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May/June 2023 issue

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Manufacturing and engineering
News

Brexit should not trigger OSH law review, says EEF

Open-access content Monday 26th September 2016
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

Brexit should not trigger OSH law review, says EEF

The entire "acquis" of OSH legislation made under the EU framework directive should be transposed wholesale into UK statute, says the EEF.

"Most UK health and safety law derived from EU directives has been in place for many years and is embedded in company investment decisions, company policies, management systems, safe systems of work and working practices," says the body in its report Britain and the EU: Manufacturing an Orderly Exit.

"Fundamental change is likely to be extremely disruptive to those businesses who use health and safety performance as one important aspect of their corporate social responsibility credentials."

Asked about obstacles to trading with the rest of the world, EEF member organisations rated health and safety as the lowest barrier behind eight other factors including language, product standards and banking arrangements.

The EEF represents 6,000 UK manufacturing and engineering businesses. It says that once the UK has separated from the EU there is scope for individual safety and health regulations and other laws to be reviewed by government.

"The UK could move away from the so-called EU precautionary principle towards a more flexible legislative environment with regulation only where absolutely necessary," says the report.

There is no need for urgent revision of EU-derived OSH law, the EEF says, because the framework directive was inspired by the UK's own Health and Safety at Work Act.

"Member states are free to adopt stricter rules for the protection of workers when transposing EU directives into national law," it says. "Therefore, legislative requirements in the field of safety and health at work can vary across EU Member States with some countries imposing higher standards on their industries. In the UK there is very little evidence of so called gold-plating in this area.

"This is particularly true of multinational businesses, which in many cases have adopted the UK's health and safety model as the baseline standard for operations both in and outside Europe."

"The dangers of a hasty Brexit are clear and nowhere is this more evident than when looking at the wealth of EU environmental regulations and directives, many of which have supported better behaviours and outcomes," said Claire Jakobsson, EEF's head of energy and environment policy, "but have also involved considerable investment. A mass repeal would be costly and disruptive, and would seriously undermine investment -- all bad news for business."

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 'Confusing work system' allowed roof fall

Thursday 29th September 2016
Samuel Wright Maxwell, 46, was employed at Cooper B-Line’s factory in Highbridge. On 17 May 2013, he was working on a roof when he fell through the skylight and on to the concrete floor of the rack assembly area, 7 m below. He died shortly afterwards. Taunton Crown Court was told that maintenance staff had permission to work on the roofs and did so regularly without proper precautions to prevent them falling.
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 Parker Hannifin fined £1m for unplanned machine move

Wednesday 21st September 2016
Colin Reddish, 48, was working alone on 30 April 2015 at Parker Hannifin Manufacturing’s factory in Grantham, Lincolnshire, moving a large computer numerically controlled (CNC) milling machine. The machine had been placed on skates so that Reddish could use an angle grinder to cut and remove the bolts that had fixed it to the floor. As he was doing this, the machine toppled and killed him.
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 New project aims to raise OSH awareness in Bangladesh factories

Monday 10th October 2016
The project, called OHS (Occupational Health and Safety) Initiative for Workers and Communities, will see 75 people trained to deliver workshops in Dhaka in its garment, construction, ship-breaking and other similar industries.IOSH, the World Solidarity Movement (WSM) in Belgium, the National Fire Association (NFPA) in the USA, LUSH Cosmetics “Charity Pot” in Canada, and a group of anonymous donors in San Francisco, California, have provided a total in excess of $53,000 (£42,690) for the first year of the project. Fundraising will continue for the second and third years.
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 Damaged trolley brings £130k fine for metals supplier

Thursday 13th October 2016
Luke Simpson and another member of staff were manually moving the four-wheeled trolley loaded with 18 metal bars and weighing approximately 900 kg at Smiths Metal Centres’ site in Bedfordshire.  The trolley tipped over, Luton Magistrates’ Court was told, and the bars toppled off trapping Simpson. He was taken to hospital with a broken leg and crushed foot, most of which had to be amputated despite multiple operations. He now has a prosthetic foot and has returned to work on a part-time basis only.
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 TUC attacks HSE board appointment

Wednesday 7th September 2016
The Department for Work and Pensions has appointed Susan Johnson, former chief executive of the Durham and Northern Business Forum, and previously a director of the food retailer Greggs, to the HSE board in one of three positions that have been reserved before for TUC nominees.
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 Conveyor injury lands Sovex with £170,000 penalty

Tuesday 6th September 2016
The installation engineer was commissioning a new conveyor belt system for postal operator UK Mail at its site in Coventry on 21 January 2015 when his arm was pulled in.  The machinery was not effectively guarded and there were no isolation procedures in place, the Health and Safety Executive found. Sovex was found guilty of breaching s 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. It was fined £170,000 with £24,000 costs at Warwick Crown Court.
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