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May/June 2023 issue

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Sector: Energy
News

Unite’s Hinkley Point deal commits members to work on after a fatality

Open-access content Friday 14th September 2018
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

Unite's Hinkley Point deal commits members to work on after a fatality

After previous workplace deaths workers have sometimes downed tools, particularly if the incident takes place in their work area. However, construction union Unite has agreed that if the joint venture partner applies the "continue to work" policy properly and sensitively and does not put anyone else in danger on the site, its members will comply.

According to the Construction Enquirer, Unite's members working on the site were encouraged to agree the deal in August to protect payouts to the family of any worker who dies on the project.

A Unite spokesperson said: "Everyone working on a construction site has a right to work in a safe environment and the absolute priority must be to ensure that deaths and injuries do not occur.

"If a terrible tragedy should occur and someone is killed on site, then it is essential that workers in the immediate vicinity and anyone also potentially in danger should leave the site."

Unite has said that the size and scale of the Hinkley Point C development makes the project unique. The plant is the first nuclear power station built in the UK in 20 years and will be the biggest construction site in Europe.

"Given those circumstances where workers on one part of the project will likely never meet or see workers on other sections, such a policy if it is properly and sensitively applied is appropriate," said the Unite spokesperson.

According to Construction Enquirer, the chief contractor Bylor, a joint venture between Bouygues Travaux Publics and Laing O'Rourke, has agreed to pay £50,000 in the event of a fatality and match any money raised by workers.

Bylor will construct the buildings that will house the two European pressurised reactors (EPR) at Hinkley Point C, in a civil engineering project worth £2.8bn. According to French utility company EDF, which is putting up most of the funds to build the £18bn plant, the EPR technology can achieve around 1,650 MW of power output, compared with 1,450 MW for most modern reactors.

However, according to an article in the Guardian in 2016, there have been problems at other EPR construction sites.

The Hinkley Point C project is already behind schedule and significantly over budget. Once complete, it should provide 7% of the UK's electricity.

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 Willmott Dixon arm fined £1.25m after refurb exposed residents to CO poisoning risk

Tuesday 25th September 2018
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found Willmott Partnership Homes, a subsidiary of the Willmott Dixon construction group, had failed to isolate live boilers in Hamilton House in Wolverton, Buckinghamshire when it carried out remedial works on the flats in December 2014.During the demolition and reconstruction of an external wall, the principal contractor removed the live flues of gas boilers, which were damaged and blocked, exposing residents to a CO poisoning risk.
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 Structural steelwork co in the frame for £150k fine over roofer’s spinal injury

Thursday 13th September 2018
An employee of Northern Structures was removing roof sheets from a timber-framed farm building on 20 September 2017 when he fell through one of the asbestos cement roof sheets, landing 4 m below. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that, although Northern Structures had provided a risk assessment and method statement to remove the roof sheets from below the frame, the method was then changed so the worker had to stand on the roof and remove the sheets.
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 Costain and Galliford Try hit for £2.8m after worker loses toes in sewage plant incident

Friday 21st September 2018
Costain and Galliford Try Building were part of a consortium appointed by United Utilities to upgrade the Tarporley wastewater treatment works in Cheshire. On 5 March 2015 MEICA (mechanical, electrical, instrumentation control and automation) site manager Peter Rowan and a software engineer were commissioning a storm screen – a machine comprising a 3.1 m-long screw conveyor mounted horizontally inside an overflow chamber with a mesh basket attached to the underside – to remove solid objects from liquid sewage.
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Friday 28th September 2018
A waste operative for B&W Waste Management Services sustained third-degree burns when he was engulfed in a fireball created when a spark from a forklift truck ignited a cloud of gas from the canisters. He was put in a medically-induced coma for ten days on a life-support machine, has undergone several operations, and relies on medication for nerve pain. The forklift driver was also burned.
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 Building firm’s MD banned over unsafe London site

Tuesday 2nd October 2018
Kewie Doherty’s company, C J Langs, was also sentenced after inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found unsafe work-at-height practices, a lack of suitable equipment, and untrained operatives working without supervision. They had visited the site in Sherborne Gardens, Ealing, following an accident in January 2017, Westminster Magistrates’ Court was told.
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 HSE construction blitz doubles down on respiratory risks

Thursday 4th October 2018
During October inspectors will visit construction sites where the HSE has identified probable respiratory risks. The HSE told IOSH Magazine inspectors would be looking for evidence that construction workers know the risks, are conscious that their work may create hazardous dust and have considered how the work could affect their health and those around them.The HSE said the sites and the activities targeted will be decided at a regional, operational, level. The findings will be reported on later this year.
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Sector: Energy
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