New publications this month:
HEALTH AND SAFETY EXECUTIVE (HSE)
Changes to the carriage of dangerous goods regulations: Consignor-only companies
Companies involved in the carriage of dangerous goods that act exclusively as a consignor of these goods are required to appoint a Dangerous Goods Safety Advisor (DGSA) by 31 December 2022.
The duty to appoint a DGSA does not apply on consignors who qualify for an exemption. Exempt companies include:
Consignors are ‘enterprises that consign dangerous goods either on their own behalf or for a third party’, i.e. those that prepare dangerous goods consignments for carriage.
Companies undertaking carriage, unloading, loading, filling and packing of dangerous goods are already subject to the obligation to appoint a DGSA.
Building Safety Reforms: Draft Competency and Conduct Requirements
The HSE has now assumed the role of the Building Safety Regulator and will be operating this role from April 2023. Building control professionals and private sector building control organisations will need to register with the Building Safety Regulator from October 2023. The following draft documents have been published on competencies to get onto this register:
DEPARTMENT FOR LEVELLING UP, HOUSING AND COMMUNITIES
Approved Document B: Fire safety - frequently asked questions
This document provides answers to frequently asked questions on Approved Document B (Fire Safety), which forms part of the Building Regulations regime.
MARITIME AND COASTGUARD AGENCY (MCA)
Updated guidance notices, information notes and shipping notices
The following notes and notices relevant to occupational health and safety were published during August 2022:
Safety Bulletin 30 – EPIRBs coded with the maritime user protocol: the vessel MMSI must start with a valid country code (232-235)
This safety bulletin was published in August 2022.
Construction firm fined after the death of a child on a construction site
A civil engineering firm has received a six figure fine after a seven-year-old child became trapped and suffocated on a construction site.
The seven-year-old child went missing from home on the morning of 26 July 2015. The child was found the next morning by workers at the construction site in Worsborough, South Yorkshire. The site was a new-build housing development next to an existing housing estate and adjacent to busy pedestrian footpaths and roads.
An HSE investigation found that the child had become trapped in a drainage pipe. This pipe had been fixed into the ground in preparation for the installation of fencing posts. Tragically, he had suffocated before being found the next morning when work restarted on site.
The HSE found there was insufficient fencing to prevent unauthorised persons from accessing the construction site, due to a combination of poor planning, management and monitoring of the site and its perimeter.
Breach
Howard Civil Engineering Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 13(4)(b) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 and to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974:
Penalty
Howard Civil Engineering Ltd was fined £600,000 and ordered to pay £42,952.88 in costs.
Waste management company fined after a contractor died as a result of a fall
A Wiltshire-based waste management company has been fined after a contractor working on their site died due to a fall from height.
On 18 November 2020 an experienced maintenance contractor was part of a team under the control and direction of Hills Waste Solutions Limited. The contractor fell seven metres while undertaking maintenance work on mechanical screening and separating plant at the site in Westbury. The contractor sustained fatal injuries.
An HSE investigation found that Hills Waste Solutions Limited failed to ensure that work at height was properly assessed and planned. The company failed to consider and identify how the necessary work at height could be carried out safely to ensure that the risk of falls was controlled.
Hills Waste Solutions Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005:
Hills Waste Solutions Limited was fined £190,000 and ordered to pay costs of £14,816, with a victim surcharge of £190.
Unregistered gas installer fined after he failed to answer questions from an HSE inspector
A plumber who was suspected of having undertaken dangerous gas work while unqualified to do so has been fined for failing to answer questions put to him by an HSE inspector.
In February 2020 the man was alleged to have carried out unlawful gas work to replace a boiler at a house in Tingley, Wakefield. The new boiler was left in such a dangerous condition that a Gas Safe registered engineer who attended the house had to make it safe by disconnecting it from the gas supply.
During an HSE interview under caution, the man claimed to have only been hired to do the installation work up to the point where it would then be connected to the gas supply. He claimed that he had arranged for a friend who was qualified to complete all the gas work. The man also stated that another friend had assisted him with general labouring at the property.
During the interview, the man was unwilling to provide the identity of either person. This is an offence as it prevented the HSE inspector from following reasonable lines of enquiry as part of the investigation.
The man pleaded guilty to breaching Section 33(1)(e) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974:
The man was fined £583 and ordered to pay £1,500 in costs.
