News

The Committee on Climate Change has published a report which recommends that local authorities in the UK should have a statutory duty to tackle climate change. The report highlights that some councils are taking action on climate change, but many are not, which threatens national carbon reduction targets.

At the moment, there is no requirement for local authorities to take action on climate change, yet councils could make major cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in areas such as housing, traffic and waste. This, combined with budget constraints imposed on local authorities, means there is a significant risk that local authorities will not develop low-carbon plans.

Committee member Professor Julia King said, "Local authorities have the potential to significantly impact the UK's scale and speed of emissions reductions. There is a wealth of good work being done already at local and regional levels, but many opportunities remain untapped. It is essential that these opportunities are delivered if we are to meet our national carbon targets."

The Council in Bristol, for example, has set a target of reducing their emissions by 40% by 2020, and has cut its own energy bill by almost a third in addition to investing in wind turbines, biomass boilers and solar panels for schools. They have also insulated 30,000 homes.

"We've got national carbon budgets with ambitious emission cuts built into them, and if we weren't to address the cuts local authorities can make, we'd not meet the targets," said David Kennedy, the Committee's chief executive. "Local authorities can have a very big impact in areas such as improving energy efficiency in buildings, sustainable travel and waste management."

For more information, see the:

• Climate Change Act 2008;
• Committee on Climate Change report, "How local authorities can reduce emissions and manage climate risk", available at: http://cedr.ec/86.

It has been announced that Professor Ragnar Löfstedt has been asked by employment minister Chris Grayling to prepare a follow-up "mini-report" to his "Reclaiming Health and Safety for All" review from last November.

The report will to determine how satisfied Löfstedt is with the way the Government is implementing his 26 recommendations, and is expected to be published by the end of January 2013. His suggestions from last year were almost unanimously accepted by Grayling, and included exempting some self-employed people from compliance with safety law, a review of core safety legislation to see if some common requirements can be consolidated and a simplification of the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) 53 approved codes of practice.

The original team of researchers at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) who helped with the initial review will reassemble later in the year to evaluate progress on the recommendations. The result will be a 10-page summary, which will eventually be made publicly available.

The first report suggested varying deadlines for proposed changes, such as April 2013 for the HSE to review the Work at Height Regulations SI 2005/735 and April 2015 to examine legislation limited to particular industrial sectors such as construction, to see if there is scope for consolidating them. However, these timescales have been shortened by the Prime Minister who has asked for most of the recommendations to be implemented by the end of year.

For more information, see:

• http://cedr.ec/1o, which is the original report "Reclaiming health and safety for all: An independent review of health and safety legislation";
• Proposals to revoke seven Statutory Instruments - CD238;
• Proposals to remove fourteen legislative measures - CD239.
  

A consultation has been published which aims to deliver a more simple legislative framework which will allow the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) to focus on the most important environmental problems and provide more consistent enforcement.

The new legislative framework will aim for a single, proportionate and risk-based permissioning structure (licences, permits, rules etc). Current permissioning arrangements fall under separate regulatory regimes for the four main regimes, namely water, pollution prevention and control, waste and radioactive. One of the main aims of the new framework is to integrate the requirements of those regimes into a single permissioning structure.

A hierarchy is being proposed, which will include "Permits", "Registration" and "General Binding Rules."

As a result, considerable legislation will be consolidated into one document, such as the:

• Radioactive Substances Act 1993;
• Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations SSI 2000/323;
• Landfill (Scotland) Regulations SSI 2003/235;
• Waste Incineration (Scotland) Regulations SSI 2003/170;
• Solvent Emission (Scotland) Regulations SSI 2004/26;
• Waste Management Licensing (Scotland) Regulations SSI 2011/228;
• Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations SSI 2011/209;
• Radioactive Substances Exemption (Scotland) Order SSI 2011/147.

For more information, see the:

• Consultation on Proposals for an Integrated Framework of Environmental Regulation.

Two construction firms have been fined after a crane collapsed onto a partially constructed apartment block in Liverpool. The incident happened in July 2009 and left the crane driver, Iain Gillham, paralysed from the waist down. Following a successful prosecution at Liverpool Crown Court, Bowmer and Kirkland Ltd was fined £280,000 and Bingham Davis Ltd, which ceased trading after the collapse, was fined £1,000 for breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into the collapse found that the crane's foundations were inadequate. When constructing the foundation, both companies agreed to cut away essential steel reinforcement bars so that the crane's feet could stand on top of them. These were replaced with steel rods; an action that reduced the forces the foundation could withstand.

Although nobody inside the building was hurt, Mr Gillham was thrown from the crane cab onto the roof of the apartments and then through a hole created when the counterweights broke loose and crashed through six floors of the building. He suffered multiple injuries, including a brain hemorrhage and major spinal injuries.

Investigating HSE inspector Warren Pennington said, "Serious failings on the parts of both Bowmer and Kirkland Ltd and Bingham Davis Ltd were uncovered by the HSE during an extensive and complex investigation into the crane collapse. Whilst it is bad enough that Iain Gillham will be unable to walk for the rest of his life as a result of the failings of both parties, it is no exaggeration to say it was only by pure chance that this catastrophic event did not result in multiple fatalities and significantly more damage to property."

He added, "The HSE hopes this case sends a clear message to the construction industry in relation to tower cranes foundations. Designers of such should be familiar with industry accepted guidance and follow it, unless they have extremely well thought-out reasons for not doing so. The role of the Principal Contractor is also crucial in managing the design process. Both Principal Contractors and Designers should ensure that robust systems for design checking are actioned at all times."

For more information, see:

• the Notification of Conventional Tower Cranes Regulations SI 2010/333;
• INDG437 - Notification of Conventional Tower Cranes Regulations 2010.

JMW Farms Limited of Co. Armagh, have this week been fined a record £187,500, plus £13,000 costs, at Belfast's Laganside Crown Court for health and safety failings that led to the death of 45-year-old employee Robert Wilson.

The company is the first in Northern Ireland to be convicted under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, whereby companies and organisations can be found guilty as a result of serious management failures resulting in a gross breach of a duty of care. The conviction follows a joint PSNI and Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSE NI) investigation into the fatal incident, which took place on a pig farm owned by JMW Farms at Tynan, Co Armagh, on 15 November 2010.

Mr Wilson was working at the meal-mixing plant on the farm and was killed after being struck by a metal bin which fell off a forklift. The forklift was being driven by Mark Wright, one of the company directors. The investigation revealed that the bin had not been attached or integrated with the forklift. It was also not possible to insert the lifting forks into the sleeves of the bin as the forks were too large and incorrectly spaced.

Following the hearing, Louis Burns, HSE NI Acting Deputy Chief Executive, said, "This case highlights the importance of managing health and safety in the workplace and demonstrates the terrible consequences of not doing so. The judgement sends a clear message to the Directors in Northern Ireland, whether of a small or large organisation, that they should take health and safety seriously. This new Corporate Manslaughter legislation clarifies the criminal liabilities of companies where serious failures in the management of health and safety result in a fatality. I would therefore urge anyone with a managerial or a supervisory role to ensure that proper management and control systems are in place to prevent another needless death from occurring."

A 77-year-old man from Chester has been jailed for more than 14 months after repeatedly ignoring a legal order preventing him from inspecting inflatable play equipment.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Peter McCormack for carrying out inspections of inflatables and issuing test certificates for them in contravention of a Prohibition Notice from the HSE, and for carrying out unsafe seam repairs to one.

The court also heard that in these illegal inspections, Mr McCormack failed to spot defects, which could have caused injuries to children. He pleaded guilty to several breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was sentenced to 62 weeks in prison. He had already served 78 days imposed at an earlier hearing for breaching bail conditions.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE principal inspector Steve Flanagan said, "Inflatable play equipment must be properly maintained and inspected to make sure it is safe for children to use. The HSE served the initial Prohibition Notice in 2008 because Peter McCormack's work was substandard and unsafe. By breaching that Prohibition Notice repeatedly - and even ignoring a direct order from a judge at Shrewsbury Crown Court in 2010 - Mr McCormack has shown that he never had any intention to stop illegally inspecting inflatables. If people who carry out illicit or poor inspections of inflatables are not stopped, it's only a matter of time before a child suffers a serious injury."

Mr McCormack has changed his name by deed poll. He was previously known as Peter Coltilda, and before that as Peter John Morrell. The court also heard that Mr McCormack is also now known by the name Paul Armstrong.