitable training course is therefore essential and the cost is comparatively small especially when compared with how expensive accidents can be.

Safety Management Training is Required

The IOSH Managing Safely course that provides the delegate with an excellent qualification. The course lasts for four or five days and there is an practical examination at the end of the training.

During the training the delegates learn multiple skills including:

• Spotting hazards found in the workplace
• Producing and recording risk assessments
• Recommending control measures as a result of the risk assessments
• Providing management practices and principles as part of a management strategy
• Planning, creating and implementing actions to meet health and safety objectives
• Recognising and accounting for the risks from ergonomic factors
• Investigating accidents and incidents which resulted in damage or injury to discover the causes and to ensure the appropriate steps are taken.

It is possible to join a course quickly as the training takes place all year round in classrooms throughout the UK, alternatively the training can be attended online in the form of e-learning. If you would like to sign up your personnel for the training course you can do so either online or by giving us a call. If you book a place outside of usual office hours you will need to wait for the next working day for the request to be processed. If you are not sure if the course is suitable for your employees feel free to contact us for help and advice.

Call us on 0844 576 6750 for more information on our health and safety training.

49 year old Richard Sharp, from Wetherby in West Yorkshire, has suffered a life changing condition after being exposed to ozone gas while on the job in a serious health and safety oversight. He was servicing a UK light system in a plant room at Cott Beverages which is a soft drinks manufacturer on Sideley Road.

Sharp was not told that there was ozone gas present in the room and he was overcome by the fumes. This incident caused him to develop acute irritant asthma, which has resulted in him being unable to return to his job. His life has been changed as he now struggles with ordinary activities and situations and has an incredibly high sensitivity to smells and chemicals. If he inhales any sort of chemicals or scents such as exhaust fumes or perfume, it could trigger a severe asthma attack.

The court found that Cott Beverages Ltd was negligent on health and safety matters as it had been aware of the hazards of ozone for quite some time. They had first installed the generating equipment in 2001 to disinfect the liquid which was used in drinks. According to the investigation which was carried out by the Health and Safety Executive, the company had failed in their responsibility of carrying out a suitable assessment of the risks of the equipment. They were also found guilty of failing to implement a safe system for keeping the equipment serviced.

In short, the company Cott Beverages had been aware that there had been a leak of ozone in the area and had been aware of the dangers of this. However, they had done nothing to rectify the problem or comply with health and safety standards in order to protect their contractors from the dangers of this gas. As a result, Sharp is now living a very restricted life and is not able to do many of the normal activities which others enjoy as he is constantly in danger of encountering smoke or car fumes.

The company pleaded guilty in the court and was ordered to pay the costs of £11,565 as well as the fine of £20,000.

A group of 183 workers from South Wales, UK have finally won their claim for health and safety damages in the High Court after claiming that they had been exposed to toxic fumes and dust while on the job.

The health and safety compensation claim was submitted by a solicitor on behalf of the workers at the Abercwmboi Phurnacite Works which is located within Aberaman. The plant is located in South Wales, in the Cynon Valley area. This particular plant has been closed since 1990; however several of the workers who were previously employed there have suffered long term respiratory ailments and have even developed cancers in the years since. Some workers had symptoms which appeared right away and others had longer term or chronic problems which did not appear until many years later.

The solicitors argued in the case that the companies directing the work in the plant did not follow correct health and safety regulations when working with toxic chemicals and caused their workers to be exposed to dangerous levels of toxins and pollutants. Whenever workers are in danger of being exposed to possibly harmful materials, it is the responsibility of the company to follow the appropriate health and safety procedures in order to protect them.

The legal teams which were defending the workers managed to determine that the companies involved, including Coal Products Limited and the Department of Energy and Climate Change, were responsible for breaches in health and safety which caused the illnesses in the eight main cases. Medical causation was proved undeniably in four out of those eight cases.

The investigation will go on to examine the cases of a further 166 claimants. If medical causation can be proved in any of these cases, the workers will receive a level of compensation which could range from £4,500 to £119,310. According to Kathryn Singh, the solicitor at Hugh James who was working on the case, the workers were very pleased after finding out that they are finally eligible for damages. They had been working towards this victory for a very long time and the workers and their families are pleased to know that they will be compensated for their expenses.

Each and every person that comes to work for you requires health and safety training. It is your duty to ensure they are made aware of the risks that are involved with their work and the working environment. To do this it is necessary for you to be aware of the risks and have the skills needed to give the right information and suitable training that is considered adequate by the Health and Safety Executive.

All people you are paying for services must be given the same suitable training including any contractors you hire or self-employed people. Essential topics must include:

• The hazards they are facing
• The measures that you have created to minimise or eliminate the risks
• The emergency procedures in place and how to follow them correctly

Keeping a training record is a must as there are times when retraining is required. Furthermore as people are moved around the company you may need to refocus their training to ensure that the new jobs and duties that they are now involved have been covered.

If you do not have the necessary skills to provide the training yourself it’s important to hire people that do. Some excellent courses available will reduce the need to hire new employees with health and training qualifications on their CV. Courses range from basics for workers to more in-depth training for those who will have serious health and safety responsibilities within your organisation.

The cost of each course is to be met by you the employer and not the employees. It is also essential that the training is taking place in work hours. There are many courses that you can take at local education centres and distance learning is available. If you have several employees that need to earn the qualification, it might be better to consider in-house options. This is where a tutor will come into your premises to deliver the content of the course.

Remember that you should not simply forget the training once everyone has received the basics. There are times when needs change such as:

• When you employ someone new
• When people change jobs
• If you have young people in your workplace
• When health and safety representatives and managers require further or refreshed qualifications

Call 0844 576 6750 and discuss the variety of health and safety training that are available.