News

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is consulting again on proposed changes to the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations SI 2010/675. 

The following changes are proposed to take effect from October 2013:

• removing the requirement for waste businesses to have to secure planning permission for certain waste operations before an environmental permit can be issued;
• providing a registration scheme for low risk discharges to groundwater from some ground source heating and cooling systems;
• simplifying requirements on regulators in maintaining twin systems of public registers containing information connected with permit determinations;
• possibly transferring the handling of appeals by the Planning Inspectorate to the environment jurisdiction of the First Tier Tribunal;
• making a number of other miscellaneous proposals, including:
• minor simplifications to regulators' handling of standard rules permits,
• simplifying requirements relating to landowner permission to clean up,
• correcting two oversights in respect of permit transfers,
• allowing greater flexibility in relation to the service of notices on the body corporate.

It will run for 8 weeks until 4 April 2013.

For more information, see:

• Consultation on draft Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 - a package of proposals.

From 1 April 2013, Natural Resources Wales (NRW), a new body formed by the Welsh Government, will inherit the duties which were previously carried out by the Environment Agency, meaning the Environment Agency will operate in England only. NRW will also take on the roles of the Forestry Commission Wales and the Countryside Council for Wales.

As a result, those with interests in Wales must, as from 1 April, work with NRW. Any business you undertake, or relationships you have, with the Environment Agency in relation to sites and issues in Wales will also transfer to NRW from April. In addition, those who have interests/operations in Wales and England will now have two separate regulators to work with.

As well as the above:

• any communication or application in progress, in relation to Wales, will automatically be picked up by NRW;
• Environment Agency licences and permits held will still be valid in Wales;
• rod licences will be valid in England and Wales, no matter where they were purchased;
• you won't need to re-register for flood warnings if you have already registered with the Environment Agency;
• commitments such as contracts, tenancy agreements and project funding agreed with the Environment Agency and covering Wales will be honoured by NRW.

The new NRW website will be available from 1 April 2013 at, www.naturalresourceswales.gov.uk, and NRW will notify customers of its new contact centre phone number and details for financial transactions before April.

For more information, see the:

• information documents provided by the Environment Agency at, http://cedr.ec/np, which explain further how the change may impact on you.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published new draft guidance to help employers get to grips with proposed changes to workplace first aid.

This follows a consultation on proposals to amend the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations SI 1981/917 and remove the requirement for the HSE to approve first aid training providers, which we covered back in October 2012: http://cedr.ec/nl.

The anticipated changes to the Regulations are expected on 1 October 2013, and the following draft guidance documents have been produced to reflect the proposed changes and the arrangements necessary to put adequate first aid provision in place.

The first guidance document is a revision of the second edition of L74 - First Aid at Work and is aimed at employers and sets out what they need to do to address first-aid provision in the workplace:

• L74 - First Aid at Work (third edition).

The second will help businesses select an appropriate first aid training provider to deliver their training requirements within the new system:

• Selecting a first-aid training provider.

Editor's note

Employers are reminded that until the necessary legislative changes take effect, the existing law continues to apply - all first-aid training for the purposes of first-aid at work provision must be carried out by an HSE approved training provider or a training centre for an Ofqual accredited awarding organisation supported by the HSE to deliver such training.

The second edition of L74 - First Aid at Work will also remain valid and in force until new legislation and associated guidance takes effect.

A Bristol based property development firm has been fined £125,000 and ordered to pay £50,000 in costs after safety breaches led to one of its employees being electrocuted.

The incident occurred in March 2008 at Pollacks House in Bristol where Danny Edwards, 23, had been fitting a washing machine for Birakos Enterprises Limited. It is thought that Mr Edwards touched a copper water pipe and the back of the machine simultaneously, causing a massive electric shock.

The kitchen's electrics had been signed off as safe by the electrical division of Birakos Enterprises, but it was discovered that the live and earth wires had been put into the socket incorrectly, meaning the washing machine became electrically live when plugged in.

The company, who denied the charges of failing to ensure the safety of its employees and failing to discharge its duties under the Electricity at Work Regulations SI 1989/635, were not present at the trial and are unlikely to pay the fine as they have gone into administration.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Steven Frain said:

"Danny Edwards should have been protected by his employers. Instead he was allowed to work on a machine in which a socket was obviously wired incorrectly.

The fault should have been found during testing but this fault was left unresolved and ultimately led to the death of this young father."

For more information, see the:

• HSR25 - Memorandum of guidance on the Electricity at Work Regulations;
• Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

The final Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) performance league table has been published by the Environment Agency. The league table ranks just over 2,000 organisations in order of their energy efficiency performance for the year 2011/2012. The table ranks relative performance of CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme participants against the three weighted metrics: Early Action Metric, Absolute Metric, and Growth Metric.

The performance league table was first introduced though the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme Order SI 2010/768. However, the Government announced in their Autumn Statement that the league table would be abolished in order to make the CRC scheme more simple, making this latest table the second, and last.

Ranking at the top of the table is the BAM Group (UK) Limited, followed by Skanska Construction Holdings UK Limited, Motorola Solutions UK Limited and Manchester City Council. The surprise leaders from the 2010/2011 table, Manchester United, now find themselves in 488 place.

David Symons, Director at environmental and engineering consultancy WSP, said that most companies were showing a 7% average improvement in carbon emissions per unit of turnover, and added, "If all companies in the league table were to just improve their performance by the 7% average, they would together cut UK carbon emissions by 1.6million tonnes, take £1.8m off their energy bills and avoid having to buy £19m of CRC allowances."

However, this latest table has seen significant delays in being published because of errors in information and inaccurate data. Commenting on the delays and the last table, the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) said, "Although this is the last set of league tables under the CRC scheme, companies will still have to submit performance data in future years and pay for allowances. With the delays that have occurred this year, due to concerns regarding the accuracy of the data reported to the regulator, the key question the Environment Agency needs to answer is what measures will be taken to ensure accuracy of the data in future."

The full CRC performance league table can be seen on the Environment Agency's website, at http://cedr.ec/nk.

A Scottish whisky manufacturer has been fined £40,000 after safety breaches forced workers to run for their lives from a blazing warehouse.

The incident happened in June 2011 when two workers were on a metal walkway at the the top of a warehouse using flexible hoses to fill casks with whisky which was being pumped from steel vats.

After filling four of them, one worker felt the hose he was using relax then heard a whoosh of liquid towards the forklift truck. He turned to see a jet of whisky shooting up towards a ceiling light fitting above the truck. The whisky hit the light fitting and a flame engulfed the cage of the forklift truck.

Around the same time his colleague heard a 'pop' from the cage and then saw a flame spread across the roof from the light fitting both towards and away from them.

Both workers ran towards the stairs at the back of the warehouse, activating the fire alarm as they left, prompting the evacuation of the whole site within several minutes. One worker who witnessed the fire described the forklift truck as looking like 'a Christmas pudding once brandy is set alight'.

It was later discovered that 70 of the 110 sprinkler heads in the warehouse had been activated.

The Edrington Group, manufacturers of the renowned Famous Grouse whisky, admitted to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 by failing to ensure the health, safety and welfare of its employees.

An investigation into the incident by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the central aisle lights in the warehouse should not have been used in a flammable atmosphere and, had they been checked, they would have been identified as an ignition source risk.

HSE's investigation also revealed that the filling equipment was not suitable for use to transfer a hazardous substance like alcohol at pressure.

After sentencing, HSE Inspector David Stephen said:

"This was a major incident that could have had disastrous consequences. The two workers had to run for their lives and were extremely lucky not to have been killed or seriously injured.

More than 17,500 litres of whisky were lost during the incident. This volume of flammable liquid could have served as fuel for a significant fire, which would have caused major disruption and damage to the environment.

Had the company taken the simple steps of checking the light fittings were suitable for use in a flammable atmosphere and that the equipment used to transfer the alcohol was fit for purpose this incident could have been prevented.

Since the incident, the filling of whisky casks in this way at the premises has been made redundant with the introduction of a new tank facility in October 2011."

For more information, see:

• HSG140 - The safe use and handling of flammable liquids.