Newsletter July 2007

HSE Continues to Cut Staff

The Health & Safety Executive's latest annual report shows how over the past 5 years the HSE have cut their overall staff by some 17%.

With less staff, the HSE will inevitably shift some of their workload elsewhere. In our case these will be the construction professionals who are trying to keep the workplace safe and boss out of jail.

The new CDM 2007 regulations are certainly more rigorous in their approach to managment of the CDM process and put far more responsibility for construction site safety on, for instance, the Client.

Even more reason then, for organisations who have the responsibility to manage the CDM process to use the best management tools available. We welcome enquiries from prospective customers to see how we can help them and from customers who may need awareness or product training or both. Ai Solutions and our partners contiune to offer CDM Awareness Training and Product Training.

Please Contact Us to find out more.

Local Authorities and HSE Working Together

The HSE's June 2007 Annual Report states:

"The Local Authorities and HSE Working Together Strategic Programme concluded  during 2006/07, having substantially met the objectives in the Statement of Intent agreed between HSC/E and local government bodies in 2004. With the relationship between LAs and HSC/E now much improved, and LAs showing strong commitment to HSC/E's strategic priorities, we have switched our focus to field-based delivery.

The LA/HSE partnership teams have been crucial in encouraging and co-ordinating partnership activities and helping to shape LA/HSE plans to meet HSC/E's priorities. Delivering these priorities relies heavily on significant LA involvement and there is still a challenge to ensure this commitment is sustained. Good communication between HSE and LAs is also important to sustaining an effective partnership".

We know from our own experience that getting local authorities to work together is a continuing challenge. TfL have led the way in providing the forum for much debate on the CDM aspects of this and we welcome further developments to the flurry of work carried out in 2006. This included presentations to the former TfL Joined Up Working Group and the London based ALG. In particular, we have continued to develop many routines to enable sharing of permissioned data between departments and organisations. Many of these new routines are in use in the TfL London Streets Division. There are huge opportunities for economies in this area and in all organisations and we openly invite discussion on this with any UK based Local Authority.

Keep a Sense of Proportion When It Comes To Risk

We are grateful to Callsafe Service for reporting the following;

The HSC Chairman when speaking to members of IOSH in Yorkshire said, "Ignore the trivia and headline grabbing bans and keep a sense of proportion when it comes to risk."

"According to some stories, health and safety is a millstone around the neck of Britain, concentrating on trivial risks and petty bureaucracy to the detriment of citizens. We must concentrate on practical steps to control risks that cause real harm and suffering and not bureaucratic back covering. Let us be clear, health and safety is all about saving lives and not stopping living." He went on to say, "It concerns me greatly that the image of health and safety as petty bureaucracy will damage our ability to make a practical difference on the real risks."

£135,000 Asbestos Claim

Thames Laboratories have brought the following item to our attention:

Three companies have agreed to pay £135,000 compensation after one of their former workers lost the use of his right kidney through prolonged exposure to asbestos.

Graham Mansfield was exposed to asbestos through his work with car brake pads over the course of 16 years.

Asbestos exposure is usually associated with lung damage but medical experts were able to demonstrate a link between Mr Mansfield's condition and his prolonged exposure to asbestos.

Denis O'Gorman, a solicitor at law firm Irwin Mitchell, said:

"It now seems unmistakable that Mr Mansfield's illness is solely down to the exposure to asbestos fibres he received between 1955 and 1977.

"Medical experts have concluded that this is the case and have even stated that this may cause Mr Mansfield's life to be ended prematurely.

"It seems only fair for the companies involved to give Mr Mansfield the compensation he deserves."

ToolKit CS™ September Release

Our next ToolKit CS™ Release is scheduled for the end of September.

The release is scheduled to include updates to our knowledge base, to our database and to our document management system. We have some major changes planned to make the integration with our Enterprise web product even slicker and easier to use. The base ToolKit CS™ will have some more innovations in it too to make that even easier to use.

Please make a diary note to attend one of the very sucessfull pre-release workshops because places go fast! More information on 'scheduled events' below.

ToolKit CS™ Training

A growing number of our major customers including EDF Energy and the London Borough of Hounslow have recently undertaken site specific training in our latest CDM software.

Judging by the comments and reviews that we have received as a result of these, the training has been both well received and relevant to their needs. This has resulted in more, and more efficient, use of the software tool for the compliance of the users, managers and corporate entities involved.

It is reassuring to hear that customers see a direct cost benefit from training in this way.

Scheduled Events

We have now set dates for the September Pre-Release Workshops. These get booked up very quickly so please confirm your places as soon as possible by calling Rebecca on 01525 850 080.

Each workshop will run from 10.00am until 12.00noon approximately.

We had great feedback from attendees last time, so dont miss the opportunity to get to see the software 'first-hand' and ask any questions you may have.

Buying Electronic Copies of the ACoP

Our cautionary tale of woe continues.

If you read our article in last month's newsletter about our abortive attempt to purchase an electronic version of the ACoP you may be interested in an update.

We have not heard from anyone at HSE Books or their agents concerning the purchase.

More Information

We regularly receive updates from our customers and contacts about changes to legislation, the latest rumours and so on. We try to be selective with what we pass on and acknowledge our sources as appropriate. If you have information of general interest in the Health & Safety, and particularly, CDM and Asbestos Management arena, then please let us know by e-mail if possible.