New Energy Management Standardt
Monitor readers who are familiar with OHSAS 18001 will recognise the ‘plan do check act' management systems approach in BS EN 16001: 2009, BSI's new European Standard on Energy Management. The new Standard aims to establish the processes that will achieve carbon and cost savings, taking into account policy and legal requirements. It aims to help businesses to continually improve performance through behavioural change, in support of active energy monitoring and targets for energy efficiency or better yet, carbon reduction. Organisations may want to integrate its requirements with other management system Standards, particularly ISO 14001.

For more information on BS EN 16001 (32pp) go to: www.bsigroup.com/en/Shop/Publication-Detail/?pid=000000000030172146

Needlestick agreement
Employers and trade unions in the healthcare sector have signed an EU-wide agreement to prevent injuries from needlesticks and other sharp objects.

The agreement aims to:

• achieve the safest possible working environment for employees in the sector and protect workers at risk; prevent injuries to workers caused by all types of sharp medical objects (including needlesticks);
• set up an integrated approach to assessing and preventing risks as well as to train and inform workers.
  

The agreement can be downloaded from http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=89&newsId=558&furtherNews=yes

HSE first aid training guide
The HSE has issued a Local Authority Circular on the changes to first aid training. From 1 October 2009 first aiders provided by an employer in the workplace for the purposes of the regulatory requirements must hold a certificate of competence in either:

• first aid at work; or
• emergency first aid at work.
  

Providing they have current knowledge and skills in first aid, this may not be needed for some doctors, nurses and paramedics.

LAC 28-1 can be found at www.hse.gov.uk/lau/lacs/28-1.htm

Inadequate legionella assessments
A water treatment company has been fined £24,000 by Abertillery Magistrates Court for carrying out inadequate and misleading surveys
at nursing homes.

During 2007, DEBA UK Ltd was commissioned to carry out legionella risk assessments at nursing homes operated by Craegmoor Healthcare in Tredegar and Llangattock, and rated the risk as low. A subsequent routine check of the nursing homes revealed there to be inadequate controls for legionella at these premises.

DEBA UK Ltd pleaded guilty to three charges under s.3(1) of HSWA and was also ordered to pay costs of £17,276.

Company fined after workers catch Legionnaires' disease
In a separate case, butchery processing company Kepak Ltd has been fined £25,000 by Preston Crown Court after two employees caught Legionnaires' disease at its premises in Bamber Bridge, Preston.

The court heard that the first case of Legionnaires' disease was diagnosed on 26 September 2006 in Boguslaw Plociennik, who was employed as a boner, and a second on 3 October 2006 in Zbigniew Rauk, who was employed as a packer.

Water samples were taken throughout the building and significant levels of legionella were found to be present at three locations: a pressure washer hose point, an apron wash shower point, and a pressure washer header tank. The tank was fed by hot and cold water and supplied water to three pressure washer hose points in and around the process area. The system was used to clean away meat and fat debris. The court heard that Kepak Ltd failed to carry out simple checks on the hot and cold water system.

Kepak pleaded guilty to breaching s.2(1) HSWA and was also ordered to pay £20,000 costs.

Consultation on Workers Memorial Day
The Government is consulting on official recognition of Workers Memorial Day to remember those who lose their lives at work.

Since the early 1990s, the day has become the focal point for an increasing number of commemorative events involving the bereaved, trade unionists, the TUC, Government bodies and Local Authorities among others.

Workers Memorial Day is already recognised as a national day in many countries around the world including Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Luxembourg, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Thailand, Taiwan and the USA.
The consultation runs until 19 October 2009.

For further information visit www.dwp.gov.uk/consultations/

House of Lords to examine Work at Height Regulations
The House of Lords Merits Committee is to examine the Work at Height Regulations as part of a study to assess the degree to which Government departments check whether legislation is actually working as anticipated.

For the Work at Height Regulations, the relevant department is the HSE. When the regulations were introduced, there were accusations of ‘gold plating' - the addition of requirements that did not appear in the originating EC regulations.
The Committee seeks responses to the following questions:

• was the legislation easy to understand and apply to your situation?
• did it cost you more or less to implement than the Department suggested?
• now you have experience of the legislation can you suggest ways in which it could be simplified or made to operate more cost-effectively?
• did the legislation achieve its stated objective?
• were there any unintended consequences, or problems with the way the legislation worked?
• are you aware of any arrangements that would enable you to give feedback on your practical experience of the legislation to the Department that issued it?
  

The Committee is also interested in any broader comments on this review.

The deadline for submitting written evidence is 11 September 2009.

Details on how to do so can be found at www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/merits/cfe_post_implementation_reviews.cfm

Improving worker involvement
A short guide from the Strategic Forum for Construction is intended to help reduce accidents and improve worker involvement on construction sites.

The guide is aimed at all workers and employers in the construction industry, especially those who work for small and medium-sized companies. As well as information on a company's legal requirements and practical examples of what should take place, there are also case studies of how worker involvement has been implemented.

Copies of the guide can be downloaded by visiting www.ucatt.info/content/view/742/30/

Crane company ordered to pay out £389,299 after death of two workers
Crane company WD Bennett's Plant & Services Ltd has been fined £125,000 and ordered to pay costs of £264,299 by Chichester Crown Court after an incident led to the deaths of two workers and severe injuries for a third.

The incident took place on a construction site in Durrington, Worthing, on 11 February 2005. The third man, who was severely injured in the incident, was working on the mast of a crane. He was instructed to begin de-torquing the crane's mast bolts and should have done so one-by-one, and then re-tightened each one by one bolt in turn. However, he was not trained in this job and he failed to re-tighten the bolts, leaving them part undone. This caused the crane to collapse as it was turned. Two men who were working on the jib of the crane died from injuries sustained when they were flung from the crane.

The men were employees of Eurolift (Tower Cranes) Limited. Eurolift pleaded guilty to two health and safety breaches at the beginning of the trial and was fined £50,000.

HSE Inspector Peter Collingwood, who led the investigation, said: "This fine reflects the seriousness of the company's breaches of health and safety legislation. The accident, in which two men lost their lives, was avoidable".

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