SPOTLIGHT
World Day for
Safety and
Health at Work
28 April 2016 Theme: Workplace
Stress: a collective challenge
T
his year, “Workplace Stress: a collective challenge”
is the theme of the campaign of the World Day for
Safety and Health at Work. The report will draw
attention to current global trends on work-related stress
and its impact.
Today, many workers are facing greater pressure to
meet the demands of modern working life. Psychosocial
risks such as increased competition, higher expectations
on performance and longer working hours are contributing
to the workplace becoming an ever more stressful
environment.
ALTRINCHAM BUILDING
CONTRACTOR SENTENCED
OVER BLOCK COLLAPSE AND
MULTIPLE UNSAFE WORKING
PRACTICES
A Cheshire building company has
been sentenced for safety failings
at a building site in Altrincham
where they were building residential
houses and apartments.
A
ltin Homes Limited was running the building
works at the former petrol station on Woodlands
Road, Altrincham, Cheshire. The company was in
control of all construction works and acted as client and
main contractor employing numerous trade workers and
labourers on site. The site first came to HSE’s attention in
June 2014 following the collapse of building blocks across
the pavement and cycle lane on Woodlands Road.
When HSE investigated the collapse of building blocks
it was noted that there were other poorly stored blocks on
site which were at risk of crashing through the hoarding for
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HSE INTERNATIONAL
Work-related stress is now generally acknowledged as
global issue affecting all countries, all professions and all
workers both in developed and developing countries. In
this complex context, the workplace is at the same time an
important source of psychosocial risks and the ideal venue
to address them in order to protect the health and wellbeing of workers.
The World Day for Safety and Health at Work is an
annual international campaign to promote safe, healthy
and decent work. It is held on 28 April and has been
observed by the International Labour Organization (ILO)
since 2003.
28 April has also long been associated with the world’s
trade union movement’s commemoration of the victims of
occupational accidents and diseases.
Every year some two million men and women lose their
lives through accidents and diseases linked to their work.
In addition, there are 270 million occupational accidents
and 160 million occupational diseases each year, incurring
US$ 2.8 trillion in costs for lost working time and expenses
for treatment, compensation and rehabilitation. Fatalities,
accidents and illness at work are highly preventable and we
have an obligation to act.
A national occupational safety and health culture is
one in which the right to a safe and healthy working
environment is respected at all levels, where governments,
employers and workers actively participate in securing a
safe and healthy working environment through a system of
defined rights, responsibilities and duties, and where the
highest priority is accorded to the principle of prevention.
a second time. The company was told to remove them as
soon as possible to reduce this risk.
The HSE inspector served two Prohibition Notices and
two Improvement Notices, along with a Notification of
Contravention during the first site visits.
Trafford Magistrates’ Court heard that some of the
issues had been satisfactorily dealt with by Altin Homes
following HSE’s first intervention but on a second visit a
fortnight later, they had failed to remove the unsafe blocks
which had caused the original incident. In essence they had
ignored the recommendations of the inspector and had put
their own workers and members of the public at continual
risk.
Altin Homes were charged with failing to protect the
safety of their employees, failure to protect the safety of
others including subcontractors and members of the public
and one count of failing to plan, manage and monitor
construction work so that it was carried out in a safe
manner.
Altin Homes Limited of Altin Court, 1a, Woodlands Road,
Altrincham, Cheshire, WA14 1HG pleaded guilty at Trafford
Magistrates Court to breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of
the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and Regulation
22(1)(a) of the Construction (Design and Management)
Regulations 2007 and was fined £40,000 wi th £3,000 costs.
HSE inspector Matt Greenly said after the case: “Altin
Homes Limited failed in their duty to protect their workers,
subcontractors and members of the public passing by this
site from a foreseeable risk of serious harm.
“Luckily no one was injured when the blocks fell through
TWO CONSTRUCTION FIRMS
FINED FOR SAFETY BREACHES
Two Derbyshire-based construction
firms were fined for safety breaches
as a result of separate investigations
into reported cases of carpel
tunnel syndrome and hand arm
vibration syndrome to employees.
Source: http://www.un.org/en/events/safeworkday/
Photograph: PA
the site hoarding but, given the size and weight of the
building blocks that fell onto the pavement and highway,
there was the potential to cause serious injury or even
death to both employees and the general public. It was
nothing other than good fortune that no pedestrians were
passing along the pavement when the blocks fell.”
D
erby Crown Court heard how employees at Sandvik
Mining and Construction Limited and Sandvik
Construction Mobile Crushers and Screeners Limited
were regularly exposed to hand arm vibration through
the use of a range of vibratory tools in the assembly and
servicing of crushers and screeners.
Investigations by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
into the activities of both companies found that Sandvik
Mining & Construction Ltd between July 2005 and March
2014 and Sandvik Construction Mobile Crushers and
Screeners Ltd between 2007 and February 2013, failed to
adequately manage the risk to employees from exposure
to vibration including failing to carry out suitable and
sufficient assessments for the risk from vibration, and had
not made reasonable estimates of employee’s exposure.
Sandvik Mining and Construction Limited of Heathcote
Road, Swadlincote, Derbyshire Limited pleaded guilty to
breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc
Act 1974 and was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay costs of
£8,246.
Sandvik Construction Mobile Crushers and Screeners
Limited of Heathcote Road, Swadlincote, Derbyshire Limited
pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and
Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £280,000 and
ordered to pay costs of £8,246.
HSE inspector Edward Walker said after the hearing:
“There is a well-known health risk associated with exposure
to hand arm vibration and it is important that measures
are put in place to manage the risk. Exposure to hand arm
vibration can cause debilitating affects which could have
been avoided.”
Source: http://press.hse.gov.uk/2016/altrincham-building-contractorsentenced-over-block-collapse-and-multiple-unsafe-working-practices/
Source: http://press.hse.gov.uk/2016/two-firms-fined-for-safety-breaches/
HSE INTERNATIONAL
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