The UK is committed to a robust regulatory system for the control of chemicals which ensures the UK’s high levels of environment protection, underpinned by the Environment Act. UK REACH is the government’s regulatory tool for achieving this – ensuring companies that put chemicals on the market understand and manage the risks they might pose.
This regulatory system has been in place since the UK left the European Union, and chemical businesses operating within Great Britain should have already provided initial information under the UK REACH transitional provisions.
Whilst this initial information has already been provided, the government will consult on extending the deadlines for providing the full registration data. Alongside this, the government will engage with industry and other stakeholders to explore whether there are opportunities to reduce the need for industry to replicate existing EU REACH data by placing a greater emphasis on understanding how chemicals are used in GB.
The consultation will take place in 2022 and more details will follow after discussions with stakeholders.
A Defra spokesperson said: “Now we have left the EU, we are able to review our legislation to see whether we can deliver more effective and efficient outcomes for both the environment and businesses.
“We will continue to work closely with industry and other interested stakeholders to understand their concerns and discuss how these might be addressed, while ensuring our high levels of protection of human health and the environment.”
This is valid as of 14th December 2021.
What you’ll get: In February 2019, T.W. Steam and Heating Services Limited had been contracted by Park View Academy to install a new heating system in the school building at Park View School, Chester Le Street.
In the course of the work, ceiling tiles containing asbestos were disturbed, potentially exposing several people to asbestos fibres.
The HSE’s investigation found that the contractor and the school both failed to refer to existing asbestos registers and management plans to identify the presence of asbestos within the school building.
Park View Academy of Church Chare, Chester Le Street pleaded guilty to breaching sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £3,000 with £4,785.37 costs.
T.W. Steam and Heating Services Limited of Rennys Lane Industrial Estate, Durham pleaded guilty to breaching sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £2,000 with £4,710.37 costs.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Ashfaq Ali commented, “The dangers associated with asbestos are well known and advice and guidance is freely available from HSE and other organisations. Those in charge of premises have a duty to inform contractors of the presence of asbestos containing materials, ensuring that works are carried out safely.
“Those undertaking work which is likely to disturb asbestos, or asbestos containing materials, should ensure that building occupants and operatives are not exposed to asbestos. Those undertaking the work should also provide suitable information, instruction and training to their employees”.
This is valid as of 9th December 2021.
On 15 January 2020, a blast at Cwt-y-Bugail Quarry in Llan Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, North Wales, resulted in rocks being ejected outside of the danger zone.
Investigating, the HSE found that flyrock from the blasting operation had landed approximately 270m away, punctured the roof of an occupied work shed, and put a hole in the outside pane of the occupied manager’s office skylight window.
According to the HSE, it was reasonably practicable for the company to ensure that the blasting did not give rise to danger by increasing the danger zone, clearing the increased danger zone, increasing the quality and quantity of stemming for the explosives in the blastholes, and by ensuring an adequate blasting specification was produced and authorised.
The HSE found that there were poor stemming practices, the written specification was prepared after the firing of the blast, and an inadequate danger zone was in place. As a result, there was a projection of flyrock outside of the danger zone that caused a quarry operative to run for cover and put other employees at risk when the roof of the shed they were working in was punctured.
Breedon Trading Ltd of Pinnacle House, Breedon Quarry, Breedon on the Hill, Derby pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by virtue of the Quarries Regulations 1999, regulation 25.
The company has been fined £300,000 and ordered to pay £2,534.80 in costs.
After the hearing, HSE’s Adrian Jurg, HM Specialist Inspector of Quarries, commented: “Blasting operations at quarries are inherently high risk, and these risks must be rigorously controlled by good explosives engineering practice and in accordance with legal requirements.
“It is unacceptable that employees, and potentially members of the public, be put at serious risk of being hit by rocks that could easily lead to death or serious injury.”
This is valid as of 8th December 2021.
What you’ll get: The memorandum of understanding aligns IOSH’s vision for a safer and healthier world of work with the ILO’s main aims to promote rights at work, encourage decent employment opportunities, enhance social protection, and strengthen social dialogue on work-related issues.
Both bodies have formally agreed to collaborate in ways that use their reach, influence, and technical and training expertise to participate in missions that achieve positive impacts through enhanced safety, health and wellbeing at work.
The ILO is the primary UN body supporting working conditions and worker protection globally in a unique tripartite structure representing workers, employers, and governments across 187 member states. For more than a century, it has set labour standards, including on occupational safety and health, developed policies and devised programmes promoting decent work for all working people.
For over 75 years, IOSH, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, has grown to become the world’s largest professional body for people responsible for the health, safety, and wellbeing of colleagues working in 130 countries in nearly every sector.
IOSH’s strategic aim is to enhance the occupational safety and health profession, collaborate to build strategic partnerships, and influence and strengthen impact globally.
Its members dedicate their working lives to preventing harm, enabling safe operations, and keeping people healthy and productive at work. IOSH networks in the Middle East, South-East Asia and West Africa extend and enhance our ability to make meaningful impacts.
Vanessa Harwood-Whitcher, Chief Executive of IOSH, said: “The agreement we have now signed builds on relationships of trust, respect and practical support that IOSH and the ILO have formed steadily over a number of years. There’s so much we can achieve as partners.
“Our shared intention to collaborate comes at a crucial moment for the world of work. People and their employers are reflecting on how to achieve sustainable, resilient ways of working and living to recover from and survive crises like climate change and pandemic.
“I am pleased IOSH and the ILO each recognise potential in combining our knowledge and global connections. We’re keen to explore how OSH professionals can intervene in places and occupations where harm is most challenging, and we look forward to working together.”
Joaquim Pintado Nunes, Chief of the Labour Administration, Labour Inspection and Occupational Safety and Health Branch of the ILO, said: “Occupational safety and health is at the heart of what the ILO does, advocating for decent work and engaging with governments, employers and workers to improve policy and regulatory frameworks and strengthen the institutional capacities required for sound and developed national systems. The needs we see in many countries are large scale, and collaborations such as this one will assist us to better respond to the challenges faced by our Member States.”
The ILO’s Safety + Health for All Flagship Programme seeks to improve the health and safety of workers worldwide. One of five global programmes of the International Labour Organization, the Programme mobilises government institutions, employers’ organisations, workers’ organisations and other key stakeholders to implement strategic interventions at enterprise, sectoral, national and global level.
An integral part of the Flagship Programme is the Vision Zero Fund, an initiative of the intergovernmental Group of Seven (G7) countries which aims is to prevent work-related deaths, injuries and diseases in sectors operating in or aspiring to join global supply chains. The Fund promotes a model of collective action that mobilizes a wide range of stakeholders, including global business, to develop and implement joint solutions to address endemic safety and health challenges in global supply chains. It is currently active in the agriculture, construction and garment / textiles sectors in eight countries on three continents.
This is valid as of 7th December 2021.
What you’ll get: The Committee has since reported on Government failures in balancing risk across many aspects of its response to the pandemic, and lack of planning and preparedness despite an influenza pandemic having been identified as the UK’s top non-malicious risk on government’s National Risk Register since 2008.
This follow up inquiry is based on the NAO’s recent findings that Government was not fully prepared for the wide-ranging impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on society, the economy and essential public services, and did not act upon some warnings from the simulations carried out prior to COVID-19, which highlighted issues around planning, coordination and capability that apply to pandemics more broadly.
For example, PAC says that the Government lacked detailed plans on shielding, employment support schemes and managing the disruption to schooling. Departments’ pandemic plans and business continuity plans set out some, but not all, of the responses required to maintain operations during the pandemic.
Preparations for EU exit enhanced the crisis capabilities and risk planning of some departments but meant that government paused work on other emergency preparations, limiting its ability to focus on other risk and contingency planning at the same time.
During this inquiry, the Committee will question senior officials at DHSC and the Cabinet Office. The inquiry is currently accepting evidence. The Committee is inviting views, and welcome submissions from anyone with answers to the questions in the call for evidence. Evidence may be submitted until 5 January 2022.
This is valid as of 6th December 2021.
On 27 March 2020, two employees used brake cleaning fluid to clean the grease from the walls of a vehicle inspection pit in the workshop. Shortly after they had finished cleaning the walls there was a loud bang and the entire wall of the pit where the brake cleaner had been applied became engulfed in flames.
One employee managed to get out of the pit and ran to help his colleague whose clothing had caught fire, pulling him out of the pit and extinguishing the flames. Both employees received burns to their hands and legs. One sustained 60% burns and had to undergo an emergency surgical procedure to relieve the pressure from the swelling which involved cutting either side of his shins on both legs and his left knuckle going down to his wrist. He subsequently underwent five skin graft operations on his left hand and both legs and spent six weeks in hospital.
The HSE investigation into the incident, which occurred at STA Vehicle Centres Ltd in Starley Way, Birmingham, found that the company failed to carry out a risk assessment to consider whether it was possible to eliminate or reduce the risk. They had not considered replacing the dangerous substance with another non-flammable substance or using a different work process. Jet-washing, a safe alternative, was already in use at the company’s other site.
The employees were not aware of the increased risks associated with using flammable fluid in a poorly ventilated area nor the need for appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) to be worn.
STA Vehicle Centres Limited of Halesfield 22, Telford pleaded guilty to breaching Section 6 (1) of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002. They were fined £28,000 and ordered to pay costs of £926.17.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Charlotte Cunniffe said: “Employers should ensure flammable materials are used appropriately and provide training for employees in their correct use. This incident could have easily been prevented.”
This is valid as of 2nd December 2021.
What you’ll get: It is already illegal to text or make a phone call (other than in an emergency) using a hand-held device while driving. Next year, laws will go further to ban drivers from using their phones to take photos or videos, scroll through playlists or play games.
This will mean anyone caught using their hand-held device while driving will face a £200 fixed penalty notice and 6 points on their licence.
Drivers will still be able to continue using a device ‘hands-free’ while driving, such as a sat-nav, if it’s secured in a cradle. They must, however, always take responsibility for their driving and can be charged with an offence if the police find them not to be in proper control of their vehicle.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “Too many deaths and injuries occur while mobile phones are being held.
“By making it easier to prosecute people illegally using their phone at the wheel, we are ensuring the law is brought into the 21st century while further protecting all road users.
“While our roads remain among the safest in the world, we will continue working tirelessly to make them safer, including through our award-winning THINK! campaign, which challenges social norms among high-risk drivers.”
Following the public consultation, the government will revise The Highway Code to explain the new measures. It will also be more precise about the fact that being stationary in traffic counts as driving, making it clear that hand-held mobile phone use at traffic lights or in motorway jams is illegal except in very limited circumstances.
There will be an exemption to the new law for drivers making a contactless payment using their mobile phone while stationary to ensure the law keeps pace with technology.
This exemption will cover, for example, places like a drive-through restaurant or a road toll and will only apply when payment is being made with a card reader. It will not allow motorists to make general online payments while driving.
This is valid as of 29th November 2021.
What you’ll get: The teenager was working with his employer, Dominic Di Pasquale, cutting down trees at a home in Pollokshields West, Glasgow on 19 March 2018.
Di Pasquale, a sole trader from Motherwell, was felling trees with a chainsaw and his employee was picking up the branches.
One of the branches he picked up hadn’t been cut yet. As Di Pasquale continued to cut it, the chainsaw jammed, pulling the branch and the teenager’s arm towards it. The chainsaw cut deep into his right hand along his knuckles from his index finger to his pinkie.
The teenager was taken to hospital by Di Pasquale, where he underwent surgery on his hand. He has since had three more operations to try and restore the use of his hand and has spent much of the last three years in casts.
The injury has left the teenager struggling to tie his shoelaces and he cannot use a keyboard. He has been advised to use an adapted steering wheel for driving.
When the employee started working with Di Pasquale, he wasn’t given any training. There also wasn’t a suitable system of work in place to make sure the employees stayed a safe distance from each other.
Di Pasquale plead guilty to failings under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £10,000.
Alistair Duncan, Head of the Health and Safety Investigation Unit, said: “This young man was left with a painful injury that has affected his dexterity and mental health, and had a life changing impact. If he had received basic training, this accident could well have been prevented.
“Dominic Di Pasquale put his employee at unacceptable risk and this prosecution should remind other employers they will be held accountable for their failures.”
This is valid as of 25th November 2021.
Rail regulator, the Office of Rail and Road, brought the prosecution under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 for failure to ensure lifting operations involving lifting equipment were properly planned, supervised, and carried out in a safe manner.
Amey Rail Limited pleaded guilty to the offence.
ORR’s prosecution follows an investigation into an incident in the early hours of 21 October 2018 outside Market Harborough station on the Midland Main Line, when a road-rail excavator vehicle overturned during an unsafe lift.
The vehicle’s operator had to be pulled from the cab, and fortunately, despite several other rail workers being in the area of the overturning, no one was seriously injured.
ORR’s investigation into the incident found there was a late change in the equipment being used on the night of the accident, which had inadequate lifting capacity for the planned works.
To overcome this, it was established that the length of the track to be lifted would need to be reduced from 30 to 20 feet.
This critical change was not managed or communicated correctly and resulted in the track panels being cut to the original length of 30 feet – exceeding the capacity for the excavators to be used.
When lifting started, the on-board safety systems on the excavators showed that the weight being lifted was exceeding what excavators could safely handle. ORR found in its investigation that these warnings were ignored, and the safety systems were disabled to enable the work to continue.
ORR also found that radio-based communication system between the operators and the lifting supervisor developed a defect. Despite replacement equipment being available on site, work continued with the inadequate communications equipment.
These failures led to one of the two excavators becoming overloaded beyond its capacity and toppling onto its side, trapping a worker in the cab, when undertaking a tandem lift of a track panel later established to be 39ft long.
Several members of the lifting team and others in the nearby vicinity kicked through the toughened glass windscreen to drag a worker clear of the cab.
ORR’s HM Chief Inspector of Railways Ian Prosser CBE, said: “The risks of failing to comply with the lifting regulations are well known throughout the industry and clearly foreseeable. In this case basic errors were made and it is by sheer luck that no one was seriously hurt.
“None of these failures to follow well established procedures, nor the isolation of safety systems on the excavators, were identified despite the presence of two senior members of staff on site during the night to manage the work.
“This meant Amey failed to take measures in order to adequately manage the risks presented when tandem lifting loads of the size and weight of those undertaken on 21 October 2018.”
This is valid as of 24th November 2021.
What you’ll get: While the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is yet to be fully understood, mental health issues are the number one reason given for sick days in the UK.
According to the Regulator, last year more than 17 million working days were lost as a result of stress, anxiety, or depression. A recent survey by the charity Mind suggests that two in five employees’ mental health had worsened during the pandemic.
In response, the HSE has launched a new campaign, Working Minds, which aims to help businesses recognise the signs of work-related stress and make tackling issues routine.
While Working Minds is specifically targeting six million workers in small businesses, the HSE is calling for a culture change across Britain’s workplaces to ensure psychological risks are treated the same as physical ones in health and safety risk management.
HSE’s chief executive Sarah Albon said: “Work-related stress and poor mental health should be treated with the same significance as risks of poor physical health and injury. In terms of the effect it has on workers, significant and long-term stress can limit performance and impact personal lives.
“No worker should suffer in silence and if we don’t act now to improve workers’ mental health, this could evolve into a health and safety crisis.
“The pandemic has highlighted the need to protect the health of employees who have faced unprecedented challenges; the Government is committed to building back better and we want to make sure good mental health is central to this.”
HSE is reminding business that no matter where people work, employers have a legal duty to assess the risks in the workplace, not just in terms of potential hazards and physical safety. They should also promote good working practices. It says this promotes an open environment where employees can share their concerns and discuss options to ease pressures.
Sarah Albon added: “Our campaign is focused on giving employers a clear reminder of their duties while championing reducing work-related stress and promoting good mental health at work.”
The regulator has partnered with a number of organisations to highlight the triggers of stress, the legal duty of employers and how to manage the risks. The network of Working Minds champions includes the charity Mind, which supports and empowers anyone experiencing a mental health problem in England.
Working Minds is aimed specifically at supporting small businesses by providing employers and workers with easy to implement advice, including simple steps in its ‘5 Rs’ to:
1. Reach out
2. Recognise
3. Respond
4. Reflect
5. make it Routine.
Employers and workers wanting to know more about the Working Minds campaign, including the legal obligations, advice, and tools available, should visit the campaign’s website here.
This is valid as of 23rd November 2021.
What you’ll get: Shane Leech, 33, pleaded guilty to these offences. He was given a 12-month community order and must carry out 80 hours of unpaid work.
On 15 September 2020, a report was made by a member of the public to Natural England of a dead buzzard and pigeon near Lakenheath, Suffolk. The birds were collected and sent for forensic testing and results showed that the partially plucked pigeon had Bendiocarb residue, a highly toxic chemical to be used against insects, on its body. The buzzard had Bendiocarb residue in its stomach and it is likely that the buzzard died after eating the pigeon carcass.
There was insufficient evidence to prove Mr. Leech was the one who put out poisoned bait or killed the buzzard. A search of Leech’s home on the 18 January 2021 found two 3kg containers of Bendiocarb.
In a search of an outbuilding on Leech’s property, around thirty dead pheasants were laying on the floor of the building. There were no health and safety warnings stating that insecticide chemicals were being stored anywhere on Leech’s property. Furthermore, the search also showed that Leech had two shotguns in an unlocked room.
Suffolk Police reported the case to the CPS who then undertook a review of evidence and authorized charges against Leech for breaches of health and safety and firearm licenses.
Ashley Petchey, of the CPS, said: “Shane Leech showed no responsibility for his actions. This case demonstrates the need to store chemicals securely and safely as failing to do so can have tragic circumstances, especially for wildlife in the countryside.
“Leech also failed to store two shotguns and ammunition properly, which could have endangered people’s lives. We will always work with the police to prosecute those who are endangering wildlife and our countryside.”
Leech was sentenced on 8 November 2021 at Ipswich Magistrates Court for two counts of failure to comply with a health and safety regulation and four counts of failing to comply with firearm licenses
Leech was sentenced to 12-month community order with 80 hours unpaid work, £105 in legal costs and £95 Victim Surcharge. Leech also had to forfeit the stored chemicals.
This is valid as of 18th November 2021.
On 22 May 2019, the employee was replacing broken roof sheets using a mobile elevating working platform (MEWP) to gain access to the roof of the barn and crawling boards to traverse the roof. The employee’s foot slipped from one of the crawling boards and he subsequently fell through the fragile roof material, sustaining serious injuries including neck fractures, a collapsed lung, and a bleed on the brain.
The HSE’s investigation found that Trevor Cook Construction Limited failed to plan the work appropriately. The company was aware of the risks and often used netting when undertaking large re-roofing projects but made a conscious decision not to install nets for smaller jobs, which involved the replacement of individual roof sheets. The chances of falling whilst working on fragile roofs are very high and the company should have had the appropriate safeguards in place.
Trevor Cook Construction Limited of Garlands, Cadley Road, Collingbourne Ducis, Marlborough, Wiltshire pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The company was fined £63,278 and ordered to pay costs of £6,721.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Stephan Axt-Simmonds said: “Falls from height remain one of the most common causes of work-related fatalities in this country and the risks associated with working at height are well known.
“Falls through fragile roof materials are not inevitable. They can be prevented by careful planning, using trained and experienced workers with suitable equipment, and employing a high level of supervision. This incident could so easily have been avoided by using established control measures and safe working practices.”
This is valid as of 17th November 2021.
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