Kent Health & Safety Group s1

Kent Health & Safety Group

3 March 2011

Larkfield Village Halls

Minutes

Attendance List Alan Webb AW Consulting Ltd Allan Bone Park Leisure Ltd Philip Fairhurst Park Leisure Ltd Paul Green Network and Cabline (visitor) Gill Wiseman KCC – CFE David Nicholson KCC – CFE Mark Curry Tilhill Greg Buckley Tilhill Chris Pike Tilhill John McNeil Kent Wire J Snell Kita R H Mees AEM Ltd Paul Durkin Retired Charles Ferguson KFRS Eddie Adrian KHSG Carol Cassin KCC Gary Hewitt Gravesham Borough Council

Apologies for absence Pete Skinner MEP, Doug Chenery, Pete Hyland, Doug Baguley, Dave Tyler, Richard Pavey, Colin Norgate.

Welcome to members and visitors The Secretary welcomed members to the March meeting of the Kent Health and Safety Group.

HSE Update The Secretary introduced Mike Walters who is Principal Inspector for the Health and Safety Executive and manages the Kent Group of Inspectors.

Mike began his presentation with the following facts:  that he still has 4.5 FTE staff covering the whole of the county;  that there had been 9 fatal accidents since April 2010, including in the health services, and the waste, forestry, gas and leisure industries;  that there were lots of domestic gas issues at present, because of the winter months and because corners are being cut to save money.

He reported that there is a national inspection campaign which is being targeted at skip hire operations and associated recycling activities to help reduce accidents.

Meeting Number 454 - 1 - A safety health awareness day was held with 80-100 companies represented. The HSE, the Environment Agency and the police were all in attendance.

Mike explained that HSE Inspectors cannot stop vehicles that are in motion on the road, but they can if the vehicles are parked up.

LPG risk assessments are mostly carried out by the suppliers, ie BP, Shell, etc. Risk ranking is higher, medium and low risk. Equipment at higher risk sites must be replaced within four years. Suppliers have received ranked lists and will inform customers of the results. The information is passed to the HSE and visits are made by HSE/LA staff to higher risk sites.

The inspection campaign is an enforcement led campaign, both by the HSE and the LA. It looks at service pipework and tanks (non-domestic and gas phase pipework). The campaign does not look at caravan sites at present, but these are likely to be picked up this year.

The supplier has to ensure that the tank is where it should be and in the condition it should be in.

Another initiative reported on by Mike is CAVE 2010 – Common approach to vehicle enterprise. An event took place at Brands Hatch, attended by 300 delegates, including 100+ MVR students. There are flexible warrants between the HSE and local authorities. During the course of the initiative there were 38 LA enforced premises visited, 134 HSE enforced premises visited, 139 officer days (HSE and LA) and 107 instant visit reports. CAVE guidance is free on the HSE website.

He commented on the Lord Young Review – common sense, common safety, and said that there were lots of recommendations and key milestones set out in the report. Although Lord Young has resigned, his work is still being pushed through.

The occupational safety and health consultants register started on 31 January 2011. The HSE published an on-line low-risk assessment tool in mid-October 2010.

Mike then spoke about the spending review of 2010. The HSE is to make at least 35% savings over the 4 years from April 2011. By 25 February 2011, 201 posts had

Meeting Number 454 - 2 - been lost from the HSE. He said that they will have to recoup more money from industry. More of the cost will have to be shared with those who make most of the risks, while reducing costs on non-risk businesses.

It was thought that businesses need to know there is a risk of an HSE visit.

The Estates Excellence report is currently being written up and it was not known what will come from it.

Mike said that flexible warrants will continue to be used where the HSE has them.

He was asked if there was any provision for in-house Health & Safety training. He replied that there was no provision at the moment, however he recommended approved CPD courses being followed.

The HSE are debating at present as to whether they should be charging for advice. If it was agreed that charging should be introduced, it would probably be 12 to 18 months for it to take effect.

Mike said that there were rumours that food manufacture and stone working are areas that will be covered next year.

There are currently 7 divisions, but Mike Walters suspects that there will be less as a result of the savings required. He also said that when the lease is up on their premises, they will be moving because the current thinking is that government departments should be in government property. He doesn’t know where they would be moving too, but he felt there would probably still be a presence in Kent.

John Snell started his vote of thanks by saying that it didn’t seem like a year since Mike Walters’ last visit to the Group. He said that the HSE have a difficult on-going situation with possible charging and that it would not be any easier for the HSE in the coming year with fewer staff. . He thanked Mike Walters for his presentation.

General Business

 Minutes of previous meeting The minutes of the February meeting were agreed.

 Correspondence The Secretary reported that he had put a selection of magazines on the table at the back of the room, also some material which he had collected from Stuart’s.

 Website Stuart’s name as Chairman of the Group had now been removed from the website, but there was now a short item on Stuart in the Group News section.

 Update from other organisations Gary reported that Nick Hemmings of Jalite who had given a presentation to the Group at the end of 2010, had given the Group an invitation to visit the Jalite premises in Chelmsford. Members would be asked for comments at the next meeting on the idea of holding a site visit to Jalite.

IOSH are holding a conference in central London on 15 and 16 March. The next IOSH meeting is on 8 March at the Innovations Centre, Medway. The topic for the

Meeting Number 454 - 3 - meeting is ‘shattered lives’. The free IOSH forestry event at Shorne Woods is on 18 March. The IOSH AGM is on 12 April.

The HSE are holding a free workshop on 22 March in Essex entitled ‘Engaging Arboricultural Contractors’.

 Help! / Learning experiences Russell Mees told the Group how a previous employee had gone to a no win/no fee company with a case of industrial deafness. He said that his employers had needed to prove that the previous employee had received training, however he had retired 7 years ago and all his records had been got rid of. There is no requirement that any personal records should be kept. Fortunately, Russell had kept papers which showed this previous employee had attended training courses and signed for ear defenders.

He also reported that one of their female employees in one of their other facilities had slipped and fallen over whilst crossing the adjacent car park. Once she had got into work, her knee became swollen. It turned out that she had chipped the bone in her knee. She was 8 months pregnant at the time and was signed off work for 3 weeks. This accident happened out of doors and she hadn’t clocked on. Was it under RIDDOR?

 Accidents and dangerous occurrences Chris Pike reported two UPM employees had suffered thorn accidents. Both had gone to hospital, but had received different treatment from the two hospitals. One of the employees was treated and sent home, the other was operated on and kept in overnight.

Any other business Charles Ferguson reported that from the end of the month, there will be no more retained fire fighters. In future, they will be classified as part-timers.

Gary explained that as well as needing a new Chairman at the Group’s AGM, an auditor would also be required as Richard Pavey had stated that he didn’t wish to continue as auditor. Also Melvyn French had now retired and left the Group, so a new committee member will also be needed. Members were asked to give some thought to this matter.

Next meeting The next meeting will take place on 7 April 2011 when Taskmasters, one of the leading height safety specialists in the UK, will give a talk on working at height.

Meeting Number 454 - 4 -