All New PPE Regulations

A new set of EU regulations covering PPE was listed by the European Union in April of this year. This is the first stage of the regulations and is due too last two years. This means that in April 2018 the new regulations will come into force, although there will be a one year grace period for articles already marked to previous standards.

So what does this mean in practice?

There are now three categories of PPE:

1. Category 1 which is simple PPE which basically protects from contact issues. For example, contact with water or cleaning materials, sunglasses.
2. Category 2 which is intermediate PPE to protect from risks not covered by the other categories. For example, Hi Vis, Safety Glasses and Helmets.
3. Category 3 which is complex PPE to protect from risks that may cause death or serious injury. For example, drowning, knife wounds, chain saw cuts, falling from height.

These changes will mainly have an effect on the supply chain as it will be the wholesalers who ensure that the PPE they buy is covered by a “declaration of conformity” or a link where it can be obtained. It then becomes the buyers responsibility to ensure they are buying from reputable wholesalers who can provide this information.

For more information contact Stuart on stuart@demolishdismantle.co.uk.

They're here...

The new CDM2015 Regulations -- Managing health and safety in construction -- have arrived.

The 90-page document is freely available online courtesy of the Health and Safety Executive. You can view it online and download it by clicking this link.

Happy reading!

The Demise of the CDM Co-ordinator

With CDM in the news at the moment, even more so with the new update being due for release early next year, there is the interesting case of a breach of the CDM regulations recently.

On Thursday (27th November) an architect's practice was fined for failing to provide contractors with sufficient relevant information about the flammability of the timber frame used in the construction of a new care home building in October 2012.

“A routine inspection of the work by a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector found that the separation distance between the new timber frame building under construction and an adjacent occupied care home was insufficient.

As a result, had the timber frame caught fire there was a serious risk that the radiant heat would cause the fire to spread to the care home, putting the lives of residents and staff inside at risk.

HSE found that there was nothing in the design specification produced by the architects to alert construction workers erecting the timber frame to the additional fire risk it created, and the need to take action accordingly.”

Clearly this was a situation where the CDMc would, or should, have had an input and advised the architect accordingly. This begs the question of whether the removal of the CDMc role, as proposed by the new regulations, will not only make situations like this worse, but also more commonplace.

What do the proposed CDM Regulations mean for dutyholders?

The Health and Safety Executive are launching their proposals for the revision of the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 201x this year. With that in mind, the Association for Project Safety has decided to hold a number of seminars across the UK to inform people working in construction what the CDM changes are.

Anyone is welcome to attend, with the dates and locations as follows:

25th February - South West England
25th February - Yorkshire
25th February - Northern Ireland
26th February - South West England
27th February - London
27th February - East Anglia
4th March - South East England
4th March - Scotland East
4th March - Northern England
5th March - East Midlands
5th March - Scotland North
6th March - South Central England
11th March - North West England
11th March - Wales
12th March - Midlands
12th March - Scotland West

The cost will be £15 per attendee with the programme running as follows:

17:00 Registration, Tea/coffee and sandwiches
17:30 Welcome and introduction
17:40 Presentation of proposed regulations by HSE/other
18:15 Group/workshop discussions of consultation questionnaires
19:00 Summary of responses and collection of written comments from delegates
19:30 Q&A
19:55 Closing remarks from HSE/Chairman

If you are interested in attending please visit the APS website linked to below and click the date you are interested in.
https://www.aps.org.uk/cdm2014-consultation-seminars

Explosives regulations: have your say

Call Safe Services Limited's construction newsletter from July 2013 includes a piece that will certainly be of interest to C&D bearing in mind the number of explosive demolitions that we are involved with in Glasgow at the moment.

Have your say on proposed explosives regulations

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has launched a public consultation on new regulations that will simplify and consolidate the safety legislation for explosives.

The consolidated set of regulations (referred to as the Explosives Regulations 2014 (ER 2014)) cover the safety of workers and the public when manufacturing, handling and storing explosives. They also include European requirements in relation to product safety.

The HSE is seeking views from businesses and stakeholders through an eight-week public consultation that begins on 30 July 2013, and ends on 24 September 2013. Those interested in the changes may include industry, other Government departments, third sector groups, and individual users such as hobbyists.

The consultative document and details of how to respond to the consultation are available on the HSE website at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/consult/condocs/cd256.htm

First Aid Training changes forever in October 2013

The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 have governed first aid in the workplace and since 1982 the HSE have approved the training and qualifications of appointed first aid personnel. But when the HSE announced in February a proposal to deregulate first aid training it is likely that from October this year employers will be free to choose any provider of first aid training.

Remember that First Aid Training means that you could save more than a few pounds - you could save a life and what price would you put on that?

Further details of our first aid courses can be found at our sister site www.demolitiontraining.com

Updated asbestos regulations now in effect

The Control of Asbestos Regulations have been updated by the HSE in order to bring them fully inline with EU law. The changes are limited, but came into effect on April 6 and will impact certain work involving asbestos.

Specifically, the changes require that non-licensed work requires additional notification, medical surveillance, and record keeping in the form of written records.

You can find a full guide to the regulations on the HSE website. A further change to note is that as of April 2015, any workers doing notifiable, but non-licensed work are required to be under the surveillance of a doctor.

Source: Health and safety at work