HSE expected to cut unannounced workplace inspections

The BBC has been handed a leaked letter written by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that details plans to cut back on unannounced inspections.

Although no final decision has been made on whether to do this, the HSE is dealing with a 35% reduction in government funding making it more likely to happen than not.

Such cuts will not impact all areas of business, but 3 high risk categories are included (nuclear, offshore, checmical).

Professor Rory O'Neill, editor of the safety magazine Hazards, believes this is a very bad idea:

"The HSE's job is to make the workplace safe, but now it's being explicitly instructed not to do that job right. The implication for health and safety is that workplaces will become deregulated."

We hope the HSE decides against such a cut and that it doesn't spread to other areas of industry too.

Source: BBC

Safety blitz begins this week

The construction industry is about to undergo a blitz of activity with safety inspectors upping their visits in a bid to cut down on poor practices which lead to injury and death.

According to Philip White, HSE's Chief Inspector of Construction:

"This will be the fifth year that we have run the inspection initiative across Britain and we anticipate that that there will be examples of both good and bad practice – those where employers are taking all the measures they can to protect their workers and those where safety is way down the list of priorities.

A lax attitude to health and safety in one of the more dangerous industries is not acceptable, especially when many of the incidents are completely avoidable by taking commonsense actions and precautions."

The areas of the industry safety inspectors will be concentrating on this time include refurbishment, repair, and maintenance sites. There is also going to be a focus on asbestos education and in particular checking whether asbestos surveys have been carried out.

Source: Construction Enquirer

Caterpillar Virtual Walk Around safety inspection

Caterpillar has created a new website which covers the basics of how to inspect a machine with a walk around.

The site is split into sections covering:

• Ground-level Inspection


• Mid-level Inspection


• Cab Inspection

In each the coverage is interactive giving you point-to-point help at every stage as the images below demonstrate:







As a free guide online it's a great resource to have and hope to see more of this both from Caterpillar and other manufacturers in the future.

Source: Caterpillar