UKWA FOR WEB - United Kingdom Warehousing Association

More documents

Recommendations

Info

14 Health & Safety HSE facing staff crisis A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) announcement that it is to recruit 40 new inspectors will still leave the safety watchdog too stretched to properly do its job, critics have warned. HSE support staff union PCS says there has been a 25 per cent reduction in staff across HSE since 2002, and is warning the planned closure of its London HQ and the relocation of 320 jobs to Merseyside will leave “a smaller, less efficient HSE.” Health and safety professionals' organisation IOSH has said the recruitment of 40 new HSE inspectors is “a step in the right direction,” but is not enough. IOSH president Ray Hurst said “there is still a considerable shortfall in what's needed to fulfil its inspection and enforcement function and its advisory role as well as a number of random inspections.” He added a growing workforce, HSE's expanded brief and an increase in the number of 'at risk' groups like migrants and older workers would add to the pressure on HSE. TEMPORARY STAFF Agency workers to get equal rights CORPORATE MANSLAUGHTER Temporary and agency workers will receive the same rights as permanent staff after 12 weeks under an agreement was reached between the government, the CBI and the TUC. The business secretary, John Hutton, said the deal, which is the culmination of a lengthy dispute between employers and unions, would achieve the government's twin objectives of “flexibility for British employers and fairness for workers.” After 12 weeks in work, temporary and agency workers will qualify for the same pro-rata pay and conditions as full-time workers. The TUC said the deal represented a breakthrough after six years of deadlock and paves the way for a European Directive to deliver equal treatment rights for agency workers after the qualifying period. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “The issue of agency workers has been crying out for attention for far too long. Too many agency workers in the UK face unfair treatment and injustice. The agreement now opens the door to the much stronger legal protection that agency workers deserve.” New manslaughter law is ‘not tough enough’ Legal experts have warned the new corporate manslaughter law is not tough enough because it fails to hold individual directors accountable for deadly mistakes. According to employment law expert Norman Selwyn, the law, which came into effect in April, still meant it was easier to prosecute smaller companies on manslaughter charges than larger ones. “It is now estimated that there are likely to be about a dozen or so corporate manslaughter prosecutions each year and the clarification of the law will more than likely lead to these being successful,” he said. “But the Corporate Manslaughter Act is by no means perfect. It is strange that it does not place specific health and safety duties on company directors. It therefore begs the question: 'will it be any good' Major industrial accidents will only have a realistic chance of greater prevention if boards of directors formally and publicly accept their collective roles on safety.” Meanwhile, crisis management expert Peter Power believes that pressure to correct safety failings should be put on corporate directors by staff and stakeholders. ”It is unacceptable that companies and their directors should learn only from their own mistakes as we used to do in the past,” he said. No director or senior manager of a large of medium-sized UK firm has ever been jailed for workplace manslaughter. June 2008 www.ukwa.org.uk November/December2006
Health & Safety 15 IN THE COURTS Tesco fined for scissor lift injury Supermarket giant Tesco has been fined a total of £25,000 after a faulty lift in a Sheffield store knocked an employee unconscious. The incident happened when the hydraulic arm of a scissor lift struck the employee on the head - four days after it had been reported as defective by a council safety inspector. But despite the defect being reported, the lift was still in use. Although the hydraulic arm had been tied down and a 'do not use' sign had been stuck on it, this was not in place at the time of the incident. Tesco admitted breaching health and safety legislation at Sheffield Magistrates Court. The firm was fined £20,000 for failing to protect the safety of their employees and £5,000 for allowing a defective lift to be used without a thorough examination. Both fines were the maximum allowed in a magistrates court and the supermarket was told their discount for entering a guilty plea was not having the case sent to Crown Court, where fines are unlimited. Full court costs were awarded to Sheffield Council, who brought the case. Ian Ashmore, Sheffield Council's head of environmental regulation, said: “Michelle Garrigan, the investigating officer, highlighted that the lift was found to be defective four days before the accident occurred. A lift engineer had wanted to condemn the whole lift and carry out the repair work there and then.” He added: “Unfortunately, a decision was taken that the lift wouldn't be taken out of use and a temporary sign and strapping was put on, which soon started being taken off and on to make it easier to use the lift. This ultimately resulted in the accident.”' Transport firm loses its appeal A transport firm fined for safety failings that led to a worker being seriously injured has lost its appeal against the penalty. Harris Transport Ltd failed in its 2 June bid at Southampton Crown Court to overturn the £28,000 fine imposed in January 2008. The company now has to pay the fine in full and has incurred additional court costs of £5,300. Lee McMahon suffered severe injuries to both legs when he was run over by a forklift truck whilst working at Harris Transport in Southampton. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation discovered a breakdown in the firm's health and safety management. Ray Kelly, the HSE prosecuting inspector, said: “This case illustrates how easily normal workplaces can become incident scenes when health and safety management systems breakdown. Some 15 months after the incident, Mr McMahon is still in great pain, unable to work, and never likely to again. The HSE were very disappointed that Harris Transport Ltd felt the need to challenge the original penalty, which had followed a very serious incident, resulting in the permanent disablement of one of their employees.” Freight firm fined for lorry driver death A transport firm has been fined £22,000 after a lorry driver was killed. Martyn Simm, 45, was killed in March 2006 when a defective sliding metal gate weighing 0.4 tonnes fell onto him as he was closing it, at the company's site in Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme. Berser International Cargo Services Ltd was also ordered to pay costs of £18,000 having pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to a breach of the Workplace Health, Safety & Welfare Regulations 1992. The company admitted failing to “maintain equipment and devices (including the access gates to the premises) in efficient working order and in good repair.” HSE inspector Rachel Bradshaw commented: “Basic maintenance of equipment is often ignored by employers and lives are put at risk as a result. There was a very obvious defect on this gate that a simple visual check would have identified. A few moments work and simple modifications would have prevented this tragedy from occurring.” At least twice as many people die from fatal injuries at work than are victims of homicide, a new report has revealed. Academics Professor Steve Tombs and Dr Dave Whyte found that at least 1,300 people died as a result of fatal occupational injuries in 2005-06 in England and Wales, compared with 765 homicide deaths. January 2007 www.ukwa.org.uk June 2008
Page 3 and 4: Association News 3 EDITORIAL Founde
Page 5 and 6: Association News 5 CONFERENCE Make
Page 7 and 8: TRUST EASILIFT TO DELIVER THE GOODS
Page 9 and 10: 1550 Only Schmitz Cargobull Sales H
Page 11: Insurance 11 cost of reinstatement
Page 16 and 17: 16 Legal An awareness of the issue
Page 18: 18 Legal While genuine intermittent
Page 21 and 22: Employment 21 Avoiding job offer re
Page 23 and 24: Property 23 “It is important that
Page 25 and 26: Property 25 Know your warehouse Giv
Page 27 and 28: Property 27 tems that may enable st
Page 29 and 30: Security 29 Thieves can be and ofte
Page 31 and 32: Forklift Trust Book your FREE demon
Page 33 and 34: Marketing 33 ing strategy. It is no
Page 35 and 36: Round-Up 35 NEW PRODUCT Terminal tr
Page 38 and 39: 38 Cover Story ADVERTISEMENT FEATUR

UKWA FOR WEB - United Kingdom Warehousing Association

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?