News Sept-Dec 2005 for The London Health and Safety Group

News for September to December 2005

19th December 2005 Electrical Hazards – Death by Ohms Law John Kibblewhite was up to his usual form with a dynamic and thought provoking presentation on electrical safety. His main theme was electrical accidents are very infrequent but the consequences could easily be fatal; hence there is no room for complacency. Therefore, health and safety specialists should know about electrical hazards so they can assess the risks and evaluate the protective measures and working practices. John started with a crisp recap of the physics and physiology of electrical hazards; hence Ohms Law surfaced fairly early on. The crucial factor is the combination of the voltage and current. This can lead to an electrical shock and/or an electrical burn. He went on to described how the working conditions can alter the voltage and current; followed by their effects on the human body. Figures for electrical accidents over the last 15 years show a significant reduction in the early period but a plateau over the last few years. John suggested that the initial reduction may have been due to the introduction of The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989. This provided a clear framework for managing the hazards. Many organisations adopted better management arrangements such as regular Portable Appliance Testing (PAT testing), installation of residual circuit breakers, provision of devices to detect buried cables, etc. Current figures from the HSE show 1,000 injuries/year including 30 deaths; hence there is no room for complacency. These accidents are mainly associated with work activities such as the use of badly maintained equipment, coming into contact with buried cables, working on electrical items and working close to overhead power lines. In addition, John cautioned that, a small electrical shock could cause a person to loose their balance and the subsequent fall could have serious consequences.		19th December 2005 Electrical Hazards – Death by Ohms Law (contd.) Hence office based staff are usually at very low risk from electrical hazards but the health and safety specialist needs to be mindful of maintenance and installation work. John strongly recommended the HSE booklet “Electricity at Work – Safe Working Practices”. This is particularly true for “Live Electrical Working”. This requires very careful consideration of questions such as is it absolutely essential, will suitable tools be used, is a Permit to Work system in operation, etc. The meeting closed with an enthusiastic round of applause from the audience in appreciation for this lively and informative presentation. John Kibblewhite is a consultant, specialising in health and safety training. This includes the preparation of customised training packages for clients, so he was not prepared to supply a copy of his slide presentation. Downloads The Downloads Page now includes the January issue of our Newsletter and the latest synopsis of HSE press releases. Sponsorship The Chairman, Edmund Jacobs, announced at the meeting that Serco Integrated Services Ltd had made funds available to contribute towards the cost of providing refreshments for Group meetings. He proposed a vote of thanks to Serco on behalf of those present and will write to the Company with a formal expression of appreciation and thanks. This financial assistance is very much appreciated because the Executive Committee is trying to cut the deficit and end the year with the income and expenses in balance.
___________________________ 21st November 2005 Integrated Management Systems – Opportunities? Adrian Watson opened the meeting by explaining that his principal technical expertise was as an occupational hygienist. However, he went on to suggest that it was essential for a health and safety specialist to understand how the management system works in order to implement new health and safety programmes. The HSE’s publication of HSG 65 was a major milestone in identifying the management processes related to H&S. Adrian emphasized that the basic processes were “Plan, Do, Check and Act”. He illustrate this by discussing the importance of human factors. These included leadership, communication of visions, goals & expectations, involvement & commitment to objectives, the Do part requires appropriate resources and competency, followed by supervision and monitoring to ensure the plan stays on track, and finally by holding individuals to account and revising the Plan to achieve continuous improvement. Steve Franklin then gave a presentation on Integrated Management Systems. This included a review of the existing standards for quality, environment, safety, training, security, etc. He went on to discuss the drivers, advantages and issues involved in taking an integrated approach to implementing these standards. However, Steve emphasized the point that the management systems must be tailored to suit the business rather than smother it in bureaucracy. He illustrated this by discussing the use of business processes for gaining a systematic view of the essential steps in achieving the desired outputs. A copy of the slide presentations given by Adrian and Steve is available from the Downloads Page. This includes contact details for Adrian's consultancy service.		______________________________ Alan Butler Awards for Excellence 2004 The photo shows members of the London Health and Safety Group receiving the Alan Butler Award for The Best Programme in 2004 Group Encouraged by last year's success, the committee is planning to enter the competition for 2005. This year's Awards will be presented on Thursday 26th January 2006 in the House of Lords. You may care to join us, particularly as there is usually a very interesting review by a prominent member of the health and safety fraternity. Additional Downloads The December edition of our Newsletter has just been published. In addition to the usual H&S news, it includes a light hearted quiz in keeping with the spirit of the season. Janet Francis has recently supplied a copy of her slide presentation on Moving Goods Safety. She also mentioned that the results of the pilot study are due to be published before the end of March. So if you are interested, then keep an eye on the HSE website. There is also a synopsis of recent HSE News Releases. All these items are available on the Downloads Page.
______________________ 17th October 2005 Janet Francis from the HSE gave a presentation on "Moving Goods Safely". She explained that Moving Goods Safely is a current London-wide HSE initiative. It is a co-ordinated partnership between the H&S enforcement officers from HSE and the 33 London Local Authorities. Their aim is to reduce injuries and ill-health arising from the movement of goods. The main activity will be joint visits and inspections of selected large multi-site organisations; such as supermarkets and garden centres. The inspection teams are planning to focus on the movement of goods through each stage of delivery, processing, storage and dispatch. They will also seek to further the aims of the HSE's campaigns on "Backs" and "Slips". The results of this initiative are starting to be evaluated and initial indications are looking encouraging. Consequently, the HSE is planning to expand this into a national campaign. Janet's slide presentation is available as a Download. LHSG Newsletter Published The first edition of LHSG Newsletter has published in October, closely followed by the November edition. These Newsletters have been emailed to members and are available on the Downloads Page. The newsletters are designed to be informative with a hint of humour. They contain news about the Group and a synopsis of health and safety reports, alerts, campaigns and topics of current interest. As you might expect, the main source is the HSE and RoSPA, with other selected publications. The Editor is keen to hear your reactions. So please let him know if you would like to see further editions.		____________________ The Committee The Committee has been appealing for one or two volunteers to help run the Group. So they thought it would be a good idea to outline what was involved. It is possible to view the Group as a small enterprise. Where the Group runs essentially on the enthusiasm of the committee and interest of the members. The main activity is the monthly meetings and visits. This obviously needs project management and organisational skills. In addition, it needs the underlying marketing skills to maintain the interest of members by the judicious selection of topics and speakers. Then there are the background administrative skills needed for dealing with essential communications, maintaining the membership data base, accounting for the income and expenditure, etc. Since the Group started in 1941, it has built up a tremendous fund of goodwill. The committee is keen to foster contacts and mobilize goodwill for advice and sponsorship that enhance the running of the Group. If you think this sounds like an interesting challenge, then please speak to Edmund Jacobs, Chair or Marion Murphy, or email Secretary.
______________________ 19th September 2005 Edmund Jacobs gave a presentation on the methodology used by the Police Service for carrying out "Risk Assessments in Dynamic Situations". He explained that the HSE had been strongly critical recently over two serious accidents involving police officers, one had resulted in a fatality. This had prompted all police forces to review their arrangements for assessing and managing risk in dynamic situations. Most forces had decided to adopt the Fire Brigade's concept of dynamic risk assessment and to adapt it to suit their operational requirements. As police officers may encounter unknown and high risk situations and frequently work alone; this necessitates training each officer to continually assess and re-evaluate the risks as the circumstances change during an operational incident. There have been several challenges to embedding this concept into the operational culture of the Police Service. An example of this is the policing imperative that requires an officer to face dangerous situations and intentionally put themselves at risk in order to preserve life, deter and detect crime, coupled with the social and moral public expectation to act. However, to satisfy public expectation and achieve operational objectives in a controlled, safe and effective way requires an officer operating in such environments to make suitable risk judgements based on a continual dynamic assessment of the situation as it unfolds. This thought provoking session closed with several questions from the floor centred on risk assessment, training and safety management systems. You can download a copy of Mr Jacobs' slide presentation from the Downloads Page. Alan Butler Awards for Excellence - 2004 Last year, the Group was declared the winner of the Best Programme category in the Alan Butler Awards for Excellence. The Committee was delighted with this tribute to their efforts and hope to continue this prize winning form when entering the competition in 2005.		______________________ New Venue The September meeting was our first visit to Sport England's offices in Holborn. As you can see from the photos, Victoria House was build some time ago with the magnificent proportions that is typical of the classical style. However, visitors quickly become aware that the building has recently been refurbished internally to modern standards. For instance the reception desk is set on a glass floor with under floor lighting. Also the futuristic atriums provide lots of daylight to the mainly open plan office areas. Committee Resignations The Chairman said, it was with great regret that he had to announced the resignation of Peggy Tyler and Patricia Becker from the Executive Committee. He paid tribute to their contribution to the successful running of the Group. Peggy has been a long standing member of the Committee and Patricia had been nominated as Deputy Chair. They will be sorely missed. Fortunately, one of these vacancies has already been filled by Neil Courtman. However the Committee would very much like to co-opt one or two more volunteers to help with the management of the Group. The Chairman ask for anyone who was interested to contact him.

NB:- These reports have been written by a member of the audience so they may not fully reflect the views of the speaker.
NB:- Previous news items may be viewed through the links on the Archive Page.

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