New publications this month:

HEALTH AND SAFETY EXECUTIVE

Where asbestos hides poster: Industrial

This new poster communicates common locations of asbestos within industrial premises.

Where asbestos hides poster: Residential

This new poster communicates common locations of asbestos within residences.

UK REACH: Substances recommended for inclusion in REACH UK Authorisation List

The list of substances recommended for control under the UK REACH authorisation list has been updated to include Diisohexyl phthalate. This forms part of recommendation round 2.

Updated vibration exposure guidance

A range of guidance has been published or updated relating to the control of vibration exposure:

• Guidance on measurement and monitoring
• Hand-arm vibration: Advice for employers
• Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005
• The hand-arm vibration exposure calculator
• Vibration risk assessment

Building Safety Act Guidance

The following documents relating to the higher-risk building safety regime were published in January 2024:

• Developer remediation contract: resident factsheet (guidance updated)
• Contact the Building Safety Regulator (updated to add guidance on complaints)
• Registered building inspectors (updated to cover registration of building inspectors in Wales)
• Register as a building inspector (updated to cover registration of building inspectors in Wales)
• Register your business as a building control approver (updated to cover registration in Wales)
• Building Safety Fund: process guide for residents
• Mandatory occurrence reporting
  • Submit a mandatory occurrence notice and report
  • Operating a mandatory occurrence reporting system
  • Submitting mandatory occurrence notices and reports

OFFICE OF RAIL AND ROAD

Consultation on draft train protection systems guidance

Views are sought on a draft guidance document that aims to clarify legal obligations of dutyholders in relation to modern train protection systems.

This consultation closes on 1 March 2024.

WELSH GOVERNMENT

Building Safety Regulator charging scheme

This document provides an overview of charges approved for the Building Safety Regulator for building control professionals and organisations working in Wales.

MARITIME AND COASTGUARD AGENCY (MCA)

The following notes and notices relevant to occupational health and safety were published or updated during January 2024:

• MGN 379 (M+F) Amendment 1: use of electronic navigational aids
• MGN 416 (M) Amendment 1: Small commercial vessels operating in foreign waters
• MGN 691 (M) Navigation and radar training requirements for workboat code 3
• MGN 693 (M+F) Amendments to SOLAS chapter II-1 (IGF code)
• MSN 1914 (M) The carriage of dangerous goods and marine pollutants: amendments to international standards

EUROPEAN CHEMICALS AGENCY (ECHA): EU AND NORTHERN IRELAND

ECHA launches new chemicals database

The ECHA CHEM database is now available, which provides information from all EU REACH registrations.

ECHA adds five hazardous chemicals to the Candidate List

Four chemicals have been added to the candidate list of Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs) under EU REACH. An entry was updated for one chemical:

• 2,4,6-tri-tert-butylphenol;
• 2-(2H-benzotriazol-2-yl)-4-(1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl)phenol;
• 2-(dimethylamino)-2-[(4-methylphenyl)methyl]-1-[4-(morpholin-4-yl)phenyl]butan-1-one;
• Bumetrizole;
• Oligomerisation and alkylation reaction products of 2-phenylpropene and phenol; and
• Dibutyl phthalate (updated entry).

Man receives community order for illegal asbestos removal

A man has been handed a community order after he admitted removing asbestos from a school when he wasn’t licenced to do so.

The man also intentionally falsified clearance paperwork after removing asbestos containing materials from Our Lady Lourdes School in Shotton Collery in March 2021. He had carried out similar work several months earlier at a domestic property in Middlesbrough.

The man failed to hold a licence to safely remove asbestos. He also failed to ensure a four-stage clearance was carried out on both jobs by a person accredited by an appropriate body.

A HSE investigation found that the man had received the relevant training on how to safely remove licenced asbestos and was therefore fully aware of the legal requirement to hold a licence.

Breach

The man pleaded guilty to six charges, including three charges at each offence location, including contravening Regulation 8(1) and Regulation 20(3) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 and breaching Section 33(1)(m) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974:

• Regulation 8(1) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 requires employers to hold a licence before undertaking any licensable work with asbestos.
• Regulation 20(3) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 requires every employer who requests a person to carry out any measurement of the concentration of asbestos fibres present in the air to ensure that that person is accredited by an appropriate body as competent to perform work in compliance with ISO 17025.
• Section 33(1)(m) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 makes it an offence for a person to forge or use a document issued or authorised to be issued under other relevant statutory provisions with the intent to deceive.

Penalty

The man was given an 18-month community order, which consists of 15 days of rehabilitation, 90 days of monitored alcohol abstinence as well as him carrying out 150 hours of unpaid work. The man was also ordered to pay costs of £1000.

Recycling company fined after worker fatality

A recycling company has received a large fine after an agency worker was killed at its site in Hartlepool.

In January 2020, the worker was returning from the site’s welfare cabins to his workstation on the picking line. To do so, he needed to walk across a traffic area at the site where mobile plant, including two loading shovels, operated. One of the loading shovels struck and ran over the worker when he was walking in the traffic area.

The worker’s death prompted investigations from HSE and Cleveland Police with Ward Recycling later being prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The company was found guilty of committing corporate manslaughter and breaching health and safety regulations.

The HSE investigation found that Ward Recycling, which went into liquidation in 2021, failed to protect pedestrians from the mobile plant operations it was carrying out at the site. There were no suitable traffic management arrangements in place, meaning pedestrians were at risk of being struck by moving vehicles, including loading shovels.

Loading shovels are particularly dangerous if adequate segregation is not in place, in part due to the limitations to the operator’s visibility around the machine. An HSE visibility assessment found that an area over 10 metres in front of the vehicle could be obscured from the driver’s view.

The HSE has produced guidance on workplace transport.

Breaches

Ward Recycling Limited was found guilty of breaching Section 1 of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, Section 2(1) and Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974:

• Section 1 of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 defines the offence of corporate manslaughter. Organisations are guilty of offences under this section if the way in which its activities are managed or organised by senior management are a substantial element in the breach.
• Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 requires employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees.
• Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 requires that employers ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons they do not employ who may be affected are not exposed to risks to their health and safety

Penalty

Ward Recycling Limited was fined £1.75m for corporate manslaughter and £400,000 for breaching health and safety regulations.

Most businesses inspected by the HSE ‘not doing enough’ to protect workers against risks posed by metalworking fluids

In September 2023, the HSE announced inspections of premises using metalworking fluids. Since then, more than half of those checks have identified failings.

Metalworking fluids can also cause harm to the lungs and skin. The HSE says that more needs to be done to keep workers safe.

To improve knowledge, HSE has created an online quiz as part of its ongoing campaign.

Exposure to metalworking fluids can cause harm to the lungs and unprotected skin. However, many of the firms inspected were not carrying out health checks. Health surveillance is a legal requirement where there is exposure to fluid or mist.

The inspections so far also found poor performance around the control of metalworking fluids in businesses that use Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines. To protect workers, employers should reduce exposure by applying controls. Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV) should be fitted on CNC machines to carry away any harmful metalworking fluid mist.

More about the ongoing campaign, and tips on how to keep workers safe, can be found here: Machinists and metalworking fluid – Work Right to keep Britain safe.