Are you prepared?

Driving in the winter is very different than in other times of the year. Adverse weather and longer periods of darkness (especially after the clocks go back at the end of October) makes driving more hazardous. Sometimes conditions can be extreme, as we have found out over the last two winters in particular, with prolonged periods of heavy snow and floods.

This means that we need to adapt the way we drive.

Different weather condi-tions create different hazards throughout the Winter and in different areas of the country at different times.

A single journey may take us into very different weather, road and traffic conditions, so we need to be prepared for each one.

The following tips may help you cope better with the various seasonal weather haz-ards. However, as we all know, many of these conditions can occur at any time of year.

By clicking on the hyperlink it will take you to the relevant page:-

• Prepare your vehicle• Prepare your journey• Prepare yourself• Driving in snow or ice• Rain• Fog• Strong Winds

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1 http://www.rospa.com/roadsafety/adviceandinformation/driving/winter-driving-tips.aspx

11Linc

safeMerry Christmas to all 12

2011 Lincsafe (Health & Safety) Limited www.lincsafe.co.uk 01673876640

The sTaff aT Lincsafe wish aLL Their cLienTs a safe chrisTmas and a heaLThy new year.Lincsafe will close at lunch time on Friday 23rd De-cember and be manned with a skeleton crew in the office on the following dates on a halfday basis:-

December 28th,29th,30th and back to normal on the 3rd January.

For emergency’s please contact your designated ad-visors mobile.

Construction worker killed when crane overturned

A construction company and its managing director have been sentenced after a father-of-two was crushed to death when a crane over-turned in Liverpool.

Richard Mark Thornton, 46, from Longridge near Preston, died when a 50-tonne crane toppled over while moving a steel column on 29 March 2007. Mr Thornton, known as Mark, had been helping to construct a new floor on a warehouse at Wavertree Business Park when he was struck by the column. Mr Thornton’s employer, Siteweld Construction Ltd, and the managing director of the company, Benjamin Lee, were prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for failing to make sure the work was planned and carried out safely.

Liverpool Crown Court heard the crane had been used to lift the six-tonne steel column when it was nearly 18 metres away, taking it well outside its safe lifting capacity for that distance.

The HSE investigation found the crane had not been properly maintained and the external alarm could not be heard by those working nearby. The override switches were also faulty, including the switch that prevented the crane lifting loads beyond its capacity.

Benjamin Lee, 36 of Ashley Lane, Goosnargh, Preston, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 8(1) of the Lift-ing Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998. He was fined £80,000 and ordered to pay £18,478 in prosecution costs on 16 De-cember 2011.

Siteweld Construction Ltd, of Berry Lane, Longridge, Preston, pleaded guilty to the same offence. It received a nominal fine of £50 with no costs as it has ceased trad-ing.

Mark Thornton’s widow, Sandra, said:“Mark and I were together over 20 years. We used to do everything together. When Mark died, my life stopped. I don’t live, I exist.

“It is hard to express just how much I miss him. I open the front door and he’s just not there.”

The crane hire firm, Bryn Thomas Crane Hire Ltd, and the crane’s operator, Fred-erick Scott, were also pros-ecuted for health and safety failings. They were sentenced at an earlier hearing at Liverpool Crown Court on 11 April 2011.

Sarah Wadham, the investigating inspec-tor at HSE, said:

“It is tragic that Mr Thornton died be-cause a series of health and safety

warnings and procedures were ignored. The crane was simply not capable of lifting the steel column, when it was nearly 18 metres away, with-out it being overloaded.

“If the work had been proper-ly planned, and the crane had been properly maintained, then Mr Thornton would still be alive today. It is vital construction companies learn from this case to prevent similar deaths in the future.”

Mr Thornton was one of 79 construction workers to be killed while at work in Great Britain in 2006/7. There were also nearly 4,500 ma-jor injuries reported to HSE. Information on improving construction safety is avail-able at www.hse.gov.uk/con-struction.1

1 http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2011/coi-nw-06siteweld.htm#?eban=rss-press-release

UPDATE

HSE PROSECUTIONSEvery month we try to highlight issues sourced from differentindustries, below are this months selection.....

2011 Lincsafe (Health & Safety) Limited

Company fined after worker falls from balcony

The Preseli Construction & Maintenance Ltd site where the incident occurred

A Pembroke Dock construction company and its director have been prosecuted after a labourer suffered seri-ous injuries on a construction site.

Karl Kraus, 31, from Pem-broke Dock was employed by Preseli Construction & Main-tenance Ltd, and was working on the build of a large domes-tic property at Incline Way, Saundersfoot.

Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court heard that on 25 March 2010, Mr Kraus was instructed to remove a concrete block that had been placed across a doorway. As he proceeded to throw the block, he fell backwards on to the balcony and then seven metres to the ground below.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that the three-storey house was being built without scaffold or any form of fall prevention.

Preseli Construction & Main-tenance Ltd and its director, Mr Christopher Newell, had failed to ensure that work at height was properly planned and supervised. They also failed to ensure that it was carried out in a safe manner.

Mr Kraus spent six days in Morriston Hospital in Swan-sea where he underwent surgery to pin the bone in his left heel and was in a plas-ter cast for approximately ten months. Still in constant pain and unable to walk on uneven ground without risk-ing a fall, he is due to under-go further surgery to prevent any further damage to his foot, but his career in the construction industry is over.

Preseli Construction & Mainte-nance Ltd of Waterloo Indus-trial Estate, Eastern Avenue, Pembroke Dock pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regu-lations 2005. It was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,376.25.

Mr Christopher Newell of The Glebe, Narberth Road, Tenby also pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. He was fined £4,000, with costs of £2,376.25. Mr Newell is also disqualified from acting as a company director, manag-ing or in any way controlling a company for at least two years.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Anne-Marie Or-rells said:

“Falls from height are the sin-gle biggest cause of fatalities in the construction industry. If work is carried out at height then all appropriate measures should be put in place to re-duce the risk of falling.

“Mr Kraus is still a young man who’s life has been turned up-side down after receiving sig-nificant long-term injuries in this incident. He is no longer able to do any of the simplest things that many people take for granted, like playing with his children or going for a walk in the countryside with his partner.

“This is a typical example of high risk work being conduct-ed in an unsafe manner. Had scaffolding been put in place, this incident could so easily have been prevented. 1

1 http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2011/coi-w-preseliconstruction.htm

2011 Lincsafe (Health & Safety) Limited www.lincsafe.co.uk 01673876640

Calls for more action to prevent work-related cancer

Strong intervention on reducing exposure limits relating to occupa-tional carcinogens and increasing compliance in the workplace could prevent nearly 8500 cases of can-cer over the next 50 years, accord-ing to an HSE expert.

Presenting the findings of new research published in the British Journal of Cancer to the HSE board last week, Dr Lesley Rushton said even modest intervention by the HSE, involving a light reduction in exposure limits, could prevent more than 2000 cancers by 2060.

Pointing out that the research is not new evidence but about es-tablished and probable risks, Dr Rushton said the percentage of cancers attributable to occupa-tional carcinogens is 5.3 per cent, which translates to approximately 8000 fatalities a year and around 13,500 new cases a year.

While work exposure is not as big a causative factor as smoking and diet, the study reports that the to-tal number of cancer cases attrib-utable to occupational exposure is estimated as 11,494 (7832 in men and 3662 in women), representing 3.7 per cent of all cancers (exclud-ing non-melanoma skin cancers). Significantly, more men develop cancer from work exposure than alcohol consumption.

The main occupational causes of lung cancer are asbestos, as well as silica, diesel-engine exhausts and mineral oils, while shift work is cited as a major occupational cause of breast cancer among women. Dr Rushton added that there are 16 carcinogens associ-ated with construction, and 14 agents account for 85.7 per cent of current cancers attributed to the workplace.

Following the presentation, HSE board member Hugh Robertson said the research confirmed the need to take action, adding: “It’s about changing behaviour – ensur-ing that all those ‘under the arches’ workplaces improve compliance.”

HSE chair Judith Hackitt said fur-ther research is needed to help the regulator determine what it needs to do to shape its intervention strategy for the next three to five years.

Following the publication of the study, there were calls for a great-er focus on occupational exposure to carcinogens from several stake-holders. Welcoming the research, the British Occupational Hygiene Society said: “All of these (work-related) cancers could have been prevented through better recog-nition of the risks within occupa-tions, and BOHS believes that with appropriate focused efforts almost all occupational cancers could ulti-mately be prevented.

“This goal would take time to achieve because there is a very long lag between workers first being exposed to carcinogens and any disease being diagnosed, but if we do not act now then the present death toll will continue.”

The Scottish Hazards Campaign asked: “If the percentage of causes attributable to work is greater than that percentage attributable to al-cohol [in men], then why are there no concrete measures to address work-related causes of cancer?”

The study from the British Journal of Cancer can be found at

http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/groups/cr_common/@nre/@new/@pre/documents/generalcontent/cr_080626.pdf 1

1 http://www.shponline.co.uk/news-content/full/calls-for-more-action-to-prevent-work-related-cancer

University fined for asbestos failings

Lincoln University has been fined for putting staff, students and contractors at risk of exposure to asbestos.

The failings came to light on 24 February 2010 when a lecturer became trapped in a room after a door lock broke. She enlisted the help of a colleague to release her and once freed, they noticed debris around the door handle.

They notified the university’s health and safety department which examined the door and oth-ers in the area, and discovered most were lined with asbestos insulating board (AIB), and that some were damaged.

The university notified the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which carried out its own investigation. It was found that a number of areas across the university’s estate had been subject to asbestos surveys over a number of years and many areas were found to contain asbes-tos-containing materials or even asbestos debris, yet no remedial action had been taken.

Lincoln University Higher Education Corporation, of Brayford Pool, Lin-coln, pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching Regulation 5(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 at Lin-coln Magistrates’ Court today. The university was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £12,759 costs.

After the hearing at Lincoln Magis-trates’ Court HSE inspector Edward Walker said:

“Exposure to asbestos fibres is a well known health hazard that results in approximately 4,000 deaths a year.

“The university had an asbestos management plan but had failed to follow it and failed to take appro-priate steps to manage the risks associated with asbestos over a number of years, putting staff, students and contractors at risk of potential exposure.1

1 http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2011/coi-em-26911.htm

Asbestos Bulletin BoardThe frightening facts:

In Britain, more than 40 000 people have died from the asbes-tos-related cancer mesothelioma since the late 1960s;

The number of people dying is increasing; The latest annual figures show that 2249 people died from the disease in 2008 alone, up over three per cent on the previous year.

2011 Lincsafe (Health & Safety) Limited www.lincsafe.co.uk 01673876640

Managing fire risk on

construction sites

Need to Knownews...The UK Timber Frame Association (UKTFA) has launched guidance on building timber frame safely on sites in high-risk and densely populated areas.

The guidance emphasises that fire risk management should be considered in the early stages of the specifica-tion process to ensure that the main contractor fully manages the fire risk and specifies the correct type of timber frame. It clarifies that timber frame can be built in any location in the UK relative to the fire risk associated with highly populated, or inner-city areas.

The guidance, which applies to structures over 600m2, is aimed at architects, design-ers, developers and con-tractors, and should help them assess the fire risk to neighbouring buildings in the event of a fire occurring dur-ing construction – a require-ment of HSG168 ‘Fire Safety in Construction’, published by the HSE in October 2010.

The supporting technical data in the UKTFA guidance is based on extensive fire test-ing, which the association carried out to determine the appropriate separating dis-tances between buildings to minimise the heat radiation to neighbouring properties in the event of a construction-site fire. The data has led to the development of three generic categories of timber frame, with increasing resistance to fire spread and associated reduction in emitted heat to neighbouring properties.

As well as fire testing, the guidance has been informed through input from the fire-engineering community and has been developed in coop-eration with the HSE, the Fire Protection Association (FPA), the Chief Fire Officers Asso-ciation (CFOA) and the Fire Brigades Union (FBU).

Dr Paul Newman, director of the UKTFA, said: “Managing the risk of fire on construction sites is not a consideration for the timber-frame community alone – it affects all forms of construction. The UKTFA has paved the way in setting a standard for main contrac-tors to follow when managing site safety. We are delighted that the HSE and CFOA con-sider our guidance worthy of their endorsement and we’re pleased that they felt able to commend our proactive ap-proach in setting fire safety standards.”

Philip White, the HSE’s chief inspector of construction, added: “There has been a number of dramatic examples in recent years of the dam-age that construction-site fires can cause to neighbour-ing properties. HSE has been working closely with the UK-TFA on assessing off-site fire risk and we welcome its new guidance.”

Called ‘Design guide to sepa-rating distances for timber frame buildings during con-struction’, the guidance can be downloaded at http://uktfa.com/fireriskmanage-ment/. 1

1 http://www.shponline.co.uk/com-mentcommunity-content/full/managing-fire-risk-on-construction-sites

2011 Lincsafe (Health & Safety) Limited www.lincsafe.co.uk 01673876640