UPDATE FOR QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

A new version of ISO 9001 (ISO 9001:2008) the world’s most widely used quality management system Standard has just been published.

The changes to the Standard are relatively minor. They:

• clarify the requirements of ISO 9001 based on experience during the last eight years; and
• improve compatibility with the ISO 14001:2004 ‘Standard for environmental management systems’ (and by implication OHSAS 18001, the health and safety management specification).
  

ISO 9001 provides the requirements for a quality management system (QMS) that supports objectives such as customer satisfaction, regulatory compliance and continual improvement. The ISO 9001 Standard can be purchased (for £80 unless discounted) at: www.bsigroup.co.uk/new9001standard

SUSPENDED SENTENCE FOR BREACHING PROHIBITION NOTICE

A hotel owner has received a 12 week custodial sentence, suspended for one year, for ignoring an HSE prohibition notice. Kulwinder Bola was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service within the year and to pay the full court costs of £20,623 by Skegness Magistrates’ Court. Mr Bola received a conditional discharge for two other charges. They involved employing an unregistered gas fitter to install pipework and gas catering appliances and failing to appoint a planning supervisor in respect of the project to refurbish the hotel.

WORKING TIME OPT-OUT MOVES CLOSER

As we went to press MEPs voted to end the UK’s opt-out from the Working Time Directive. This means that the UK is likely to have to introduce a 48 hour limit to the working week from 2011. Following the vote the UK government will enter negotiations with the European Council of Ministers, with a final decision on ending the opt-out due early this year. It seems unlikely, however, that the opt-out will remain in place – requiring employers to change their existing working practices.


REVAMPED GUIDANCE ON WASTE DUTY

Environmental advice website Netregs has consolidated its guidance on the duty of care for waste. The guidance covers:

• What is the duty of care?
  
• Does the duty of care apply to you?
  
• Duty of care – what do you have to do?
  
• Storing and disposing of your waste responsibly.
  
• Who is allowed to deal with waste? • Records for receiving and transferring waste – waste transfer notes.
  
• Further information on the duty of care.
  
• Duty of care legislation.
  

The guidance does not introduce any significant new duties in this area.

More information at: www.netregs.gov.uk/netregs/63197.aspx

HAVS ANALYSIS

A report on hand arm vibration (HAVS) from the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) analyses information collected by the HSL from its HAVS diagnostic service. The report details the nature of the health problems, the vibration exposure and employment history in these individuals.

The report found that:

• The main industries from which the referrals came were construction (35.1%), utilities (11%), manufacture of basic metals (10%), agriculture (9%) and motor vehicle repair (7%).
  
• Certain tools were also associated with the severity of HAVS. For vascular HAVS these were small angle grinders and rammers. For sensory HAVS small angle grinders, road breakers, impact drills and blowers were significant. However, the report says that this does not necessarily indicate that the use of these tools is causally related to HAVS.
  
• The tools that had been used by the greatest proportion of people in their working life were chipping hammers (53.7%), small angle grinders (50.9%), road breakers (48.6%), impact drills (37.7%) and wrenches (27.4%). 
• The length of vibration exposure required before symptoms for either sensory or vascular HAVS develop (latency) shows wide variation but has a median of 16 years overall.
  

RR666 ‘Data mining in a HAVS referral population’ can be obtained from www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr666.pdf

MEDICAL RESEARCH ROUND-UP

The latest medical research includes:

• The benefits of a job-placement programme as part of vocational rehabilitation is demonstrated in a randomised controlled trial. Sixty-six workers with musculoskeletal injuries, all of whom had been injured at work and had been off work at least six months, were randomly assigned either to a three-week job placement and support group or to a self- placement (control) group. All the participants had attended a ‘work- readiness’ programme designed to address psychosocial barriers after lengthy sick leave. The return-to-work rate was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the job placement group (73%) than in the self-placement group (52%). See ‘Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation’ 2008, online first:doi: 10.1007/s10926-008-9138-z. www.springerlink.com/content/ x226008367345024
  
• A systematic review assessed links between common health conditions – and their treatments – and increased risk of workplace accidents. There is a moderately higher risk of occupational injury in workers with a hearing impairment, but little evidence of a risk associated with vision impairment. There is limited evidence of increased risk of injury in those with emotional problems, and with diabetes, epilepsy and use of sedating medicine. An improved evidence base is needed to underpin fitness-for-work decisions. See ‘Occupational and Environmental Medicine’ 2008; 65; 757–764. http://oem.bmj.com/cgi/content/ abstract/65/11/757
  
• A systematic review found moderate evidence that multimodal vocational rehabilitation reduces the risk of disability pension and that return-to- work programmes decrease sickness absence spells lasting longer than six months. There is weak evidence that multimodal interventions based on medical treatment combined with early vocational rehabilitation increase job and physical wellbeing and decrease sick leave. There is insufficient evidence reported on the impact of early rehabilitation methods when applied as the sole intervention. For more information see ‘Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine’ 2008; 40: 796–804 http://jrm.medicaljournals. se/article/abstract/10.2340/ 16501977-0270
  

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ARBORICULTURISTS

A research report from the HSE contains recommendations on safe practice for arboriculturists, which may prove useful for those with premises that include a large number of trees.

• This includes: Correctly assessing the severity of visible damage with regard to rigging loads, or detecting hidden weaknesses in trees, requires both experience and specialist knowledge.
  
• The hazards involved in rigging, and the potential consequences for the climber, are significantly greater in number, and higher in risk, than those arising in most other arboricultural operations. In order to undertake operations safely, a different level of experience, training and individual work planning is also required.
  
• Besides considering the tree itself, the development of a safe rigging strategy should also include consideration of the strengths and properties of the equipment used, such as ropes, slings, pulleys and friction devices. The condition of the equipment (age, wear and damage), and the specific way it is intended to be used in a rigging system, can alter its load-bearing capacity. At the same time, the specific configuration of a rigging system will determine the load its components will be exposed to.
  
• When considering rigging operations, safety considerations should always be based on a worst-case scenario.
  
• The selection of an appropriate anchor point in a tree requires not only a good work plan, but also an ability to correctly assess the load-bearing capacities of tree stems and branches.

R668: ‘Evaluation of current rigging and dismantling practices used in arboriculture’ can be obtained from www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr668.pdf

HOTEL AND CATERING SAFETY SUPPORT

The European safety agency OSHA has compiled a report on health and safety in the hotel, restaurant and catering sector (HORECA), a sector that employs 7.8m in the EU.

Working conditions in the HORECA sector are characterised by high mental and physical demands. Night and weekend work, shift work, workplaces that allow standing only, lifting of heavy loads, forced postures, monotony and dealing with difficult customers are only a few typical characteristics. The number of hours worked exceeds the average of other sectors, as the working hours of employees in the Horeca sector are almost always in the leisure time of 926the remaining population, so that social activities are difficult. The ability to deal with mental stress is a frequently described aspect of the work-specific requirements of the sector.

Slips, trips and falls, as well as cuts and burns, are the biggest cause of occupational accidents. In the field of occupational diseases musculoskeletal disorders and skin diseases predominate.

• Specific problems for the sector include: the prevalence of small enterprises;
  
• a very high fluctuation of employees and enterprises;
  
• almost half of all employees in the Horeca sector have no special professional training concerning products, handcraft skills, machines and tools, and they do not know the hazards involved;
  
• the sector is traditionally international and many migrant workers find employment in it, which means language barriers complicate the implementation of regulations; employees in small enterprises in general, and enterprises in the gastronomy and the hotel sector in particular, are rarely members of trade associations.
  

The report includes useful case studies of successful, practice- oriented prevention.

Copies can be obtained from: http://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/reports/TE7007132ENC_horeca

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