12 Sep September

In this month’s newsletter we cover the following:

• Latest construction campaign by the HSE to prevent ill health from moving and handling materials – Moving and handling heavy or bulky objects on construction sites is needlessly harming the health of tens of thousands of workers every year. The law requires employers to control the risks of ill health of their workers, which includes pain in muscles, bones, joints, and nerves that can develop over time, known as musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). However, in the most recent period an estimated 42,000 people in the construction industry suffered from a work-related musculoskeletal disorder, which can cause years of agonising aches and pains. This amounts to 53% of all ill health in the construction sector. If moving and lifting is managed properly, a physical job on a building site should not disrupt every part of workers’ lives.
• Not everyone needs a CSCS Card – Find out if you need a CSCS card when attending a construction site.
• Printing company fined after worker’s hand crushed – The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the laminating machine was not adequately guarded and that the company failed to review existing risk assessments for the machine which required the production of a safe system of work. Celloglas Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £5,165.09 in costs at Leeds Magistrates’ Court on 30 August 2023. HSE Inspector Darian Dundas commented: “A review of existing risk assessments for the machine should have identified that a safe system of work was required to keep operatives safe from harm. Had such a review taken place then this incident could so easily have been avoided.”