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The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has overhauled its guidance for working at height; setting out in clear, simple terms what to do and what not to do and debunking common myths that can confuse and mislead employers.

It is estimated that more than a million businesses and over ten million workers carry out jobs involving some form of work at height every year. Falls are one of the biggest causes of death and serious injury at work.

Health and safety minister, Mike Penning, said: “It’s vital that businesses are not bogged down in complicated red tape and instead have useable advice about protecting their workers”.

Key changes to the guidance include:

• Providing simple advice about dos and don’ts when working at height to ensure people are clear on what the law requires

• Busting some of the persistent myths about health and safety law, such as the banning of ladders when they can still be used

• Offering targeted advice to help businesses in different sectors manage serious risks sensibly and proportionately

• Helping employees to be clearer about their own responsibilities for working safely

Chair of the HSE, Judith Hackitt, said: “It’s important to get working at height right. Falls remain one of the biggest causes of serious workplace injury, with more than 40 people killed and 4,000 suffering major injuries every year.

We have a sensible set of regulations and have been working with businesses to improve our guidance. The result is advice that employers can count on to help them manage their businesses sensibly and proportionately”.

The Work at Height Regulations 2005, which set out the law as it applies in Great Britain, have not been changed.

The new guidance is available for free at www.hse.gov.uk/work-at-height/index.htm

Risky Business at a Glance

Working At Height - Guidance Overhaul

Employment Law Changes for 2014

Revised Legionella ACoP to provide greater clarity

Proposal to extend exemption afforded to turban-wearing Sikhs

Single Greatest Cause of Work-related Deaths Target of New Guidance

Health, Safety and Employment Law Training Courses

In Court

Working At Height Guidance Overhaul

Wales’ First Health, Safety and Employment Law Consultancy to be awarded BS: OHSAS 18001*

01ISSUE

2014

TUPE

31 January 2014: The Collective Redundancies and Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/16) came into force and include the following changes:

• The transferor now has to provide the transferee with information about the transfer sooner

• A change in the location of the workplace after a TUPE transfer will now be classed as an ETO reason

• A dismissal is now only automatically unfair if the reason is the transfer itself (rather than a reason connected to the transfer)

• Redundancy consultations can now begin before a transfer

AUTO ENROLMENT

1 April 2014: The time available to employers for auto-enrolling eligible jobholders into a qualifying pension scheme will increase from one month to six weeks.

TRIBUNAL NOTIFICATION

6 April 2014: All claimants will have to notify ACAS before lodging a claim to an Employment Tribunal and conciliation will be offered. This is under the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013.

FINANCIAL PENALTIES

6 April 2014: The Employment Tribunal will be able to make an employer who has lost a case pay a financial penalty of between £100 and £5,000 to the Secretary of State, where a breach has one or more aggravating features.

STATUTORY PAY

6 April 2014: The rate of statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay will increase to £138.18 per week and statutory sick pay will increase to £87.55 per week.

SICKNESS ABSENCE

6 April 2014: Employers will no longer have to retain certain records relating to sickness absence and payments of statutory sick pay to employees under the Statutory Sick Pay (Maintenance of Records) (Revocation) Regulations 2014.

NATIONAL INSURANCE CONTRIBUTIONS

6 April 2014: Rates of Class 2 and Class 3 national insurance contributions will increase.

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

Spring 2014 (date to be confirmed): A health and work assessment and advisory service is expected to be introduced. This will offer employees, employers and GPs financial help with occupational health fees after an employee has been off sick for four weeks.

NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE

1 October 2014: The national minimum wage is expected to rise. At a date to be confirmed, the penalty imposed on employers that fail to pay employees the national minimum wage is also set to increase.

DECLARATION BY OFFENDERS

Date to be confirmed: After completing their sentence, the period of time that some offenders are required to declare their conviction to prospective employers will be reduced.

FLEXIBLE WORKING

Date to be confirmed: The Children and Families Bill will extend the right to request flexible working, which currently applies to employees with caring or parental responsibilities, to all employees.

Employment Law Changes for 2014 Proposal to extend exemption afforded to turban-wearing Sikhs

The HSE is proposing to make an amendment to extend the exemption in the Employment Act 1989 (the Act), so that turban-wearing in any industry will be exempt from the need to wear head protection.

Currently, Section 11(1) of the Act exempts turban-wearing Sikhs from any legal requirement to wear a safety helmet while on a construction site, although this exemption does not apply to workplaces other than construction sites.

The Sikh Council UK previously identified problems being experienced by members of its community due to the limitations of the current exemptions. They pointed out that limiting the exemption to an industry that has a high risk of head injuries, due to falling items and not to other, lower-risk industries was an anomaly.

Another reason given by the HSE for the proposed amendment was that members of the Sikh community have faced disciplinary hearings and dismissal for refusing to wear head protection. Others have been unable to follow their chosen professions because of the insistence of the need to wear head protection.

Gurmel Singh, secretary general of Sikh Council UK said: “I welcome this news. It will make a real difference to Sikhs in the UK by increasing the number of workplaces that Sikhs can work in whilst maintaining their religiously mandated identity”.

According to the HSE the exemption relates only to head protection and only to turban-wearing Sikhs. It does not extend to those Sikhs who do not wear turbans or to other personal protective equipment.

The HSE is also considering, if the proposed amendment is made, whether there is a need to include details of sectors, tasks or roles that should not be included in the exemption because the risk to employees is too great.

Turban-wearing in any industry will be exempt from the need to wear head protection

The HSE has recently published updated information on managing and controlling legionella bacteria in water systems.

The Legionnaires’ diseases Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) (L8) is aimed at duty holders, including employers, those in control of premises and those with health and safety responsibilities for others, to help them comply with their legal duties in relation to legionella.

These include identifying and assessing sources of risk, preparing a scheme to prevent or control risk, implementing, managing and monitoring precautions, keeping records of precautions and appointing a manager to be responsible for others.

For further information, please visit www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg274.htm

Revised Legionella ACoP to provide greater clarity

Thomas Carroll

Risky Business

2

Health and Safety Training Courses • Accident Reporting and Investigation • Asbestos Awareness • CDM Awareness • Confined Space Entry • Conflict Management • COSHH Awareness • Developing Method Statements • Display Screen Equipment Risk Assessment • Directing Safely • Employee Safety Awareness • Event Management • Fire Warden • Fire Safety Awareness • Health and Safety Awareness for Line Managers • Health and Safety Awareness

for Trade Apprentices • IOSH Managing Safely • IOSH Working Safely • Managing Contractors • Manual Handling Awareness • Manual Handling Train-the-Trainer • NEBOSH National General Certificate • Needlestick and Sharps Awareness • Office Safety • Managing Permits to Work • Principles of Risk Assessment • Representatives of Employee Safety • Safe Use of Ladders • Safe Use of Work Equipment • Stress Management • Stress Management for Managers • Working at Height • Working Alone Safely

Employment Law Training Courses • Absence Management • Age Discrimination • Compensation and Settlement

in the Industrial Tribunal • Disability Discrimination • Employment Law Awareness for Managers • Employment Law Essentials • Managing Disciplinaries and Grievances • Race Discrimination • Recruitment and Selection • Unfair Dismissal

For further information, please contact Victoria Thomas on 029 2085 3752 or email victoria.thomas@thomas-carroll.co.uk

Single Greatest Cause of Work-related Deaths Target of New Guidance

The HSE has published revised guidance on managing and controlling asbestos to help businesses understand how to work safely with the hidden killer.

Asbestos is the single greatest cause of work-related deaths in the UK - the HSE estimates that asbestos-related diseases account for around 4,500 deaths a year. On average, 20 tradesmen die from asbestos exposure every week.

The HSE has consolidated Approved Codes of Practice (ACoPs) L127 (the Management of Asbestos in Non-Domestic Premises) and L143 (Work with Materials Containing Asbestos) into a single revised ACoP – L143 Managing and Working with Asbestos.

L143 has been revised to make it easier for businesses and employers to understand and meet their legal obligations. The consolidation also reflects the changes introduced in the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 on the notification of non-licensed work with asbestos and consequent arrangements for employee medical examinations and record keeping.

The naturally occurring fibrous minerals, which were used extensively as a building material in the UK from the 1950s through to the mid-1980s, can cause a number of diseases if high levels of airborne fibres are inhaled. The most serious is mesothelioma, which is always fatal.

Kären Clayton, director of the HSE’s long latency health risks division, highlighted the benefits brought about by the guidance revision: “The two ACoPs have been updated and brought together to help employers find the information they need quickly and easily and understand how to protect their workers from the dangers of working with asbestos,” she said.

“The revised ACoP also provides better clarity on identifying duty holders for non-domestic premises and the things they must do to comply with the ‘duty to manage’ asbestos.”

Legal responsibilities to protect workers’ health and safety are not altered by any changes to the ACoPs.

The revised ACoP is available at www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/l143.htm

Asbestos is the single greatest cause of work-related deaths in the UK

www.thomascarroll.co.uk

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3

Risky Business

Worker’s Lower Leg Amputated After He Was Put at ‘Needless Risk’

An engineering firm has been fined £20,000 after a worker’s lower leg was badly crushed in an unguarded machine. The employee now has a prosthetic leg and still needs ongoing physiotherapy.

The 49-year-old man from Stanley, who has asked not to be named, suffered such severe injuries to his right foot that he had to have the lower part of his leg amputated.

Following a lengthy hospital stay he has since returned to work in his maintenance role at the company, although with some restrictions on the tasks he can now undertake.

The incident happened when the man was employed by Marrill Ltd, at its premises in Neilson Road, Gateshead.

Marrill Ltd was prosecuted by the HSE after an investigation identified serious safety failings.

Gateshead Magistrates’ Court heard how the maintenance worker had been instructed to investigate and repair a fault on a mechanical power press that had been stopped as it was not working properly.

The engineering mechanism on top of the press included a large gear train – a series of large toothed cogs that mesh together and move only when the press completes a stroke. The gears were not guarded at the time.

In order to repair the machine, the injured person had little space in which to work and his right leg trailed over the gear train into the danger area.

As the valve was reset, the press operated and the gear train turned. His right foot was pulled into the gears as the cogs meshed together, crushing it.

The HSE investigation found that there had been no guard on the gear train for a period of two to three years prior to the incident and, despite staff being required to work close to the danger area, the company had continuously failed to properly assess the risks.

The court was told that guards were available and easily fixed, but the company had failed to identify the risk and take appropriate action to repair and replace the guards.

Marrill Ltd, of Waterman Road, Coventry was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £904 in costs and a £100 victim surcharge.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Paul Wilson said: “It was the company’s responsibility to ensure that work equipment was safe and that dangerous moving parts were guarded.

This neglect put people at needless risk and sadly, this led to the serious life-changing injuries suffered by the maintenance worker who has had to have the lower part of his leg amputated.

Too many incidents occur during the setting up and the undertaking of maintenance tasks on machinery where often guards or other protective devices are moved or removed. They are easily avoided if suitable precautions are taken to prevent access to dangerous moving parts”.

Thomas Carroll Group plc, Pendragon House Crescent Road, Caerphilly CF83 1XX

029 2088 7733 www.thomascarroll.co.uk info@thomas-carroll.co.uk

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But why wait until then? Kevin Price is always available to hear your views, call him on 029 2085 3732

Disclaimer:

This newsletter is designed to keep readers abreast of current developments.

It is not intended to be a comprehensive statement of law and specialist

legal advice should always be sought in relation to any particular

circumstance. Therefore, Thomas Carroll Management Services is unable to

accept liability for any errors or facts or opinion contained within.

* Awarded by the British Standards Institution.

Cardiff Swansea Haverfordwest Hereford

Firm Fined £250,000 After Worker Dies in Roof Fall

A logistics firm has been fined £250,000 after a worker was killed when he fell through a warehouse roof.

Michael Sweet, 48, from Stockport, was cleaning out the guttering at Aramex (UK) Ltd on the Ringway Trading Estate near Manchester Airport, when he stepped on a fragile panel and fell to the concrete floor below.

Aramex and roofing contractor Gary Edwards (Mr Sweet’s employer) were both prosecuted by the HSE after an investigation found no safety measures had been put in place.

Manchester Crown Court heard that Aramex had hired Mr Edwards to fix a leak when water began to drip into the warehouse and offices, as he had previously carried out work for the company. He arrived on site with Mr Sweet and they were asked to clean out the guttering and fix the leak.

Later that day Mr Sweet stepped on a clear roof panel, designed to let light into the warehouse, and fell through the roof. He died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

Mr Edwards admitted that the only safety equipment he had provided for cleaning the warehouse roof had been a pair of gloves. Safety measures could have included placing boards over the fragile roof panels, using harnesses, erecting scaffolding or hiring a cherry picker.

The investigation found that in addition Aramex had ignored its own health and safety guidelines and failed to supervise the work or assess how it would be carried out, despite knowing the roof was fragile.

Aramex, of Heywood Distribution Park in Heywood, was fined £250,000 and ordered to pay costs of £20,000. Gary Edwards, 55, of Silverdale Road in Gatley, received a four-month prison sentence suspended for one year.

Following the hearing, HSE inspector Ian Betley, said: “Michael Sweet sadly lost his life because neither Aramex nor Gary Edwards put enough thought into his safety while working on a fragile warehouse roof.

Mr Edwards and Aramex were aware of the risks but failed to take any action to keep Michael safe.Companies and individuals have a legal duty to ensure the safety of workers they employ or who carry out work for them. If Aramex and Mr Edwards had taken their responsibilities seriously then Michael’s life could have been saved”.

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In Court