ThePeakHealth & Safety LaboratoryAn agency of the Health & Safety Executive June 2010

Newsletter

Health&SafetyLaboratory T +44 (0)1298 218218 F +44 (0)1298 218635 www.hsl.gov.uk

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In This Issue Tower Crane Investigations Leading Safety Culture Energy Networks Association

Also in this issue... Interview with David Fishwick - Chief Medical Officer at HSL

In this edition we once again explore the

sheer breadth of HSL’s activities; from

tower crane failures, worker behaviour and

safety culture to wellbeing at work.

Underlying this diversity, however, are two

generic aspects of HSL’s approach;

learning from the past and transferring this

knowledge to others via practical, validated

solutions. Thus, our Chief Medical Officer

explains how previous industrial exposure

still affects workers today and how, by

improving well-being in the workplace,

organisations can help to ensure that their

workforce remain healthy in the future.

Similarly, we outline practical tools and

approaches such as our Safety Climate

Tool, as well as our work for the Energy

Networks Association on understanding

worker behaviour and organisational safety

culture. In all cases, we are proud to be

helping organisations to continuously

improve their health and safety

performance.

Welcome to The Peak

Health&SafetyLaboratory T +44 (0)1298 218218 F +44 (0)1298 218635 www.hsl.gov.uk

Eddie Morland

Chief Executive

Health and Safety Laboratory

Tower Crane Investigations

Understanding the cause of accidents is key to

preventing their recurrence. Major incident investigations

following the King’s Cross Underground, Buncefield

Oil Depot and Paddington rail disasters, have all

resulted in changes to designs, processes and

procedures. Other investigations indicate the need for

additional research or even new guidance or legislation.

At HSL, we provide practical support to HSE and other

agencies with their investigations. These may have

resulted in substantial property damage, serious

injury or fatality. We carry out 200-250 investigations

each year and our unique expertise and experience

means we are an essential member of the investigating

team. Our experts have also supported major incident

investigations around the world.

A good example of our work relates to tower crane

collapses. There are around 1800 conventional tower

cranes thought to be operating in Britain, with about

1300 in use at any one time. Eight people, including

a member of the public, have lost their lives in a

number of high profile tower crane collapses since

2000. At these incident sites HSL’s Engineering

Safety team and specialist photographers carried out

detailed examinations of the collapsed structures and

observed recovery operations. Various sections of the

cranes were then brought to HSL for further examination

and testing. Our specialised, large-scale test rigs are

able to replicate the forces experienced by a tower

craneand help determine the cause of collapse.

In response to public concern over these incidents,

the Government’s Work and Pensions Select Committee

recommended that a national crane register should be

established as part of a package of measures which

involves HSE, HSL and the construction industry

continuing to work together. As a direct result, The

Notification of Conventional Tower Cranes Regulations

2010 came into force on 6 April 2010.

The Regulations require certain information about

conventional tower cranes used on construction sites

to be notified to HSE. This will help improve the

control and management of risks by providing better

intelligence about tower crane use. HSL’s Mathematical

Sciences Unit played a key role in the implementation

of these Regulations by developing the web-enabled

database that will allow online notification by duty

holders. A Guidance Leaflet (INDG437) on complying

with the Regulations is available on the HSE website.

HSL’s Engineering Safety Unit is also undertaking

research into the effect of wind loading on the jib of a

luffing tower crane. A crane has been erected on our

Buxton site which has instrumentation fitted to measure

and record various operational parameters. The study

is providing valuable information on the effect of wind

speed when the jib of the crane is facing directly into

the wind and the facility has also been used to

recreate the conditions of a real-life, incident.

As these examples illustrate, HSL is committed to

continuing its provision of specialist investigation and

research expertise to help HSE and UK businesses

understand the causes of accidents and reduce the

risk of their recurrence.

If you would like more information contact:

Darren Whitehouse +44 (0)1298 218407darren.whitehouse@hsl.gov.uk

More information on the Safety Climate Tool can befound at www.safetyclimatetool.co.uk

‘Leading Health and Safety at Work” can be downloaded at www.hse.gov.uk/leadership/

ThePeak newsletter l Issue 5 June 2010

Business leaders can then use the results to guide

both strategy and resources in improving health and

safety performance.

Dr Caroline Sugden, one of HSL’s Human Factors

specialists, has worked across many industries to

implement the tool and recognises some of the key

issues to consider. “We know from experience that

the Safety Climate Tool can help businesses to identify

some of the barriers to improving safety and help

them to develop a clear plan for improvements.”

She adds “However, it is important that an organisation

is suitably prepared not only to roll-out the survey,

but also to be able and willing to act on the results”.

One organisation that has successfully used the tool

to highlight and address safety issues is United

Biscuits. They have been working hard to improve

the safety culture of the organisation since 2003. Our

team at HSL worked in partnership with United

Biscuits to undertake a safety culture evaluation to

assess the impact of the company’s safety initiatives

between 2003, when the tool was first applied, and

2009 when the new tool was reapplied.

They found a clear improvement in safety climate

over this period, indicating a more positive safety

culture. For example, accidents showed a steady

decline with the average number per month

reducing from 7.7 (2003) to 3.2 (2009).

John Johnstone, Health and Safety Manager at

United Biscuits, outlines the value of the tool: “This

provided both the evidence to prioritise operational

areas where improvements and development were

required, and a measure for monitoring progress.

We’ve moved forward in how we look at safety and

this has been reflected in the change in Safety

Climate Tool results.”

An effective health and safety management system

requires strong leadership. A joint report from the

Health and Safety Executive and the Institute of

Directors entitled “Leading Health and Safety at

Work” noted that those organisations with good

systems tended to have leaders who provide

visible, active commitment to health and safety,

encourage workforce involvement in health and

safety issues, and regularly monitor and review

performance. Many high profile safety incidents are

rooted in systemic leadership failures and a failure

to recognise poor health and safety performance as

a key business risk.

One of the challenges for business leaders is to

gauge the underlying attitudes and ‘culture’ of safety

within their organisation. At HSL we have developed,

and use, a suite of practical tools and techniques to

help businesses improve their health and safety

performance. One example is the newly revised

Safety Climate Tool (SCT).

The SCT measures an organisation’s ‘culture’ in

respect of safety and helps it to assess a number of

factors that are known to affect safety performance.

These factors include leadership of the company but

also cover organisational commitment, attitudes of

peers towards safety issues, the effectiveness of human

resources policies and how the organisation

approaches the investigation of incidents.

LeadingSafety Culture

Leading Health & Safety at Work

Energy NetworksAssociation

team worked directly with these companies to

conduct both focus groups and structured one-to-

one interviews.

These encompassed a range of individuals from

across the workforce, and focused on specific

areas which had been identified as particularly

relevant:

Understanding the hazards

Competence and training

Roles and responsibilities

Procedures

Supervision

Resources

Management commitment

Outcomes/BenefitsA comprehensive report of the findings was

produced for the benefit of both the ENA SHE

Committee and the ENA member companies

involved.

The research reported on the perceptions, opinions,

and understandings of the individuals and groups

who were interviewed. This information has directly

informed the new 5-year health and safety

strategy for the electricity industry ‘Powering

Improvement’. Furthermore, building on the findings,

the SHE Committee has agreed to develop a suite

of guidance documents defining the key issues that

need to be addressed to secure compliance and

ensure that risks are adequately managed.

Peter Coyle, Operations Director at ENA

commented, “The project carried out by HSL has

provided ENA with a useful indication of the

prevailing safety climate within the networks

industry in the UK. In a number of areas the work

helped to confirm what we previously believed, and

gave us an evidence base which has directly fed

into our new 5-year strategy.”

For more information contact Adam Mellor +44 (0)1298 218732adam.mellor@hsl.gov.uk

Case Study

Health&SafetyLaboratory T +44 (0)1298 218218 F +44 (0)1298 218635 www.hsl.gov.uk

The clientThe Energy Networks Association (ENA) is the

industry body for UK energy transmission and

distribution organisations. It acts in the interest of

the energy 'wires and pipes' sector to achieve

excellence in both its internal services and

relationships with stakeholders.

One of ENA's overriding goals is to enable its

members’ networks to be the safest, most reliable,

efficient and sustainable in the world.

The problem A number of incidents over recent years suggested

that experienced, highly-trained workers were

allowing themselves to be exposed to unnecessary

levels of risk whilst working with live electricity.

In light of this, ENA’s Safety, Health and Environment

(SHE) Committee took the decision to commission

independent research to gain a greater

understanding of the underlying behavioural and

safety culture within the electricity networks

sector. HSL was selected to perform this work.

What we didIn partnership with HSL, ENA selected two

member organisations to act as representatives for

the industry. Experts from HSL’s Work Psychology

.

Health&SafetyLaboratory T +44 (0)1298 218218 F +44 (0)1298 218635 www.hsl.gov.uk

What are the main benefits of early intervention?

In my view, keeping workers healthy is the most

important issue, although other benefits include

retaining an engaged and healthy workforce, with all

the financial benefits that go along with this not only

for workplaces, but also for the wider society. Keeping

a healthy and engaged workforce will become even

more important as our society gets older.

Keeping people at work is also important for their own

health, as a lot of research supports the fact that being

out of work is exceedingly bad for you and that once

you’ve been away through illness for 6 months the

chances of return are low. I think the recent change in

emphasis is important; when you are not well, your

doctor will identify what you can do, rather than

perhaps saying that you are too ill for any work.

What is the significance of well-beingin the workplace?

There is information to suggest that, where worker

well-being is good, an organisation actually performs bet-

ter. Personally, I embrace this issue. All of us need to

focus on improving well-being in our workplaces, as

engaged workers will be happier at work, more effective

and healthier. It is very important here that senior

individuals within organisations also support this. At HSL,

we are so convinced about these benefits that we have

formed our own Health, Work and Well-being Group,

helping to define the strategy and implement various

ideas. But we don’t just deal with well-being locally, as

HSL also works with a large number of national

organisations and employers to assist them in this area.

In addition, we work with various organisations across

Europe to co-ordinate research and exchange information

relating to worker wellbeing. We are leading various

projects here to better understand how to make simple

and practical changes for the better in workplaces.

There are very interesting and exciting opportunities at

the moment. Whilst we are better able to prevent and

deal with diseases caused by work, we also have many

exciting challenges to improve worker wellbeing, to

ensure the entire future workforce remain healthy at

work.

Interview

Do you think these diseases could havebeen prevented and, if so, how?

To a degree, yes. I sit weekly in clinic and see people

who’ve been potentially harmed by their work

environment, some now short of breath and not able

to climb stairs or even play with their grandchildren.

The patient is clearly at the end of a journey when they

see me in clinic, along which at certain points, systems

might have failed them, allowing lung disease to

develop. This is where the concept of the ‘patient

journey’ comes in. When workers travel along this

process and begin to develop symptoms, there should

be the opportunity for early intervention to get people

back to health and spot early cases of lung disease.

All people with responsibility for workplaces can make

a difference here by trying to identify problems at work

that might harm breathing, and to take medical advice.

Whose responsibility is it to recogniseearly symptoms in the workplace?

I think it’s everybody’s responsibility - the worker, the

employer, the legislator and many others, including the

supply chain. There are also other sets of

responsibilities which are more difficult to identify. For

example, primary care also has a responsibility to

identify early lung disease and make a potential

connection with the workplace.

If you work regularly with flour and you go to see your

family doctor or nurse, they should be aware that flour

can cause asthma. The same is true if you see

hospital specialists. HSE also has a very important role

here, but I believe that they can only fully solve these

problems by working with many other parties.

What does your role at HSL involve?

I work at HSL in the Centre for Workplace Health

(CWH), a tri-partite agreement between HSL, Sheffield

Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the

University of Sheffield. The benefit of this arrangement

is that all members of the CWH team are able to work

across traditional boundaries to address particular

health issues, including occupational respiratory illness.

CWH is also active nationally, convening the Group of

Occupational Respiratory Disease Specialists, which

has been invaluable in providing HSE with information

on new and emerging issues and helping identify

particular research needs.

CWH undertakes a significant amount of work on Hand

Arm Vibration Syndrome and we have also been

involved in addressing musculoskeletal issues in the

workplace.

What are the main occupational healthproblems that you see?

As a consultant respiratory physician I see patients

with breathing problems, that in part, reflect their

previous industrial exposures. Conditions include lung

cancer, asthma and rarer conditions.

I still see a significant amount of asbestos related

disease, a product of ‘historic’ asbestos exposure.

I also deal with more recently identified occupational

lung problems, including asthma related to cleaning

products and enzyme usage, mostly in cleaners and

bakers, and both asthma and alveolitis related to

contaminated metal working fluid exposure.

Dr David FishwickChief Medical Officer at HSL and Clinical Director of the Centre for Workplace Health.He is also a Consultant Respiratory Physicianat the Royal Hallamshire Hospital and aReader at Sheffield University.

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ThePeak newsletter l Issue 5 June 2010

A new Workplace Well-being Tool has been launched on the Business

Link website.This tool forms part of Health, Work and Well-being – a

government-led initiative to improve the health and well-being of working

age people. It replaces the existing Business Health Check tool and

provides a more user-friendly, online resource.

A Greener Future

The tool has been designed specifically to help employers improve the health

and well-being of people in their organisation. Through using the tool employers

can calculate the cost of employee ill-health, staff turnover and workplace

injuries to their business. They can also compare their results against bench-

marks in other similar organisations, get useful information on ways to improve

through ideas and case studies, and have the opportunity to build bespoke

business cases for their own health and well-being initiatives.

HSL’s Futures team has been commissioned by the

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work to

undertake a study into the potential health and safety

risks likely to face workers in ‘green’ jobs in 2020. The

two-year investigation will produce scenarios which

can then be used to make decisions which will help

shape the future of occupational health and safety in

industries such as wind turbine installation, hybrid and

electric vehicle manufacture and the energy efficiency

sector. The project is being led by HSL and also

includes experts from SAMI Consulting and the Belgian

and Estonian branches of Technopolis.

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HSL has recently provided the Energy Technologies

Institute (ETI) with a bespoke, professionally facilitated

awayday for its Executive Directors. ETI asked HSL to

design and deliver a tailored event so that its Directors

could review their approach, understand the latest

developments on the regulatory landscape and examine

HSL’s own experience of managing a large multi-

hazard site in order to inform their own discussions.

ETI Training Matt Clay, Principal Consultant with HSL, said: “ETI wereseeking a tailored approach to maximise the value

added by the event. Because ETI’s Directors have

substantial industrial experience, including in the major

hazard sector, a standard director’s duties programme

would not have been appropriate. Instead, we put

together a practical and interactive event, which focused

upon strategic risk management action planning and a

regulatory and good practice update”.

Well-being Tool Launched

HSL is running a new course based around the use of

the Assessment of Repetitive Tasks (ART) tool. HSE’s

newly launched tool helps recognise, assess and

reduce upper limb disorder risks in the workplace.

Delegates have the opportunity to practice using it

alongside the HSL team who helped develop it.

The ART tool can be downloaded for free at

www.HSE.gov.uk. The first one-day course, held in

Buxton in April, was fully subscribed and the next course

is scheduled for July 14th. For details of this and other

HSL courses visit www.hsl.gov.uk/training.aspx

The ART of Training

Newspage

The Workplace Well-being Tool is free and can be accessed at

www.businesslink.gov.uk/wwt