News

A construction worker had a lucky escape when the forklift truck he was driving toppled over and crashed onto beach huts on Lyme Regis seafront.

The worker was unloading materials when the vehicle, known as a telehandler, toppled over with its extended boom dropping over the side of the main parade and smashing three private beach huts. Fortunately, he managed to scramble out of the damaged cab uninjured.

A couple walking along the promenade also had a lucky escape, since they had walked past the accident scene only seconds before and were just 30 metres away when the telehandler came crashing down.

The incident was considered so serious that the Health and Safety Executive were immediately informed.

Ian Thompson, who witnessed the drama, commented, "I had taken quite an interest in the site as I am an out of work site manager and had considered the site as a logistical and health and safety nightmare.

The telehandler looked to be fully extended and the driver started to make a right turn on a downward slope. At this point the telehandler started to lean over. It felt like slow motion as the telehandler arm fell over on to the beach huts.

I did overhear the driver in a somewhat emotional state claiming that he had no warning of the incident as the vehicle's tilt alarm or safe working load alarm did not give any indication of the impending accident."

Town clerk Mike Lewis issued the following statement, "A team of senior executives from the company including the in-house health and safety officer and external H&S advisers attended the site within two hours, from which an incident report will be compiled, in addition to that of the HSE in due course. Only then can official commentary be given as to the reasons behind the incident but meanwhile the contractor and sub-contractors with their advisers will naturally establish sufficient information and review their method(s) of working to be able to proceed with the works safely ensuring of course no such incident can re-occur."

For more information, see the:

• Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974;
• Construction (Design and Management) Regulations SI 2007/320.

Health and safety consultants are being invited to sign up to a new independent register, which is intended to become a new benchmark for standards in the profession.

The Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register (OSHCR) is being set up in response to recommendations in Lord Young's Government-commissioned report on the UK health and safety system, ‘Common Sense, Common Safety'.

It aims to increase employers' confidence in accessing good quality, proportionate advice and to address concerns that some employers (especially SMEs) find it difficult to know how and where to get health and safety advice.

OSHCR has been established by a number of professional bodies representing general safety and occupational health consultants across the UK, with support from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The voluntary register is open to individuals who provide commercial advice on general health and safety management issues and who have achieved at least one of the following:

1. Chartered status with IOSH (Institution of Occupational Safety and Health), CIEH (Chartered Institute of Environmental Health) or REHIS (Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland) with health and safety qualifications;
2. Fellow status with IIRSM (International Institute of Risk and Safety Management) with degree level qualifications;
3. Member or Fellow status with BOHS (British Occupational Hygiene Society) Faculty of Occupational Hygiene;
4. Registered Member or Fellow status with IEHF (Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors).

In addition, all consultants wishing to join the register must declare that they will:

1. demonstrate continuing professional development;
2. abide by their professional body's code of conduct;
3. provide sensible and proportionate advice; and
4. have professional indemnity insurance (or equivalent).

Speaking on behalf of all the organisations involved in developing OSHCR, HSE Chair Judith Hackitt said, "There are already many very good health and safety consultants who give sensible and proportionate advice to employers, but there are also those who may overcomplicate health and safety, miss important hazards or contribute to misperceptions about what is really needed to protect people at work. This register offers a level of assurance to businesses that those consultants on the register have met set standards within their professional body. It will be an independent way of demonstrating professional competence in occupational health and safety consultancy and should also encourage those who have not yet met these standards to do so."

The application fee will be £60, but applications received by 30 April will be subject to a discounted fee of £30. The fee is payable annually on renewal of registration. Individuals who apply to join the register during the discounted period will be given a registration renewal date of 30 April 2012.

To apply to join the register visit www.oshcr.org.

The theft of 2 million carbon allowances worth an estimated €30 million is now the fourth major attack on the European carbon emissions trading system, which has also been the subject of threats from carousel fraud, as well as phishing scams.

This latest attack is thought to be due to computer hacking and on 19 January, provoked the suspension of the trading scheme after 475,000 allowances went missing from the account of Blackstone Global Ventures, a trader based in the Czech city of Brno.

The EU "cap-and-trade" system places emission limits on more than 11,000 utilities and manufacturers, capping their greenhouse gas discharges at 2.08 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. Companies that go over their limit can buy permits, while those with surplus permits can sell them. Companies are obliged to own allowances for each tonne of carbon dioxide they produce. The bulk are given away free by Member State Governments, but can then be traded between market participants to penalise heavy polluters and reward the more energy efficient.

All national emission registries of Member States have now been suspended and will only be reactivated when Commission Officials are assured that minimum security requirements have been put in place.

Andreas Arvanitakis, senior analyst at Point Carbon, says an obvious starting point is improving the security of the computer systems with encryption and more layers of protection. "Each of the allowances has a serial number but sales happen so quickly in a few clicks that they are long gone before they can be traced. A buyer on an exchange could be completely unaware they are handling stolen goods."

The suspension had been expected to end on 26 January, however Brussels now says it may only lift the suspension on a country-by-country basis, with the UK thought to be one of the Member States most likely to be given the all-clear. The countries where the problems originated, such as Austria, the Czech Republic and Greece, are having the most difficulties adhering to security requirements.

Maria Kokkonen, the Commission's climate spokeswoman believed that once there is a centralised clearinghouse, starting in 2013, these sorts of problems will no longer be an issue.

For more information, see:

• Directive 2003/87/EC, establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community;
• the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Regulations SI 2005/925.

A recent prosecution by the Environment Agency has highlighted the seriousness being attached to breaches of legislation implementing the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive 2002/96/EC.

Scrap metal firm operator, Ricky Hunn, was fined a total of £26,600 in relation to two offences for illegally accepting and processing electrical and metal waste at his firm at Longfield Farm, Kent.

Sevenoaks Magistrate Court heard how Mr Hunn had set up Scrapco Metal Recycling in the summer of 2009 after buying the site from another waste business. The licence obtained by Mr Hunn to operate on the site only allowed Scrapco to accept and process scrap metal in the form of cars and vehicles.

However, on a routine visit in November 2009, Environment Agency officers found large quantities of metal waste on site, as well as electrical waste intermingled with general scrap.

A further visit in January 2010 found that scrap metal and a considerable amount of electrical waste was spread over the site and was still being imported into the business. Scrapco ignored warnings from the Agency that they were operating illegally and could face prosecution.

Jamie Hamilton from the Environment Agency said: "Prosecution is usually a last resort for us, but it was clear that the situation at the Scrapco site could no longer be tolerated. Mr Hunn and his staff were repeatedly warned about the illegal waste activities taking place on the site but they chose to ignore our advice."

Mr Hunn was fined £20,000 for processing the waste without an environmental permit required under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations SI 2010/675, as well as £3,000 under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 for failing to provide a written description of the waste.

Simon Walsh, co founder of ShP Limited which recycles electricals on behalf of businesses across the UK said: "If electrical equipment isn't disposed of properly, the hazardous substances they contain such as mercury and lead, can have disastrous consequences for the environment. It's only right the Environment Agency is cracking down on businesses that ignore the rules. If you're a business with old electricals, make sure you give them to reputable recycling firms."

Environment Minister Edwin Poots has claimed that householders could save hundreds of pounds by taking small steps to reduce, reuse and recycle more.

This could involve simply making a shopping list in order to cut down on food waste, buying loose instead of packaged fruit and vegetables or using your own shopping bags.

Although somewhat simplistic, such actions could not only help the environment, but also save money. Food waste costs the average UK household £680 a year, whilst every fortnight Northern Ireland households throw away enough rubbish to fill the Waterfront Hall.

A Rethink Waste campaign is currently highlighting many waste prevention hints and 'thoughts' via television, radio stations, newspapers, publications and websites. Messages are also being seen on bus stops, buses and billboards, and on promotional bikes cycling around Belfast.

Referring to the initiative, Mr Poots said, "We all have an interest in reducing our waste. Preventing waste means that you are saving money by buying less and not having to pay to throw good produce away. Whether you are managing a major company or the household budget it just makes good economic common sense.

Continuing to send waste to landfill also means that we could face huge European Union fines and increasing landfill tax costs, which will ultimately add to our rates bills. The Rethink Waste campaign, with these everyday tips is designed to help us avoid this by raising awareness of how simple it is to reduce our waste.

We all have a part to play in managing our waste so I urge everyone, whether in school, at work, in the community or at home to do just one thing to prevent waste and help us avoid these fines and protect and improve our environment."

Hints and tips on how to reduce, reuse and recycle can be found on the Rethink Waste NI website.

For more information, see the:

• Waste Regulations (Northern Ireland) SR 2011/127.

Anglian Water has been fined £35,000 and ordered to pay full costs of over £7,000 after a sewage treatment works discharged sewage into the River Wid in Essex for more than three hours, killing hundreds of fish and invertebrates. The incident in September 2009 affected more than 2km of the river and was categorised as “most serious” by the Environment Agency.

Mrs Anne-Lise McDonald, prosecuting for the Agency, told Chelmsford Crown Court that Anglian Water records showed there were power problems on-site on the weekend in question. There is a back-up generator on-site and on the night of the offence there was a power failure and the emergency generator failed to operate. The lack of power meant the works discharged directly into the river. An electrician sent to Anglian Water’s Doddington operations management centre at 9:25pm thought he had been sent there to turn off the back-up generator, but when he did, everything at the works stopped so he turned it back on again.

He was told to leave the generator running, but ten minutes later it stopped working and he thought the fuel had run out. Neither the electrician nor the operations staff knew where to get more fuel. An employee dispatched to get more from Chelmsford works was diverted before he could get it back to Doddinghurst.

At 1:20am the electrician found and checked the main power supply for the works. Mrs McDonald commented, “The electrician turned the isolator off and on again and the power came back on. It was not clear whether the power failure was due to the electrical supply to the works or to a fault on the main power supply within the works.

It wasn’t until 3:20am the following day before there was confirmation that the tank was re-fuelled. The site treatment manager told investigating officers that due to thefts of fuel at the site, only a limited amount was kept there. Procedures were in place to deal with this kind of incident, however they were not followed.

After the hearing, Environment Agency officer Tim Poulding said, “A catalogue of errors led to this pollution seriously affecting wildlife on the upper stretches of the River Wid. A large number of fish were killed and an aerator had to be used further downstream to compensate for low oxygen levels.”