Kent Health & Safety Group
11 April 2013
Church Farm Hall
Minutes
Attendance List
Dominic Wiley Lee Brothers (visitor)
Greg Buckley Ground Control
Mark Curry Ground Control
John McNeil AMKW
Carol Cassin KCC
Karen Stark KCC
SallyAnne Clark KCC
Barry Evans Thurrock Council
Chris Pike UPM Tilhill
Dennis South Topbond plc
Richard Palmer Medi Aid
Katie Pavey (visitor)
Gill Wiseman KCC
Apologies for absence
Doug Chenery, Colin Norgate, Andy Henderson, David Nicholson, Gary Hewitt, Richard Pavey, Russell Mees
Welcome to members and visitors
The Chairman welcomed members and visitors to the April meeting of the Kent Health and Safety Group.
Air Monitoring
The Chairman introduced Shaun Knott from the Casella Measurement.
Shaun began his presentation by stating that there were no regulations regarding air monitoring only guidance.
He explained that he could carry out a dust or gases test and charge £650 for this, he would then prepare a report for another £650. The kit could be hired for £50 for a week.
The following points were made:
· Workplace exposure limits are calculated over an 8-hour day, limits reached need to be as far below it as possible;
· MDF is likely to be the new asbestos – it’s the glue that is the problem, not the wood content;
· The average male breathes at 2 litres a minute.
Shaun described the testing procedure which is carried out by using a filter in a pump. An employee working in a static position would wear the pump for half a day; if an employee was quite mobile then they would wear it for the whole day. The pump would tell how many litres has gone through; the weight of the filter tells what somebody has been exposed to.
Firms need to make sure that their safety data sheets list all the products used and if the purchasing department changes a product, it needs to be added to the safety data sheet.
More points:
· The correct respiratory mask can be issued once the results of monitoring are known;
· Coconut charcoal draws all the contaminants into it;
· A computer can aspeciate gases, but not dust;
· Firms should know roughly what they have got on site.
Recognising combination chemicals can be a little problematic. A safety data sheet comes with chemicals and this gives information on the limit of exposure. However if a chemical is used with something else, it changes.
Hydrogen sulphide kills you after 15 minutes, you cannot be resuscitated and your organs cannot be used. When you can smell hydrogen sulphide it is safe, when you cannot smell it, it is not safe.
More points:
· It costs £12 to send the filter back for testing;
· Pre-loaded cassettes are now available;
· The kit can be bought for about £700;
· If you really don’t know what could be on site, a portable testing device, a netholometer, can be hired;
· Insurers would be OK with a company that has done its own testing and sent the filter for testing. A company that has weighed its own filter, would need to test its competence;
· The machine would need recalibrating every 2000 hours.
The question was asked how soon a portable carbon monoxide monitor activates. Within 90 seconds, it should reach 80%.
A safe method was needed for testing a building used as a wood chip storage. Shaun suggested testing before opening the door by fixing a hose in the door with a pump.
Lead air monitoring used to be done by using something like litmus paper, this is still available but now it is done with something like a wet wipe.
Chris Pike gave the vote of thanks for a very interesting presentation.
General Business
· Minutes of previous meeting
The minutes of the last meeting were agreed.
· Correspondence
The Chairman reported that it was not too late to obtain complimentary tickets for the SHE Show South in Milton Keynes on 23 April.
Information had been received from Safety Groups UK regarding the bulk purchase of defibrillators. This information is attached to these minutes.
The usual magazines are available at the back of the room.
· Website
There was nothing in particular to report.
The suggestion was made that links to firms could be added to the website. This would be looked into.
· HSE update
CD250, a consultative document on safety in ports and CD251, a consultative document on first aid have been released.
The HSE have also updated the chainsaw at work documents.
· Update from other organisations
Nothing had been received from other organisations.
· Help! / Learning experiences
Chris Pike reported that he had recently been on a work trip to Russia where he had seen scaffolding used in a rather interesting way ie no toe boards, very few hand rails.
· Accidents and dangerous occurrences
Mark Curry told the group of a visit he made recently to a site to carry out an audit. There was an authorised walking route around the site, which went over some pipes causing in a trip hazard. He gave feedback to the principal contractor.
Chris Pike explained that when digging in a forestry site they cannot CAT scan the whole area to establish where electricity cables are, they have to use visual clues. These do not always give a true picture however, as recently a cable was dug up when there appeared to be no pylon in sight – the pylon was the other side of the site behind some trees.
Chris Pike also reported that during the recent snowy weather in south-east Scotland, a workman clearing trees that had been brought down by the snow felt a tingling caused by a power cable that was down and earthing through the snow.
Barry Evans reported that cemeteries were part of his work and that a complaint had been received from a member of the public that a child had almost fallen down an open grave, which was only covered by contiboard. He said that there used to be shoring, but that it was stolen. On one occasion when he checked a cemetery, he found workmen digging 6’ holes by hand and as the ladders had also been stolen, the workmen were having to be hauled out of the holes.
Any other business
The Chairman reminded members that the Group’s AGM is in 2 months time. He went on to explain that the committee had been working on a framework for the Group. The document had originally been written about 13 years ago by John Messias, a former president of the Group, but had never been ratified at an AGM. The document will be sent out with these minutes together with a covering letter from the chairman. The covering letter will include a postal voting slip so that members can vote on the framework document even if unable to attend the AGM.
The framework lists additional posts that the Group had not had for the last few years as the Group had been unable to fill them. However this year there are volunteers for all posts. Committee members will be needed and anybody wishing to be on the committee should speak to either Chris Pike or Gary Hewitt.
The Chairman asked the following questions of those present:
1) what do members think of the venue?
OK
2) what do members think of the location?
quite central
3) what do members think of the idea of the Group organising a day seminar and would members be prepared to help?
There was interest in the idea and those in attendance would be prepared to help
4) what do members think of the order of business at meeting? Speaker first or business first?
It was agreed that it was probably best with the speaker first and business later, but perhaps with a short break in between.
5) what do members think of the timing of the meeting?
OK
The next IOSH meeting will take place on Tuesday, 14 May at the Kent Events Centre at 5.30 pm. The subject will be stress and mental health.
Next meeting
The next meeting will take place on 9 May 2013 when Taskmasters will give a presentation on Rescue Plans for Work at Height.
Meeting Number 473 - 4 -