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May/June 2023 issue

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Safe systems of work
Sector: Energy
News

ConocoPhillips loses appeal to reduce offshore gas release fine

Open-access content Tuesday 3rd January 2017
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

Lord Justice Treacy rejected the oil and gas exploration company's application at the appeal hearing, held on 11 October 2016 in London.

The incidents happened between 30 November and 1 December 2012, during maintenance work to refit a fuel pressure control valve on one of three gas turbine generators that supplied electricity to the LOGGS platform. Over 600 kg of methane vented directly into the turbine hall and threatened the lives of 66 employees, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said.

HSE inspector John Hawkins told IOSH Magazine previously that ConocoPhillips' procedures were not being followed: "The planning was awry. Some of the permits weren't filled in properly and some of the risk assessment hadn't been completed properly," he said.

The company pleaded guilty at Lincoln Crown Court to a breach of reg 9(1) and two breaches of reg 19(1) of the Offshore Installations (Prevention of Fire and Explosion, and Emergency Response) Regulations 1995 for failing to prevent uncontrolled hydrocarbon releases. On 8 February 2016 it was fined £1m for each of the failings and was ordered to pay costs of more than £159,000.

At the appeal hearing, Judge Treacy told the court that ConocoPhillips UK had fallen short of appropriate standards and the case was one of high culpability. He outlined a serious and systemic failure to address risks to health and safety, both in the permit to work process and in the vital systems that had persisted over a period of time.

He said: "The risk involved was foreseeable and significant. If the gas had ignited the risk to personnel of death or serious injury was extremely high. At least seven personnel had been put at extreme risk with a further five at particularly high risk. However, all 66 occupants of the platform had been put at significant risk.

"The failures represented by counts two and three amplified and perpetuated the failure to provide a safe system of work reflected in count one. The applicant fell markedly short of a reasonably practicable standard for a safe system of work. There had been multiple failures and omissions in the permit to work system and these failures had extended over some months."

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Image credit: ©iStock/Garsya

 Inadequate PPE left workers with life-threatening chemical burns

Wednesday 4th January 2017
The PSL Worldwide Projects’ employees were cleaning the pipework using sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) granules at pharmaceutical supplier Hyclone UK’s site in Cramlington, Northumberland.On 31 July 2014, water reacted with chemicals in the system and caused the liquid to heat up, creating pressure in the hose. The hose then detached and sprayed the two workers with the solution.
Open-access content

 Contractor fell through unguarded floor hole

Monday 9th January 2017
The company was installing a mezzanine floor at a factory in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey when the incident occurred on 13 January 2015. The contractor was working on the floor when he stepped backwards and fell through a hole where a lift was due to be installed.
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 *UPDATE* Network Rail fined £800k after track worker hit by train

Tuesday 10th January 2017
Allen Evans was in “unnecessary danger” as he carried out maintenance work on the Quarry Line, north of the Redhill Tunnel on tracks running between Gatwick Airport and East Croydon, after Network Rail failed to adequately plan and manage the task, Guildford Crown Court was told.
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 Wilko braced for £2.2m fine after multiple safety failures leave student worker paralysed

Wednesday 11th January 2017
Leicester Crown Court heard that Collins was pulling the metal cage overloaded with 230 kg of paint out from an uneven lift floor at the store’s Beaumont Shopping Centre branch when it toppled on her, causing a severe spinal fracture.Leicester City Council’s public safety team, which brought the prosecution, described it as a “high culpability case”. No suitable risk assessments had been carried out and the general risk assessment covering roll cages did not cover the hazards involved in maneuvering them on uneven surfaces.
Open-access content

 EU plans exposure limit for used engine oils

Thursday 12th January 2017
UEOs are one of two carcinogens where the commission says tightening controls will reap the greatest health and monetary benefits. The other is trichloroethylene, an industrial solvent. The commission estimates that UEOs pose a risk to a million EU workers and are commonly used in automobile and motorcycle engines, diesel rail engines, aero engines, and portable machinery, including chainsaws and lawn mowers. Frequent and prolonged contact with the oils may cause dermatitis and other skin disorders, including skin cancer.
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 Logistics firm pays £280k over two forklift accidents

Friday 16th December 2016
On 6 October 2014, a 39-year-old employee of Rudolph and Hellmann Automotive, which was contracted to manage materials movement on the production lines, had his left foot crushed when he was run over by forklift truck.  The next day, a 55-year-old operations manager was seriously injured by a falling metal box as he walked along a marked pedestrian footpath. The box fell off a forklift and pinned him to the ground. He sustained punctured lungs, internal bleeding and a fractured pelvis.
Open-access content
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Safe systems of work
Sector: Energy
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