Sarah Palfreyman HM Inspector of Health and Safety Metals, Minerals - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Sarah Palfreyman

HM Inspector of Health and Safety Metals, Minerals and Engineering Sector

Opportunities and challenges: Better Regulation

• Post Implementation Reviews
• Some regulatory consolidation and amendment
• Inspection and examination of plant and

equipment

• Risk assessment
• Business on business burdens:
• tackling Blue Tape/Private Sector Gold Plating

Opportunities and challenges: EU Referendum

• No immediate consequences for how HSE works

and regulates

• Three main areas of EU activity

– Social policy – Environmental & human health protection – Single market

HSE Health and Work Strategy

• Due December 2016
• Draft health and work priorities:
• Occupational lung disease
• Musculoskeletal disorders
• Occupational stress and mental health
• Does not mean that other issues will be ignored
• HSE lead where appropriate…
• Work with, and support, others

Sector Plans

• Not now ‘Sector Strategies’
• Consistent format, wording and content
• Two page statement of position
• Include ‘3 big issues’ to be solved
• Issues for manufacturing

– Occupational health: respiratory health – Occupational health: MSDs and others – Preventing death and serious injury

• Including avoiding catastrophic events

Areas of Interest

• Recent Financial Times article on H&S PR’s of

individuals

• The number of company directors and senior

managers prosecuted for health and safety

• ffences has more than trebled in a year
• Almost all the cases involved the injury or death of

an employee and many involved the construction industry.

Areas of Interest

• In the year to March 31 2016, 46 company

directors and senior managers were prosecuted for breaching the law by the HSE

• Of those prosecuted in the past year 34 were found

guilty, resulting in 12 prison sentences, although some were suspended. I

• In one case, the director of RK Metal Works in north

London was convicted of gross negligence and manslaughter after a five-tonne metal-cutting guillotine fell from the forklift truck he was driving and crushed a worker.

Areas of Interest

• 2015-16 figures were in contrast to the unusually

low number of prosecutions the year before.

• The number still represented a five-year high, with

31 prosecutions in 2010-11 and 23 in 2011-12.

Areas of Interest

• “Prosecution of directors is intended to hold them to

account for their failings,”

• “HSE’s policy is to prosecute directors when we

have evidence that they have breached the law and when it is in the public interest

Recent PRs – Large Employers

• Merlin Attractions (Alton Towers) – Smiler Ride
• root cause to be a lack of detailed, robust

arrangements for making safety critical

• decisions. The whole system, from training

through to fixing faults, was not strong enough to stop a series of errors by staff when working with people on the ride.

• Fine £5million (HSWA S.3(1))
• Costs £69,955.40

Recent PRs – Large Employers

• Foodles Productions (UK) – Star Wars
• HSE’s investigation found that there was no

automatic emergency cut off, to protect those on set, instead relying on the reactions of the prop

• perator(s) to bring the door to a stop.
• Fine £1.6million (HSWA S2 & 3(1))
• Costs £20, 861.22

Recent PRs – Large Employers

• Tata Steel
• HSE’s investigation found that there was a

failure to appropriately guard and manage the risks arising from dangerous parts of these items

• f machinery.
• Fine £1.98million (2 counts of HSWA S2)
• Costs £22,500