News

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published a revised version of their Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) on lift truck training and safety, L117 - Rider-operated lift trucks: Operator training and safe use. It combines and revises the previous edition of the ACOP and parts of HSG 6 - Safety in working with lift trucks.

The ACOP is aimed at employers and those responsible for the safe operation of lift trucks, as well as those in control of worksites, the self-employed, managers and supervisors. Others involved with lift trucks, such as trade union health and safety representatives and lift truck trainers, may also find it useful. It does not replace formal training.

The ACOP includes:

• an outline of the main legal requirements relating to lift trucks;
• the ACOP text and associated guidance on operator training for stacking rider-operated lift trucks. This will help employers meet their legal obligations to make sure all operators receive adequate training;
• information on features of the lift truck you need to consider;
• guidance on the safe use of lift trucks and how to protect pedestrians;
• guidance on the maintenance and thorough examination of lift trucks.

Even though the ACOP and guidance on training apply to stacking rider-operated lift trucks and do not explicitly cover all types of lift truck, the general principles can be used as a guide when training operators of other truck types.

The HSE has also produced a simple leaflet for employers, INDG462 - Lift-truck training: Advice for employers and a pocket card for operators, INDG457 - Use lift trucks safely: Advice for operators.

For more information, see the:

• Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations SI 1998/2306;
• Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (Northern Ireland) SR 1999/305.

Although climate change campaigners have always prioritised the need to effectively communicate the effects of climate change through carefully selected text, it is now thought that carefully selected images are just as important.

New research from universities in the US, Australia and the UK has shown how different types of pictures make people feel about climate change and whether they feel like they can do something about it.

The research showed that images of climate impacts made people feel like climate change is important, but that there's not much they can do to stop it, whereas pictures of energy futures, such as solar panels and energy efficiency measures, were most likely to make people feel like they could do something about climate change.

However, images of celebrities and politicians who are often in the media discussing climate change, such as Richard Branson, Al Gore and Julia Gillard, "made participants in this study feel quite strongly that climate change was unimportant."

The research paper says, "Arresting, startling, attention-getting, amazing, uplifting, upsetting and even shocking images therefore have the potential to raise awareness, as well as inspire people to explore possible actions to take in the face of climate challenges."

"But in making the intangible tangible, climate imagery can also paralyse and demobilise. In making climate change meaningful through imagery, communications can act to increase or decrease peoples' sense of both issue salience (whether climate change is considered important) and their self-efficacy (a sense of being able to do anything about climate change)."

One of the paper's authors, Dr Saffron O'Neill from the University of Exeter added, "I don't think there's any ideal combination of images for engaging people with climate change, as it depends what you are trying to communicate, why you are trying to communicate it, and to whom."

He continued, "However, our study does indicate that it's important to decide first whether you are trying to increase peoples' sense of saliency, or their sense of efficacy. It appears images may be able to influence one, but none of the images seemed to be able to do both."

Perhaps Greenpeace should reconsider using One Direction to back their campaign on conserving the Arctic...

For more information, see the:

• Climate Change Act 2008.
  

The Sentencing Council for England and Wales, which gives guidance to the courts, has said that magistrates should impose bigger fines more frequently on those who are responsible for repeatedly dumping waste. The guidelines being proposed are the first to be issued for environmental crimes.

Although fly-tipping rates seem to have been decreasing over the past five years, in 2012 local authorities in England and Wales had to clean up almost 800,000 cases of illegal dumping at a cost of nearly £40 million. However, relatively few cases of fly-tipping actually come before the courts.

It is because of the small caseload that the Sentencing Council believe magistrates need clear guidelines to avoid inconsistency in sentencing. As a result:

• large companies could face a maximum fine of £2 million for major acts of environmental damage;
• small companies could face a fine of between £450 and £2,000 for minor offences, but up to £70,000 for causing serious harm;
• in extreme cases, offenders could be jailed.

Katharine Rainsford, a member of the Sentencing Council, said, "Offences like fly-tipping and illegal disposal of hazardous waste can cause significant damage to the environment and put people's health at risk. We're improving guidance for courts to help ensure consistent and appropriate sentences for offenders, particularly for corporate offenders who can be guilty of the worst offences."

The Sentencing Council is currently consulting on a new environmental offences guideline. The consultation ends on 6 June 2013.

For more information, see the:

• Environmental Protection Act 1990;
• Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations SI 2010/675.

Patrick Bradley Limited, a Londonderry haulage company, has been fined over £1,500 for 15 charges relating to tachograph and drivers hours offences.

Enforcement Officers of the Driver and Vehicle Agency carried out a targeted investigation into the operation of vehicles by the company, who were requested to produce drivers’ hours records for analysis. On examination of these, several offences were noted.

The company was convicted at Coleraine Magistrates’ Court and fined £100 each for the following offences:

• one count of failing to produce record sheets;
• two counts of failing to carry out regular checks;
• one count of failing to organise driver’s work;
• three counts of causing or permitting the failure to record data; and
• eight counts of employing drivers while there were infringements relating to daily and weekly rest.

For more information, see the:

• Passenger and Goods Vehicles (Recording Equipment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) SR 1996/145.

The fees payable to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) under Regulation (EC) 1907/2006, on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) have been revised.

Essentially, there will be further reductions for SMEs and increases for large (non-SME) companies. This was discussed at a recent European meeting and the decision to decrease fees for SMEs is in response to the findings in the REACH review. It is estimated that the new fees will come into effect from the end of March.

SMEs should consider if they wish to delay their submissions and register after the new fees come into effect to benefit from the reductions. Larger companies may want to bring forward their submissions that would be due this year and register now before the increased fees apply.

Further information on the new fees can be found in the draft Regulation on the Commission website, and will be summarised on Cedrec once it reaches the Proposal stage. It will amend Regulation (EC) 340/2008, on the fees and charges payable to the European Chemicals Agency in accordance with Regulation (EC) 1907/2006.

The Environment Agency has advised that all waste refrigerator insulation foam produced using a hydrocarbon blowing agent should be considered highly flammable and classified as hazardous waste.

The announcement is based on tests carried out on 20 refrigerators containing insulation blown using cyclopentane, i-pentane, n-pentane or mixtures of these gases. The study found that all tested foam samples should be considered "highly flammable" under European Test Method A10 Flammability (Solids) and concludes that all fridge insulation foam produced using a hydrocarbon blowing agent should be classified as hazardous waste, unless tested and demonstrated otherwise.

Modern fridges now contain insulating foam that is blown with hydrocarbon blowing agents which have replaced the use of CFCs, HCFCs and HFCs on environmental grounds. But, while hydrocarbon blowing agents are not ozone depleting and have low global warming potential, they do pose a greater fire risk due to their high flammability.

Problems had arisen over uncertainty of the correct classification of degassed hydrocarbon fridges under duty of care and hazardous waste legislation and they are often classified and transferred as non-hazardous wastes. As a result, the Environment Agency has stated that such fridges should be classified and consigned under one of the following hazardous waste codes:

• 16 02 13; or
• 20 01 35.

Similarly, foam panels mechanically cut and removed from fridges that contain a hydrocarbon blowing agent should be classified and consigned under the 19 12 11 waste code.

For more information, see the:

• Flammability of fridge insulation foam produced with a hydrocarbon blowing agent;
• Part 2 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990;
• Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations SI 2005/894;
• List of Wastes (England) Regulations SI 2005/895;
• Hazardous Waste (Wales) Regulations SI 2005/1806;
• List of Wastes (Wales) Regulations SI 2005/1820;
• Waste (England and Wales) Regulations SI 2011/988.