FIVE YEAR COMPANY BAN FOR DIRECTOR
A director of a fuel tank manufacturing business has been banned from directing any company for five years after breaching health and safety regulations.

The MD of Transtore (UK) Ltd was also fined £17,000 and ordered to pay over £9,000 costs after admitting multiple breaches at Stratford-upon-Avon Magistrates' Court.

Workers at Transtore were exposed to lead compounds, while paint spraying. The company itself was fined £70,000 with costs of over £27,000 after being found guilty of eight breaches of health and safety law.

DIRECTORS FINED
Two directors of a marble and granite manufacturing company were each fined £10,000 after a worker died and two others were injured when six tonnes of stone slabs fell on them. The two directors pleaded guilty to offences under s.37 of the HSWA 1974, by allowing Marble City Ltd (MCL) to commit breaches due to their negligence. Both pleaded guilty. Southwark Crown Court heard that the fatality happened while the slabs were being unloaded from a truck. An MCL director was supervising the unloading operation, assisted by two employees. The company was fined £100,000 and costs of £47,564.

COMMISSION REMOVES PPE STANDARDS
The European Commission has concluded that two Standards do not fully comply with the ‘essential health and safety requirements' of Annex II to the ‘PPE' Directive (89/686/EEC). ISO 4869-4 ‘Acoustics - Hearing protectors - Part 4: Measurement of sound pressure levels for level-dependent sound-restoration ear-muffs' and EN 353-1: ‘Personal protective equipment against falls from a height - Part 1: Guided type fall arresters including a rigid anchor', have been removed from the list of Harmonised Standards shown in the Official Journal of the European Union.

NOISE RULING APPEAL
Last year's Court of Appeal ruling that the average employer should have known that noise levels of 85 decibels was not safe and should have provided hearing protection to workers after 1978 is to be heard by the Supreme Court (the court which replaced the House of Lords).

The solicitors in Baker and Others v Quantum Clothing and Others [2009] EWCA Civ 499 said last year that the ruling meant that any man or woman who worked in a factory among moderate noise levels between 1978 and 1990 now has the right to claim compensation for hearing loss from noise damage (see Monitor, July 2009, page 9).

We will ‘Monitor' the situation.

SCOTTISH COURTS TO INVESTIGATE FINANCE
An amendment to the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill means that Scottish courts are likely to have the power to order independent inquiries into an organisation's finances, following that organisation's conviction of a criminal offence.

The Scottish Parliament's Justice Committee accepted the amendment from Dr Bill Wilson MSP which also specifies a priority of payment for money recovered by the court. The sequence of priority is compensation order, repayment of cost of report (a convicted company can be ordered to pay for the inquiry's cost), payment of fine.

IMPACT OF NEW GOVERNMENT
Previously anticipated legislation, including a new fund of last resort for employers' liability claims, and a compulsory database of insurance information may now be in doubt because of the change in Government. While the coalition government says it plans to be a ‘positive participant' in the EU it does propose to limit the application of the Working Time Directive in the UK. We will ‘Monitor' the situation.

RoSPA LEADERSHIP RESEARCH
RoSPA is undertaking research to find out what is needed for the effective leadership of accident and ill health prevention by line managers and team leaders.

RoSPA wants to obtain information about the characteristics a good line manager or team leader has when it comes to health and safety e.g. leading by example or listening to the concerns of their colleagues.

In July RoSPA plans to collate all the ideas received and an exploratory seminar will be held in September to consider the responses and identify key issues and how they can be shared. Responses should be sent to rbibbings@rospa.com by 9 July 2010.

For more information visit: www.rospa.com/workplacesafety/bigworkplacediscussion/

PRE-EMPLOYMENT QUESTIONNAIRES
The Equality Act 2010 contains a provision which would prevent employers from asking job applicants about their health.

Section 60 on enquiries about disability and health states:
"A person (A) to whom an application for work is made must not ask about the health of the applicant (B)- (a) before offering work to B, or
(b) where A is not in a position to offer work to B, before including B in a pool of applicants from whom A intends (when in a position to do so) to select a person to whom to offer work".

This has an obvious impact on the use of pre-employment questionnaires. However, this part of the Act has to be brought into force by a Statutory Instrument, and now that the new Government is in place it may be that this is delayed or does not come into force.

Copies of the Act, together with an explanatory guide, can be obtained from: www.equalities.gov.uk/equality_bill.aspx

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