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Friday 21 September 2007 07:00
Health and Safety Executive (North West)
HSE inspections highlight dangerous North West construction sites
A Health and Safety Executive inspection programme revealed that workers' lives were being put at risk at nearly one in three of over 1,500 construction refurbishment sites inspected nationwide.
In the North West 154 sites were visited with 38 Prohibition Notices being served to stop work immediately until corrective action was taken. Nineteen of the sites were in Cheshire and Merseyside, ten in Greater Manchester with the remaining nine in Lancashire and Cumbria (see table below)
The startling figures come after HSE North West Construction Inspector Nic Rigby managed the two-month programme of inspections that resulted in enforcement action on 426 occasions throughout the country.
Nic says: "New build operations have tightened up their act but there is still a lot of improvement required in refurbishment work. We can't see such work as readily, as it often takes place behind the walls of pre-existing buildings, but we are determined that the safety standards should match."
Stephen Williams, HSE's Head of Construction, said:
"Our inspectors were appalled at the apparent willingness to ignore basic safety precautions. It is completely unacceptable that so many lives have been put at risk.
"The simple fact is that despite knowing what they should be doing, too many people are prepared to allow bad practices to continue, even though last year 39 people died on refurbishment, repair and maintenance sites.
"We are determined to tackle this issue head on and will continue to take enforcement action against those rogues who flout safety precautions. Let me be clear to all those who put lives at risk - we will continue to carry out further inspections and will take all action necessary to protect workers, including closing sites and prosecution."
Work at height remains the biggest concern. Over half of the enforcement action taken during this inspection initiative was against dangerous work at height, which last year led to the death of 23 workers.
Stephen Williams continued:
"My advice to those who work in the refurbishment sector is to plan work, use competent workers and if working at height use the right equipment and use it safely."
The majority of Prohibition Notices issued during the campaign related to Working at Height, where unsafe procedures pose an obvious danger to workers' health and safety.
Good Order Prohibition notices are designed to prevent slips and trips by requiring good housekeeping and tidy sites to reduce the risk of the circumstances that cause them.
Good order notices can even save money as site operators are forced to tidy up and get their sites and resources organised.
Area No. of No of WAH WAH Good Good Other Possible
Sites Con- PNs Ins Order Order notices prose-
visited tractors PNs Ins cutions
seen
Lancashire& 89 116 9 1 0 0 4 2
Cumbria
Greater 36 43 8 1 2 1 6 0
Manchester
Cheshire 29 37 15 4 4 1 28 0
and
Merseyside
North West 154 196 32 6 6 2 38 2
WAH (Work At Height)
PN = Prohibition Notice, requiring an immediate cessation to work until a health and safety problem has been rectified;
IN = Improvement Notice, requiring an improvement to a health and safety problem within a specified time.
More guidance and advice is available at http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/index.htm
Notes to Editors:
1. HSE inspected 1586 contractors on construction refurbishment sites throughout June and July. This inspection initiative follows on from the Fit Out Campaign in 2005 and the Watch Your Step initiative in 2006.
2. Reducing the number of injuries and deaths from trips and falls is a priority for HSE to help the construction industry meet its accident target by 2010. The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) published its Strategy for workplace health and safety in Great Britain to 2010 and beyond on 23 February 2004. The strategy aims to promote a vision of health and safety as a cornerstone of a civilised society and to achieve a record of workplace health and safety that leads the world. The strategy is available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/hsc/strategy.htm
3. Rt Hon Peter Hain MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions announced on 25 July 2007 that he would be holding a Forum to look at the number of fatalities in the house building and domestic repair/refurbishment sector of the construction industry.
4. HSE published the latest annual work related fatal injury statistics on 26 July 2007 which can be viewed at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/fatals.htm
Issued on behalf of HSE by Government News Network North West.
Bulldozers threaten the land around our cities, but elsewhere in Britain, untamed nature is being allowed to reassert itself
An epic landscape experiment is underway in the Netherlands. Its aim is to make Holland, the most developed of all European countries, wild again. Its method is to establish a vast network of natural habitats and wildlife corridors. Frans Vera, one of the ecologists driving the project, imagines it as a 'green circulation system' that will allow the freer movement of non-human species around north west Europe. Plans for the project show a mesh of green arteries, veins and capillaries, covering much of Holland and infiltrating Germany and Belgium.
The heart of this system is Oostvaardersplassen, an uninhabited coastal region of polder, scrubby savannah and wetland that, for nearly 40 years, has been allowed to run wild. Herds of red deer, Heck cattle and Konik ponies graze its drier reaches. Sea eagles and marsh harriers hunt its skies. Bittern, stork and egret haunt reed beds. Millions of geese, ducks and waders migrate through.
Oostvaardersplassen's biodiversity is remarkable. So is its proximity to Amsterdam - just 20 miles to the city's east. And so is its scale: 5,600 hectares, roughly a quarter of the area of the capital. Imagine the proportional equivalent here. A region the size of the Isle of Wight, in the position of south west Essex, turned over to its animals and plants ...
The management of Oostvaardersplassen is deliberately minimal. In this respect, it is truly a wild place. For our word 'wild' derives from the Old Norse willr, meaning uncontrolled or self-intending. Wild land, by this etymology, is self-willed land. Land that proceeds according to its own laws and principles. Land whose habits - the growth of its trees, the movement of its creatures, the distribution of its streams and reed beds - are of its own devising and execution.
By 2018, if all goes to plan, Vera's 'National Ecological Network' will involve 730,000 hectares: 17 per cent of Holland's total area. The existence of this brilliantly ambitious initiative testifies to the Dutch government's commitment to ecology and landscape (what a contrast with Britain), as well as to the general greenness of Dutch culture.
Could Britain go wild in a similar way?
Only a few years ago, the idea would have been laughable. Recently, however, 'wilding' has moved to the forefront of British conservation theory. Public interest in the values of wildness has also risen, a trend visible in television (the huge viewing figures for Coast and Mountain), in tourism, literature (the popular and critical rise of writing about nature) and photography, sculpture and painting.
There are 'wilding' projects now underway in Britain which resemble the Dutch example in ethos, if not in size. I recently visited two: both remarkable, both inspiring.
The first, Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire, has a '100-Year Vision' developed for re-wetting a great tongue of land. This future fen would extend from Wicken in the north to Stow in the south, with an access corridor down into Cambridge itself, allowing the fen to become the city's 'green lung'. As the area expands - reclaimed from surrounding farmland - it will be grazed by Highland cattle, Konik ponies and possibly water buffalo.
The second is the Wild Ennerdale project. Ennerdale is a remote valley in the western Lake District, whose headwall rises to a cirque of magnificent mountains: Great Gable, Pillar, Kirk Fell, Haystacks. Through its upper reaches flows the clear-running Liza, which fills Ennerdale Water. To my mind, Ennerdale is the greatest valley in England. I once spent a winter night walking the mountain ridge that forms its western border, moving over snow in moonlight so bright I could read by it. Looking down into Ennerdale, I felt I was glimpsing another country.
Ennerdale is jointly owned by the National Trust, the Forestry Commission and United Utilities. Five years ago, after consultation with various stakeholders, these three signed up to a 'wild' vision statement for the valley, to increase the wildness of Ennerdale by 'allowing natural processes a greater hand in shaping the valley's landscape and ecology over the long term'.
In practice, this means that forestry will be reduced. Motorised transport will be restricted. Fences will be removed. Vast spruce plantation will be thinned and regenerated with native species: juniper, birch, ash, alder, poplar. Almost all commercial extraction will cease in the valley, save for the tapping of the lake for drinking water.
The contrasts between Wicken and Ennerdale are many. Fen and fell; forest and marsh; north west and south east. But both projects are tethered by similar practicalities and both are devoted, in different degrees, to the idea of wildness.
This is most powerfully the case in Ennerdale. No one knows what will happen in the valley once it has been left to itself. This is what makes the project so exciting. Because of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act, most of the valley is accessible to the public. People will be able to watch the transformation of Ennerdale for themselves. I intend to return every year or two for as long as I can.
Ennerdale and Wicken are not alone. Ambitious re-wettings are underway at Alkborough, Wallasea, Alnmouth and Freiston. Wildlife trusts across England are working out how to join up their holdings. Native woodland regeneration is occurring all over Scotland, including at Loch Katrine in the Trossachs. There, the Forestry Commission Scotland has begun a massive reforestation scheme. The goal is to link the Katrine forest westwards to the RSPB woods at Inversnaid, and eastwards to the Woodland Trust's Finglas property, running from Loch Lomond to Callader.
So connections are beginning. British conservation is moving away from its 'crown jewels' mentality of isolated and cosseted sites. Fen is being linked to fen, forest to forest, glen to glen, heath to heath. Slowly, the Dutch example is being emulated. Acceleration is possible, too, for as the Common Agricultural Policy reforms itself, more and more farmland will come up for sale.
Indeed, Britain differs from Holland in this exciting respect: it has the space to create several large-scale core wildernesses. In the future, we might prove our tolerance of the notion that, as ecologist Mark Fisher puts it, 'human activity should not dominate every hectare of the landscape in Britain'.
Is this vision of a wild Britain impractical? Not with political and cultural will, of which there is an increasing amount. Is it desirable? Undoubtedly ... environmentally, economically, morally, spiritually and socially.
Take a minute to imagine a transformed British landscape. A Britain in which you could walk for a day and not leave the cover of trees. A Britain of elk, lynx, perhaps even wolves. A Britain filled, in the words of geographer Bill Adams, with 'new spaces for nature, both in the landscape and in our lives and imaginations'.
· Robert Macfarlane's The Wild Places (Granta) is published on 2 September
The Ampere Strikes Back
By Pete Smith
In a new report, 'The Ampere Strikes Back: how consumer electronics are taking over the world', the Energy Saving Trust predicts that by 2020 45% of the UK electricity, around 34TWh (terawatt-hours), will be devoted to running "gadgets" ...
The Coffee House - http://environmentdebate
Health and Safety Executive (North West)
"construction sites are not holiday playgrounds" warns HSE in Greater Manchester
As the school holiday have kicked in, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning Greater Manchester school children and their parents to be aware of construction sites and not to treat them as playgrounds.
Between 2001/02 and 2005/06, three children died and the HSE were notified of at least 281 injuries to children during construction works. In most cases, simple precautions could have prevented the incidents from ever happening.
Health and Safety Executive Principal Inspector for Construction in Greater Manchester Anna Bliss said:
"Let's ensure that long summer evenings remain a time for fun and adventure for Greater Manchester children and not a time of tragedy because children have, understandably, been drawn to construction sites as exciting places to play."
"Construction sites can be a dangerous attraction for children. The dangers are numerous and varied, including scaffolding; reversing vehicles; electrical power supplies; ladders; and falling equipment.
"Access to construction sites should be restricted and risks should be assessed by site managers to ensure that untoward incidents are prevented. The consequences could be awful and even life threatening."
HSE has made a number of visits to schools to drive home its safety messages and offers the following practical advice for parents and workers this summer:
* warn children against playing in dangerous areas, including building sites;
* make sure you know where your children are going, and when they will be back;
* encourage them to play only in safe areas such as playgrounds;
* workers should watch out for children playing around sites. If you see children, stop work and make sure they are off site before you begin again;
* lay heavy objects on the ground or fix them firmly upright so they cannot fall onto children and injure them;
* secure sites adequately when finishing work for the day;
* never allow children to ride in construction plant machinery.
Anyone wishing to find out more about construction site safety should telephone their nearest HSE office: in Manchester on 0161 952 8200; Preston on 01772 826000, or Carlisle on 01228 634100.
Public enquiries: HSE's InfoLine: 0845 3450055
Caerphilly Business Park, Caerphilly CF83 3GG
HSE information and news releases can be accessed on the Internet http://www.hse.gov.uk/
Issued on behalf of HSE by Government News Network North West.
Asbestos is the UK's biggest workplace killer
The three main types of asbestos - blue, brown and white asbestos - can still be found in the workplace. There is no safe level of exposure and all types are dangerous.
Around 5,000 people die each year from mesothelioma and asbestos related lung cancer - 13 people for every day of the year. These figures are rising and it is predicted that by 2010 some 10,000 people in Britain will die every year from exposure to asbestos, more than twice the number of road accident deaths. Before the death rate declines, up to a quarter of a million people in Britain may have died from asbestos exposures.
There are up to six million tonnes of asbestos in schools, hospitals, ships, offices and factories - and the homes we live in. The importation, supply, and use of all asbestos throughout Britain is prohibited.
The TUC and HSE have jointly produced guidance for safety representatives on managing asbestos and what the law says. It can be found at:-
Read More......New guide to the new asbestos regulations
Related Links:-
Ladders -
Fragile Roofs -
Working platforms -
Minor roofwork/roof edges -
'bag it and bin it!' Highways Agency launches campaign to fight litter on England's roads
The Highways Agency today launched its campaign to fight the problem of litter on roads across England, part of its commitment to protecting the environment.
The 'Bag it, Bin it' campaign has support from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). Drivers are being encouraged to pick up a Highways Agency litter bag to put rubbish in and dispose of it in a bin when they reach their destination - rather than throwing it from a car window.
With many people out on the roads during the holiday season, litter can build up and may often block drains. Not only is litter unsightly and a threat to the environment, but clearing rubbish from roadside verges and central reservations puts the workers at risk of injury from moving traffic and diverts resources away from road maintenance and repairs.
The Highways Agency campaign is supported by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), and their new president, Bill Bryson, who has placed litter at the top of his agenda.
Highways Agency "Bag it and Bin it" litter bags can be found in service stations across the country.
Highways Agency Chief Executive, Archie Robertson, said:
"This unsightly and environmentally damaging problem is a big concern for us. Money spent on clearing litter thrown from vehicles could be better spent in reducing congestion and improving safety."
"Working on or next to fast moving traffic is a dangerous job. People are putting themselves at risk clearing the litter thrown from vehicles. We want all road users to think about the consequences of littering. Please keep your rubbish with you, pick up one of our bags, and dispose of it safely and sensibly when you reach your destination."
Notes to editors
1. The Highways Agency is an executive agency of the Department for Transport. We manage, maintain and improve England's motorways and major A roads on behalf of the Secretary of State.
2. Real-time traffic information for England's motorways and major A roads is available:
* From the web at http://www.highways.gov.uk/trafficinfo
* By phone from the Highways Agency 24-hour voice activated phone service on 08700 660 115. (Calls from BT landlines to 0870 numbers will cost no more than 8p per minute; mobile calls usually cost more).
Before using a mobile, find a safe place to park. Never stop on the hard shoulder of a motorway except in an emergency. Make sure it's safe and legal before you call.
3. For more general information about the Highways Agency and its work, visit the Highways Agency website http://www.highways.gov.uk, or telephone the Highways Agency Information Line on 08457 50 40 30 at any time. (Calls to 0845 numbers cost no more than 3p/min from BT residential landlines. Call charges from other landlines and mobile networks may vary)
Safe driving at roadworks
During 2006 two workers were killed and 19 seriously injured in the course of their work on Highways Agency roads.
For the safety of all road users and roadworkers, when you are approaching roadworks:
* Keep within the speed limit - it is there for your safety.
* Get into the correct lane in good time - don't keep switching.
* Concentrate on the road ahead, not the roadworks.
* Be alert for works' traffic leaving or entering roadworks.
* Keep a safe distance - there could be queues in front.
* Observe all signs - they are there to help you.
