Oct 2024
October 2024 - Legal Update
News: Ban on current fire fighting foams
In 2025 a ban on certain chemicals will affect fire-fighting foams currently in use. The FIA has issued guidance on the implications.
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News: Fire safety in construction
On 12th November 2024 the HSE is offering a free half day conference in Birmingham on the topic of fire safety in construction.
Further information:
https://www.shponline.co.uk/legislation-and-standards/government-commits-to-martyns-law/
News: Creosote ban on the cards?
It appears that the manufacture and use of creosote could be banned in the future. The HSE is consulting.
Further information:
https://consultations.hse.gov.uk/crd-biocides/gb-bpr-creosote-renewal-assessment/
News: Waste wood recycling
Guidance on the control of wood dust exposure in the wood recycling industry has been published.
Further information:
https://woodrecyclers.org/wra-launches-first-sector-specific-guidance-on-wood-dust/
News: Update to BS EN ISO 45001: 2023
The BSi has published an update to BS EN ISO 45001: 2023+A1:2024. “Occupational health and safety management systems requirements with guidance for use”.
Further information:
News: Change to fire testing standards
The government has confirmed that Approved Document B (which specifies fire safety standards in new builds and alterations, in England and Wales) is to be amended to remove references to the testing standard for products BS 476, with EN 13501 taking its place. The move is designed to modernise and improve fire testing standards, and simplify the regime so as to reduce confusion.
Further information:
https://www.warringtonfire.com/resources/bs-476-and-en-13501-what-you-need-to-know#
Case law: Coordination of contractors’ work was lacking
Balfour Beatty has pleaded guilty to breaching lifting regulations after a fatal accident in which a scissor lift was knocked over by an overhead crane. In court it was fined £285,000 plus costs of £21,768.
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Case law: Pensioner killed in fall through bathroom floor
A construction company has been fined £150,000 and ordered to pay £50,000 in costs, after its mistakes led to the death of a householder. The company’s employees had left an open hole in an upstairs bathroom’s floor, which the pensioner fell through, only being found the next day. The company was criticised for its lack of risk assessment and employee training.
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Further information:
https://press.hse.gov.uk/2024/09/18/company-fined-after-loving-grandad-dies-from-fall/
Case law: Plant fell from trailer
The HSE in Northern Ireland has prosecuted a plant hire company after a mobile elevating working platform fell from the side of a trailer as it was being loaded. The driver sustained life changing injuries when he was thrown onto the road.
Inspectors found that the risks of loading plant fitted with adjustable and retractable axles had not been assessed, there was no banksman and there was also a lack of segregation to protect pedestrians.
Balloo Hire Centre Ltd pleaded guilty to offences under articles 4(1) and 5(1), Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 and was fined £80,000.
Further information:
https://www.hseni.gov.uk/news/plant-hire-company-fined-after-placing-employees-risk
Case law: Holiday park where child drowned, was permitted to have no lifeguard
An inquest has found that health and safety measures at a holiday park swimming pool where a boy drowned were “borderline” but did comply with minimum standards. Although there was no poolside supervision at the pool, and this was unusual for the type of facility, it meets the current HSE guidance for swimming pool safety.
Further information:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm247g60jj7o#:~
Case law: Landlord tagged and curfewed for gas safety offence
A Kent landlord has been handed a suspended jail sentence and electronically tagged after putting the lives of tenants at risk.
Further information:
https://press.hse.gov.uk/2024/09/02/fine-for-rogue-landlord-who-put-tenants-lives-at-risk/
Case law: Manufacturer removed guards and defeated interlocks
Food manufacturer, Oriental Delight (UK) Limited, has been fined £150,000 for failing to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery after three machines were found to be operating unsafely after deliberate modification.
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Case law: Entangled in drill whilst clearing debris
An employee sustained six fractures to his arm after it was caught and wrapped around a radial arm drill. He had been clearing debris from the bed of the drill when the accident occurred. The HSE found that there was no risk assessment or safe system of work.In court, Screening Consultancy and Supplies Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1), Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £28,000 plus costs of £3,616.
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