NASS | From Experience

HSE works closely with employers, employees, trade associations, trade unions and other key stakeholders to progress health and safety initiatives including:

At a recent meeting of the NASS Health and Safety Committee, one message came across loud and clear... Working at Height is one of the HSE's priorities during 2007/08 and they are intent on change.

There continues to be a worrying number of serious accidents associated with Working at Height, including accidents on the back of lorries. Slips and trips are bad enough when at ground level but above the ground those accidents become far more serious - and in some cases fatalities may result.
The HSE have declared that they intend to target Working at Height during 2007/08 and the industry's compliance with related regulations. HSE want to motivate change - they say not enough is being done to minimise the need to work at height and, if working at height is unavoidable, they want to see that steps have been taken to improve protection of employees. That said, they appear to be taking a realistic and reasonable approach to actions.
We urge all members to take an urgent and objective look at their businesses and ask the questions - do we need to work at height? And, if we do, what can be reasonably done to improve the safety of those involved? Appropriate training, and proof that it is being carried out, is also a feature of the expected action.
Follow the links below to the HSE website, where details of their Falls from Vehicles campaign can be found.

The Health and Safety Committee have put together a few bullet-point tips that members may find useful:-

Anyone needing further advice should contact the NASS office and your query will be directed to the relevant member of the NASS Health & Safety Committee.

The HSE have advised that they will be undertaking the next stage of their Moving Goods Safely campaign, as from October 2007 onwards. This ties in with the Falls from Vehicles campaign (mentioned above).

NASS has been advised from October, though the campaign will mainly focus on white goods production, i.e. fridge and washing machines etc., part of the campaign will specifically involve steel stockholders. Members are advised that enforcers will be looking at the risks of:

Both the HSE and local authority inspectors would be particularly interested in how well stockholders liaised with their suppliers and customers. Members are reminded that NASS has been involved in the production of a document that is specifically relevant, and a website link is listed below.

Safety in the Delivery and Unloading of Steel Products, produced by NASS and UK Steel is available, free of charge, as a downloadable PDF document from:

If you need more information about this campaign, take a look at the Moving Goods Safely section of the HSE's website, where you can find details of awareness events they are organising, together with useful information and guidance. Just follow this link:

In April 2007 the HSE introduced a new service on their website entitled "Myth of the Month", whereby each month they address common misunderstandings and give the actual facts behind each of the highlighted topics. Please click on the links below to take you to each month.

On April 6th, the new Control of Noise at Work Regulations came into force. HSE is campaigning during March and April 2006 to remind employers that

Use the following hyperlink to HSE information to find out what action you may need to take:

NASS’ Health & Safety Committee recommend the Ready Reckoner as a valuable tool for businesses to use when calculating daily vibration exposures.

Work-related stress is a major cause of occupational ill health. That means sickness absence, high staff turnover and poor performance in your organisation. HSE’s Management Standards will help you, your employees and their representatives manage the issue sensibly and minimise the impact of work-related stress on your business. In fact, it might help you improve organisational performance.

The Management Standards represent a set of conditions that reflect high levels of health, well being and organisational performance. Following the advice on this site will enable you to identify the gap between your current performance and these conditions. It will also help you to develop your own solutions to close this gap.

Use the following hyperlink to access HSE’s advice on handling stress in the workplace:

The Government and the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) are committed to improving standards and reducing injuries and ill health arising from work activities. In June 2000 the Revitalising Health and Safety (RHS) strategy was launched to raise the profile of health and safety at work.

The RHS strategy aims to achieve a number of challenging targets by 2010 including:

There is no clear evidence of change in the fatal and major injuries rate, which is also in line with the flat trend in the Labour Force Survey.
The balance of evidence suggests that the overall incidence of work-related ill-health is likely to have risen since 1999/2000, the base year of Revitalising.

A strategy for workplace health and safety in Great Britain to 2010 and beyond Revitalising health and safety continues to move forward as an essential part of the Health and Safety Commission's (HSC) new strategy.

HSC's new strategy builds on success and develops and takes forward the RHS Strategy Statement of June 2000. It aims to promote a vision of health and safety as a cornerstone of a civilised society and to achieve a record of workplace health and safety that leads the world. The strategy seeks to ensure that anyone who can contribute to this vision does so. English and Welsh versions are available.

As part of the RHS agenda the HSC has identified a number of priority topics for action. These are:

To ensure these targets are achieved the programme will include encouraging employers to consistently aim to improve conditions for those members of the workforce using workplace transport.

The new Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005 came into force on 6 July 2005 – follow these hyperlinks for HSE guidance:

Hand Arm Vibration (HAV)
Regular long term exposure to HAV may cause diseases which are painful and disabling
Look out for HAV risks in all industries where hand-held power tools and machines which transmit vibration into the hands are used.
HSL runs a three-day training course on Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS). The course will be held at the Health and Safety Laboratory, Harpur Hill, Buxton, Derbyshire on various dates in 2005.

For further information on the Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome Course, please click here.

Whole Body Vibration (WBV)
Regular long term exposure to WBV is associated with back pain alongside other factors such as poor posture and heavy lifting
Look out for WBV risks where any commercial/industrial/construction vehicles are driven regularly for most of the day

Controlling the risks
The risks can be controlled by good management - guidance is available

How exposure occurs
Exposure to vibration at work can occur in two main ways:

Workers may be exposed to HAV when operating hand-held power tools such as road breakers or when holding materials being worked by machines such as pedestal grinders. Exposure may result in a range of health effects collectively known as Hand-arm Vibration Syndrome or HAVS. The most well known health effect is vibration white finger, but other effects include damage to sensory nerves, muscles and joints in the hands and arms.

Road breakers	Typical	12 m/s2
	Modern tool designs, good operating conditions and trained operators	5 m/s2
	Worst tools & operating conditions	20 m/s2
Demolition hammers	Modern tools	8 m/s2
	Typical	15 m/s2
	Worst tools	25 m/s2
Hammer drills/combi hammers	Typical	9 m/s2
	Best tools & operating conditions	6 m/s2
	Worst tools & operating conditions	25 m/s2
Needle scalers	Modern tool designs	5 – 7 m/s2
Needle scalers	Older tool designs	10 – 25 m/s2
Scabblers (hammer type)		20 – 40 m/s2
Angle grinders (large)	Modern vibration-reduced designs	4 m/s2
	Other types	8 m/s2
Angle grinders (small)		2 – 6 m/s2
Clay spades/jigger picks	Typical	16 m/s2
Chipping hammers (metal-working, foundries)	Typical fettling	18 m/s2
	Modern tool designs	10 m/s2
Pneumatic stone-working hammers	Vibration-reduced hammers and sleeved chisels	8 – 12 m/s2
Pneumatic stone-working hammers	Older tools, conventional chisels	30 m/s2
Chainsaws	Typical	6 m/s2
Brushcutters	Typical	4 m/s2
Brushcutters	Best	2 m/s2
Sanders (random orbital)	Typical	7 – 10 m/s2

Drivers of some mobile machines, including certain tractors, fork lift trucks and quarrying or earth-moving machinery, may be exposed to WBV and shocks which are associated with back pain. Other work factors, such as posture and heavy lifting, are also known to contribute to back problems for drivers and the relative importance of WBV is not clear at present.

Whole-body Vibration – Research

HSE plan to publish data to help employers assess vibration exposure under the new Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005 and have collaborated with Employers associations to commission and publish research on WBV in the form of generic WBV risk assessments which should become available on our web pages later this year.

Every year 70 people are killed and 2000 more are seriously injured in incidents involving workplace transport. Often these incidents occur in a lorry park or yard while goods are being delivered. In many cases it is the driver who is injured.

The HSE is currently running an advertising campaign on radio and press in the North East to raise awareness among the people who can make a real difference – depot managers and those who receive or dispatch goods. The concerns of professional drivers, about the dangers of delivery and collection of goods have also been included.
This campaign focuses on how depot managers can take small practical steps to make delivery areas safer. Examples include:

HSE have also produced a useful checklist to help you carry out a risk assessment of your premises – download the form.