Kent Health & Safety Group
7 April 2011
Larkfield Village Halls
Minutes
Attendance List
John McNeil Kent Wire
R H Mees AEM Ltd
Ray George Retired (visitor)
Doug Chenery KHSG
Paul Durkin Faversham Hop Festival Ltd
Eddie Adrian KHSG
Greg Buckley UPM Tilhill
Mark Curry UPM Tilhill
Paul Crook Network and Cabling (visitor)
Elizabeth Alamu KCC
Philip Fairhurst Park Leisure Ltd
Pete Hyland Burtons Medical Equipment Ltd
Carol Cassin KCC
Gary Hewitt Gravesham Borough Council
Apologies for absence
Colin Norgate, Dave Tyler, Doug Baguley, Richard Pavey, Chris Pike, Terri Cliffe-Harrison.
Welcome to members and visitors
The Secretary welcomed members to the April meeting of the Kent Health and Safety Group.
Working at Height
The Secretary introduced Paul Harrison, the Managing Director from Taskmasters.
Paul began his presentation by explaining that Taskmasters has been around for 12 years working in height safety. He said that the company practises what it preaches as they have teams that work at height day in day out. The company also has a passion for safety.
Taskmasters work with government sectors, the emergency services, the construction sector, the service sector, the communications sector and the transportation industry.
The following points were made:
· There is a lot of proactive provision that can be put in place. Education is the key.
· Even the Working at Height regulations include rescues.
· The handover to emergency services should be done in a safe place.
· In the event of an emergency, a reliable means of rescue should be used.
· At least 4 regulations cover what sort of rescue should be used.
· Firms must have a Plan A, as they cannot rely on the emergency services – it might be that they are already out on an emergency, or that they are unable to access the location of the emergency.
Collective prevention vs collective protection.
How can you prevent someone from falling?
1) What systems of work do you have to prevent someone from falling?
2) If you can’t prevent falls, what procedures do you have for immediate retrieval?
Further points made:
· The number one priority is to preserve life.
· Can your first aiders adequately get to where the accident was?
· Are the first aiders prepared to work at height?
Collective protection:
· Barriers;
· Air-bags, bean bags, mats etc;
· Nets.
Developing a rescue plan:-
How would you know if someone has fallen? A crane driver often isn’t watched while he is climbing to his cab. He’s often the first up and the last down. If he was asked how he would contact somebody if he fell, he would say by radio, however the radio is usually up in the cab. The operative could use a mobile to call 999, however a mobile often has a flat battery or no signal.
What method of communication is used between the workforce?
Who will a co-worker alert? Possibly a first-aider. Don’t get a first-aider to speak to the emergency services, as the person who makes contact is usually kept on the phone by the emergency services and is therefore unable to deal with the injured person.
An adequate rescue plan needs to be defined – the person could be injured or unconscious.
Some areas have HART teams – Hazardous Area Response Teams.
Suspension trauma – injuries that could occur when someone is suspended in a safety harness, as areas of circulation can be blocked off. Somebody suspended in a harness should be encouraged to move their legs.
Likely injuries if somebody falls in a harness include compression of the spine, potential neck injuries and head injuries because the hard hat will usually fall off.
During a question and answer session, the following points were made:
· Pylon rescues are very difficult;
· Work operatives that are trained to work at height are trained to self-rescue;
· Rescuing people from height is not an area that the fire brigade are really trained in;
· Working at height is not just above ground, can be below ground too eg the Chilean miners. They were wearing a harness when they were brought up to ground level in the rescue pod in case they fell unconscious; the harness would have kept them upright so that the airways were not compromised.
· When ordering equipment, always ask the experts and involve another chain in the link.
· People don’t look at what is below them if they were to fall;
· Have to make sure that people are fit to work – crane drivers have to have medical assessments;
· Individual negligence is the only reason why somebody gets hurt;
· Paul wouldn’t discriminate against a diabetic (for example) working at height, but he would ensure that the first-aiders are aware of the problem and would know what to do if an incident occurred.
The Secretary thanked Paul for his presentation and said that it is not just how you work at height, but the procedures etc too. He also commented on how working at height could involve first-aiders in ways they perhaps would not have expected.
General Business
· Minutes of previous meeting
The minutes of the March meeting were agreed once Paul Crook’s name had been corrected.
· Correspondence
The Secretary reported that he had put a selection of journals on the table at the back of the room to which members were welcome to help themselves. Members were also invited to take anything which might be of interest to a colleague and then take the opportunity of inviting them to the next meeting.
· Website
The Secretary invited members to send in anything of interest to the Group which could be included on the website.
· HSE update
Mike Walters had sent information on what the HSE is planning to do over the next year. This can be seen at http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/strategiesandplans/delivery-plans/index.htm?ebul=hsegen&cr=3/04-apr-11
The Office for Nuclear Regulation, a new UK nuclear industry regulator, was launched on 4 April 2011. Further information is available at http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/news/2011/apr-nick-baldwin.htm?ebul=hsegen&cr=4/04-apr-11
Quarterly fatal statistics are available at http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/fatalquarterly.htm
The new online directory of consultants has gone live on http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2011/hse-oshcrdirectory.htm
Health & Safety Made Simple is available on http://www.hse.gov.uk/simple-health-safety/index.htm
Mike Walters is happy to answer any questions that members have.
· Update from other organisations
RoSPA have produced a new fortnightly emailed newsletter.
Safety Groups UK, IIRSM and others are organising a safety show in Blackpool in June.
Safety Groups UK recently held an event at Sandown Park and had sent to the Secretary a list of attendees from Kent. The Secretary had contacted them all.
IOSH had sent a similar list following an event and the Secretary would be contacting those. The IOSH AGM would be taking place on 12 April at the Innovation Centre.
Doug Chenery reported that LASER had folded as funding had been withdrawn, but the people who had been involved are now running it themselves.
· Help! / Learning experiences
Paul Durkin explained that in 2006 a resident had complained about the volume of noise at the Faversham Hop Festival. As a director of the festival, Paul said that he had lost the case and has to appeal to the Magistrates’ Court. Noise has to be monitored without equipment. He needs legal representation and asked members for advice. It was suggested that he contact the brewery. Henderson Chambers will also be consulted.
· Accidents and dangerous occurrences
There were none.
Any other business
Anybody wanting further details on a Health & Safety training officer vacancy in Horsham should contact Gary Hewitt. The closing date is in May.
It was reported that John Snell had retired and as a result had resigned from the Group and the Executive. He wished the Group well for the future and thanked everybody for their friendship and support over the years.
Gary had received no comments from members regarding a possible visit to the Jalite premises. He asked that members should either let him have their thoughts by email or at the next meeting.
Next meeting
The next meeting will take place on 5 May 2011 when Glen Bowker of Chemwatch UK will give a talk on COSHH and Hazardous Goods Compliance. Because the usual hall will be in use as a polling station, the meeting will take place in the Granary Hall. This is at the same location, but is reached via the outside staircase.
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