Businesses waste a total of £30 million every year performing unnecessary electrical safety tests on office equipment, say new figures from the Health and Safety Executive.

It’s a common misconception – one sparked at least partly by incorrect advice and misleading advertising – that all portable appliances require annual testing, when in fact the law only states that equipment should be maintained to prevent danger. In the case of most office equipment, simple checks will be adequate to ensure that appliances are free from obvious dangerous defects.

The HSE publication Maintaining Portable Electric Equipment in Low-risk Environments offers advice and information about proportionate maintenance – click here to visit the HSE website and find out more.

RRC’s Spring 2012 e-Newsletter is available now! This edition is packed with information about the most recent developments in the world of health, safety and the environment as well as lots of news about RRC’s recent ventures and upcoming projects, including:

• Details of RRC’s stand at the upcoming Safety and Health Expo in Birmingham and our first ever Virtual Expo – including new NEBOSH and CQI product launches
• News of RRC’s expanding list of Partners around the world
• A brand new FREE Technical Update all about the wonderful world of auditing – written by Dr T
• RRC Tutor Zoe’s brave marathon plans for the coming year
• RRC Tutor Jim’s take on the recent H&S review and the ensuing debate!

As always, we recommend all students currently studying with us should read the Student Focus section which contains news of important information and updates to our courses.

This e-Newsletter, along with out Back Issues are available to download for FREE from: www.healthandsafetybusiness.com

Two members of RRC’s team of tutors have been busy updating the blog with their thoughts on a pair of diverse topics.

First up is a guest blog from Jim Phelpstead, an experienced health and safety trainer, and it’s all about the government’s proposed changes to safety regulation. A lot has been said and written about the sweeping scope of these changes, but are they a step in the wrong direction?

Secondly, the blog’s regular contributor, Dr David Towlson, addresses the issue of why some jobs – even ones that are often thought of as safety-critical – might not be best left to the experts.

Visit the RRC Tutor Blog to read both articles now, and remember to check back regularly for more updates from Dr T and others!

Zoe Neasham, the health and safety trainer who leads the team at RRC Training in Newcastle, plans to run an incredible four marathons this year, in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.

The first of these will be the inaugural Marathon of the North on 6 May, followed by the Kielder Marathon, the Oxfam Great North Run (where Zoe will be part of a wheelchair pushing team) and the Hadrian’s Wall Run – a 69-mile ultra marathon from Carlisle to Newcastle.

Unsurprisingly, Zoe is currently hard at work training and fundraising in preparation for this massive undertaking. To find out more – including details of how to contribute to the fundraising effort – visit RRC’s Press Releases page.

Investigating cases where health and safety concerns have been used as an inappropriate reason for stopping activities will be the remit of a new panel set up by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The Myth Busters Challenge Panel will examine complaints about disproportionate and incorrect advice given by non-regulators – including employers, consultants and insurers – with the aim of promoting proportionate risk management.  Results of these investigations will be posted online. The panel’s members will be drawn from a broad spectrum of industries and backgrounds; more details can be found on the HSE website here.

HSE Chair Judith Hackitt, who will also lead the Myth Busters panel, has written about the issues involved for her Risk Assessment blog. Click here to read her thoughts about the sensible management of risk and how this topic is addressed in the media.

Judith Hackitt, chair of the HSE, has launched a new blog providing insight into current health and safety issues.

As well as commenting on a range of topics and developments, the blog will also aim to address some of the safety-related stories and headlines appearing in the media.

Visit the blog on the HSE website to read more. The first post covers the subject of how best to educate young people about safety and pass on ideas about proportionate approaches to risk to the next generation.

RRC’s Director of Training and Quality, Dr David Towlson, has updated the RRC Tutor blog with a new post. Instead of focusing on specific health and safety issues, this instalment considers more general ideas about teaching and asks the question: is modern education is too focused on exams?

Click here to visit the blog now. Remember, you can use the ‘Leave Comments’ feature to add your thoughts to the discussion.

A new study conducted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigates evidence of links between the HSE’s own regulatory activities and reductions in occupational injuries, deaths and ill health.

The aim of report RR913 is to determine how feasible it is to demonstrate links between these activities as a whole and safety outcomes. It takes into account available literature and data sources on the topic, as well as theories of change and logic models.

Visit the HSE website to view or download the full report.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has published detailed proposals to alter many pieces of environmental legislation, as part of the governmental drive to trim regulatory red tape.

132 regulations will be altered or consolidated, while 53 will be scrapped altogether. Major changes include:

• Streamlining regulations relating to waste, including Waste Transfer Notes, the Site Waste Management Plans Regulations and guidance for hazardous waste disposal.
• Updating the Environmental Permitting process, as well as applying it to new areas including water abstractions, impoundment licensing, fish pass approvals and flood risk consents.
• Improving the way in which the Environment Agency operates, including making available all regulations, guidance and published impact assessments online in early 2013.

For a more complete and detailed list of the planned amendments, visit the DEFRA website. At this stage, many of the proposals will need further consultation (with the public and stakeholders) before being finalised.

As part of the recently released 2012 budget, the government has announced plans to drastically rework current health and safety regulations. A massive 84 percent of regulations are set to be either altered or completely removed, with some of the most significant changes including:

• Legislative changes meaning that employers will no longer be in breach of their civil law duties where they have done everything that is reasonably practicable to protect their employees.
• Changes to the way the HSE advises on what constitutes 'reasonably practicable'.
• Giving power to the HSE to direct all local health and safety inspection and enforcement.
• Amendments to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) to clarify businesses’ roles.

Environmental regulations will also be affected by the changes. Among a host of other amendments, waste transfer systems will be simplified and updated, as will environmental permitting procedures and air quality legislation.

There will also be broad reviews of all regulations to make sure that enforcement comes at the lowest possible cost to businesses.

Many more changes are also involved besides these – for a more comprehensive list, see the budget on the Treasury website. The relevant sections can be found on pages 80-81.

A new panel has been established in the wake of the Löfstedt report’s recommendations in order to investigate complaints about advice given by local authorities and HSE inspectors.

The Independent Regulatory Challenge Panel is composed of independent experts in the field, and will hear complaints from parties who feel the advice they have been given by regulators either exceeds the bounds of adequate risk control or is simply incorrect.

The panel will not deal with cases involving actual enforcement notices or prosecutions, as other avenues of complaint are already in place for these. Only cases dating from 30 June 2011 onwards will be eligible for consideration.

Click here for more information about the panel, including details of how to contact them.

A new report investigates the risks posed by a possible scenario involving vapour cloud explosions in aerosol warehouses. Originally proposed by Dr Graham Atkinson of the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL), this scenario involves the failure of some aerosol containers in a fire leading to the formation of clouds of vapour and subsequent explosions. It has prompted some debate, and this report aims to assess the risks involved, and to see whether the scenario is practical.

The report can be viewed or downloaded from the HSE website.

The newsletter produced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has been redesigned and updated – and it’s now available for free online. Featuring a variety of in-depth articles and case studies from the world of health and safety, the newsletter provides a useful resource for students and practitioners. View the latest edition here.

For another online source of health and safety news, be sure to read RRC’s own quarterly subscription e-newsletter, Health & Safety Business; click here for more details.

The UK Health and Safety Executive have issued a new report as part of an ongoing project investigating the generic failure rates used in risk assessments for major hazard chemical plants.

This project is a joint initiative being carried out by health and safety bodies in the UK and the Netherlands – namely the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) in the UK and the National Institute for Public Health and Environment (RIVM) in the Netherlands, under the coordination of White Queen Safety Strategies – and also aims to address other current concerns about major accident analysis.

The new document – RR915 - The major accident failure rates project: concept phase – can be found on the HSE website, along with further information about the project.

NetRegs – free guidance for businesses provided by the UK’s environmental agencies – applying to chemical manufacturers, paper and cardboard manufacturers and metal production and processing businesses have moved to new websites.

The new websites are divided on a regional basis, so businesses should consult the appropriate site for their location:

• England – Business Link
• Northern Ireland – NIBusinessInfo
• Scotland – Business Gateway
• Wales – Business.Wales.gov.uk

Details of current and future legislation and UK-wide NetRegs for other types of businesses can be found on the Environment Agency website.

A new edition of L73: A Guide to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 has been released, providing guidance and information about the updated Regulations which will come into force on 6 April 2012.

Some significant changes are involved in the update. The period of incapacitation requiring an accident or injury to be reported will increase from more than three days to more than seven, and the deadline for reporting will become 15 days.

Injuries over three days will still need to be recorded by employers, and the document provides information about how this should be done.

To download the updated guidance, visit the HSE website.

The Löfstedt report on the future of the UK’s health and safety legislation was published late last year and continues to be a major talking point. Dr David Towlson, RRC’s Director of Training and Quality, has been updating the RRC tutor blog with a series of articles considering different sections of the report, and the latest entry is available to read now.

This instalment deals with chapter 7 of the report, in which Professor Löfstedt outlines ideas for simplifying the regulatory framework.

Click here to read the blog entry - use the “Leave Comments” feature to add your own thoughts to the discussion.

Natural England – the governmental body concerned with protecting and improving England’s natural landscape – now has increased enforcement powers at its disposal.

The new powers allow the agency to impose fixed penalties and fines, offering an alternative to costly criminal proceedings. The organisation’s inspectors will now be able to respond to breaches of wildlife and landscape protection law with civil sanctions.

These new powers will be applicable to several kinds of offences, including those relating to habitat protection and protected species, Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and breaches of the Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) Regulations 2009.

The hazards of overfilling tanks with volatile liquids form the basis of a new report issued by the Health and Safety Executive. The report is part of an HSE-sponsored research programme prompted by the incident at the Buncefield oil depot in 2005.

Titled RR908 – Vapour Cloud Formation: Experiments and Modelling, its main aim is to establish methods for predicting the type of vapour cloud that might be created if and when a tank is overfilled, so that this can be taken into account when planning land use and emergency responses. As well as investigating the various technical factors involved, the report also provides example cases to illustrate them.

The full report is available from the HSE website here.

The Health and Safety Executive have released a new document reviewing the reliability of self-reporting of work-related illness.

At the moment, there is little definitive data about the accuracy of people’s assessment of their own occupational illnesses in response to health studies and surveys. The HSE review aims to assess the existing evidence and determine how reliable these self-reports truly are.

To read the full report – titled RR903 - Review on the validity and reliability of self-reported work-related illness – visit the HSE website.

The Environment Agency has published newly updated editions of two documents related to the topic of emissions monitoring:

• Manual Stack Emission Monitoring - Performance Standard for Organisations sets out the criteria necessary for organisations to be accredited to monitor emissions as part of the Monitoring Certification scheme.

• Technical Guidance Note M2 - Monitoring of Stack Emissions to Air details the technical aspects of emissions monitoring. It covers a range of topics, including monitoring methods and sampling strategies.

Both are available now, and can be accessed by clicking the links above.

A new report suggests that levels of obesity among US fire-fighters are extremely high, exceeding those among ordinary members of the public.

The report, which has been released by the National Volunteer Fire Council, states that between 73 and 88 percent of American fire-fighters are overweight or obese, compared to roughly 66 percent in the general population. This puts them at increased risk of a range of health problems, including heart disease and high blood pressure.

The report investigates the possible reasons for these alarming figures and proposes ideas to help reverse the trend. It is available to download here.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have issued a white paper investigating the topic of injury and illness prevention programs.

These programs are already mandatory in some states and regions, but the report makes the argument that they should be universally required. As well as providing an overview of the practicalities of injury prevention programs, it also sets out the business incentives which they can offer organisations.

The full Injury and Illness Prevention Programs White Paper is available to view or download from the OSHA website.

In the past month, a number of new regulations and amendments dealing with environmental and safety-related issues have come into effect:

• The Ecodesign for Energy-Related Products (Amendment) Regulations 2011, which incorporate requirements for ecodesign for household washing machines and dishwashers into the existing legislation, as well as making changes to the requirements for manufacturers to provide technical information.
• In response to changes in the relevant EU Directives, the Supply of Machinery (Safety) (Amendment) Regulations 2011, which amend the previous legislation in this area, setting out the  essential health and safety requirements that CE-marked machinery must fulfil. This particular amendment relates to new essential environmental protection requirements for pesiticide application equipment.
• EU Regulation No. 1193/2011 sets up a Union Registry for the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which will commence in January 2013, replacing existing national registries.
• The Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 reflect changes in the EU Environmental Impact Assessment Directive relating to infrastructure for the capture and geological storage of carbon dioxide.
• Having come into effect on 1 January 2012, the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2011 relate to the recovery of petrol vapour during motor vehicle refuelling at service stations. This amendment is also a response to changes in EU Directives.

The Health and Safety Executive have revised their guidance outlining the possible risks of the disease leptospirosis.

The latest version of document INDG84 (Leptospirosis: Are you at risk?) is available to view and download from the HSE website and outlines the nature of the disease, how it is transmitted and how to prevent it.

A new scheme launched by the Department of Energy and Climate Change allows companies, public sector bodies and community groups to claim subsidies for generating renewable heat.

The Renewebale Heat Incentive Scheme - which is the first initiative of its kind in the world - aims to encourage the production of renewable heat by offering financial incentives. Renewable heat can be produced from a range of sources, including biomethane.

Organisations are now able to apply for support under the scheme; full details and further information can be found here.

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has launched a three-year project to reduce work-related road traffic accidents.

Named PRAISE (Preventing Road Accidents and Injuries for the Safety of Employees), the initiative will highlight best practices among employers with the aim of helping them achieve higher road safety standards. This is part of the ETSC’s overall goal of reducing the numbers of deaths and injuries in transport in Europe. PRAISE is co-funded by the European Commission.

More information can be found on the PRAISE website, including:

• Reports on a range of different road safety topics.
• Factsheets detailing safety success stories.
• Information about best practice awards.
• Details of PRAISE events and seminars.

The British Standards Institution’s Guidelines for Auditing Management Systems (BS EN ISO 19011) have been updated to a new version. Replacing the previous standard (BS EN ISO 19011:2002), this new document includes advice and guidance on:

• The principles of management systems auditing.
• Managing audit programmes.
• Carrying out internal and external audits.
• Evaluating the competence of auditors.

It also incorporates a number of changes and clarifications. More details and access to the full document can be found on the British Standards Institution website.

The first performance league table published as part of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme has revealed the organisations and businesses taking the lead in energy efficiency. Released last month, it ranks participating companies in terms of the action they have taken to manage their energy use.

The CRC (Carbon Reduction Commitment) scheme is a mandatory government initiative aimed at improving energy efficiency and cutting emissions in large public and private sector organisations, which account for around 10% of the UK’s total emissions.

To view the performance league table and see which companies ranked highly, or for more details of the scheme itself, visit the Department of Energy and Climate Change website.

The Health and Safety Executive have produced an updated edition of the documentation setting out workplace exposure limits (WELs) – the standards which protect workers from harmful levels of contact with hazardous substances.

Replacing the previous version, which was first published in 2005, this new edition of EH40: Workplace Exposure Limits takes into account new substances and WELs introduced in 2007 and 2011. It also contains useful advice about European occupational exposure limits and COSHH regulations.

The document is available to view and download from the HSE website.

The report on Britain’s health and safety laws and regulations commissioned by the Department of Work and Pensions continues to stir up debate about the future of HSE legislation.

Dr David Towlson, RRC’s Director of Training and Quality, has updated his blog with the latest in a series of articles about Professor Löfstedt’s suggestions. This chapter deals with the issue of removing unnecessary and outdated regulations – something about which the Löfstedt Report has plenty to say.

Why not join the debate? Use the “Leave Comments” feature to add your thoughts to the discussion.

Exciting news! RRC Training and RRC Middle East are proud to announce that the first Arabic e-Learning NEBOSH Award in Health and Safety at Work course is almost complete!

The official launch for this highly anticipated e-Learning course will be at the Intersec exhibition in Dubai (15-17 Jan 2012). Please come along to meet the team and support us in this important launch.

Check back for more details (coming soon), but for now here’s a leaflet about the NEBOSH Award course in Arabic (note: the leaflet is in Arabic!).

Health and safety fears are often incorrectly cited as the reason for banning or preventing a whole range of relatively risk-free activities and events. This is especially true at Christmas time, when rumours crop up about all kinds of seasonal traditions being forbidden.

The HSE have compiled a list of the Top 10 myths about festive health and safety measures. Among the crackers on the list are stories about snowball fights being outlawed and public Christmas trees being replaced by artificial ones. There’s even the suggestion that carol singers might pose a health and safety risk.

The full list is available on the HSE website.

Dr David Towlson, RRC’s Director of Training and Quality, continues to update his blog with a series of reflections on the findings of the recent report on the UK’s health and safety regulations.

His blogs over the past week have covered a range of topics and ideas, including:

• An overview of the Löfstedt Report and its main recommendations.
• Professor Löfstedt’s aims and intentions.
• The importance of evidence in producing a report such as this.
• The costs and benefits of regulations.
• The implications of the report for small and large businesses’ management of health safety.

Keep an eye on the RRC Tutors’ blog for more updates on the Löfstedt Report and many other key health and safety issues. Why not have your say? We love to hear your thoughts, so use the “Leave Comments” feature to get the debate started.

RRC MD Gary Fallaize with representatives of NEBOSH and RRC students; picture courtesy of NEBOSH.

The gardens of the British Ambassador’s residence in Bahrain recently played host to the official launch of the NEBOSH Award in Health and Safety at Work in Arabic.

Attended by RRC’s Managing Director Gary Fallaize, with representatives present from RRC Middle East and the examining body, the event marked the premiere of the first introductory-level NEBOSH exam to be set in the Arabic language.

RRC will be offering the NEBOSH Award in Health and Safety at Work in Arabic by e-Learning and Distance Learning soon. It is currently available as a Face-to-Face course through RRC Middle East.

To see more photographs from the event, courtesy of NEBOSH, click here.

RRC’s Director of Training and Quality, Dr David Towlson, has been updating his blog with his thoughts on the recent report into Britain’s health and safety regulations commissioned by the Department of Work and Pensions.

To read his reaction to the report’s findings and how they might affect the future of health and safety, read his response now and keep checking the blog for further updates.

Hasan Alaradi (RRC Middle East's Managing Director) and students at a recent workshop on Modern Health and Safety Management held in Dubai.

We’re delighted to announce that the winner of our recent Amazon Kindle competition (held at the IEMA Conference) has been selected! Congratulations to Vicki Shaw, we hope you are delighted with your Kindle.

You may not have considered using your Kindle for studying, but all of RRC’s e-Learning course materials can be transferred onto your Kindle for reading on the go! For details see our handy guide.

Coming into force on 24 October 2011, the Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment (Amendment) Regulations 2011 amend the previous legislation relating to the transport of dangerous goods by road, rail and inland waterway.

TransposingDirective 2010/35/EUof the European Parliament and of the Council on transportable pressure equipment, the regulations also repeal five earlier Directives:

• Council Directive 76/767/EECon common provisions for pressure vessels and methods for inspecting them.
• Council Directive 84/525/EECon seamless, steel gas cylinders.
• Council Directive 84/526/EECon seamless, unalloyed aluminium and aluminium alloy gas cylinders.
• Council Directive 84/527/EECon welded unalloyed steel gas cylinders.
• Council Directive 1999/36/ECon transportable pressure equipment.

The Department for Transport website has further details of the Regulations and how they might affect you.

The latest energy legislation details new provisions for homeowners, landlords and businesses to receive upfront financial help to make energy improvements, to be repaid in the form of energy bill savings – a ‘Green Deal’.

Having come into force on 18 October 2011, the Act also:

• Makes energy performance certificates more widely available.
• Obliges energy providers to assist some groups of people with energy savings.
• Clarifies information about energy bills.
• Paves the way for the introduction and roll-out of smart meters.
• Allows the Coal Authority to charge for specific services.
• Encourages low carbon generations and improves energy security measures.

For more details of the Act, check the Department of Energy and Climate Change website.

Two new documents from the Health and Safety Executive provide valuable guidance about the law and your responsibilities when buying or supplying machinery for use at work.

INDG271(Buying New Machinery: A short guide to the law and your responsibilities when buying new machinery for use at work)outlines the requirements laid down by health and safety law and the practical applications involved, as well as providing checklists to use when talking to suppliers about new equipment. The second leaflet, INDG270(Supplying New Machinery: A short guide to the law and your responsibilities when supplying machinery for use at work), is aimed mainly at importers, agents and those who provided equipment manufactured by others, providing details of their legal and practical obligations. 

For further details, visit the HSE website to download INDG271 and INDG270.

In a new report commissioned by the government, Professor Ragnar Löfstedt (Director of the King’s Centre for Risk Management at King’s College, London) has made a series of recommendations and proposals about the future of health and safety laws and regulations in the UK.

The report suggests that there is a need to remove certain unnecessary regulations to reduce the burden on businesses, but also to ensure that overall health and safety performance levels remain high. The full report can be found on the Department of Work and Pensions website.

Responses welcoming Professor Löfstedt’s findings have been issued by both the HSE and the government. To read Dr T’s thoughts on the issues raised, visit his blog. (For those who don’t know, Dr T is Dr David Towlson - RRC’s Director of Training and Quality.)

UPDATE: Professor Löfstedt visted Brussels today for the EU launch of his report.

Unintended movement of some mobile crushers can take place when there is an earth/ground fault, according to a recent investigation by the Health and Safety Executive.

The HSE has published a Safety Alert outlining the actions that need to be taken in the event that damage to electrical control cables results in unintended movement. For details of the guidance, and to find out if you need to take action, check the HSE website.

The Health and Safety Executive has released a range of statistics relating to incidents, injuries and issues in the construction industry.

Key points include a fall in the number of fatal injuries to construction workers to 50, down from an annual average of 61 for the past five years. Workplace fatalities in the industry are now around two-thirds less common than they were two decades ago. In recent years, non-fatal injuries have decreased by a third as well.

The figures also show that an estimated 5000 occupational cancer cases annually can be attributed to exposure to hazardous materials in the course of construction sector work.

For more detailed statistics, or for information about other industries, visit the HSE website.

At an oil rig in Saudi Arabia’s Empty Quarter, RRC Middle East tutor Hasan Jaffer delivered a training course to the local management team of oil and gas company SAIPEM.

The course covered the topics of Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Management.

The Empty Quarter, also known as the Rub' al Khali, is one of the largest sand deserts in the world and is the site of some of the largest oil reserves.

RRC will deliver an exciting new training course in Istanbul, in partnership with Turkey’s leading experts in HSE training and consultancy.

The NEBOSH International Certificate in Fire Safety and Risk Management is a new course being piloted by RRC in partnership with ARME, and will begin in January 2012.

Designed for anyone with fire safety responsibilities in the workplace, the NEBOSH International Fire Certificate covers topics including fire risk assessments and the range of measures necessary to minimise the risk of fire. For more details of the course, click here.

For this pilot we are delighted to be working with two of ARME’s highly experienced Turkish tutors, who will be delivering the training in English. Click here to find out more about the partnership between RRC and ARME.

RRC Middle East Managing Director Hasan Alaradi recently presented a successful workshop in Modern Occupational Health and Safety to the management team of the Sudanese Electricity Transmission Company.

The workshop, held in Khartoum on 17 November, covered general health and safety management issues, with a particular focus on managing risks associated with the energy sector.

Delegates attend the PetroDar Operating Co. Advanced Accident Investigation Course, which was run in Sudan from 13-16 November 2011.