PHSC is delighted to announce that it has received accreditation to run the IOSH Managing Safely Re-certification course.

Designed by IOSH, the course enables those who have successfully completed IOSH Managing Safely to refresh and update their knowledge of important aspects of health and safety management, including legislative changes.

IOSH recommend that those with the IOSH Managing Safely certificate attend training at least every three years.

No project work is required, but delegates are asked to complete a multi-choice examination which comprises 13 questions.

Duration: 1 day

Please see the courses section for further details, or call us direct.

We are delighted to announce that following our recent accreditation to run the International NEBOSH Certificate we visited Geofizyka in Torun, Poland. They organisation had won a contract with Shell in Syria and needed to demonstrate competence of their health, safety and environmental managers. PHSC were selected because of our tailored and flexible approach and our track record of NEBOSH in the UK.

We spent two challenging but rewarding weeks teaching 17 very hard working students whose first language was not English, to ensure the key messages were effectively communicated and understood. Results are awaited, but are expected to be good.

Our next course will be in two block weeks, commencing 29.10.07, with the second week commencing 12.11.07 and the exams in the week commencing 26.11.07.

The fee will be £1495 plus VAT, inclusive of all tuition, refreshments, course literature, examination fees and additional support where needed. Clients under our Appointed Safety Advisor Service will be eligible for a discount, as will those who wish to make multiple bookings on the same course.

We will be limiting the attendance, so early booking is needed to guarantee a place.

In places where smoking can continue, the Health and Safety Executive will still expect organisations to continue to reduce the risks from smoking in the workplace to as low as reasonably practicable.

If you need help implementing the requirements of these regulations – please do not hesitate to contact us via the website

The Health and Safety Executive is highlighting the need to make sure that anyone who certifies premises as safe for re-occupied following asbestos work is accredited to make that decision.

The new requirement came into effect in April 2007 under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006. This means that nobody can issue a site clearance certificate unless they are approved by an appropriate accreditation body as competent to carry out the work.

Surveyors at our sister company, ALS are competent to carry out such work and would be delighted to help you with any queries you may have.

Wye Valley Demolition Limited of Hereford, incurred fines and costs of £20,000 after they allowed the release of asbestos fibres during demolition of a former grain store building. Instead of removing asbestos cement sheets under controlled conditions, they were simply smashed to the ground by a machine and spread over the ground.

The charge was brought under the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 (since superseded by the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006).

An HSE spokesman said that those in the construction industry need to exercise caution when working in areas that may contain asbestos, as it causes 3,500 deaths in Britain each year, with annual numbers predicted to go on rising into the next decade. For help with surveys or management systems, contact us today.

The Royal United Hospital at Bath has been ordered to pay £104,000 in fines and costs after a 37-year-old patient who had been cured of leukaemia contracted legionnaires disease and died. The incident happened in 2004 when Daryl Eyles used a contaminated shower shortly before he was about to be discharged.

Bristol Crown Court heard that the hospital had blatantly ignored safety guidelines over some years, and failed to carry out basic maintenance of the water system. Hospital management had decided for financial reasons to prioritise funding in other areas, and in the view of Judge John Bromilow they “seemed to have ignored the health and safety of patients between 2001 and the time of Mr Eyles’s death in 2004. The hospital admitted liability and explained that they had since spent a huge sum on putting things right.

To access expert help in this and any other area of water safety management, please make contact via the website.

A recruitment agency has been successful on appeal in a challenge to a requirement obliging it to provide workers with free personal protective equipment (PPE). The company, Miles Recruitment Limited, convinced the judge that provided they did not make a profit on PPE that could be used at more than one workplace, they could ask workers to make a financial contribution towards the PPE.

Annette Miles, managing director of Miles Recruitment, who lodged the appeal, said she had done so because “ there is no obligation for these workers to stay for any given time, or even to start working for us, so there is no way we could supply free PPE for all who walked through our door. We do supply PPE at wholesale prices and would never allow a worker to go to a client's site without PPE if it were a requirement.”

The Court of Appeal has ruled that the employer of a kitchen fitter who crashed his van during a “micro-sleep” is two-thirds liable for his injuries. Michael Eyres, who was an employee of Atkinsons Kitchens and Bedrooms Limited, had been awake for 19 hours before the accident.

The Court acknowledged that Eyres must have realised the risk of falling asleep at the wheel and hence was partly to blame, but had only been put in that position because his employer had failed to conduct a proper risk assessment.

For help conducting risk assessment in this, or any area of business, please contact PHSC via the website

European Week for Safety and Health at Work will run from 22-26 October 2007 and the theme is to be the avoidance of musculoskeletal disorders.

The “Lighten the Load” campaign is intended to bring attention to the fact that back disorders are the most common form of ill-health at work. Related issues include neck and upper limb disorders, and lower back pain. A Campaign Action Pack will be available shortly.

Presumably there will be no detailed information about chicken trussing within it. For a comprehensive solution to Manual Handling issues, contact our sister company RSA and ask about their new Back Care Advisor Programme.

Ambulance chasers are companies that exploit opportunities to persuade people to claim compensation following injury at work or where another party may be held negligent. Some of these organisations have become aggressive and intrusive, and the practice has mushroomed since the concept of no-win no-fee.

In response to the growing menace, the Lord Chancellor has determined that claims-handling companies will be prohibited from operating unless they are specifically licensed under the Compensation Act.

Authorised firms will have to meet a set of standards including a duty to give clear advise to potential claimants on the chances of success and the options for funding the clams process. It is understood that around 1000 companies have applied for registration under the new scheme.

A recent report suggest that users of Display Screen Equipment (DSE), after 15 years of dedicated regulations, still experience a variety of avoidable ill-health symptoms. The self-reported problems include headaches, neck pain, eye discomfort, back pain and shoulder pain.

All of the symptoms were more prevalent among employees who already had stress-related problems. The Health and safety Executive has concluded that there is no positive evidence to show that the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 have reduced ill-health in DSE workers. The full report can be downloaded from the HSE website at: www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr561.htm.

If you are concerned that your assessments might not be as thorough as they may be, or you need advice on how to implement the guidelines effectively into your organisation, contact us today!