A car repair garage has been given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay £500 towards court costs after ignoring a Health and Safety Executive order to stop using a dangerous gas heater.

Bow Street Garage, in Rugeley, Staffordshire had been warned that its Powrmatic gas heater posed serious safety issues for customers and workers, and residents living in the connected buildings.

The HSA found that deadly carbon monoxide fumes could be released into the workshop through the heater’s exhaust flue which was directed inside the building.

Stafford Magistrates’ Court heard how, on 3 December 2009, an inspector from the HSE issued the company with a Prohibition Notice requiring it to stop using the heater. As well as problems with the flue, the electrical wiring system was unsuitable and the system required servicing by a competent gas engineer.

When the inspector returned to the site a month later, he noticed the workshop was noticeably warmer than outside. As soon as one of the directors of the company, Ian Moore, recognised the inspector, he switched the heater off. Mr Moore claimed it had been on for no more than 45 minutes in order to help dry the workshop floor that had just been mopped after an oil spillage.

Bow Street Garage Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. It escaped any further action because it has now ceased trading.

It seems basic common sense to comply with instructions issued by an HSE inspector, however I am frequently amazed by the failure of some businesses to act on the written or verbal instructions received.  It is simply not geed business sense and it is not surprising that the company has gone out of business……

A study conducted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has revealed as many as 62% of Scottish farms are not using All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) safely.

Under the intensive inspection initiative, some 58 farms were visited over a period of two weeks. The statistics were released on the opening day of the Royal Highland Show.

Following the inspection, a total of 36 improvement notices were issued – which included 25 notices for using ATVs without appropriate training, 10 for a lack of suitable head protection, and one for poor maintenance.

Figures show that every year at least two people die and more than 1,000 suffer injuries in ATV accidents, on average.

In the four years up to 2008-09, some three agricultural workers lost their lives in incidents involving ATVs in Scotland.

Commenting on the results of the study, Michael Moore MP, Secretary of State for Scotland, said: “These results should act as a sharp shock for the agricultural industry. Agriculture remains one of the most dangerous ways to make a living in Britain and farmers must do more to protect themselves and their workers.

“Many incidents involving ATVs, like so many other farming-related incidents that can result in death or injury, are easily preventable if simple measures are taken.”

A teenager’s death at a water park came just days after a council had warned about safety concerns, it has emerged.

On Sunday afternoon a 15-year-old girl was recovered from the lake at Cotswold Water Park.

The girl, from Middlesex, died the following day after being treated in intensive care at Great Western Hospital in Swindon.

After her death at the park and beach, managed by Watermark, witnesses claimed there was a lack of staff at the site.

However, the company defended the claims saying that two managers, four lifeguards and two off-duty lifeguards were at the park

But a letter sent from Somerford Keynes Parish Council to Cotswold District Council’s health and safety officer days earlier raised concerns over “insufficient first aid officers and lifeguards”.

A spokesman for Cotswold Council confirmed a letter dated June 30 was received by the council’s health and safety officer on July 1.

The district council forwarded this letter to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), on July 8 wrongly assuming it was the appropriate regulator.

The HSE was responsible for regulating safety at the park while it was operated by a charity but when that changed in January 2008 the district council took over.

The parish council raised concerns over safety at the water park during a meeting on June. 7

Seems like a classic case of passing the buck rather than someone taking ownership of the problem, visiting the park, checking staff / training and sorting it out!

A new UK scheme to accredit safety consultants is likely to be announced in the next few weeks.

Work to develop the scheme, called for by IOSH for a number of years, has been accelerated as a result of Lord Young’s government review into health and safety. Lord Young has been critical of people operating as unqualified consultants, and blames them for some of the worst examples of over-the-top actions carried out in the name of health and safety.

The scheme, which will be voluntary, is likely to be introduced early next year, but announced soon. It will be set up and initially chaired by the Health and Safety Executive, and has been developed by a group of professional bodies led by IOSH and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health. A consortium of professional bodies will eventually run the register.

IOSH members working as consultants will have to be Chartered to join the scheme, so that clients can be confident that they will get advice from someone with a degree level qualification in safety, practical experience, and a formal commitment to Continuing Professional Development.

Health and Safety Advisors at Britrisk Safety are appropriately qualified, giving you peace of mind when you use our outsourced service for your business.

Nearly one in 10 British businesses are failing to meet their legal responsibilities to protect their workforce’s sight, a new study commissioned by national sight charity the Eyecare Trust and healthcare provider Simplyhealth found.

“Screen fatigue” is regularly suffered by 90% of office workers, and the symptoms include headaches, sore or tired eyes, impaired colour perception and blurred vision. During their working life, the average office worker will spend 128,740 hours staring at a screen.

The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) regulations place a legal obligation on all employers to make sure they care for the eye health of staff who regularly use a VDU (computer screen) at work in order to combat the visual stress associated with prolonged screen use.

There is no eye care policy at all amongst one in 10 businesses, while regular sight tests, which forms the most basic element of the legislation, are not provided by 44% of employers, the ScreenSmart study found.

Small businesses employing fewer than 10 people are the worst offenders. Absolutely no provision for eye care is provided by one in five (21%) small businesses, and the offer to pay for sight tests is only offered by a third, while three-quarters fail to ensure workstations are designed to minimise glare or reflections – two factors that can lead to screen fatigue and cause visual trauma.

When it came to big businesses, one in five (18%) did not meet the costs of regular sight tests, while two-fifths (40%) point blank refused to pay a contribution towards the cost of spectacles required solely for VDU work.

Our view:  Businesses of all sizes should ensure they cover the basics and carry out display screen / workstation risk assessments and act on their findings. This is a simple and inexpensive process to set up and one of our health and safety advisors would be able to help.  Call us for some complementary advice.