The cost of not checking how good your contractor is

A recent court case highlights many of the issues raised with the recent revision of the CDM Regulations that came into force on April 6th.

One of the UK’s largest toy manufacturer and importer needed some gutters clearing on their 3,344 square metre asbestos cement roof. As a result of a recommendation by one of their employees, the company appointed the employee's father, an unemployed builder, and his mate to do the work. Unfortunately the mate fell nine metres through a plastic skylight and suffered fatal injuries.

Both the company and the builder were prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive. The company was fined £200,000 and the builder was given a six-month jail sentence suspended for a year by Preston Crown Court. The company admitted a single breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 by failing to ensure the workers safety and was also ordered to pay £10,483 towards prosecution costs.

Basically, the company did no checks at all on the competency of the builder they employed. They did not ask for, or see risk assessments, method statements, or any other paperwork and as a result they had no idea as to how the work was to be carried out. Bear in mind this is a multi-national company with bases in the UK, Hong Kong, and Germany and with a multi-million pound turnover. At the time of the incident the company had no full time health and safety manager, they do now!

Under the new CDM regulations the Client has much more responsibility and a situation like this should never arise, however, if a company of this size does no checks, what about all those thousands of smaller companies around the country?

Peak Bat Season is nearly over, book your surveys now

Back in May we showed you just how many bats can live under roof tiles. Now it's time to remind you about bat surveys, and in particular the peak season for bats and how it affects such surveys.

If you need to carry out a bat survey on a property then they can be done at any time of year during the day by a specialist surveying company. However, if a further activity survey is required it can only be carried out during peak season. That season ends on August 31.

So, if you know, or suspect such an additional survey will be required, you need to book it this week in order to have a chance of getting it carried out. The alternative? Potentially months of delay until the peak season begins again.

Source: Middlemarch Environmental

An example of how not to work at height

The image you see above is a bit of an eye opener and a perfect example of how not to work safely at height. What you are seeing is two men working on a roof without any form of safety in place. There is no roof ladder, and the man sitting down is using a petrol-powered tile cutter while sitting on the ridge.

A single slip and either man could fall. If the man holding the heavy cutter falls, not only does he risk injuring himself, he puts members of the public in danger as the cutter could fall and injure passers by.

The Suffolk roofing firm is owned by Anthony Nightingale, who also happens to be the guy using the cutter in the image. The HSE understandably decided to take action and prosecuted Mr Nightingale under the Work at Height Regulations 2005. He now has to pay a total of £4,315 in costs and fines.

HSE Inspector Elizabeth Fowle commented:

"Mr Nightingale should have led by example, but instead he put his own life and the life of an employee at risk. Fortunately no one was injured on this occasion, but it is astonishing that Mr Nightingale thought it was acceptable to use a potentially dangerous piece of machinery while perched at the top of the roof."

Source: HSE

How many bats can live under roof tiles? Lots!

Anyone reading this ever had to have a bat removed from their roof? Even if you did, I bet there was only one. But if you're unlucky a colony of bats may have decided your roof is a perfect nesting ground, with the result potentially being the removal of all your roof tiles.

The video above is pretty unbelievable purely for the number of bats that keep appearing as each roof tile is lifted. Apparently a survey was done on the building, but no bats were discovered. So it came as a complete surprise to find hundreds of them.

Source: Forth Demolition

Builder's crane helps lower injured man to safety

Yesterday, on the Wolverhampton Road in Essington, a man was injured while working on a roof and a gable had toppled on to him. While an ambulance was called, they couldn't get to him in his lofty position.

The solution came in the form of a builder's crane with what looks to be an RSJ attached in the image. The worker was lowered to the ground and into a waiting ambulance. The man in his 40s is now being treated for chest and back injuries in a local hospital.

Source: BBC