News

The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 began to come into force on 1 October 2012.

It creates a single Police Service of Scotland and a single Fire and Rescue Service to serve local communities and meet modern demands and challenges. In doing so, the Act reduces duplication and creates a new streamlined structure across the current eight police forces, the Scottish Police Services Authority, the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency and the eight fire and rescue services.

As a result, resources are freed for frontline services and savings are expected of around £1.7 billion over the next 15 years.

The Act makes some substantial amendments to various legislation, which initially includes the:

• Fire (Scotland) Act 2005.

A building maintenance firm has been fined £65,000 and ordered to pay costs of £8,162 after one of its employees had their leg crushed by a cherry picker at a nuclear site in Cumbria.

Ken Brown, 62, was directing the vehicle along a one-way road at the Windscale site when it struck him on 5 May 2011. Mr Brown was taken to hospital where doctors had to amputate his leg above the knee.

His employer, Johnson Controls Ltd, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found there had not been a safe system of work for the task and relevant training had not been provided. The only advice the company gave to its employees when directing cherry pickers was to wear a high visibility waistcoat. No specific training was provided for the task.

Johnson Controls Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to ensure the safety of employees.

Speaking after the hearing, the investigating inspector at HSE, Faye Wingfield, said, "Kenneth Brown has suffered a terrible injury that will affect him for the rest of his life due to failings of his employer. Vehicles continue to be a major cause of serious injuries in the workplace, and the first principle of any employer should be to keep people and vehicles apart."

She continued, "It is questionable whether Johnson Controls actually needed a member of staff on foot to direct the cherry picker, given that it was travelling forwards along a road in a one-way system. But if the risk assessment decided someone was needed to escort the vehicle then a safe system of work needed to be devised. Employees should also have been given appropriate training, including how to communicate effectively with the driver."

For more information, see:

• HSG136 - Workplace transport safety;
• INDG199 - Workplace transport safety.

On Thursday 18 October, the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) Director of Special Projects, Gordon MacDonald, will take to Twitter in order to answer your questions on the new Fee For Intervention Scheme.

The hour-long session will start at 3pm under the hashtag #askHSE.

The HSE is on Twitter as @H_S_E and you can follow us @cedrec_news for all information we add to Cedrec, including legislation, guidance and topical environmental and health and safety news.

For more information, see:

• Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations SI 2012/1652;
• HSE47 - Guidance on the application of Fee for Intervention;
• HSE48 - Fee for intervention: What you need to know.

Cedrec are delighted to announce that we will be attending the SHE Show North East, which will take place at the Newcastle Marriott Hotel Gosforth Park, on 20 November 2012.

We attended the launch of the show way back in Blackpool three years ago, and since then the event has gone from strength to strength with its success and demand from the audience leading to the show coming to the North East for the first time.

The SHE Show is a high profile conference running alongside an exhibition featuring key suppliers and service providers in the fields of safety, health and environment. The conference programme promises to deliver a line-up of topical, thought provoking and entertaining speakers. The focus of the day will be real practical solutions and you will be able to get help and advice on ways to achieve the future challenges that most SHE professionals face in this current climate.

Due to our commitment to safety, health and environment we just had to be there, so why not come along and say hello! Our dedicated team will be on hand at stand 33 to show you our range of online products and how we make legislation simple. They'll also be able to talk you through how we can make your job easier by taking the hard work out of legal compliance with our register of legislation service, gap analysis audits and aspects and impacts reviews.

We'll look forward to seeing you there!

For more information, see:

• thesheshow-northeast.com.

A construction firm from Bangor, Gwynedd, has been fined £450,000 and ordered to pay £98,000 in costs after a young worker fell from height in 2007. Thomas Whitmarsh suffered major head injuries in the fall and tragically died from his injuries two years later.

He was employed by a roofing contractor working for principal contractor Watkin Jones & Son Ltd and was deployed on the construction of the Menai Centre in Bangor. Whilst on the roof, Mr Whitmarsh fell almost six metres through an unguarded hole, sustaining serious head injuries. The injury he suffered exposed him to a higher degree of infection and he died in 2009 after contracting acute meningitis.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the firm, and the court heard that the edge protection around the opening in the roof had been removed prior to the fall. Watkin Jones & Son Ltd were found guilty of breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

HSE inspector Chris Wilcox said, "Poor co-ordination between the principal and the roofing contractors on this particular part of the site led to the edge protection being removed from around the roof opening without alternative safeguards in place."

He added, "Falls from height are an alarmingly common cause of death and serious injury in construction. All too often straightforward practical precautions are not considered and workers are put needlessly at risk. Poor management of risk in this industry is unacceptable and the HSE will take strong action when necessary.

For more information, see:

• the Work at Height Regulations SI 2005/735;
• INDG401 - The Work at Height Regulations 2005 (as amended).

WRAP have produced new guidance to help businesses comply with rules on disposing of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).

The guidance covers good practice options for all stages of the recycling chain from point of disposal through to the production of resultant material streams. It includes references to appropriate legislation and guidance and provides good practice examples for the collection and treatment practices of WEEE that are currently being implemented. These examples demonstrate performance, greater traceability and increased value from WEEE and WEEE derived materials.

It is relevant to all those involved in the WEEE collection and treatment chain, and presents opportunities to improve services and see the business benefits, by recognising how your actions impact on others in the chain.

For more information, see:

• Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations SI 2006/3289;
• Raising public awareness of recycling and reuse;
• Health and safety and environmental procedures;
• Traceability and management systems;
• Reuse;
• Communication between treatment facilities and their stakeholders;
• Collections at designated collection facilities;
• Treatment for reuse;
• Kerbside;
• Treatment of WEEE;
• Retailer take-back;
• Waste treatment;
• Contracts and partnership agreements;
• Data management and reporting;
• Export of whole WEEE and WEEE derived materials;
• Business users of electronic and electrical products;
• Treatment facility site management;
• Collection and handling of LCD screens;
• Reuse and collection systems;
• Ensuring quality reuse collection activity.