Workplace Safety

Scaffold collapse leads to fine for Nottinghamshire director

2011-11-15T14:33:00.000Z

The director of a scaffolding company from Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, has been fined after a roofing contractor was injured during a scaffold collapse.

The 48-year-old, from Nottingham, fell six metres and fractured his pelvis in four places after scaffolding built on behalf of David Knowles collapsed at a house in Montpelier Road, Nottingham, on 20 October 2009. He was off work for four months.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the scaffolding had not been built by a competent scaffolder, was not erected to a standard configuration and had not been tied correctly.

Mr Knowles was prosecuted for failing to ensure that people not in his employment were not exposed to risks to their health and safety.

After the hearing HSE inspector Mark Molyneux said:

"Construction workers’ lives depend on scaffolds. Scaffold businesses must ensure their workers are trained and competent and that scaffolds meet the requirements and are tied correctly.

“If Mr Knowles had ensured the scaffolding had been properly planned and erected and tied by a competent person, this incident would never have happened and a man would not have suffered a painful injury as a result."

David Knowles, 54, of Station Street, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court today. He was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £3,944 costs.

HSE Bulletin No: HSE/266/11 (Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

Another example of the dangers of scaffolding and the need to have a competent person overseeign the erection and subsequent pre-use inspection. Good to Go Safety can provide a comprehensive tagging and checklist system to help identify the scaffold's current status to all potential users. For more information visit www.goodtogosafety.co.uk and see how you can improve your site safety.

Chicken company fined after worker fractures back in fall from ladder

2011-11-11T14:09:00.000Z

A Norfolk chicken processing firm has been fined after one of its employees fell from a ladder and broke his back.

Factory worker Peter Sherwood, 61, from Corton near Lowestoft, was carrying cladding boards up an unsecured ladder at Crown Chicken Ltd's factory in Weybread, Diss, when it slipped from under him and he fell about 2.5 metres to the concrete floor. He suffered broken vertebrae in his lower spine which meant he had to wear a back brace and was off work for six months. He has since returned to work but is only able to carry out light duties.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that on 24 July 2010 a supervisor at the Crown Chicken factory had allowed Mr Sherwood to help another employee in carrying out a maintenance task, but the work was not adequately planned and the company had not provided information to its staff on how to use ladders safely.

Crown Chicken Ltd admitted breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 at Lowestoft Magistrates' Court today and was fined £3,500 and ordered to pay costs of £3,000.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Saffron Turnell said:

"Mr Sherwood was taken from his usual duties and asked to carry out a task for which he was neither properly trained nor supervised. As a result he suffered a serious and extremely painful injury which caused him to be off work for months.

"More workers are injured by falling from a ladder than any other access equipment. Crown Chicken should have been aware of this and ensured that adequate systems were in place so that its employees were not put at risk.

"HSE will not hesitate to take employers to court and seek tough penalties if they are found to be taking a lax attitude to their workers' safety."

HSE Bulletin No: HSE-e-45-11 (Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

The Good to Go Safety range includes a simple and efficient checklist system, designed to enable a quick and easy pre-use inspection of the ladder to be used. Once completed the checklist is inserted into a tag to clearly display to all potential users when the ladder is 'Good to Go' or if a fault is found a 'Do not Use' message is clearly displayed. A duplicate copy of all completed checklists is also retained in the check book for management records. The system is simple but effective and has proved extremely popular since its launch. You can find more information at www.goodtogosafety.co.uk or there are a number of guides aimed at improving ladder safety available on the HSE website (click on the links below):

    Safe use of ladders and stepladders - an employer's guide
    A toolbox talk on leaning ladder and stepladder safety:
    Top tips for ladder and stepladder safety:

Vehicle checks advice from ROSPA

2011-10-13T13:41:00.000+01:00

I came across this video from ROSPA which I thought might be useful to our regular readers. It provides useful advice to drivers including how to check your tyre pressure, look for wear and tear and to top up the various fluids in your car. This can help you to save money, inconvenience and above all keep you safe on the roads. With the winter weather just around the corner, hopefully it will prove a useful reminder to us all of what we should be doing to stay safe on the roads.

In addition to this advice you may be interested to know that Good to Go Safety have recently launched a checklist for fleet vehicles which can be integrated into your fleet maintenance program to ensure drivers carry out their pre-use inspections before getting behind the wheel.

It includes a comprehensive list of checks, covering all things mentioned in the ROSPA video and one or two more. As always, a duplicate copy of each completed checklist is created for management records which can be collected on a weekly basis to meet your management requirements.

You can find more information on our website at http://www.goodtogosafety.co.uk or visit our digital on-line catalogue at http://www.goodtogosafetydigital.html

For more information and safe driving advice why not visit http://www.rospa.com for a wide range of useful tips and free resources.

Scaffold firm fined after putting workers at risk

2011-09-20T09:32:00.000+01:00

A Hastings firm has been fined after handing over unsecured scaffolding to a client, putting builders at risk.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector visited a site at Claremont, Hastings, on 20 April 2010 where building repairs and external work were being carried out.

The inspector noted that scaffolding erected by Totalscaff (GB) Ltd, trading as Total Service Group (TSG), around the building had not been adequately tied, meaning it was unstable.

By law, all scaffolding must be inspected by a competent person before it can be used.

Hastings Magistrates' Court was told the worker who undertook safety checks, Christian Ball, had been previously been advised of the need to adequately tie scaffolding but had overlooked this advice. He was also fined.

Totalscaff (GB) Ltd, of Ninfield Road, Bexhill-on-Sea, was found guilty and Christian Ball, 35, of West Hill Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, pleaded guilty to a breach of Regulation 28(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. Totalscaff (GB) Ltd was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 in costs, and Mr Ball was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £2,274 costs.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Melvyn Stancliffe said:

"Scaffold collapses can have serious consequences and tying the scaffold - or something similar - is essential for stability and ensuring it does not collapse while being erected or being used. Its importance cannot and should not be overlooked.

"HSE and the scaffolding industry have worked together to produce guidance to help scaffolding contractors ensure their scaffolding is safe. It is easy to follow. By not following it, people's lives were put at risk unnecessarily.

"HSE will take firm action against individuals and contractors who ignore their health and safety obligations. It is essential that contractors and contract managers equip themselves with the necessary information and guidance material and apply it each and every time a scaffold is built."

HSE Bulletin No: COISE/1909 (Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

It is reassuring to read more and more reports of HSE prosecutions whereby the offence has been spotted before an accident happens. It is much more satisfactory to read about the prosecution of a company flouting safety rules and regulations, without needing to read about injuries or deaths. As ever prevention is better than cure.

It is the same philosophy that we hold at Good to Go Safety. By providing the tools to carry out pre-use inspection of workplace equipment, we hope that the competent person will use our checklist as a reminder as to what he should be looking for. It also provides a clear indication to ALL employees what the findings of the inspection were. For more information about our scaffolding inspection systems visit our website (click here). You will also find details on our range of inspection systems for other equipment including ladders, forklifts, scaffold towers and much more.

Company fined after man dies from fall off faulty ladder

2011-08-26T09:01:00.002+01:00

A Barnet-based wholesaler has been fined after a man died of injuries sustained when he fell from a stepladder.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Ovenpride Wholesale Ltd and manager Amjad Mahmood for failing to provide a safe system of work which, led to the death of handyman Rocco Carofalo.

The City of London Magistrates' Court heard on the morning of 22 April 2009 Mr Carofalo, who was employed as a casual handyman at Ovenpride's Finchley Rd Bakery, was asked to build shelving in the storeroom by the site manager.

During the morning Mr Carofalo had been seen standing on a stepladder while working on the shelving using tools and materials provided by Ovenpride.

At around midday he was found lying on the floor bleeding from a severe head wound, with the stepladder beside him. He died as a result of his injuries on 23 June.

Two HSE Inspectors visited the scene after the incident and issued a Prohibition Notice stopping any work at height because of the unsuitability of all access equipment. A stepladder deemed to be in very poor condition, was taken from the bakery by HSE inspectors.

After the hearing, HSE's Inspector Charles Linfoot said:

"The consequences of this tragic incident will be felt by Mr Carofalo's family for ever but it was so easily preventable. As the risk of a fall was foreseeable, Ovenpride and its manager should have carried out a full site-specific risk assessment and planned and organised the work to be carried out in a safe manner.

"Where access to heights is required, even for relatively short term work, they are ultimately responsible for assessing and planning the work and ensuring that it is carried out in a safe manner using suitable access equipment."

Ovenpride Wholesale Ltd, of Empire Way, Brent pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It was fined £1.

Amjad Mahmood of Donnington Road, Brent pleaded guilty to also breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. He was fined a total of £300 and ordered to pay costs of £200.
HSE Bulletin No: COISE/2017(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

It would appear that the cause of the accident in this incident may be down to the state of the stepladder being used which was "deemed to be in very poor condition". Stepladders should be checked before use to ensure they are fit for purpose and any potential problems identified. This is a relatively straight forward inspection that a competent person could carry out quickly and easyily. Good to Go Safety can provide you with a simple solution to help avoid incidents like this from happening.

A tag is attached to the ladder which clearly displays a 'Do Not Use' message until such time that checklist has been completed and inserted inside the tag to indicate it has been checked and found to be 'Good to Go'. A duplicate record of all completed checklists is retained for management records and as proof of an adequate ladder log and/or maintenance schedule. To find out more about the Good to Go Safety Ladder Inspection Systems visit the www.goodtogosafety.co.uk website.

2011 Ladder Exchange to boost ladder safety in the workplace

2011-08-05T11:37:00.000+01:00

The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE’s) Ladder Exchange Initiative 2011 will commence next month on 1st September and will run for 3 months, ending at close of business on 30th November.

For this year’s initiative, HSE have provided free promotional material including posters and postcards which are available to download by clicking on this link.

HSE has facilitated the Ladder Exchange since its introduction four years ago, in 2007, over which period more than 8,000 dodgy ladders have been removed from the workplace as a direct result. This initiative provides UK businesses with an easy and simple way to replace broken, damaged or bent ladders and trade them in for safe new ones. A number of HSE partners will be offering discounted prices on new ladders when exchanging for their 'dodgy' ones and some are also offering free inspections of their existing ladders.

To find more information on this excellent initiative please visit www.hse.gov.uk/falls/ladderexchange.htm

As ever Good to Go Safety are delighted to promote this initiative to promote the safe use of ladders in the workplace. Our ladder inspection system continues to be a best seller for us within the industry. Click here to find out more about our ladder tagging and inspection system which can be easily implemented thoughout your company.

Poole builders fined after scaffold fall

2011-07-05T16:12:00.001+01:00

A Poole construction company has been sentenced after a carpenter was seriously injured when he fell three metres off scaffolding while working on a house extension.

Michael McCarthy, 60, from Verwood, was contracted by P O Sharps Landscapes Ltd to construct the roof of the extension at a property in Radipole Road in the town.

The extension was being built above an existing garage which protruded out beyond the face of the main building causing a step in the scaffold at roof level of the garage.

On 20 September 2008, Mr McCarthy descended the ladder and stepped backwards over the open edge, falling three metres and fracturing his spine and ankles.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuting at Bournemouth Magistrates' Court, found the platform had no guardrails, and a ladder used to access the working platform above was positioned outward, forcing anybody using the ladder to stand backward at the unguarded edge.

P O Sharps Landscapes pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, and was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,000.

After the hearing HSE inspector Frank Flannery commented:

"Falls from height can cause significant and life-changing injuries and duty holders must take steps to prevent falls wherever possible.

"Mr McCarthy's injuries are serious and permanent: he has a steel rod in his back, steel pins in his right ankle, and left foot/heel. He suffers with chronic pain and has no prospect of working again. This incident could easily have been prevented by erecting guardrails along the platform."

In 2008/2009 more than 4,000 major injuries were caused by falls from height at work.

HSE Bulletin: (Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

The reasons for this accident appear to be that the platform had no guardrails, and a ladder used to access the working platform above was positioned outward - both fairly obvious and easily spotted issues for a competent user. A pre-use inspection, using the Good to Go Safety checklist would help identify the missing guardrails and possibly prevented the workers from accessing the scaffold until corrective actions had been carried out. This story further emphasises the need for employees to be trained in the correct use of equipment in the workplace and the need to have management systems in place to ensure pre-use checks are carried out on the equipment. For more information on the Good to Go Safety system for scaffolding please visit our website at www.goodtogosafety.co.uk

Company fined after scaffold collapse

2011-06-03T11:16:00.000+01:00

A Surrey-based company has been fined after a large section of scaffolding collapsed at a site in Walton-on-Thames.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Johnson Scaffold Services Ltd, of Chaldon in Surrey, for breaching health and safety laws which led to the incident on the 18 December 2009.

Staines Magistrates' Court heard how Johnson Scaffold Services Ltd erected sheeted scaffolding around a building in Copenhagen Way, Surrey, to enable a separate contractor to refurbish the roof.

Once the work was completed, the structure was partially removed on 17 December 2009, leaving some of the sheeted scaffolding still standing. During the early hours of the following morning, a 200 foot long, 40 foot high section of the scaffolding was blown to the ground.

The HSE investigation showed the scaffolding was not installed according to the original drawings and had not been adequately tied. It was left in an unsafe condition overnight while being dismantled.

Johnson Scaffold Services Ltd, of Chaldon in Surrey, pleaded guilty of breaching Section 2(1) and Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. It was fined £7,500 and ordered to pay costs of £7,000.

After the hearing, HSE's inspector Denis Bodger said:

"This was a serious incident that could have resulted in severe injury or worse, it was sheer luck that meant no one was in the way of the scaffolding when it collapsed.

"Scaffolds should be designed by a competent person or built to a recognised standard. At no stage during erection, use or removal should they be left in an unstable state where they could collapse. They should be adequately tied or other effective means taken.

"This should serve as a warning to other companies that HSE will not hesitate to take action against anyone that fails to build safe scaffolding."

HSE Bulletin No: COISE/0102 (Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

The use of a Good to Go Safety checklist system can help ensure daily inspections of scaffolding are carried out in line with PUWER regulations. Systematic checks of the scaffold can help identify potential weaknesses or probelms and allow coorective actions to be taken before an incident such as the one quoted above occurs. Visit www.goodtogosafety.co.uk for more information about our inspection systems.

£3,000 fine following fatal Bristol scaffold fall

2011-04-28T09:27:00.000+01:00

The owner of a Bristol scaffolding company has been fined after the death of one of its employees who fell from a temporary roof he was dismantling.

Shaun Stevens, 41, fell about four metres while deconstructing a temporary corrugated sheet roof at Flooks Scaffolding at the Old Brains Factory, Bridge Road, Kingswood, Bristol, on 4 October 2006.

Mr Stevens from Bristol suffered serious head injuries as a result of his fall and was taken to hospital, where he died 12 days later.

Russell Lee Flook, trading as Flooks Scaffolding, of Tower Lane, Warmley, Bristol, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). He pleaded guilty at Bristol Crown Court to breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

The offences related to poor health and safety management practices, and an attempt to fake a method statement for the work. Inspectors asked for this key safety plan following the fall - but were given a document written the day after the incident.

Mr Flook was fined a total of £3,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,000.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector, Sue Adsett, said:

"Corrugated tin temporary roofs are inherently dangerous to erect and dismantle. Employers need to reconsider how they do this work and not just repeat how they have done it in the past. There are now safer ways of working to be considered, using different materials and technologies.

"All employers have a duty to protect their employees and contractors. It is up to the scaffolding employer to make sure there is a safe system of work for erecting and dismantling temporary roofs and not leave the arrangements to workers.

"The law has changed over recent years with the introduction of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 (WAHR), and employers need to make sure that they are fully aware of their duties."

Mr Steven's wife, Tanya Stevens, said after the case: "Shaun's death has left a huge void in our family: our daughters have no father to support them through life, and he is missing seeing our grand daughter grow up.

"Four and a half years on, we all still feel the loss of Shaun every day. He was a good father and husband and it has been hard for us all. We have struggled to cope with our grief at times and, as well as missing him greatly, I have had to deal with the emotional and financial strain of bringing up the girls single-handedly.

"I hope that Russell Flook has learnt from this and takes health and safety seriously on site, making sure his workers wear harnesses and work safely, so that no one else has to experience what we have gone through."

HSE Bulletin No: 766/SWW/11 (Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

The use of the correct equipment when working at height is of paramount importance to reduce risks to the absolute minimal level. A detailed and considered method statement will provide a critical element of completing the work safely and efficiently. It is both frustrating and annoying to see some firms continuing to cut corners and put the lives of their employees at risk in return for saving some money.

Good to Go Safety have a firm belief in giving employers the chance to implement an easy and affordable solution to their equipment checks - providing them with a comprehensive audit trail of all inspections undertaken. For more information about these SEMS (safe equipment management systems) please visit www.goodtogosafety.co.uk where you will find off-the-shelf systems for equipment including scaffolding, ladders, harnesses, MEWPs, forklifts and more.

Construction Inspections

2011-04-26T13:53:00.000+01:00

The HSE has launched it's latest podcast which takes a look at construction inspections and follows a walk-through of a construction site in Worcester where the HSE inspector highlights the types of questions he might ask and activities he would look out for during a visit. For a full version of the transcript or to listen to the full podcast please visit the HSE website by clicking here.

Transcript from HSE podcast
The UK construction industry employs more than 2 million people. Last year 42 workers were fatally injured and more than 2500 seriously hurt. We spent a morning with HSE inspector Luke Messenger as he visited a site in Worcester to take a look at what they were doing to protect people during the building works.

Now Luke this morning we're here in Worcester and we're going to have a quick look at this construction site here and looking at it there's a lot of scaffolding up there and it's also in quite a unusual situation, isn't it, in that it's between a road and a railway line?

The way I'm looking at it from this distance is thinking about transport risks around vehicle movements around and about the site, pedestrians on the road here. As far as the railway line's concerned I would have thought that they would need to be thinking about not coming into contact with the railway and any foundations and footings that were going on, taking into consideration the embankment and the stability of railway line.

As we walk forward we can see there's the traditional mesh fencing on the outside and a few road signs saying pedestrians please use the other footpath, is that the kind of thing you expect to see?

Yes, that's right. Contractors have to make sure that the site is kept safe and that people who aren't meant to be in the site are kept out, children in particular, so it's typical to see fencing of that type to keep people out. Signs warning people that it's a construction site and the risks on the site. Protective clothing they might have to wear.

My name's Mark Palfrey and I'm the site manager for Spectus Construction.

So what are you actually building here, what's this project?

It's 19 flats.

So, 19 flats. What is the situation with the inspection of this scaffold? You know it needs to be inspected every seven days?

I inspect it every seven days but every two weeks I actually get the scaffolders back and we go through it together.

Okay. So you've had some training in the inspection of scaffolds Mark?

Yes.

The sorts of thing we're looking for there is to prevent people falling off scaffold. That we have a top gird rail and a middle guard rail. That we also have a toe board or an up stand so that objects can't fall off. What you've also got up there that's good is, because you've got bricks and blocks that could fall off, is that you've got brick guards up there to stop objects falling off on to people. You've also got debris netting to stop debris coming off. And what I'm generally looking at is, does it look right to me, has it got the right edge protection, has it got some bracing on it so that any movement of the scaffold is prevented? Is it footed on some suitable footing? Some nice stable ground. This is all sitting on concrete so it should be nice and stable. And I can see that there are base plates and wooden boards under the scaffold. Okay. Right I think we've seen as much as we can see from this side of the road. Shall we go and have a look at what some of the lads are doing inside?

Spot and dab. On the walls.

The plastering. Any particular risks with this activity?

Not particularly, no. Just lifting really.

Are they using any hop ups?

They're using hop ups.

To get a bit of access? So that's a relatively low step or something for them to reach up and plaster the ceilings. Just walking around as we walk into the site here as you get to this sort of stage what are you doing in terms of making sure that they keep the amount of debris on the floor to the minimum from the slips, trips point of view?

They're all responsible for their own mess. If they don't clear the mess up they get counter charged for it. If I have to get a labourer in they get counter charged. Plus they get a warning.

Mark, when we were in the site office I noticed up on the wall there that you had some sort of emergency plan, a fire plan. How are you managing fire risks on site?

During the induction they are given all the fire exits the position of all the fire extinguishers, emergency exits, the meeting area and the plan is always on the wall anyway. The only thing I need to do at the moment I think is to adapt it for each flat. There's only one way out of these flats.

As the build is developing you're getting different staircases, doorways and that built, your plan is changing so you'll review that on a regular basis?

Yes.

So we've come up on to the scaffold, so we've had a good look at it from below so we've seen that it has all its guard rails on it that it needs to have. I noticed when we came up that you've got a bit of good practice there in that you've got there a gate at the top of the access ladder so that should be inwardly opening and shut behind you when you come up so that the access way is kept safe. We've come up to have a look at these guys who are doing some roofing work. The thing I'm interested in here is if they're cutting any tiles are they aware of the risks from breathing in silica dust.

Should be wearing a mask and they should be wearing goggles and ear protection.

So we're here in the site office now and what kind of things are you looking for in the paperwork?

Well the paperwork, what we must remember, is a means to an end. It's what's going on out on site that's most important for me as an inspector, but Mark here as the site manager has certain responsibilities to keep certain pieces of paperwork on site. So initially the sort of things I'm looking for is that he's got a copy of the notification of this site to the Health and Safety Executive up on the wall. I can see that up on the wall as well he's got his loading plans, so a plan of how he's moving materials around the site, a very simple diagram but that's all it needs to be if it's clear to the workers on site then it does it's job.

Mark, just also before we finish today, engagement with the workers, keeping the workers informed of health and safety issues and how you're keeping them safe and them raising issues with you. How do you do that on your site?

Usually first thing in the morning we all meet to discuss the days work and then if there's a certain issued coming up as in dust, noise or anything else, everybody on the site is warned in that sort of little meeting.

So you have a meeting every morning when you can tell them or express to them particular risks on site, or things have changed. Is that also a forum where they can ask you questions and raise concerns?

Yes. I always express to them that if they've got any issues, come and see me. If there's a mess somewhere left by anybody come and see me. If there's a trip issue, come and see me. So yeah, we got quite a good circuit going on there.

Thank you very much.

*End of transcript*

For more information on how Good to Go Safety can help ensure the necessary checks are being completed on your scaffolding please click here to visit the Good to Go Safety website.

Safety alert issued for steel pole ladders

2011-04-14T14:38:00.000+01:00

The National Access & Scaffolding Confederation (NASC) have recently issued a safety alert after the HSE imposed a prohibition notice on a scaffold contractor (non-NASC member) about the use of a particular type of steel pole ladder following a reported fall from height.

The HSE noted that the steel pole ladder used as ladder access on the scaffold did not have any grip/tread on the rungs and as such was in breach of the provision of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 Regulation 4 (1). You can view the full version of the NASC safety alert at their website or by clicking here.

The image above shows the type of ladder in question, issues include the fact that the ladder does not comply with the relevant standards (ie. EN 131), the treads do not provide any form of anti-slip protection in the form of ribbed or textured profiling, nor do the feet appear to offer any form of anti-slip protection.

In general, ladders account for a third of all reorted fall from height incidents. It is important that employers provide ladders in compliance with the Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER). The Good to Go Safety system provides a list of essential checks to be carries out on the ladder prior to use to help ensure they are safe for use - any signs of damage can be easily logged and the tag updated to inform all employess 'DO NOT USE' until the problem has been resolved. Alternatively, if no issues are identified then the tag will clearly inform workers that the ladders are 'GOOD TO GO' as of that date.

The use of a ladder tag such as this can go a long way top providing a quick, simple and affordable solution to your workplace safety. The same system can also be used on a wide range of other construction equipment, including scaffolding, forklifts, MEWPs, fall arrest harnesses and scaffold towers to name a few. For more information visit www.goodtogosafety.co.uk - don't assume the ladder is safe, put the necessary checks in place and avoid becoming another statistic. On average falls from ladders account for 14 deaths each year and 1200 major injuries to workers in the UK.

Companies fined £400,000 after labourer's fatal fall from scaffolding

2011-04-13T10:44:00.000+01:00

Two companies have been fined a total of £400,000 for breaches of health and safety legislation that resulted in the death of a stonemason's labourer at a Glasgow construction site.

James Kelly, a labourer employed by Stirling Stone Ltd, was working on the third level of a loading tower of scaffolding that had been erected as part of construction work taking place at Glasgow Academy, Colebrook Street, Glasgow. Stirling Stone had been contracted as stonemasons on the site by Robertson Construction Central Ltd.

On 26 April 2007, Mr Kelly fell to the ground from the scaffold loading tower platform. He died later from his injuries. A single guard rail was found on the ground close to where Mr Kelly was discovered.

Following the incident, inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) discovered that there was no safe system of work in place for loading materials onto the loading tower, nor had suitable assessment of the risks involved been made. The investigation also revealed that the loading tower did not have sufficient guard rails and toe boards and that neither company had ensured that the tower and access scaffolding was properly inspected on a regular basis.

Both companies were found guilty of health and safety breaches at an earlier trial. Today at Glasgow Sheriff Court, Robertson Construction Central Ltd of Perimeter Road, Elgin, Moray, was fined £200,000 for breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc 1974 Act. Stirling Stone Ltd was fined £200,000 for breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

John Shelton, HSE Inspector for Construction, said:

"What happened to Mr Kelly was entirely preventable and would not have happened if the proper steps had been taken.

"Loading up operations at scaffold loading towers are repeated on construction sites across Scotland probably thousands of times a day.

"There is no excuse for the contractors not to have agreed procedures as to how this work was to be done and ensured that this routine work was carried out safely.

"Where vital edge protection is removed temporarily to allow loading up to take place steps must be taken to ensure persons cannot fall during that work."

HSE Bulletin No: SCO/032/11 (Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

Yet another tragic case brought about due to a lack of ownership for site safety; as the inspector states in his summary, this type of work is carried out regularly across the UK and there is simply no excuse for not having a safe system of work (SSOW) in place. Combine this apathy towards safety with scaffolding and working at height and the potential for serious accidents (or in this case fatality) are substantial. The need for a competent person to understand the working of scaffolding and the need for guardrails is further highlighted in this case, as is the need to carry out routine inspections of the scaffolding once erected.

By carrying out simple inspection procedures such as this it can help identify missing components and with the use of our Good to Go Safety system, allow the quick and easy quarantine of the scaffolding if probems are identified. To find out more about the Good to Go Safety scaffold inspection systems visit our website at www.goodtogosafety.co.uk

A step towards workplace safety by Good to Go Safety

2011-03-24T16:05:00.000Z

Good to Go Safety are pleased to announce the launch of the latest addition to their range of equipment tagging and inspection systems.

Podium steps have seen a surge in usage over the past few years as a result of changes in the Work at Height Regulations 2005 (WAHR). The need to provide a safe working platform for employees has seen a decline in the number of ladders being used for low level work, in favour of a podium step which can provide the employer with a safer working platform complete with guardrails.

Although the podium step may provide safer working conditions, the need to carry out pre-use inspections in accordance with the Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) remain as best practice. Employees should be trained in the safe use of a podium step and routine checks of the steps carried out to ensure that they remain in good working order and fit for use.

The new Good to Go Safety system allows the tag to be attached to the podium steps at the point of access to provide maximum visual impact. The tag will clearly indicate the steps should not be used until an inspection has been carried out. The check book provides guidance and a checklist to be completed prior to using the podium steps - once completed the checklist is placed inside the tag to clearly indicate the status, as of that date. The tag will tell employees if it is 'Good to Go' or 'Do Not Use' whilst a duplicate copy of the completed checklist is retained in the book for management records.

The podium check book can be ordered independently or in kit format. The weekly inspection kit provides everything you need to carry out a weekly inspection for an entire year on the podium steps; alternatively a daily inspection kit provides everything needed to complete an entire year of daily inspections.

More details will be available soon on the Good to Go Safety website, in the meantime should you have a requirement please contact us for information.

Unsafe scaffold collapse leads to company fines and injured shopper

2011-03-17T10:57:00.000Z

Two North East companies have been fined after a member of the public was seriously injured when scaffolding collapsed during high winds.

A 68-year-old woman was out shopping with relatives when the scaffolding in Shields Road, Byker, Newcastle collapsed on 14 March 2009.

She suffered double fractures to her right hip joint and right femur, puncture wounds to her right ankle and severe bruising and was in hospital for 12 days following the incident. Almost two years on she is still unable to carry shopping bags and is limited in what housework she can do.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed that Skyline Scaffolding Ltd had not erected the scaffolding properly by failing to ensure it was adequately secured to the building. The scaffold had been reduced in height to a single working platform with the wooden hoardings and sheeting still attached. In reducing the scaffold, the scaffolding company removed the arrangement that retained the scaffold to the building.

HSE also found that Ashbrook Construction Services Ltd had failed to ensure that the scaffolding was properly inspected both before work began and at regular intervals as it progressed.

Skyline Scaffolding, of Drum Industrial Estate, Birtley was found guilty, in absence, to one breach of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 between 14 January and 14 March 2009 and a second offence of breaching Regulation 8(b) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 between 11 and 14 March 2009 and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,182.30 at Newcastle Magistrates' Court today (16 March 2011).

Ashbrook Construction Services Ltd, of Leeholme Industrial Estate, Cowpen Lane, Billingham pleaded guilty to one breach of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 between 14 January and 14 March 2009 and was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2091.15.

After the case, HSE Principal Inspector Rob Hirst said:

"This incident could, and should, have been prevented. The lady was seriously injured and was lucky not to be killed as a result of this incident. And things could have been even worse had the scaffolding collapsed when workers were using it.

"Skyline Scaffolding Ltd failed to erect the scaffolding properly by not securing it adequately and Ashbrook Construction Services Ltd failed to ensure the scaffolding was inspected before work began and then regularly once it was in progress.

"Each company had varying responsibilities, but were complicit in failing to ensure the scaffold remained stable. Both parties should have been aware that the addition of wooden hoardings and impervious sheeting increased the loading on the structure.

"I would urge all those involved in the supply and use of temporary work platforms such as scaffolding, to ensure that they are erected by competent persons and are subject to inspection before work starts and then at least every seven days or following alteration or effects of adverse weather."

HSE Bulletin No: NE/042/11 (Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

The fact that the scaffolding was not inspected in this case resulted in an accident to an innocent passer by, as the HSE rightly pointed out the outcome could have been even worse had workers been on the scaffold at the time of the collapse.

The use of a scaffold tag is widely recognised as an integral safety measure, and the Good to Go Safety scaffold checklist enables regular inspections to be carried out on site. The results of the inspection are inserted into the tag to clearly indicate the date and result of the inspection so that employees instantly know by looking at the tag if the scaffold is 'good to go'. A duplicate copy of the completed checklist is also retained for management records.

This simple but effective scaffold tag system can help prevent accidents such as this from happening, for more information about this and other inspection systems from Good to go Safety please visit www.goodtogosafety.co.uk for all the latest news.

Extension to Good to Safety range coming soon

2011-03-15T14:13:00.000Z

Following on from last month's launch of Good to Go Safety's inspection system for fleet vehicles, we are pleased to announce that we will be adding a new application to the range later this month.

Following on from numerous requests we have designed a checklist which we are sure will prove a popular addition to our range. Full details will be made available over the next week and you will be able to read it here first. Don't forget if you have any suggestions for equipment you would like to see added to the Good to Go Safety range please contact us with information or leave a comment below.

In the meantime why not visit our website for details on the full range of equipment inspections currently available at www.goodtogosafety.co.uk

Our Safe Equipment Management Systems (SEMS) are a simple, effective and affordable solution to workplace safety - providing a tagging and inspection system for a wide range of workplace equipment. The use of good to Go Safety can help you meet your duties under PUWER (Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998).

Work at Height Maintenance Video

2011-03-04T13:06:00.000Z

The HSE has released a useful video (click here) for those involved in working at height who carry out building and plant maintenance activities. It aims to make you aware of the steps that should be taken to ensure the work is carried out safely and to demonstrate a number of different types of access equipment in use.

The introduction can be viewed below - for access to the full video please visit the HSE site by clicking here. There is a vast amount of useful information available on the HSE website, all of which can be used to help further reduce the risks associated with working at height.

The video guides you through various stages:

Planning the work
Avoiding work at height
Selecting the correct equipment
Training users of the equipment
Inspecting the equipment
Supervising the work

The video looks at equipment including ladders & stepladders, scaffold towers, podiums, scaffolding, harnesses and MEWPs. Good to Go Safety has developed a range of safety inspection systems for each of these types of equipment which can help to improve safety and reduce the risk of an accident. Visit www.goodtogosafety.co.uk for more information or take a look at our online digital catalogue (click on the image below to open the catalogue which will allow you to view and order the full range of Good to Go Safety products).

Tyneside firm sentenced after worker's fall from unsafe scaffold

2011-03-01T11:43:00.000Z

A Tyneside construction company has been fined after a worker suffered serious injuries following a fall from unsafe scaffolding.
Ian Allan Building Contractors Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident in the grounds of the Old Vicarage, off Knaresborough Road, Murton, County Durham on 1 May 2009.

Consett Magistrates' Court heard Mr Kevin Clark, 54, from Swalwell, Gateshead, was working on the windows of a new building when the scaffolding platform he was standing on became dislodged, causing him to fall more than four metres to the ground.
　
Mr Clark suffered several crushed vertebrae in his spine and a fractured left foot and was in hospital for two weeks following the incident. The HSE investigation revealed that the company had failed to control alterations to the scaffolding, failed to conduct inspections of the scaffold at least every seven days, failed to identify and correct unsafe alterations and allowed workers to use unsafe scaffolding.

Ian Allan Building Contractors Ltd, of Jesmond Road, Jesmond, Newcastle, pleaded guilty of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £1,500 and ordered to pay costs of £1,500 at Consett Magistrates' Court.

After sentencing, Mr Clark said:
"I took it for granted the scaffolding I was working on was safe. If it had been checked properly the incident never would have happened and I wouldn't be left with the injuries I have to live with now.
"I've had steel rods put in my spine, I'm in constant pain and it restricts my movement and makes walking really difficult. I'll probably never be able to do the job I did again.
"I hope this prosecution helps make other employers realise the importance of ensuring scaffolding is safe so other workers don't have to suffer as I have."

After the case, HSE Construction Inspector Andrea Robbins said:
"This incident could and should have been prevented. Ian Allan Building Contractors Ltd failed in their legal duty to ensure the safety of its employees by failing to manage the scaffolding on site adequately.
"As a result of these failures, Mr Clark has suffered serious injuries and is still living with the effects of those injuries more than a year and a half later.
"Scaffolding is widely used as a temporary working platform or means of access and this incident clearly illustrates the absolute need to ensure that it is safe.
"I'd like to stress to all companies and employees who use scaffolding that it should always be constructed to a recognised standard, any alterations should only be made by a competent person and it should be inspected by a competent person on handover and at least every seven days as work progresses."

Falls from height are the biggest cause of fatal and major injuries in the construction and maintenance industry. During the three year period up to the end of 2010, there were 132 fatalities in relation to falls from height - 85 in the construction industry alone, two of which were in the North East.

HSE Bulletin No: NE/034/11(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)
　
　
　

Yet another reminder to anyone working at height on the importance of carrying out regular inspections of equipment - whether it be scaffolding, ladders, harnesses or other WAH equipment. The case above emphasises the dangers of assumption in the workplace - assumption that equipment is safe can lead to serious accidents if checks are not carried out as a result. The use of Good to Go Safety systems takes away the risk of assumption - providing a clear reminder that pre-use checks need to be carried out and displaying the findings once they have been. If the tag does not state that the equipment is 'Good to Go' with the relevant date on it then employees instantly know that a check should be carried out before they begin their work. For more information about the Good to Go Safety range please visit the website at http://www.goodtogosafety.co.uk/

HSE clampdown on unsafe construction sites

2011-02-24T11:18:00.000Z

Over the next week, construction sites across Fife will be visited as part of an intensive inspection initiative aimed at reducing death and injury in one of Britain's most dangerous industries.

During 2009/10, three workers died while working in construction across Scotland, two of them during refurbishment, repair and maintenance activities. There were 68 reported injuries on construction sites in Fife in 2009/10.

Starting on 28th February, Inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will be making unannounced visits to refurbishment sites throughout Fife. The focus of the HSE inspectors will be ensuring that sites are managing work at height safely and that they are in good order, as well as checking that the risk of exposure to asbestos is being properly managed.

In a similar campaign last year inspectors visited 276 sites and 376 contractors across Scotland. They issued 82 enforcement notices across 77 sites, and were forced to issue 62 prohibition notices to stop dangerous work - much of it relating to working from height.

HSE Principal Inspector John Blackburn said:

"This will be the fifth year that we have run the inspection initiative across Britain and we anticipate that that there will be examples of both good and bad practice - those where employers are taking all the measures they can to protect their workers and those where safety is way down the list of priorities.

"A lax attitude to health and safety in one of the more dangerous industries is not acceptable, especially when many of the incidents are completely avoidable by taking commonsense actions and precautions. As we've demonstrated in previous years, we will not hesitate to take action if we find poor practice that is putting the lives of workers at risk.

"This year, as part of ensuring risks from asbestos are properly managed, we will also be checking that, where appropriate, asbestos surveys have been carried out prior to any refurbishment work. Many workers believe that, because asbestos has been banned as a building material, it's no longer a threat to them. But that simply isn't true. Any premises built or refurbished before 2000 could contain asbestos."

During the inspection initiative, HSE inspectors will be looking at whether:

Jobs that involve working at height have been identified and properly planned to ensure that appropriate precautions are in place
Equipment is correctly installed / assembled, inspected and maintained and used properly
Sites are well organised, to avoid trips and falls
Walkways and stairs are free from obstructions
Work areas are clear of unnecessary materials and waste

HSE Bulletin No: SCO/019/11
(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

This initiative is not exclusive to Fife, with similar inspections being carried out across the UK. Nearly one in four of Merseyside's construction sites have already failed safety inspections during the first two days of a month-long initiative. HSE inspectors carried out checks at 88 sites during intensive inspections in the county on 14 and 15 February. A total of 21 sites were found not to meet legally-required health and safety standards.

Several of the sites visited received more than one enforcement notice either stopping work activities immediately or requiring improvements to be made. In total, inspectors issued 22 prohibition and 21 improvement notices, with more than half of the notices relating to unsafe work being carried out at height.

HSE Bulletin No: HSE/NW/02ResultsMerseyside
(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

HSE initiatives such as these can go a long way to helping raise employee awareness of the potential dangers in the construction industry, hopefully spotting potential problems before an accident occurs.

One of the areas that the inspectors are looking at is that of equipment safety in the workplace - ensuring that it is correctly installed, inspected and maintained - and that employees are competent to use it.

The use of the Good to Go Safety system can go a long way to helping meet these requirements. There are a range of equipment inspection systems available from Good to Go Safety for the construction industry which include ladders, scaffolding, forklifts and harnesses amongst the most commonly used. Click here to find out more about the systems which encourage regular checks, provide visual awareness of the findings and produce a complete audit trail of findings for your management records.

New Digital Catalogue launched by Good to Go Safety

2011-02-16T11:07:00.001Z

The new version of Good to Go Safety's product catalogue is now available to browse online. The catalogue has been updated to include new additions to the range, including our safety checklists for fleet vehicles and fall arrest harnesses. Simply click on the image below to be taken to the digital catalogue where you can flick through the pages to find out more about the range or order the products online.

Our website will also be updated this week to include information relating to our new products. If you would like to receive a printed copy of of the new brochure please send a request to enquiries@goodtogosafety.co.uk quoting your name and company details.

Good to Go Safety is an innovative SEMS (Safe Equipment Management System) which encourages employees to carry our pre-use inspections of workplace equipment to ensure they are safe and fit for purpose. A tag is attached to the equipment to provide a clear visual indication of when the equipment was checked and its findings - displaying when it is 'good to go' or 'do not use'. A duplicate copy of each completed checklist is automatically generated for management records. Visit our new digital catalogue for more information about the range. Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Checklists available for a wide range of applications including: forklifts, scaffold towers, ladders, racking, fleet vehicles, scaffolding, MEWPs and harness

South Yorkshire glazing firm fined after fall from unsafe scaffold

2011-02-04T10:48:00.000Z

A South Yorkshire glazing firm has been sentenced after an employee was hurt when he fell more than ten feet from an unsafe scaffold.

Phillip Pears, then 20, broke his wrist in the incident while replacing fascias for Premier Security Glazing Ltd at a house in York in June 2009.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that Mr Pears, another colleague, and Premier's managing director had erected two tower scaffolds ten feet apart. Wooden boards were then spaced across the gaps to make one extended platform from which to work. There were no handrails on the scaffolds or the boards.

Mr Pears climbed a ladder leaning against the scaffold and stepped onto an unsecured board which had been used in erecting the tower. The board slipped and he fell 3.5 metres to the pavement below, fracturing his wrist and bruising his back.

York Magistrates Court heard that Mr Pears had not been trained in the safe use of tower scaffolds, but was regularly expected to use them.

The court heard Mexborough-based Premier Security Glazing Ltd had employed a risk adviser some months before the incident. It had even received a health and safety audit on its systems of work, including recommendations for safe working at height and the correct use of tower scaffolds. However, the company had not implemented these recommendations.

The firm of Marriot Road, Swinton, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to ensure the safety of their employees and was fined £2,500 with £2,644.90 costs

HSE Inspector Sarah Lee said:

"The dangers of working from poorly-erected tower scaffolds are well known and are responsible for many injuries each year. Had the company followed widely-available guidance from HSE, the manufacturer's instructions, or the findings of the company's own safety audit then this incident could have been easily prevented."

"Companies must realise that it is not acceptable to expect their employees to use work equipment without the proper training. Mr. Pears has made a full recovery but so often these types of incidents have fatal consequences."

In 2008/2009 more than 4,000 major injuries were caused by falls from height at work.

HSE Bulletin No: YH/15 /11
(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

The fact that the company had gone to the expense of employing a risk assessor and received recommendations on how to work at height safely makes this incident even more preventable. Good to Go Safety can provide tagging and inspection systems for scaffold towers which can help ensure that the tower is safe for use. The main problem in this case however appears to be the lack of training on how to use a scaffold tower safely in the first instance. Once trained, a competent person would be able to carry out a pre-use inspection of the tower using the Good to Go Safety system - click here for details - and help prevent incidents like this from happening in the future.

Businessman prosecuted after worker breaks back in fall from faulty ladder

2011-02-03T11:46:00.000Z

A Lancashire businessman has been sentenced after one of his employees broke his back when he fell off a ladder.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Michael Wilson following the incident at Roadferry Transport Yard on Carr Lane in Farington, Leyland, on 3 March 2010.

South Ribble Magistrates' Court in Leyland heard that the man, who has asked not to be named, had climbed up a ladder at the commercial vehicle garage to reach the release mechanism for a lorry cab. The employee fell to the ground when the ladder slipped, causing him to break a vertebrae in his spine. He is still unable to return to work, nearly a year after the incident.

The HSE investigation found the ladder had missing feet at both ends, the bottom rung was damaged and it appeared to have been cut off at the top.

Michael Wilson, trading as M Wilson Commercials, admitted breaching Regulation 5(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) by failing to make sure the ladder was well maintained. He was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £2,000 on 2 February 2011.

Matt Lea, the investigating inspector at HSE, said:

"One of Mr Wilson's employees was badly injured because he was given an unsafe ladder to use. It should have been checked in advance to make sure it was suitable.

"The employee had not received any training on working at height or with ladders, despite regularly needing to do it as part of his job. He therefore simply used the nearest available ladder.

"Sadly, this worker is just one of hundreds of people who are injured every year as a result of falling from ladders. Falling a short distance can still result in someone being seriously injured."

On average, 12 people a year die after falling from ladders in British workplaces, and more than 1,200 suffer major injuries.

HSE Bulletin No: HSE/NW/78Wilson
(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

The use of our Good to Go Safety system could have prevented this accident from happening. Our ladder tag and ladder checklist can help ensure a pre-use inspection is made - checking that feet are in place, rungs are not damaged or missing etc. These basic checks would probably have prevented this accident from happening - in addition a duplicate copy of each completed checklist would provide clear evidence that a safe equipment management system (SEMS) was in place. Good to Go Safety helps employers to comply with PUWER and WAHR regulations and provides employees with peace of mind that the equipment they are using is 'good to go'. Click here for more information about our ladder inspection systems.

Fleet Vehicle Inspection Systems - New from Good to Go Safety

2011-01-18T16:19:00.000Z

Driving is one of the most hazardous working activities, with 220 serious injuries and 20 deaths every week involving people at work on the road.*

Vehicle accidents can also be responsible for one of the most costly losses to a business. The claims costs associated with repairs, injuries and potential loss of human life are high with insurance rates and operations affected for years as a result.

Good to Go Safety can now offer a fleet vehicle safety checklist, designed to encourage drivers to carry out essential pre-use checks of their vehicle prior to a journey. Frequent inspections can help to ensure the safety of the vehicle and reduce maintenance costs. The introduction of a systematic and effective programme such as this allows fleet managers to receive a signed and dated checklist which can be used as evidence of an active and up-to-date maintenance programme in the event of an accident.

Basic checks covered in the checklist include the engine department for oil, screen wash, battery etc; whilst lights, mirrors, tyres and documentation are amongst the various external checks.

Employers are bound by a legal duty of care to ensure the safety of staff whilst they work. They owe the same duty of care under health and safety law to staff who drive their own vehicles for work as they do to employees who drive company owned, leased or hired vehicles.

Good to Go Safety helps employers meet their legal duty of care to ensure the safety of staff whilst they work, in accordance with various separate laws which govern occupational driving.

Helps compliance with The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974, PUWER & The Road Traffic Act 1998

Encourages regular pre-drive safety checks in line with best practice guidelines by ROSPA and the DfT.

Provides documented evidence of fleet safety policies, as required if you run a fleet and employ 5 or more staff.

In the event of an accident, copies of all completed checklists can provide valuable evidence of the vehicles condition and maintenance program.

The new check book from Good to Go Safety provides 25 individual checklists which should be completed by the driver before he starts his journey, a duplicate NCR copy of the checklist is automatically created which can be kept by the fleet manager as part of their fleet management programme. This latest addition to the range provides a simple, effective and affordable solution to a company's duty of care for fleet maintenance.

Failure to carry out their duty of care could lead to criminal prosecutions against employers under the Corporate Manslaughter Act 2008 if an employee dies in a work-related road-traffic accident.

If you require more information about our fleet vehicle inspection system please contact us at enquiries@goodtogosafety.co.uk for details.

* Source: (Department for Transport).

Safety Alert Issued After a Series of Fatal MEWP Overturns

2011-01-06T11:32:00.000Z

Users of certain types of scissor lifts are being advised to make daily safety checks after five people were killed in three separate incidents when they overturned.

A safety alert has been issued by HSE to warn service and maintenance engineers and those in the construction industry who use, or lease out, JLG 500RTS and 400 RTS scissor lifts, to ensure that safety critical components are working correctly.

The purpose of this Safety Alert is to alert the target audience above about the need to regularly maintain, inspect and test (as recommended by manufacturers, and as required by law), safety related equipment on Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs) generally, and also specifically to remind owners, users and others involved in the use of JLG 500RTS and 400RTS scissor lifts, of this need (scissors lifts are a type of MEWP).

This Alert also highlights to the target audience, the requirement to follow the specific instructions for daily inspection and function testing outlined in the current Operation and Safety Manual for JLG Model 500RTS and 400RTS scissor lifts. Failure to follow the instructions contained within the Operation and Safety Manual can result in serious or fatal injuries.

The target audience are also reminded that it is vital not to operate MEWPs, in general, if systems designed to maintain safe operation are damaged, overridden or not working.

The Information in this Safety Alert may also be relevant to other makes or models of MEWPs that incorporate similar oscillating axle lockout valves or lift/ drive interlock systems.

Background:

Figure 1: 500RTS scissor lift showing position of oscillating axle lock out valve

The JLG 500RTS scissor lift is equipped with an oscillating axle which allows the machine to be driven on uneven ground with the platform in the transport position. JLG 400RTS models have a similar design of oscillating axle lockout valve (and lift/drive limit switch). As soon as the platform is raised out of the transport position (by the scissor arms being raised off the chassis), the oscillating axle should lock preventing further rotation of the oscillating axle. This functions by a plunger valve (the oscillating axle lockout valve) mounted on the chassis being released under spring pressure, preventing further rotation of the oscillating axle. The position of the oscillating axle lock out valve is shown in figure 1.

The scissors lift is also equipped with a lift/drive cut out limit switch (figure 2) which both

Figure 2: 6.7 m Lift/Drive interlock limit switch location

1. prevents the platform being lifted above 6.7m unless the stabilisers are deployed (with the 400RTS scissors lift the lift/drive limit switch should prevent the platform from being raised above 8m), and

2. prevents the MEWP being driven if the platform is above 6.7m (or 8m if the 400RTS), or when the stabilisers are deployed.

Following a review by HSE into the circumstances of three fatal accidents within a 4 year period in Europe, all of which involved the overturn of a JLG 500RTS scissors lift, it has been established that in all three cases:

1. the oscillating axle lockout valve failed as the platform was raised, and,
2. the lift/drive interlock system did not work allowing the platform to be elevated above 6.7m without the stabilisers being deployed. In addition, in at least one of the three overturns, the scissors lift was also driven with the platform above 6.7m which should not be possible.

In each of the three cases this resulted in the MEWP becoming unstable in use, and the scissor lift overturned killing the occupants.

In two of the three overturns the oscillating axle lockout valve plunger was found to be seized in the down position as a result of corrosion products. In the third incident, the oscillating axle lockout valve switch was described as being stuck and non-operational.

In one of the three overturns, the lift/drive limit switch (part of the interlock system) may have been deliberately defeated, in another the lift/drive interlock system failed for reasons that were not established, and in the third case the roller cam assembly on the limit switch may have been loose.

JLG have issued two field service bulletins, FSB#2-12-01 (in 2002) and FSB#108A3E (in 2008) which required owners of affected machines to (i) install a new cam for the lift/drive limit switch and (ii) inform owners of revised checking procedures for the machine respectively. It is important that owners of affected machines ensure that these two Field Service Bulletins have been actioned and, if necessary, that their machines have been modified as described in FSB#2-12-01 and that suitable testing and inspection regimes are in place. FSB#2-12-01 affected certain JLG Models 400RTS and 500RTS scissor lifts shipped prior to November 26 2002 (see bulletin for a list of affected units). FSB#108A3E affected JLG 400RTS and 500RTS Scissors lifts equipped with Operator's and Safety Manual #3120828.

The correct inspection procedure can be found in Section 2-5 of the Operation and Safety Manual (See further information in Action required section).

In each of the 3 incidents the machines were being either inspected, examined or tested at the time, however, HSE considers that the information in this Alert is relevant to all the Target Audience, not just those involved in inspection, examination or testing.

Action required:

Owners of JLG 500RTS and 400RTS scissors lifts should ensure that the oscillating axle lockout system and the lift/drive cut out switches are checked for correct functioning (in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations) before the machine is next used, and thereafter, as advised by the manufacturer.

It is critical that users of JLG 500RTS and 400RTS scissors lifts complete daily inspections and function testing of the oscillating axle lockout system and the lift/drive limit switch in line with the manufacturer's recommendations contained in Section 2.5 of the Operation and Safety Manual. Failure to undertake daily tests and inspections can result in safety critical faults going undetected and lead to potential for the MEWP to overturn resulting in serious of fatal injuries

Owners and operators of JLG 500RTS and 400RTS scissors lifts should ensure that the equipment has been inspected and examined and complies with JLG service bulletins FSB#2-12-01 and FSB#108A3E. Competent persons, inspection bodies and others involved with JLG 500RTS and 400RTS scissors lifts should be aware of the contents of these 2 JLG service bulletins.

JLG Field Service Bulletin FSB#108A3E requires owners of affected machines to obtain an updated Operator's and Safety Manual numbered #3120828 for JLG Models 400RTS and 500RTS Scissor Lifts. A list of machines affected by FSB#108A3E is given in the bulletin. Operator's and Safety Manual numbered #3120833 is not affected by the update described in FSB#108A3E.

FSB#108A3E describes (for owners of affected machines) a revised Section 2 of the Operator's and Safety Manual which includes additional inspection criteria in the daily function check for the axle lockout valve switch on machines equipped with oscillating axles.

A current Operator's and Safety Manual should be kept with the machine

JLG's Operations and Safety Manual can be found at the JLG website by following the link to Safety and Product Manuals. Field Service Bulletin information is available to all JLG account holders through an Online Service System. Other owners can contact their local JLG Sales and Service Organisation who will be able to deal with their enquiry.

It is important that persons carrying out function testing of JLG 500RTS and 400RTS scissors lifts should do this from the ground using the ground controls first before using the platform controls. Generally, where possible, testing of safety critical functions should always be carried out using ground controls first (where the operator is at lower risk) before carrying out tests from the platform.

HSE Bulletin No: FOD 1-2011
(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

Good to Go Safety can help to ensure your operatives carry out their pre-use inspections in line with legislation and best practice. Simply attach a Good to Go Safety Tag to the MEWP and it will automatically display a message reminding potential operatives to carry out an inspection - only after the checklist has been completed and inserted into the tag will the display change to 'good to go' to indicate that no faults were found. A copy of each completed inspection is automatically generated for management records. Click here for more information on the MEWP inspection systems and for a wide range of other equipment inspection systems.

Fall from ladder results in a worker's death and £300k fine for BT

2010-12-17T13:59:00.000Z

BT has been fined £300,000 following the death of a worker who fell from a ladder while carrying out installation works.

Power construction engineer David Askew, 52, from Braintree, Essex, suffered fatal head injuries after falling from a wooden ladder at London's Canonbury Telephone Exchange on 27 October 2006.

British Telecommunications Plc (BT) was prosecuted after an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Southwark Crown Court heard Mr Askew was installing distribution boards and running cabling as part of his work and would have been working at a height of more than four metres. He fell from a nine-step wooden ladder, sustaining a serious head injury and died 18 days later.

The HSE investigation found a number of issues including a failure to ensure the work at height was properly planned, and that Mr Askew was provided with suitable access equipment for work at height. Two wooden ladders found at the scene had not been subject to an annual inspection, contrary to BT's own health and safety policy.

BT, based in Newgate Street, London, were found guilty of breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 at a previous hearing. Today, they were fined £300,000 and were ordered to pay costs of £196,150

Nicola Maisuria, HSE inspector, said:

"The fact that this incident was entirely avoidable makes Mr Askew's death all the more tragic.

"The dangers posed by work at height are well known, yet BT failed to create the conditions to ensure this task was carried out safely and the appropriate access equipment was used.

"Employers have a responsibility to ensure that work at height is properly planned and organised."

Speaking of her husband's death, Denise Askew said:

"I spent over 30 happy, irreplaceable years with my husband. He was a remarkable father and husband. What do I have to look forward to now? My husband was my past and I thought he was my future.

"I feel sad my husband will never see two of his children get married. Most of all I feel sad that I see such sadness in my children's eyes when they talk of their father.

"I feel sad that my husband worked all his life and never got the chance to retire and enjoy the life he was working so hard towards.

"I share a massive disappointment that this happened within a workforce of such a large company and where the safety of every employee should have been assured".

Falls from height remain the most common cause of workplace fatality. In 2008/09 there were 35 fatalities, 4654 major injuries and a further 7065 injuries that caused the injured person to be off work for over three days or more, due to a fall from height.

HSE Transcript Source: COILDN/1512

(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

The impact of an incident such as this is substantial, not just to the company but to the loved ones left behind. The fact is that accidents can happen for a large multi-national, just the same as it can for a small independent firm. Without the necessary checks and preparations, accidents will continue to occur and families will continue to suffer the consequences. Choosing the correct equipment for working at height is critical - more and more employers are using MEWPs rather than ladders to improve safety levels. Regardless of which equipment is used, there remains the need to carry out a check of the selected equipment to ensure it is fit for use. Good to Go Safety offer a range of effective tagging and inspection systems which can help to eliminate avoidable accidents such as that highlighted above - click here for more information.

Government guidance on clearing snow and ice

2010-11-25T08:35:00.000Z

OK so this blog is a little off the beaten track for me, with no relevance to workplace equipment safety, however I'm sure there are plenty of health & safety guys out there dreading the snow and ice that has appeared overnight and looks set to continue into next week.

The following link takes you to the DirectGov website and provides some useful tips and advice regarding your rights and responsibilities on clearing snow and ice from public areas. The basic synopsis is that you should not be afraid of getting sued by someone if they slip on a pathway that you have cleared, so long as you have not made conditions worse (ie by clearing the snow with water rather than salt, which has subsequently frozen to create a skating rink).

It all seems pretty obvious to me, but then again I consider myself to have a certain amount of common sense, which appears to be in short supply in this day and age. Hope it helps, and if you do have snow where you are drive carefully.

Good to Go Safety should have some news shortly regarding a new addition to our equipment inspection, check back soon for more information.

Scaffold inspection initiative targets dangerous scaffolding

2010-11-23T15:50:00.000Z

Health and safety inspectors will be out in force in Manchester on Thursday 25 November in a bid to tackle dangerous scaffolding.

Falls from height are the biggest single cause of workplace deaths in the UK, with two deaths and 563 serious injuries in Manchester alone last year.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors will spend a day making unannounced visits to construction sites across the city as part of an ongoing initiative tackling the issue.

Both construction workers and members of the public can be put at risk of being seriously injured or even killed if scaffolding collapses. Injuries can also occur when building materials fall through gaps where there are no safety boards or netting.

Polly Tomlinson, a Principal Inspector for HSE in Greater Manchester, said:

"We are concerned that companies may be trying to cut down on costs or to undercut competitors by not using suitable scaffolding or other safety equipment. Quite simply, they are putting their own and other people's lives at risk as a result.

"HSE will not tolerate poor health and safety standards on construction sites. When it is necessary to safeguard workers or the public, inspectors will not hesitate to take strong enforcement action."

HSE Transcript Source: HSE/NW/20Scaffolding
(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

It has been a concern for some time within the industry that good scaffolding comapnies, taking the necessary safety steps and providing a quality of workmanship are being out priced of jobs by firms willing to undercut by skimping on safety and using poor working practices. Often a member of the public will be unaware of the safety of the scaffolding, assuming that they are safe if being installed by a qualifed scaffolder. Hopefully this latest initiative by the HSE will help identify these rogue traders.

The use of a scaffold tagging system is often the first step to scaffolding safety, helping to identify any concerns throught the use of a checklist system. The Good to Go Safety system clearly indicates when a scaffold has been checked and deemed 'good to go' or when a fault is found it can immediately shut down the scaffolding with a 'Do Not Use' message until further notice. Click here to find out more about the Good to Go Safety system for scaffolding.

Ladder Safety hits Primetime TV

2010-11-19T10:34:00.000Z

It was good to see the subject of health and safety, and in particular ladder safety getting some air time on one of BBC1's flagship programmes yesterday. Arthur Smith of The One Show took a look at the rise in ladder safety courses in the UK and highlighted the need to raise awareness of ladder safety in the workplace.

Health & Safety is often on the receiving end of bad press, often being misrepresented in confusion with the ambulance chasers. This was a welcome opportunity to rectify some of the bad press and I applaud the BBC for taking the time to back the HSE's ladder exchange initiative.

You can view the show by clicking on the following link to the show. You may want to skip to the article in question which can be found 23 minutes into the programme and runs for 5.30 minutes.

The One Show - Ladder Safety Link

Good to Go Safety provides the perfect solution to ladder tagging and inspections - offering a quick, easy and affordable management system. The system enables a pre-use check of the ladder with an easy to follow checklist. The findings are then displayed in the tag for all to see, clearly displaying if the ladder is 'good to go' or informing employees 'do not use' if a fault is found - effectively placing the dodgy ladder into immediate quarantine until such time that the ladder has been repaired. A duplicate copy of each inspection is automatically created for management records. To find out more please click the following link to visit our Good to Go Safety website.

Rogue street scaffolding criticised by NASC

2010-11-12T09:19:00.000Z

The sight of rogue scaffolders building unsafe scaffolds close to the general public is an all too common occurrence on our streets today. Yet all these scaffolds need a pavement licence to be issued from the local or public authority as they are being built from a pavement or street.

The NASC (National Access & Scaffolding Confederation) the recognised trade body for scaffolding guidance with regulated members throughout the UK undertook a survey earlier this year to ascertain what criteria a scaffold company was expected to comply with in order to erect a scaffold close to the general public.

Surprisingly almost every authority adopted different criteria. At the lowest level a number of authorities required nothing more than evidence that the scaffolding company held adequate insurance should something go wrong. These particular authorities did not require the company to demonstrate competence in scaffold construction, nor did they require the company to protect the public appropriately during erection or dismantling, and wear the necessary safety equipment.

Admittedly some authorities did ask for more evidence of competence, but almost all of the 50 plus permit criteria received from around the country failed to meet legal requirements such as the Health Safety At Work Act 1974, Working At Height Regulations 2005 and the Construction Design Management Regulations 2007.

“It is not unusual to hear of scaffold collapses on our public highways” states NASC President Bob Whincap “Any member of the public is potentially at risk every time they step onto a pavement where a scaffold is built”

The NASC has developed detailed criteria and guidance to address this situation and provide any authority in the UK with the ability to demand a consistent standard for scaffolding companies to comply with industry best practice and legal requirements.

In consultation with the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), Highways Authority, Joint Authorities Group UK and the National Traffic Managers Forum the new document is comprised of 11 pages of criteria and governance that a scaffolding contractor and main contractor must work to before a licence can be granted.

Specifically the criteria includes :

Risk Assessments

Scaffold designs

Scaffolder competence

Double boarding with membranes on pedestrian gantries

Scaffold Protection fans

Protection for public and vehicles

Improved signage

Lighting

Main Contractor details

Scaffold Inspection

Scaffolding competence requirements

The document is a significant ‘step change’ from the previous criteria but it is what is needed to help keep our streets safe. The new criteria have been circulated to all authorities in the UK.

Initial reaction to the new criteria has been welcomed by a number of authorities who openly recognise that the standard of scaffolding needs to be improved. Raymond Pierson, (Transport for London) is solely responsible for the quality management system for roads including policy setting, states “TfL will be adopting the NASC's full guidelines and applauds their ‘fight’ for a universal improvement into the tightening of conditions for scaffolding contractors.”

It is hoped that all authorities will adopt the new criteria and introduce it swiftly to avoid further incidents on our streets.

The NASC would also recommend the public apply pressure on their local authority to adopt these new criteria as soon as possible.

The criteria can be viewed on the video below. Additional information and downloads are available at the NASC website - click here for access.

Source: NASC

Latest health & safety statistics for 2009/10

2010-10-28T11:09:00.000+01:00

The HSE have released the latest statistics on work-related health and safety – work-related ill-health, injuries, dangerous occurrences, enforcement and gas safety - in Great Britain for 2009/10. A summary is found below and you can find more information by clicking on the official publication here.

1.3 million people who worked during the last year were suffering from an illness (long standing as well as new cases) they believed was caused or made worse by their current or past work. 555,000 of these were new cases.

152 workers were killed at work, a rate of 0.5 per 100,000 workers.

121,430 other injuries to employees were reported under RIDDOR, a rate of 473 per 100,000 employees.

233,000 reportable injuries occurred, according to the Labour Force Survey, a rate of 840 per 100,000 workers. 28.5 million days were lost overall (1.2 days per worker), 23.4 million due to work-related ill health and 5.1 million due to workplace injury.

As expected the construction industry continues to see a high rate of injuries and fatalities compared to other industries:

In 2009/10p Construction accounted for 4% of the employees in Britain, 7% of reported injuries to employees (27% fatalities, 10% major and 6% of over three day injuries). The Labour Force Survey (LFS)1 estimates that around 12% of all non-fatal injuries occured in Construction in 2008/09 (three-year average).

Construction has the largest number of fatal injuries of the main industry groups. In 2009/10p there were 42 fatal injuries giving a rate of 2.2 per 100,000 workers. This is the third highest rate of fatal injuries, behind agriculture and extractive industries.

All of the incidence rates have fallen by 34% - 63% since 2000/01 (72% reduction in the fatality rate since 1981). However, this still means that 700 Construction workers were fatally injured between 2000/01 and 2009/10p – 2 765 since 1981.

Construction accounted for 35% (276 cases) of all reported injuries involving high falls and 24.8% (89) involving electricity.

The estimated prevalence rate of self-reported work-related ill health in 2009/10 was 3,700 per 100,000 people (3.7%) working in the last 12 months, according to the Labour Force Survey (LFS).

The incidence rate of reportable non-fatal injury was 1,300 per 100,000 workers (1.3%) in 2008/09 (three-year average), based on the LFS. This was statistically significantly higher than the average across all industries.

In 2009/10, the LFS showed that 3.3 million working days (full-day equivalent) were lost in this industry due to workplace injury and work-related ill health.

HSE Transcript Source: www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/index.htm
(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

Good to Go Safety continues to promote a safer workplace, offering an affordable and simple solution to equipment safety through our innovative tagging and inspection systems. Visit our website at www.goodtogosafety.co.uk to find details on our pre-use checklists for ladders, forklifts, scaffolding, MEWPs, scaffold towers, harnesses, racking and more.

Construction firms fined over Lancashire worker's death

2010-10-26T10:20:00.000+01:00

Two Lancashire companies have been sentenced following the death of a construction worker in Altham near Accrington.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Howorth Scaffolding Services Ltd and Glenmill Group (Developments) Ltd after Peter Walton fell five metres from scaffolding on Altham Industrial Estate, Sykeside Drive on 10 May 2006.

The 55-year-old from Anchorsholme, near Blackpool, had been working on a project to build three new office blocks when he fell. Preston Crown Court heard that Mr Walton was critically injured when an unsecured board on the scaffolding gave way. He died five weeks later in hospital.

His widow, Christine Walton, said:

"It has been four long, stressful years since the incident that eventually took Peter's life. He meant everything to me and I will love, miss and mourn him for the rest of my life. I know that the conclusion of this prosecution won't bring him back but it will help to give me some sort of closure, and to bring this type of incident to the forefront. Sadly Peter's death is just one of many needless deaths that occur in the construction industry due to slack adherence to health and safety regulations. Hopefully what happened to Peter, and is still happening on construction sites, will make people realise that health and safety laws are there to protect us and are not to be scorned and scoffed at."

Howorth Scaffolding Services Ltd and Glenmill Group (Developments) Ltd both pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by putting workers at risk.

Howorth Scaffolding, of Accrington Road in Hapton, was fined £25,000 was ordered to pay £13,793 toward the cost of the prosecution. Glenmill Group, of Turner Road, Lomeshaye Business Village in Nelson, was ordered to pay a nominal fine of £1 with costs of £13,793 toward costs. The judge said the fines reflect the companies' current financial situations.

HSE Inspector Ian Connor said:

"Both these companies contributed to Peter Walton's death by failing to follow the proper safety procedures for putting up scaffolding. Howorth Scaffolding should have made sure that it constructed the scaffolding properly. And, as the principal contractor for the site, Glenmill Group should have ensured it was safe before allowing construction workers onto it. This is an extremely sad case which once again shows how important it is to follow health and safety regulations. It's vital that construction companies do more to prevent deaths and injuries in the future."

HSE Transcript Source: HSE/NW/09Glenmill
(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

This incident once again highlights the need for a competent person to carry out scaffold inspections to ensure it is fit for purpose. The use of our Good to Go Safety scaffold checklist could help to identify areas of concern and prevent accidents such as this from occuring. For more information about the Good to Go Safety scaffold checklist and tagging systems visit www.goodtogosafety.co.uk

Serious injury after fall from unguarded platform

2010-10-07T11:16:00.000+01:00

A man was left with serious injuries after a fall from an unguarded platform, a court heard during the sentencing of a Huddersfield textile retailer.

Fifty-seven year-old Dennis Hunter, of Barnsley, was left with a broken leg and crushed ankle when he fell eight feet onto concrete while dismantling racking at Phoenox Textiles' site in Spring Grove Mills, Clayton West.

Huddersfield based Phoenox Textiles was prosecuted after an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the men were working unsupervised and had received no training to dismantle the 30-feet-high shelving system safely.

The men had not been given any specialist equipment to enable them to work safely at height. Ladders supplied were not suitable for the work nor secured in any way.

Huddersfield magistrates heard Mr. Hunter was on a lower rack while cutting through boarding with a circular saw. The board tipped and sent him crashing to the floor, breaking his leg. The heavy board then fell on top of him crushing his left ankle and badly bruising his face. Mr Hunter underwent two operations and was in plaster for seven weeks before he was able to return to work part time.

Following the incident, HSE served an Improvement Notice ordering Phoenox to properly assess risks to staff while working at height and implement suitable controls. A Prohibition Notice was also served halting any further dismantling work on other poorly-maintained racking at the site.

Phoenox Textiles Ltd., which employs 45 staff across two sites, pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act by failing to ensure the safety of employees. The firm was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £3,056 costs.

After the case, Inspector Jackie Ferguson said:

"Six workers were put at risk during the dismantling of this racking - they had absolutely no protection against falls from working at heights of up to 30 feet. Mr Hunter was fortunate not to have suffered even worse injuries, and to date remains unable to fully bear weight on his injured leg.

"Falls from height remain the biggest cause of workplace deaths and one of the main causes of injury. Working at height without the right equipment, training or systems is wholly unacceptable and extremely dangerous. HSE will not hesitate to prosecute when companies commit serious offences and put their workers' lives in danger."

In Yorkshire & Humber, two workers lost their lives from falls in 2008/9 and more than 1,000 were injured, nearly half of them seriously.

HSE Transcript Source: YH/237/10
(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

It would appear that little thought was given to the task in hand for dismantling the shelving, the thought that ladders would provide a suitable work platform seems ludicrous, and a risk assessment would have surely identified the need for a scaffold tower or MEWP to carry out the work safely. Good to Go Safety offers inspection systems for racking, ladders, scaffold towers and MEWPs (amongst others), click here to find out more information on how Good to Go Safety can improve safety in your workplace.

A total disregard to safety at height leads to prosecution for roofer

2010-09-20T08:38:00.000+01:00

An Atherton roofer has appeared in court after being spotted working on roofs with no safety equipment to prevent him and his staff falling off.

Mark McKernan, from Hesketh Street, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after he and three employees were seen working on two residential properties with nothing to stop them plunging to the ground below if they slipped.

An HSE inspector also watched workers throwing slates from the roofs of the houses in Yew Tree Avenue into a skip below, just a few feet away from a busy pavement on 16 December last year.

Trafford Magistrates' Court heard that the company should have erected a guardrail around the roof or used scaffolding to prevent potential falls or serious injuries. A rubbish chute or other suitable equipment should have been used to transport waste safely to the ground.

Mark McKernan pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 6(3) and 10(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 by failing to take suitable measures to prevent a fall from the roofs, and for failing to provide suitable equipment to remove waste material from the roof. He was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £2,000 costs.

HSE Inspector Robert Hodkinson said:

"Around 11 roofers are killed each year in the UK as a result of falls from height, and the majority of these deaths could have been prevented if those carrying out the work had planned the job properly and taken adequate precautions.

"There was absolutely nothing in place at this site to stop Mr McKernan or his employees falling to the ground below and sustaining serious injuries or even being killed.

"Roof slates and other waste materials were also being thrown from the roof into a skip next to a busy public pavement, which put passersby at serious risk of being struck by flying debris."

Last year, two workers were killed in Greater Manchester as a result of falls from height and 521 suffered serious injuries.

HSE Transcript Source: HSE/NW51/Mark McKernan
(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

The positive side of this story is that work was stopped before an incident occured, and that a successful prosecution was brought about without the need for injury occuring. The negative is that people continue to see such working practices as acceptable whilst working at heights remains one of the biggest killers in the workplace. Good to Go Safety offer inspection systems for scaffolding, scaffold towers, ladders and MEWPs which should have been used as part of a safe system of work on this job. Unfortunately if the correct equipment is not even on site and the employees fail to raise their concerns the potential for an accident is significant.

Glass company fined for workers' fall risk

2010-09-14T10:42:00.000+01:00

A glass company has been prosecuted for health and safety offences after putting workers' lives at risk at a site in Bradford.

Workers at Intercity Glazing Systems Ltd, based in Drighlington, had been made to work at height without a safe system in place, leaving them at risk of falling up to six metres.

During work at a building in Carlisle Road, Bradford, in May 2009, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the company did not properly supervise or manage staff working at height.

Some equipment, including tower scaffolding, was not being used safely, and guardrails were also missing from some parts of the working area. The system of work used by the company to install glass above the ground floor was so unsafe that the work was stopped when HSE served Prohibition Notices on the company.

Intercity Glazing Systems pleaded guilty at Bradford Magistrates' Court today to breaching the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The company was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,538.

HSE inspector, David Welsh, said:

"In the construction industry falls from height are a serious risk and a major cause of death and life-changing injuries.

"A significant proportion of the falls from height that occur on sites every year result from work where the risks are not being dealt with adequately by proper supervision and control.

"When a business expects work at height to be done using particular work equipment it has a duty to ensure that workers use that equipment safely."

Falls from height are the biggest single cause of workplace deaths in Britain. In 2008/09 there were 35 fatalities and more than 11,700 serious injuries from falls from height at work.

HSE Transcript Source: YH/223/10
(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

Scaffold towers are frequently used within the workplace, often seen as a safer method of work than ladders. However they can only be considered safe if they have been checked by a competent person and the Good to Go Safety system helps ensure all employees are notified of the findings. To find out more simply click on this link to find out more on how we can improve scaffold tower safety.

On this occasion the HSE identified the dangers before an accident occurred, it is reassuring to see that a prosecution was successful before an injury or accident was encountered. Proactive prosecutions such as this help to send out a positive message and identifies the need for workplace safety systems to be in place.

Worker plunges thirty feet from unsafe scaffold

2010-09-03T08:32:00.000+01:00

A building company and its director have been fined a total of £30,000 after a worker fell nearly thirty feet from scaffolding at a building site in Llanfairfechan, sustaining severe injuries.

JBB Homes Ltd of St. Petersgate, Stockport in Cheshire - which has subsequently gone into liquidation - pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. It was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,835.

The company's director pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £10,000.

Llandudno Magistrates' Court heard that builder Nicholas Roberts, 28 years old from Rhyl, was working on scaffolding at a site in Gwylanedd, The Promenade, Llanfairfechan on 4 December 2007 when the incident happened.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that Mr Roberts was carrying out work to replace a lintel, when he fell from the scaffolding. He fractured his pelvis in three places, broke some teeth and bruised his pelvis and groin.

Following the hearing HSE Inspector, Debbie John, said:

"Falling from a height of around nine metres, Mr Roberts was extremely lucky to survive. It's incredible that he managed to walk away with broken bones.

"JBB Homes Limited and James Burt failed in their duty to provide a safe system of work, including a lack of suitable means to prevent falls from the scaffolding. Mr Burt also failed to properly supervise his staff.

"Falls from height remain the single biggest cause of workplace deaths and one of the main causes of major injury and construction companies must not leave safety of their workers as an after-thought, which could lead to tragic consequences."

More than 4,000 workers suffered a major injury as a result of a fall from height in 2008/09. HSE's Shattered Lives campaign aims to highlight the dangers of slips, trips and falls in the workplace.

HSE Transcript Source: 793W10
(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

It is essential that the erection of a scaffold is structurally sound and maintained for the duration of the work. Only qualified and competent scaffolders should be involved in the design and construction of the scaffolding, with a daily inspection prior to use to check its integrity. For details of the Good to Go Safety inspection system for scaffolding click here for details on how to ensure your scaffolding is always 'good to go'.

Good to Go Safety backs Fork Lift Safety Week

2010-09-02T15:28:00.000+01:00

This year's National Fork Lift Safety Week runs from the 20th -26th September 2010.

This annual campaign was first launched by the Fork Lift Truck Association (FLTA) in 2008 to raise awareness of dangers, and the importance of common sense measures that can make fork lift operation as safe and efficient as possible.

It is up to everybody in the workplace to improve fork lift truck safety - not just operators. Accordingly, the message behind this year’s National Fork Lift Safety Week, for managers and directors is:

“Manage to be safe.”

Firstly, this is directed at managers, who are responsible for the safe running of their workplace and the health of their employees. It is their duty to be aware of current best practice and to put it into action, as well as to act on the concerns of their teams.

Secondly, it is directed at directors and decision-makers, who must provide their company with the resources it requires to be able to implement proper safety procedure, and show a dedication towards employee safety that can inform the approach of the entire company.

Serious fork lift truck accidents have a horrific physical and emotional impact on everybody involved… by taking a little extra care and making allowances for your colleagues, you can protect yourself and others.

Great free resources are currently available from the FLTA, click on the links below for access (available until the end of September 2010):
Download FLTA Safety Posters
Online 'Good Practice' Checklist
Powerpoint Presentation on How to Manage Fork Lift Safety

Good to Go Safety continue to lead the way in the provision of pre-use inspection systems for fork lift trucks. Our innovative system helps ensure your FLT is always 'Good to Go'.

Simply attach a tag to the forklift to provide a clear visual reminder to operatives that a pre-use check needs to be completed,
Complete a checklist using our handy check book (complete with guidance notes) - a duplicate copy of each completed checklist is automatically created for your management records,
Insert your findings into the tag to clearly display to all operatives the findings of the inspection. A dated message will clearly indicate if the forklift is 'Good to Go' or 'Do Not Use' if a fault is identified.

Forklift safety has never been easier, click here to find out more about Good to Go Safety's other systems (including ladders, scaffolding, racking, harnesses, MEWPs and more).

Ladder Exchange Initiative 2010

2010-08-25T11:31:00.000+01:00

Don’t let a dodgy ladder shatter your life! This year's Ladder Exchange 2010 runs from 1st September – 30th November 2010, offering companies the perfect opportunity to replace faulty ladders with new ones.

Falls from height continue to be the main cause of fatalities at work. In 2008/09 there were 35 fatalities to workers and 4654 employees who suffered major injury. Over two thirds of these major injuries are the result of a fall from a ladder.

In an effort to reduce the number of workers being injured falling from a ‘dodgy’ ladder, HSE has teamed up again with a selection of partner companies for a re-run of their successful “Ladder Exchange” initiative;

HSS Hire, Speedy, Ladder Association, ABRU, A-Plant, TB Davies, Travis Perkins are a sample of partners involved this year.

Previous Ladder Exchanges (2007-2009) were successful in removing close to 7000 dodgy ladders from Britain’s workplaces

So what is Ladder Exchange?

The concept behind Ladder Exchange is very simple; where a user has a ladder which is broken, damaged or bent then they can bring it along to any one of our partner outlets and exchange it for a new one at a discounted price.

Ladder Exchange is now an annual initiative. HSE and Local Authority visiting staff play a crucial part in the exchange by actively referring dutyholders with unsafe ladders to the exchange to ensure that the ladders are taken out of use.

Ladder Exchange - Key messages

The key messages for this year’s campaign are:

Don’t let a dodgy ladder shatter your life - exchange it

If it is right to use a ladder then use the right ladder and use it safely.

Check your ladder - If you have a ladder which is broken, damaged or bent you can part exchange it for a new one

For more information about ladder exchange please visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/falls/ladderexchange.htm

As in previous years, Good to Go Safety are proud to promote this campaign and the message behind it. If you use ladders within your organisation then the need to regularly inspect them and record your findings can be easily and effectively achieved through the use of our pre-use inspection systems. Simply attach a tag to your ladder and complete the checklist to ensure its safety - a duplicate copy of the completed checklist is retained for your management records and a copy inserted into the tag to clearly inform all potential users of the findings. As a result your employees will instantly know when the ladder is 'good to go' or quarantined if a fault is found. For more information about our range of equipment inspection systems click here. Even if you take advantage of the Initiative and get yourself a new set of ladders, now would be the perfect time to introduce this inspection regime to your ladders (both new and old).

Steeplejack firm fined after worker falls from scaffold tower

2010-08-17T16:28:00.000+01:00

A Stoke-on-Trent steeplejack firm has been fined £8,000 after one of its workers fell from scaffolding causing him injuries that left him in plaster for four months.

Rafferty Chimneys Engineering Ltd of Nash Peake Street, was working at a site in Tunstall when Kevin Ford fell one-and-a-half metres to the ground causing a serious injury to his heel.

The company pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It was also ordered to pay £5,000 costs.

Newcastle-under-Lyme magistrates heard how on 4 March 2009 the company had been contracted to inspect four 20-metre tall steel chimneys at Churchill China (UK) Ltd pottery firm. A tower scaffold was used to access the eves of the roof.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation revealed that the tower's guard rail was too low, it did not use the right boards and no toe boards were in place.

Two workers walked across a fragile asbestos sheet roof using boards just 45cm wide with no safety measures in place. They carried equipment back and forth throughout the day despite the potential for falling nearly four metres into the workshop below.

Mr Ford fell when he was dismantling the tower scaffold at the end of the job. He had lowered a board down from the upper level when he slipped and fell suffering a serious fracture to the heel of his left foot. He needed pins inserted into the bone and spent 16 weeks in plaster.

HSE inspector Guy Dale said:

"Working at height is the most common cause of workplace injuries and this incident shows the very real dangers, no matter what the distance to the ground.

"With the right equipment and a proper risk assessment this could have been prevented. As it was, there were so many instances and potential for falls throughout the day leading up to this event that it was lucky both men weren't involved in serious injuries."

Falling from height remains one of the most common causes of workplace injuries in the UK. Last year there were 1,396 major injuries to workers, as well as 3,044 workers having to take in excess of three days off work.

HSE Transcript Source: WM209/10
(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

The use of our Good to Go Safety inspection system for scaffold towers would help identify any problems such as the lack of toe boards or missing guard rail. This case further empahsises the need for competent persons to perform a pre-use check of such equipment. There is no excuse for the continued lack of inspections, to find out more about our range of systems, including our scaffold tower checklist, click here.

Fall from scaffold tower results in broken back

2010-08-06T13:45:00.000+01:00

A Staffordshire company has been fined £8,000 after one of its workers fell more than two metres from a scaffold tower, fracturing one vertebra, crushing another and leaving him immobilised for more than six weeks.

Barry Derbyshire, 61, from Cheadle, Staffordshire, was carrying out routine maintenance on a machine used to make exhaust pipes when he fell on 18 August 2009. It was a regular job that was carried out by a number of people on three similar machines.

Newcastle-under-Lyme Magistrates Court heard that Mr Derbyshire, who was working for Klarius UK Ltd, had been stooping down to try and locate an oil leak when he stood up and possibly overbalanced, falling off the edge.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed there had never been a guardrail on one edge of the scaffold as it was felt it would interfere with access to the machines.

Klarius UK Ltd, based at Brookhouses Industrial Estate, Cheadle, Staffordshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. As well as being fined, it was also ordered to pay £1,892 costs.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Lynne Boulton said:

"Barry Derbyshire did nothing wrong, but as a result of this fall, he's been left with life-changing injuries. The company had a clear lack of appreciation of risk.

"If Klarius UK Ltd had used the right equipment and ensured there were guardrails on the scaffolding, it would never have happened.

"Falls from height were responsible for almost 400 major injuries in the West Midlands in 2008/09, with 78 in Staffordshire alone."

HSE Transcript Source: WM194/10

(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

The scaffold tower checklist from Good to Go Safety includes a check for guardrails, which would help any competent person to identify its absence and the potential risk that this would cause. A simple equipment management system such as that developed by Good to Go Safety could help prevent an accident like this from happening again. Click here to find out more about or safety inspection systems.

Fine for construction company risking falls at height

2010-07-23T08:34:00.000+01:00

A major construction company has been fined for failing to properly protect its workers from falls at height on a site in South Wales.

Gee Construction Ltd was the principal contractor on the site at Castlegate, Caerphilly when a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector visited on 22 October 2009.

The inspector found a number of shortcomings including unguarded lift shafts on the first and second floors, and inadequate edge protection to prevent workers from falls - one of the main causes of deaths in the construction industry.

The company pleaded guilty to breaching of Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 at Caerphilly Magistrates Court on 24 May and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,514.25.

Gee Construction Ltd, which is based at Phoenix House, Christopher Martin Road, Basildon, had also previously received two prohibition notices for work at height issues in 2008 and 2009.

HSE inspector David Kirkpatrick said:

"When we visited the site, we found clear failings that left workers at risk of falling from height, and it was necessary to stop all activity above ground floor level until safe systems of work were put in place.

"As principal contractors, the company was responsible for the safety of everyone on the site. It had previously received warnings from HSE and its own safety consultants about safely working at height, but clearly this advice had been ignored.

"Fortunately, despite the increased risk no-one was injured on this site, but this case must serve as a warning to companies of the need to ensure working at height is properly managed."

Statistics from 2008/2009 show that 53 people died in the construction industry in the United Kingdom, 21 of which were as a result of a fall from a height greater than two metres.

HSE Transcript Source: 821W10

(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

It is good to see larger fines being handed out for repeat offenders. I wonder if there should be a '3 strikes and out' policy introduced, which would have the power to shut down firms continuing to flaunt health and safety laws after their third official warning. You can guarantee that companies flaunting health and safety rules are winning more business during these tough times in the marketplace as they cut corners and costs at the expense of employee safety.

Don't forget if you need any equipment tagging and inspection systems for your scaffolding, harness, ladders etc then visit the Good to Go Safety website for the best solution out there. Be safe, not sorry,

Another scaffold collapse leads to another prosecution

2010-07-22T08:31:00.001+01:00

A scaffolding contractor from Teesside has been fined after a scaffold collapsed into a public street.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted William Bedford, trading as B & J Scaffolding, following the incident in Jedburgh Street, Middlesbrough in 2008.

On the evening of 18 January, 85 metres of the scaffold overturned in the wind and collapsed into the street.

The HSE investigation showed that the scaffold was not adequately secured to the houses in Jedburgh Street and was missing elements used to stabilise the structure.

Mr Bedford, whose business is based at Durham Road, Redcar, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 when he appeared at Teesside Magistrates' Court. He was fined £4,000 and was ordered to pay costs of £2,500.

After the case, HSE Inspector Natalie Wright said:

"The scaffold had been used as a working platform for at least five days before the incident, by workers on site carrying out work to the house fronts. It could have collapsed at any time, creating a significant risk to workers and members of the public.

"This incident demonstrates how important it is for contractors to follow the requirements for the construction of scaffolds.

"Contractors need to ensure that they meet the relevant standards in their work to erect safe and stable scaffolds, so that they do not expose workers and members of the public to risk."

HSE Transcript Source: NE/200/10

(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

You can read details of this incident from the original newspaper report, which includes pictures of the collapse by clicking on this link.

It amazes me how often I read reports such as this, where poor scaffolding erection is responsible for an incident which could easily be responsible for serious injury or fatality. The worry is that with businesses struggling due to the economy, people are cutting corners and companies signing up to the cheapest quote - regardless of the quality of work on offer. Good scaffolding firms continue to quote based on quality and safety, but are being undercut by companies willing to turn a blind eye to safety. Who is more culpable? The scaffolder or the company hiring the scaffolder?

If you are responsible for scaffolding work, please visit Good to Go Safety to find out more about our scaffold tagging and inspection systems. You may also be interested to sign up to a forum dedicated to scaffolding where you can air your views and get invovled with all things scaffolding. Click here for access.

New Guidance on the Safe Use of MEWPs

2010-07-20T13:46:00.000+01:00

The CPA (Construction Plant-Hire Association) has released some new guidance relating to the safe use of MEWPs, with particular reference to the prevention of entrapment of operator in raised platforms against adjacent obstructions. This new guidance is available for free by clicking here. You can also access the HSE's Construction Information Sheet CIS 58 by clicking here - providing information on the Selection and Management of MEWPs.

The contribution made by MEWPs to improvements in the safety of work at height cannot be under-estimated. However, fatal and serious accidents involving entrapment of MEWP operators are increasing. This is a general trend and not limited to particular types of machines or work. HSE has a range of work underway to improve safety in the use of MEWPS, including working with a range of stakeholders through the Strategic Forum for Construction Plant Safety Group to develop new guidance on the factors which contribute to these entrapment accidents and the actions which need to be taken to prevent harm.
As with any other work equipment, the selection and application of MEWPS need to be carefully managed and implemented by competent people. The new guidance deals specifically with preventing entrapment and supplements existing guidance. It has been prepared by contributors with extensive experience of MEWP use and accident investigation and captures that experience to share with others who might not appreciate the dangers.

We strongly recommend anyone using MEWPs to take rthe time to familiarise themselves with this new guidance (more information is available on the CPA website). For information about our Good to Go Safety tags and MEWP inspection checklists please visit our website - click here for access.

Scaffold Tower blown from roof in high winds

2010-07-19T13:21:00.000+01:00

A 20ft scaffold tower nearly caused a major incident in Kendal last Friday. High winds appear to have blown the structure over from its location on top of a penthouse block of flats. Fortunately the tower landed on top of a lift shaft, rather than plummeting to the pavement below. It took a significant length of time to secure and rermove the tower from the ledge and thankfully noone was injured in the incident. A more detailed report can be found by clicking here.

The incident serves as a powerful reminder to ensure structures are secured and that scaffolding ought to be inspected after any severe weather, prior to use. To find out how Good to Go Safety can help with your inspection routines please click here for details.

Scaffolding firm prosecuted for dangerous installation

2010-07-19T13:05:00.000+01:00

A roofer was seriously injured after plunging almost six metres when a scaffolding platform in Bridlington collapsed.

Local self-employed contractor Stephen Martin fell from the roofline of a domestic two-storey property on St Aiden Road, in Bridlington, on 17 April 2009 when the scaffold beneath him swung open like a trapdoor. He fractured three ribs, small bones at the base of his back and also sustained head injuries in the fall. He was then airlifted to Hull Royal Infirmary for emergency treatment.

During the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution, magistrates heard the scaffolding was erected two days earlier by Bridlington-based Advanced Scaffolding (GB) Ltd. The installation was signed off by the company but HSE found it was not of suitable strength or rigidity for its intended purpose.

Bridlington Magistrates Court was told the scaffolding was compromised by a bay window at the front of the property, which required a cantilever projection to be added. HSE said this projection was poorly planned, and was not properly braced or supported. Advanced Scaffolding Ltd of North Street, was found guilty of a breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. In addition to the £3,500 fine, the company was also ordered to pay £3,000 in costs.

After the hearing HSE inspector Geoff Clark said:

"Mr Martin suffered terrible injuries from his fall at St Aiden Road, and could quite easily have been killed. The scaffolding was poorly planned and poorly constructed, and Advanced Scaffolding clearly failed to install a structure that was fit for purpose in this regard.

"Too many lives are shattered as a result of falls from height at work, and I hope today's prosecution serves to remind all employers that proper precautions must be taken at all times."

HSE Transcript Source: YH/190/10

(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

Incidents such as this further emphasise the need for competent persons to be involved in the erection and inspection of scaffolding. Good to Go Safety can provide a fantastic product to aid in the inspection and recording of equipment, however the person(s) carrying out the work should be trained and ccompetent in doing so. Click here to find out more about the range of inspection systems availabel from Good to Go Safety.

Significant reductions in forklift truck injuries

2010-06-24T16:26:00.000+01:00

Good to Go Safety continue to see significant sales in their forklift inspection systems. Proving popular due to its ease of use and implementation, affordability, flexibility and visual impact it is the ideal solution for pre-use inspections of FLTs.

Latest HSE statistics show that fork lift truck related deaths and injuries among members of the public in the UK plummeted to 59% below average last year. We have seen a downwards trend since 2008 and figures are now at their lowest since the turn of the millenium, 13% below that in 2001/02. In deed last year's overall accident toll was down a full quarter from the average annual figure.

There are various possible reasons for this reduction; the downturn in the economy may have resulted in decreased workloads and potential for accidents, the FLTA have heavily promoted their National Safety Week and we hope that the introduction of our Good to Go Safety inspection system for forklifts has also contributed.

The decision to complete a daily visual inspection of a forklift truck as part of a maintenance programme helps meet your responsibilities under PUWER and can help to identify potential problems early enough to prevent an accident and/or costly repairs. The visual tagging of the forklift ensures that everyone knows when the forklift was inspected and clearly informs employees when it is 'good to go'.

For all the latest information on our range of equipment inspection systems please visit our website at www.goodtogosafety.co.uk and help to keep these figures dropping further.

Good to Go Safety backs European maintenance campaign

2010-06-22T09:10:00.004+01:00

Good to Go Safety are proud to support a major European campaign which focuses on maintenance in the workplace.

The HSE in partnership with the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), the EEF and the TUC, launched the UK's involvement in the Healthy Workplaces European Campaign on Safe Maintenance in London on 21 June 2010.

The Healthy Workplaces Europe-wide Campaign for 2010-2011 aims to promote safe and healthy workplaces by encouraging an integrated and structured approach to maintenance.

Objectives of the campaign are to raise awareness of:

the importance of maintenance for workers' safety & health
the risks associated with maintenance
employers' legal & moral duties to consider OSH aspects in maintenance and of the business case for doing so
to promote a structured approach to OSH management in maintenance

Regular and proper maintenance is essential to keep equipment, machines and the work environment safe and reliable. It helps to eliminate workplace hazards. Lack of maintenance or inadequate maintenance can lead to dangerous situations, accidents and health problems.

Many accidents, such as slips, trips and falls, happen because of lack of maintenance or as a result of poor quality maintenance
Lack of maintenance and regular service of construction equipment and machinery may lead to their failure and cause injuries to the operators and other workers (e.g. defective forklifts, scissor lifts, harnesses, faulty ladders, etc.)
Safety critical equipment can fail due to lack of maintenance causing serious accidents

Useful links:

Campaign Guide

Campaign Website

About Safe Maintenance

We developed the Good to Go Safety range to help promote the safe maintenance of equipment at work through the use of our innovative SEMS (Safe equipment Management System). Our equipment tagging and checklists help to ensure a proactive approach to equipment maintenance, allowing potential problems to be spotted early and prevent longer term problems.

Good to Go Safety encourages the involvement of workers in risk assessment and the maintenance management process whilst providing a structured and integrated system with clearly defined guidelines.

Not only does it encourage routine inspections but the unique tagging system visually informs all employees of the findings. The tag will inform employees when the inspection was carried out and when the equipment is 'good to go'. Likewise if a fault is found the tag will clearly inform employees 'do not use', effectively placing the equipment in quarantine until such time that it is repaired.

To find out more about Good to Go Safety and the range of equipment checks available please visit our website at www.goodtogosafety.co.uk for more information.

Sign workers injured after scaffold collapse

2010-06-03T08:51:00.001+01:00

A County Durham man has been successfully prosecuted after he injured himself and another person when repairing a sign over eight metres from the ground.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Sohail Hussain, 40, trading as Haris Signs based at Seaham, following the incident at the Metro Inn, Stockton on 19 November 2009.

The company had been hired by the manager of the Metro Inn to carry out repairs to a wind-damaged sign above the entrance to the hotel.

Mr Hussain, helped by another man, from Sunderland, erected a 4.5 metres tall scaffolding platform, on top of which was an extension ladder to get high enough to reach the sign, which was 8.62 metres (28 feet) off the ground.

Mr Hussain carried out the repair work from the ladder, while the other man stood on top of the platform with nothing to prevent him from falling off the edge.

Due to high winds and the unstable platform, it gave way, causing both men to fall onto the hotel car park below.

Mr Hussain suffered injuries to his knee and the other man suffered a fractured right wrist and dislocated his right elbow.

Mr Hussain, Dalton Heights, Seaham, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations when he appeared at Teesside Magistrates’ Court today (2 June 2010). He was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,000.

After the case, HSE Inspector Jonathan Wills said:

“Both Mr Hussain and the other man are lucky to be alive. The platform erected by Mr Hussain bore no resemblance to the correct standard. This incident was entirely avoidable and should not have happened. Working at height is one of the most obvious and well-known dangers for those involved in the repair or maintenance of buildings.

“Not only was the scaffold unstable due to its height to base ratio, but it also did not include anything to prevent workers falling from its edge, such as guard rails.

“The decision by Mr Hussain to support the ladder on top of the platform was ridiculous and utterly unacceptable. Had he used mobile elevated work equipment, such as a scissor lift, or a tied in scaffold, then this potentially fatal incident could have been avoided.”

More than 4,500 employees suffered serious injury after falling from height last year and 35 were killed. Employers need to plan ahead and assess potential risks before carrying out any work at height. HSE runs a high-profile Shattered Lives campaign that highlights the hazards of slips, trip ands falls in the workplace.

HSE Transcript Source: NE/164/10

(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

Scaffolding should be inspected by a 'competent person' prior to being used. Good to Go Safety provides a handy checklist for that person to complete and insert his findings into a tag to ensure a clear visual message is present to all potential users informing them if it is found to be 'Good to Go' or 'Do not Use'. This simple but effective working practice helps to prevent accidents such as that highlighted above from happening. Click here to find out more. The video below helps to highlight the needs for pre-use inspections as it shows the dangers of a scaffolding collapse.

Improving warehouse & storage safety

2010-06-02T09:34:00.000+01:00

Following the huge success of our equipment tagging and inspection systems within the construction and maintenance industry, Good to Go Safety is eager to replicate that mentality within warehouse and storage environments.

The main causes of accidents in warehousing and storage are:

slips and trips;

manual handling;

work at height;

vehicles in and around the warehouse; and

moving or falling objects.

There may be other risks on your site that you should also consider. You can find more information in the HSE's publication: Warehousing and storage: A guide to health and safety HSG76.

As with the construction industry, work at heights can be a major safety issue and the need to minimise risks is paramount. If work at height can not be avoided then it is important that the correct equipment is selected for the task in hand (ladder, mewp, scaffold tower, harness are all options to consider and Good to Go Safety have inspection systems for each, click here for more information). Racking or pallets on a forklift should never be used for accessing high items or locations.

HSG76 recommends you to: "Inspect equipment used for work at height (such as ladders) to make sure it is safe. Do this before use, periodically and after an incident that might affect the equipment’s safety."

Forklift trucks can be another source of concern, where possible they should be kept away from pedestrian areas and care should be taken in the design and layout of the facility to minimise the need for pedestrians and traffic to be present in the same location.

HSG75 states: "Lift trucks should be regularly maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations. Lifting parts of industrial trucks, such as the mast, chains, carriage, forks and tilt mechanism, need to be thoroughly examined by a competent person."

Good to Go Safety can provide you with a documented pre-shift check which can be used to identify and report defects and clearly inform operatives of the vehicles current status (Good to Go or Do Not Use). Click here for more information.

Racking is an are which is often overlooked but if something were to go wrong it can have devastating results. Racking systems should be properly designed and installed, this includes being able to safely take the load of the goods being stored. Protect racking if it is likely to be struck by lift trucks and other vehicles.

HSG75 advises you to: "Inspect racking regularly to make sure it is repaired and maintained properly and is safe." Good to Go Safety allows for the immediate reporting of damage and defects with visual and recorded inspections at regular intervals. The use of the tag and checklist system ensures that employees are fully aware of the racking's status at all times, ensuring it is always 'good to go'. Click here for more information.

The video below shows the possible effects of a forklift collision with a racking system. The likelihood of a forklift driver admitting he has hit and damaged racking is low, so the need to regularly inspect it is high. Racking may not collapse immediately as it does in this example, but the cost of a racking collapse such as this can be catastrophic to a business.

Construction inspection results from HSE

2010-05-27T11:18:00.000+01:00

Following on from our recent blogs relating to the HSE's initiative to visit and inspect construction sites in March 2010, below is a transcript of an interview with Mike Cross (head of construction for the North West) which explains the reasons for the initiative and their resultant findings.

The HSE conducted a series of unannounced visits to over two thousand construction sites in March, and one in four of those sites failed safety checks. During 2008/2009 there were fifty-three deaths in construction and over eleven thousand injuries. To listen to a podcast of this interview click here.

What is the point of this initiative?

The point is to bring home to the refurbishment sector that they must improve the standards that we see, they must take better care of their workers, and to prevent the toll of accidents that this sector is producing.

So you're focusing on the refurbishment sector of construction?

Exactly, refurbishment is disproportionately poor by comparison with the sector as a whole.

And so just to sort of be clear about that, that's things like redeveloping a property rather than starting from scratch basically.

Exactly, it's working on existing buildings, it's not down to the minor stuff such as painting and decorating, but pretty much everything else is, retiling a roof, rebuilding a damaged part of the building, adding an extension, whatever it may be, that may be commercial property, domestic property. So it's a quite diffuse sector, quite a large sector of the industry. So we have a real problem with refurbishment, typically smaller sites where the accident rate is much higher than on other sites, for example in house building or in new commercial projects like new hotels or new shopping centres, things like that. Smaller companies, less competent people running them, less organisational skill in managing health and safety compared to the larger contractors who have done a lot in recent years to improve their performance.

And when you were doing this, whereabouts did you go? Were you going all over the country?

Yes, this was a national initiative. We targeted specific areas, specific activities. but those were based on local decisions, based on local knowledge from the inspectors in the areas where they needed to be, what was going on etc.

And the people who work on these sites or the people who run the sites are made aware that this is happening, but obviously they're meant to be unannounced visits, so how does that work?

Well they know where we're going in terms of the towns or cities that we will be targeting and the dates we will be going there, but they won't know which sites we will be visiting on a day-to-day basis. They should expect an inspector at any time, but during these particular initiatives we always put out press releases, both nationally and locally, to let people know we're coming, because we actually want people to improve things, not to catch them out for doing things that are wrong.

So it's kind of like a preventative measure in fact?

Exactly that, yes.

What you have found this year though is that one in four construction safety sites have failed the inspections, so that's quite bad isn't it? That's quite a high figure.

We're not undertaking a market research survey, we're going out targeting poor performers. We're looking at a poorly performing part of the construction sector, refurbishment, and we're looking at particular sites where we can, where we know there might be problems. So this was not an initiative to measure performance, it was actually to go out and find where things were wrong and to put it right.

Can you give me an example of the kind of things that you've found this time around?

The main problem has always has been poor control of work at height, people working in unsafe places where from where they can fall and be killed or seriously injured, so for example we still find people working on domestic roofs doing retiling who haven't got the basic precautions right, such as putting up a scaffolding. So that has been one of the major things, but we've found the full range of problems, electrical safety, poor structural stability where people have been making structural alterations to buildings, poor site order, looking at housekeeping, looking at storage of materials.

So this is the third time, the third year that you've done this kind of blitz on construction sites, has there been a change? What's the trend been over the years?

Well, as I said, we're not doing these initiatives in order to take a statistical sample and find out what conditions are like, but over the last three years we have seen a slight improvement compared to the first year when we did this. When we were looking at one in three sites that were so poor inspectors had to take enforcement action, on this occasion we're down to one in four sites where enforcement was needed.

What do you think is responsible for that change, is it because people are aware that this is what you do?

Well we hope it's because the action that we've been taking, they have greater awareness of the standards that they were expecting to see, and that the messages that we've been putting out have been heeded.

(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

To find out more about how Good to Go Safety can help to improve site safety click here for details.

Inspections improve safety on Hartlepool industrial estates

2010-05-25T09:01:00.001+01:00

You may have read a post back in March, informing you about an HSE campaign, focusing on inspections around Hartlepool industrial estates. The results are now in and evidence sugests that the majority of companies are taking their duties seriously. Click here to read the original post or read on to find out the results.

Inspectors from Hartlepool Council and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) joined forces to inspect more than 85 businesses during March, taking enforcement action where necessary, but also offering advice and guidance on how to improve health and safety standards.

12 companies were served with enforcement notices in total. 22 Improvement Notices were issued, requiring 11 companies to provide additional safeguards such as effective management of asbestos in premises, the fitting of edge protection on unguarded mezzanine floor storage areas, and the testing of both lifting equipment and air receivers to assess their safety. Work was also prohibited at two companies in relation to unguarded dangerous machinery.

HSE Inspector Jonathan Wills, said:

"Preventing an accident occurring is much better than having to deal with the consequences, and as well as issuing notices, we were able to offer constructive, practical advice to many of the companies we visited.

"We're very pleased to see that the health and safety message is getting through in Hartlepool and a majority of businesses are taking the necessary steps to ensure a safe and healthy environment for their employees."

Jane Kett, Principal Environmental Health Officer at Hartlepool Council, added:

"We were delighted with the success of the campaign, which reinforced the strong working relationships already developed with our counterparts in HSE.

"It is very encouraging to see that health and safety risks were in most cases being properly addressed. Clearly any potential accident is one accident too many and this was an opportunity to provide the companies with lots of useful guidance."

HSE and local authority inspectors both enforce health and safety law in workplaces. Broadly, local authority inspectors have responsibility for those providing leisure services or retail while HSE inspectors enforce appropriate health and safety legislation in other areas such as manufacturing, agriculture, waste and recycling and major hazard industries.

HSE Transcript Source: NE/155/10

(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

Echoing the sentiments of the HSE, Good to Go Safety strongly believe that 'prevention is better than cure'. By carrying out pre-use checks of equipment within the workplace, you can dramatically reduce the risk of equipment causing an accident. You can also reduce maintenance costs by spotting a minor issue early, as the result of a regular routine equipment inspection. Click here to find out how Good to Go Safety can help you to carry out regular equipment inspections and improve workplace safety.

Construction sites fail safety inspections

2010-05-19T14:24:00.000+01:00

Results from the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) construction site inspections in March 2010 have highlighted continuing issues relating to working at heights in the construction industry with over a third of sites failing impromptu safety inspections across three counties.

The HSE wants to raise awareness of construction site risks to prevent deaths and injuries in the future. Construction is one of Britain's most dangerous industries, with one death and 777 serious injuries in the East Midlands during 2008/9.

Last year inspectors visited 1759 sites and 2145 contractors and were forced to issue more than 270 prohibition notices to stop dangerous work - much of it relating to working from height.

The details below highlight the findings of the March inspections throughout Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.

Derbyshire Findings
Almost one third of construction sites visited in Derbyshire during March failed safety inspections.

Inspectors from the HSE carried out checks at 62 construction sites across Derby and Derbyshire during two days of intensive inspections. They issued a total of 18 enforcement notices, 14 in Derby and four in Derbyshire, either stopping work immediately or requiring improvements to be made. The majority of the notices covered unsafe work being carried out at height. One site in Derby is still under investigation with a view to being prosecuted.

Latest figures from HSE show there were 162 serious injuries on construction sites in Derbyshire last year. The intensive inspections took place as part of a month-long initiative aimed at stopping dangerous practices on building sites across Great Britain.

Nottinghamshire Findings
Almost a third of construction sites visited in Nottinghamshire during March failed safety inspections.

Inspectors from the HSE carried out checks at 66 sites construction sites across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire during two days of intensive inspections.
They issued a total of 21 enforcement notices, 10 in Nottingham and 11 in Nottinghamshire, either stopping work immediately or requiring improvements to be made. The majority of the notices covered unsafe work being carried out at height.

Latest figures from HSE show there were 227 serious injuries on construction sites in Nottinghamshire last year. The intensive inspections took place as part of a month-long initiative aimed at stopping dangerous practices on building sites across Great Britain.

Lincolnshire Findings
Two thirds of construction sites visited in Lincolnshire during March failed safety inspections.

Inspectors from the HSE carried out checks at nine construction sites in the county during two days of intensive inspections. They issued a total of five enforcement notices, either stopping work immediately or requiring improvements to be made. The majority of the notices covered unsafe work being carried out at height. One site in Lincolnshire is still under investigation with a view to being prosecuted.

Latest figures from HSE show there were 113 serious injuries on construction sites in Lincolnshire last year. The intensive inspections took place as part of a month-long initiative aimed at stopping dangerous practices on building sites across Great Britain.

HSE Inspectors of Construction have said: "The majority of the construction sites our inspectors visited had good health and safety procedures in place. But the other sites are letting the rest of the industry down and putting workers' lives at risk.

"HSE will not tolerate poor health and safety standards on construction sites and we will continue to make unannounced visits and take enforcement action when necessary, until the message gets across. It simply isn't worth taking risks to try and save money.

"Companies have a legal responsibility to protect the lives of workers and site safety should be paramount."

Good to Go Safety can go a long way to improving site safety with regards to working at height. With equipment tagging and inspection systems available for equipment such as scaffolding, ladders, harnesses, MEWPs, forklifts and scaffold towers we can help ensure your workers and equipment are always 'Good to Go'. A simple pre-use inspection of equipment can go a long way to preventing accidents from occuring. To find out more about how Good to Go Safety could help keep your site safe and operational click here to visit our website for details.

Fishing boat firm fined following electrician's fall

2010-05-18T13:14:00.000+01:00

A Scarborough fishing boat operator has been prosecuted after an electrician suffered serious injuries when he fell from a ladder while aboard the company's boat.

Contractor Philip Parcell, 53, from Newby, broke his back in three places, fractured his skull in two places and sustained nerve damage to the left side of his face after plummeting between decks of the Our Julia when it was moored in Scarborough harbour on 16 July last year.

Scarborough Magistrates heard that Cayton-based Our Julia Ltd, which owns the boat, failed to provide a suitable ladder for Mr Parcell to descend between decks as he fitted new bilge alarms. The court also heard that the company's managing director Nick Polihronos positioned the unsafe ladder.

Mr Parcell has been forced to give up work as an electrician as a result of the fall.

Our Julia Ltd, of Main Street, Cayton, pleaded guilty of breaching regulation 8(e) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The company was fined £7,000 and ordered to pay £2,028 costs.

After the hearing HSE inspector Paul Newton said:

"The injuries Mr Parcell sustained from his fall aboard Our Julia were horrific and they could have been prevented.

"Too many lives are shattered as a result of falls from height at work, and I hope today's prosecution serves to remind all employers that proper precautions must be taken at all times."

HSE Transcript Source: YH/158/10

(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

Falls from height continue to be a major issue within the UK. The need to train employees on the correct use of a ladder may seem like overkill to many, but when you read about the potential consequences as highlighted above, it is difficult to argue against such training. The choice of ladder can often be critical for the safe completion of a job, likewise the need to ensure that the ladder is in good condition before it is put to use. Good to Go Safety's ladder tagging and inspection system can help ensure that your ladders are always 'good to go'. Simply attach the tag to your ladder - providing a clear visual indication that you take health & safety seriously and the need to carry out an inspection. Then use our checklist to run through the necessary checks, a duplicate NCR copy is created for your management records. A copy of the completed check liist is inserted into the tag to clearly identify when the ladder is 'Good to Go', or alternatively quarantined with the message 'Do not Use'.

The system is simple to use and implement, highly effective and easily affordable. The cost of carrying out an inspection is as little as £0.20, making it an obvious addition to your equipment mangement system. To find more information about our ladder inspection systems simply click here to be taken to our online digital brochure.

S&H Expo proves 'Good to Go'

2010-05-17T14:00:00.000+01:00

Last week was the Safety & Health Expo at the NEC. Prior to the event we were a little worried about how the economic downturn would affect visitor numbers. Thankfully there was no need for concern, as the number of visitors, and indeed the quality of enquiries were better than ever.

For many, it was the first opportunity to see our Good to Go Safety system and, as ever, the feedback was extremely positive. With the chance to see the tags and checklists for a multitude of applications visitors were left in admiration for the simplicity and affordability of the range. You could almost see their jaws drop after they had been informed of its features and adaptability, followed by being told the price. No one seemed able to believe that such a comprehensive price was available at such a good price. We even ended up with people asking to place orders on the stand (I'm sure they thought we had given them the wrong prices, and they were keen for us to honour the prices quoted).

Now comes the important part of following up all the leads that were generated at the show, rest assured we will be working flat out to ensure you receive the information you have requested as soon as possible. Thank you again for all the positive comments and your continued support in Good to Go Safety, your support and business is much appreciated.

You can keep up to date with all the latest developments from Good to Go Safety on this blog or at our website. Click here for details.

There are numerous other ways to follow Good to Go Safety, click on the links below to become a fan on Twitter, Facebook or YouTube and ensure you are the first to know about our continuing developments. Visit our digital catalogue to see our product literature and place orders online:

Twitter Page for Good to Go Safety

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Digital Catalogue for Good to Go Safety

Lack of machine maintenance leads to amputation

2010-05-05T10:01:00.000+01:00

A specialist bread manufacturer has been fined after a worker was injured by a dough mixing machine and had his finger amputated.

Thambirasaiyah Roy, 39, from Edgware, was using a spiral mixing machine to make dough in October 2006, at the company's factory in Garrick Road Industrial Estate, Hendon.

While using the machine Mr Roy's left hand came into contact with the unguarded beater of the mixing machine. As a result part of his left index finger had to be amputated.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation showed the guard covering dangerous parts of the machine had been missing for some time before the incident and previous advice from HSE regarding maintenance of machinery in the factory had been ignored.

Bread Factory Limited, formerly known as Bread Limited, of Hendon, Barnet, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was fined £3,500 and ordered to pay costs of £2,926, at the City of London Magistrates Court.

HSE inspector, Anne Gloor said:

"This incident could easily have been avoided. The hazards associated with this type of machine are understood within the food manufacturing industry and there is clear guidance on the guarding standards which should be followed.

"There were clear failings on this occasion. Had a simple guard been fitted to this machine then Mr Roy would never have suffered these injuries."

HSE Transcript Source: COI/LDN/0430

(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

Good to Go Safety cannot produce a checklist for every type of equipment in operation, however we do offer a 'design your own' option. Ideal for specialist equipment such as the one mentioned above, it allows you to produce your own checklist and ensure that employees carry out a pre-shift inspection. By implementing such a procedure, Good to Go Safety would identify the need for a machine guard to be in place and quarantine the equipment until the fault had been rectified. A simple equipment management system could have prevented this accident from occurring.

Aberdeenshire man fined after employee fell from roof

2010-04-22T15:17:00.000+01:00

A sole trader who erects farms buildings has been fined £15,000 after his employee broke both his legs when he fell three metres from the roof of an Aberdeenshire farm building.

Mr Robert Peter Mackie, 36, from the Turriff area, who was trading as RDM Engineering at the time of the incident was prosecuted after the incident. He pleaded guilty to of breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Banff Sherriff Court heard how, on 20 November 2008 an employee was fixing a roof sheet onto the roof of a new potato store at Little Hilton Farm, near Turriff, Aberdeenshire, when he slipped and fell from the edge of the roof. He landed on an adjacent roof below, breaking his leg in two places.

There were no safety measures in place, such as guard-rails to prevent falls from this section of the roof and the work at height had not been properly planned and controlled by Mr Mackie.

Following the case, HSE Inspector Liz Standen said:

"All employers carrying out work at height must ensure that the risks are fully assessed, the job is thoroughly planned and that suitable equipment is used. There is no excuse for leaving roofs under construction unguarded against falls.

"I find it very frustrating that people continue to be needlessly injured and killed because of a lack of basic planning and simple precautions.

"HSE statistics show that during 2008/09 10 people died and 1,423 were injured in Scotland while working in construction. These incidents are nearly always preventable when using the right equipment for the job."

HSE Transcript Source: SCO/137/10
(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

Incidents such as this only go as far as to highlight the importance of understanding the planning and subsequent choice of equipment when working at height. By choosing the correct equipment to provide the safest, most appropriate solution the chances of an incident occuring such as that above would be significantly reduced. Once the correct equipment has been chosen then the need to ensure its safety with a pre-use inspection and user training then becomes a priority and that is where Good to Go Safety can help. The use of scaffolding, a MEWP, a scaffold tower and/or fall arrest harness may have prevented this accident from occuring - Good to Go Safety now offers tagging and inspection systems for all such equipment. Click here for more information.

Don’t be a ladder lightweight

2010-04-13T14:13:00.000+01:00

‘Don’t be a ladder lightweight’ is a new campaign launched by The Ladder Association that champions training as the key to improving ladder safety and best practice in the workplace. Timed to coincide with the launch of their new Code of Practice it will be running between the 7th April until 30th June 2010 and Good to Go Safety are proud to pledge their support. Everyone expects to receive formal training on towers and MEWPs, so why not on ladders? You can find out more about the campaign at http://www.ladderassociation.org.uk

With some 2 million ladders thought to be in daily use, they remain an invaluable piece of workplace equipment. However, the majority of users have never received any formal training in the way they should be positioned and used. That’s why The Ladder Association is now campaigning for professional training in all aspects of ladder use, including risk assessment and inspection.

‘If it’s right to use a ladder, use the right ladder and get trained to use it safely’ is the message. By doing so you will be safer and more productive and, of course, you’ll be helping to satisfy the criteria of competency as demanded by the Work at Height Regulations (WAHR). So, don’t be a ladder lightweight…become a ladder professional.

Good to Go Safety strongly endorse this message and what better way to improve ladder safety than by using our ladder tagging and inspection system to ensure that your ladders are safe for use.

Simpy attach a tag to the ladder - this will provide a visual reminder to carry out a pre-use ladder inspection. Guidance notes are provided to remind operatives what they need to look out for and the checklist filled in, signed and dated. A duplicate NCR copy is automatically generated for your audit trail - in line with the requirements of the Work at Height Regulations. Once completed a copy of the completed checklist is inserted into the tag to clearly display if the ladder is 'GOOD TO GO' or 'DO NOT USE'. There is also an option to fit a tamper evident seal to prevent the insert being removed or lost - ideal for infrequent users of ladders.

Click here to find out more about Good to Go Safety's ladder inspection systems. You won't find a simpler, more effective solution available at such an affordable price.

Good to Go Safety have previously backed the HSE's Ladder Exchange Initiative in our continued bid to improve workplace safety.

Guard-rail failure leads to near fatal fall for worker

2010-04-07T15:38:00.000+01:00

Good to Go Safety have been providing equipment tagging and inspection systems across a range of industries. Our most popular pre-use checklists are available for equipment including ladders, forklifts, scaffolding, harnesses etc however the flexibility of our system allows employees to design their own inspection regimes for more specialist or obscure workplace equipment. The following prosecution relates to an incident involving a guardrail on a crushing machine.

Regulation 5 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 states: "Every employer shall ensure that work equipment is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair... [and that]... every employer shall ensure that where any machinery has a maintenance log, the log is kept up to date." PUWER does not just apply to the more obvious types of equipment such as those listed above, and we are pleased to offer a simple but effective solution from Good to Go Safety.

We know that our equipment tagging and inspection system works well but we were keen to provide a solution for one-off/specialist pieces of equipment without demanding increased costs and minimum order quantities. Our solution is to provide you with the chance to design your own bespoke checklist to meet your specific needs. The system works exactly the same as our standard system - the only difference being that you have a blank checklist which allows you to create your own inspection criteria and timeframes. By implementing such a system, incidents such as that highlighted below could have been avoided. Click here for more information on our Design Your Own Checklists.

Guard-rail failure leads to near fatal fall for worker
A Black Country waste management firm has been fined £12,000 after a guard-rail gave way resulting in a worker falling nearly three metres, narrowly missing a crushing machine.

AB Waste Management Ltd which is based at High Street, Amblecote, Stourbridge was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for the safety failing. The company pleaded guilty of breaching Regulation 5 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. AB Waste Management was also ordered to pay £1,836 in costs.

Walsall & Aldridge Magistrates Court heard how on 16 June 2009, the worker was on just his second day working at Junction Works, Cemetery Road, Darlaston when he was cleaning a crushing machine. During the job a guard rail gave way, and he fell almost three metres to the ground.

The victim's spine was broken in two places, and he also suffered several deep cuts to his head that required skin grafts. Doctors told him he was lucky to be alive. Although he was discharged he has had to return to hospital on a regular basis for check ups.

Following the case HSE inspector Gardabil Singh Tiwana said:

"The worker was seriously let down by his employers who failed to maintain the safety measures that were supposed to protect him. The employee could easily have been killed if he'd fallen into the crushing machine when it was in operation.

"It's all very well installing a guard-rail and other precautions, but if they're not maintained and repaired properly then they are useless.

"All companies need to ensure guards supplied for their work activities are fit for purpose and if the machine has a maintenance log, that the log should be kept up to date."

HSE Transcript Source: WM675/09
(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

1 in 4 construction sites fail safety inspections

2010-04-06T10:37:00.000+01:00

Nearly one in four of the construction sites visited by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) during March 2010 failed safety checks.

Inspectors from HSE carried out checks at 2014 construction sites across Great Britain as part of an intensive inspection campaign aimed at reducing death and injury in one of Britain's most dangerous industries.

During unannounced visits, inspectors focused on refurbishment and roofing work to ensure that any work at height was being done safely and that the sites were in good order. 2414 contractors were inspected during the campaign.

A total of 691 enforcement notices were issued at 470 sites, with inspectors giving orders for work to be stopped immediately in 359 instances for either unsafe work being carried out at height or where sites lacked 'good order'.
The majority of all notices issued related to unsafe work being carried out at height.

Philip White, HSE's Chief Inspector for Construction, said:

"While it is encouraging that many small construction firms have got their act together and are giving health and safety the priority it needs, the fact that our inspectors needed to take enforcement action on almost a quarter of sites, and on a similar proportion of contractors, is a matter of serious concern.

"There are still a small number of employers or contractors who continue to put their own and other people's health and safety at risk. This is unacceptable. I want to make it clear to these operators that we will not hesitate to take action where standards of health and safety are endangering workers lives and livelihoods."

During 2008/09 there were 53 deaths in construction and 11 264 injuries. Last year, inspectors visited 1759 sites, 2145 contractors and issued 491 enforcement notices during a similar month-long initiative.

Source: http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2010/hse-constructionresults.htm
(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

Good to Go Safety can provide a step in the right direction for smaller construction firms looking to improve site safety and improve working methods. By ensuring that employees are checking equipment prior to use (all the more significant when working at heights) the chances of an accident can be dramatically reduced. The fact that Good to Go Safety also provides an instant duplicate record of all inspections can also prove invaluable during these unannounced site inspections - providing evidence of good working practices and an understanding by employees of their responsibility towards site safety. The fact that our systems are simple to understand and implement, combined with their affordability and effectivenesss can prove invaluable to your organisation.

IOSH 10 Overview

2010-03-29T08:46:00.000+01:00

Last week saw our first exhibition of the year, the IOSH 2010 Conference & Exhibition in Glasgow. The worries had been whether the economy was showing enough signs of recovery to justify people taking time out to travel and visit. Thankfully we needn't have worried, with a great turn out and an amazing level of support and interest for Good to Go Safety. A big thank you to all those that visited our stand throughout the two days.

On the first day we provided a 20 minute presentation to a packed Spotlight Theatre, entitled "How an Effective Checklist System can Reduce the Impact of Human Factors on Equipment Inspections". Anyone wishing to receive a copy of the Powerpoint presentation can request a free copy here. It was like the Charge of the Light Brigade when the presentation finished as our stand was hit with a deluge of interested parties.

The final day was started with a surreal breakfast in the hotel. As I sat with my coffee, I noticed the guy on the table next to me looked uncannily like Sven. As he was joined by Mr T, Simon Cowell, Marilyn Monroe, Snoop Dog, Ricky Gervais and Gordon Ramsey I soon realised I was either drunk or there was a look-a-like convention occuring at my neighbouring breakfast table.

A bizarre start to the final day of the exhibition, but another rewarding one. A big thank you to all those that took the time to visit us, it is reassuring to hear such positive feedback for our product from those that matter. We will be following up the many leads taken as requested over the course of this week. For anyone that missed the IOSH show, you may be interested to know that we will be exhibiting again at the NEC in May at the Safety and Health Expo.

Fine for company following worker death in MEWP accident

2010-03-26T11:12:00.000Z

A neon-sign manufacturer and its director have been fined a total of £12,000 after a worker was killed when he fell from the city's Albert Memorial statue.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Taylor Electronics (Manchester) Ltd and its Wigan-based director, John Taylor, following the incident.

Ian Gutteridge was fitting a giant necklace to the 140-year-old statue when the cherry picker he was working on ovrturned. An investigation by HSE showed that the cherry picker had not been properly stabilised before being used.

Mr Gutteridge suffered head and chest injuries in the fall on 4 April 2007. He did not regain consciousness and died in hospital the next day. A photographer, who was also on the platform, was knocked unconscious but made a full recovery.

Manchester Crown Court heard that Taylor Electronics had agreed to fit the necklace - a giant glowing cross - to the statue in Albert Square to promote a jewellery exhibition in Manchester Town Hall.

HSE Inspector Sandra Tomlinson said:

"Mr Gutteridge's death has had a devastating impact on his family, and it could easily have been prevented by properly stabilising the cherry picker.

"Taylor Electronics agreed to carry out an unusual job to help publicise the jewellery exhibition, but it then took unacceptable risks to achieve it. Mr Gutteridge would still be alive today if the correct safety procedures had been followed."

Taylor Electronics and John Taylor each pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to ensure the safety of workers.

Taylor Electronics, of Chester Road in Manchester, was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £8,000. John Taylor, of Greenfield Road in Atherton, was fined £2,000.

Sandra Tomlinson added:

"Only one of the four legs on the cherry picker vehicle had been fully extended, which made it dangerously unstable. I hope this tragic case will highlight how important it is for companies to treat health and safety seriously."

Last year, more than 4,000 employees suffered a major injury as a result of a fall from height at work and 15 were killed. For more information on HSE's shattered lives campaign go to www.hse.gov.uk/shatteredlives

Source: HSE/NW/037TaylorElectronics
(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

Good to Go Safety provide a pre-use inspection checklist system for MEWPs which can help to ensure that the equipment is safe for use prior to operation. For more information click here and visit our website for details.

Fine for company breaching Work at Height Regulations with unsafe scaffolding

2010-03-19T14:14:00.000Z

An Ellon based firm has been fined after a 17-year-old apprentice joiner fell from the first floor of a house he was working on.

The trainee fell almost nine feet to a concrete floor from the first floor of the new build home through an unguarded stairwell injuring his head and legs.

Scotia Homes Ltd was prosecuted this week, 17 March, over the incident that occurred on 12 October 2009 at the company's Kirkside construction site in Laurencekirk.

Stonehaven Sheriff Court heard that apart from a plywood sheet placed over the stairwell entrance there was no edge protection or guards in place to prevent employees from falling through the open stairwell.

Scotia Homes (North) Limited, 1 Balmacassie, Ellon, Aberdeenshire pled guilty to breaching regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £4,000. The fine was reduced from £6,000 due to an early guilty plea.

Investigating HSE Inspector Alan MacKinnon said:

"This incident could have been avoided. The fall protection measure in place was completely inadequate as a means of preventing anyone falling from height.

"Construction is one of Scotland's most dangerous industries. During 2008/09 alone 10 people died and 1,423 were injured in Scotland while working in construction.

"Last year there were four fatalities and 1094 injuries caused by falls from height in the workplace.

"Risks from working at height are entirely preventable. Employers working at height need to ensure that risks are fully assessed and that open edged areas of work are suitably guarded."

HSE Transcript Source: SCO/132/10
(Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence)

The pre-use scaffold inspection system from Good to Go Safety can help prevent accidents such as this. With such high risks from work at heights, every preventative action should be considered in an attempt to reduce these shocking scaffold accident statistics.The use of Good to Go Safety tags and checklists can certainly go a long way towards this, ensuring the necessary scaffold checks are carried out prior to being used by employees.

IOSH 2010 Conference

2010-03-17T11:48:00.001Z

It is now just one week until the start of this year's IOSH 2010 Conference & Exhibition. Good to Go Safety will be exhibiting on stand B3 at the SECC, Glasgow between the dates of the 24th-25th March 2010. This is a great opportunity to see our product range and to have any questions you may have answered by our friendly personnel. Click here for a VIP ticket to the show which will give you fast-track entry, free show guide, reserved seating and discounts for IOSH books.

On Wednesday 24th we will be providing a short spotlight seminar focusing on the importance of checklists within the workplace. Located within the exhibition's Spotlight Theatre between 14:00 - 14:30, Justin Kerslake will provide an overview of the Good to Go Safety systems and the benefits of implementing a checklist culture to help prevent accidents in the workplace. Click here for more information.

Behind the scenes we have been working on refreshing our website and you are now able to see our updated site which includes information on our harness inspection products, video footage of the system, links to our associated sites on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, and access to our new digital brochure where you can find yet more information and purchase the inspection system that meets your requirements.

We hope to see you in Glasgow next week, for more information about the show and how to get there please click here. If you can't make it, why not visit our new and improved website tomorrow morning to learn more about how Good to Go Safety can help to provide you with a safer workplace.

Safety Alert for Scaffold Boards

2010-03-15T15:46:00.000Z

Last month an incident occurred on a site where an operative, who was working on a scaffold board installing lift equipment inside a lift shaft, fell following the failure of the scaffold board he was standing on. The scaffold board snapped whilst the operative was standing on it and the consequences of a potential 15m fall could easily have been fatal. As it was, the operative fell 2m onto the working platform below and suffered injuries to his ribs. As a part of the investigation, the scaffold board was inspected by an expert who concluded that the cause of the failure was that the timber contained a very pronounced slope of grain in the region of the break.

A full breakdown of the incident and recommendations relating to this safety alert are available at the NASC website

Also last month, a bricklayer was walking from the inner birdcage onto the external top lift of scaffold at 8 metres above ground level. On stepping onto the inner most scaffold board of the external scaffold lift it snapped in half, fortunately the bricklayer managed to stop himself falling completely through the 225mm gap. He sustained bruising to his legs and knee and was treated for mild shock. One half of the board fell to the ground but within the scaffold structure.

Details relating to this incident and preventative recommendations are available at the NASC website

Scaffold board failures, and in particular the failure of Grade A boards, although thankfully rare can have serious and possibly fatal consequences. The variety of grading methods for boards is so wide that choosing a board is now unnecessarily complicated. Only about 30 per cent of boards bought today are made in accordance with BS2482, the British Standard for graded scaffold boards. The following checklist may be useful when purchasing boards:

Are your scaffold boards graded to a clearly defined set of rules?

Are your boards graded by fully trained and independently assessed graders?

Are your boards manufactured within an ISO 9001:2000 quality assurance scheme?

Do your boards meet a known performance standard?

… And if any one of these questions cannot be answered satisfactorily

Am I confident in using boards manufactured by this company?

Scaffold boards are just one of the many checks included within the Good to Go Safety checklist. This pre-use inspection system is designed to help identify potential problems before it's too late. Guidance notes included within the check book ask the employee (competent person) to check the boards are in good condition, banded at both ends, not excessively split or warped, free of saw cuts and/or vehicle tyre marks. You can find more information on the Good to Go Safety scaffold tagging and inspection systems in our new digital catalogue.