Monday 31 May 2010

Permtting Regulations and the operation of a waste compactor

There was a strange requirement in the Waste Management Licencing Regulations 1994. Regulation 18 covered registration in connection with exempt activities. 18(1) stated that "it shall be an offence to have an exempt activity involving the recovery or disposal of waste without being registered with the appropriate registation authority." The strange part is the combination of "exempt" and "registration".
I believe that whoever drafted these regulations realised that it was daft to require everybody who had a compactor for their own waste, or even a bin for their own waste which is subsequently compacted, to be registered for exemption; it would be a bureaucratic nightmare for no benefit.
Therefore, in the Permitting Regulations, this has been specifically revoked.
However, I don’t believe that the Environment Agency understand this yet and there are some who still believe it necessary.
If you want to see the whole rationale behind my opinion, go to this link.

Sunday 30 May 2010

CE Marking explanation updated

SSS have updated the explanation of "CE Marking" and what it is all about.
What we've done is to remove the listing of the Essential Health and Safety Requirements and Harmonised European Standards and to put these in a separate webpage. That makes it all less cluttered but the listings are still accessessible.
See the new CE Marking explanation.

See the Essential Health and Safety Requirements and Harmonised European Standards list.

Saturday 29 May 2010

Graph function added to INTACT


These show the graphical outputs from the customer complaints (CC) and internal problems (IP) function in INTACT.

INTACT has the ability to count not only the CCs and IPs, but to
  • Total their costs and
  • Compare the counts with the total number of jobs processed
  • Compare the costs with the turnover
These graphs show these outputs. There are 3 graphs because of the need to have 3 different Y axis scales.

The graphs were added in response to a customer request. They wanted to make more use of the recorded data.

Friday 28 May 2010

Tesco fined for fire safety breaches

Supermarket giant Tesco has been fined £95,000 and ordered to pay over £24,000 in costs after pleading guilty to five breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO).

London Fire Brigade, prosecuting, said firefighters were called to a fire at Tesco’s Colney Hatch store in Barnet on 14 October 2007. When they arrived found the premises locked but managed to gain access after attracting the attention of an employee who was restocking shelves. There had been a fire in the staff kitchen but it had been put out by staff using extinguishers and a fire blanket. There was still a significant amount of smoke in the kitchen, the corridor and staff locker rooms and crews had to ask staff several times to evacuate the premises.

This incident made officers concerned about fire safety in the store, so on the following day they inspected the premises. A number of breaches of fire safety legislation were found, including a failure to review the store’s fire risk assessment, a failure to ensure escape routes were kept clear and inadequate fire separation due to doors being wedged open. An enforcement notice was subsequently served on 2 November 2007.

Tesco pleaded guilty to failing to keep emergency exits clear (£20,000 fine); failing to keep an emergency route clear (£20,000); two counts of fire doors being wedged open (£20,000 each) and storing flammable materials under an emergency stairwell (£15,000). Sentencing took place at Wood Green Crown Court on 20 April 2010.

London Fire Commissioner Ron Dobson said: “Fire safety is a key part of good business management and the general public should feel safe from fire when they are out shopping. London Fire Brigade will continue to take action when businesses, large or small, do not take their fire safety responsibilities seriously. Failure to comply with the law can, as this case has shown, result in a prosecution.”

A Tesco spokesperson told Info4fire.com: "We take safety matters in all of our stores extremely seriously. We would like to reassure customers that this was an isolated incident and all issues at this store have been resolved."

Source: Info4Fire

Timber yard owner fined over fire safety breaches

The owner of a timber yard has been ordered to pay a total of £130,300 after pleading guilty to several breaches of fire safety legislation.

P and S Ashley Timberworks, 'in breach of fire safety'
Paul Ashley, of P and S Ashley Timberworks, in Cheshire, was found guilty of eight offences against the Fire Safety Order at the Cheshire Crown Court on 11 May.

He was fined £80,000 and ordered to pay Cheshire Fire and Rescue service £50,300 in costs after repeatedly refusing to carry out fire safety measures.

Despite being visited on several occasions by fire safety officers, the first time in February 2008, Mr Ashley failed to provide a suitable fire alarm or proper means of escape. He also failed to implement a ‘suitable and sufficient’ risk assessment.

Mark Cashin, deputy chief fire officer, said: "This is an excellent result. Fire safety is a key part of good business management and Mr Ashley showed little or no regard for the safety of his employees or the people living and working around his premises."
Origin: Info4Fire
Find out more about Fire Safety Support from SSS



Thursday 27 May 2010

Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations- when they apply

There is some confusion over when the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 apply. We've had one instance where the HSE have said that it applies when you are selling old machinery.
This isn't true.

Reg. 3 states:

(a) references to placing machinery or partly completed machinery on the market are references to making it available in an EEA state—

(i) for the first time;

(ii) with a view to distribution or use, whether by the person making it available or another; and

(iii) whether for reward or free of charge;

Note that it only applies if it is for the first time. But beware; first time means first time use within the EU, and if you buy even a second-hand piece of machinery, say from the USA, then the regulations apply.

Note also that (ii) states distribution or use. So, even if it is for use within your own organisation, the regulations apply.

See more about CE marking support from Strategic Safety Systems.
See more about CE marking.

Sunday 23 May 2010

Graphical output added to INTACT

In reponse to customer inputs, we'ev started putting graphical analysis outputs to INTACT.