It is therefore important to implement necessary safety precautions as identified on risk assessments, even when working near power lines for a short period of time. 

 

Where it has been identified that power lines are within or immediately next to a site or across any access routes, contact is made with owners of the lines to discuss safety precautions. It may be necessary that power lines need to be diverted or made dead. 

 

Risks from power lines can be eliminated by: 

 Avoidance – can work be undertaken away from power lines? The HSE provides the following advise 

“Make sure materials (such as bales or spoil) are not placed near overhead lines, and 

temporary structures (such as polytunnels) are erected outside safe clearance distances”. 

 Diversion – make arrangements for overhead lines to be diverted away, made dead or isolated before 

work begins. Ensure that work is planned and time is given to arrange diversion of power 

lines. 

 

One way of achieving this is through salary sacrifice schemes, well known schemes include childcare vouchers and cycle to work, there are also many other uses for salary sacrifice, in this article we cover some of the essential considerations when implementing an electric car leasing scheme. To implement a salary sacrifice scheme the employer needs to ensure the following: 

• Change the terms of the employee’s employment contract and employee needs to agree to this change. 

The changes should be clear and understandable. 

• The change in salary cannot be applied to the salary retrospectively 

• The changes should be shown on the employee’s payslip 

• Check with HMRC that the scheme has been implemented correctly and is approved 

• Consult with pension providers on the effect the salary sacrifice will have on pension contributions and 

particularly if the employee is near retirement 

• Ensure that participation in the scheme should not reduce an employee’s cash earnings (hourly rate) to 

below the National Minimum Wage 

• Clarify how other pay and benefit elements will be calculated e.g. overtime, pay rises, pensionable pay, 

ideally this should be notional pay (before the salary sacrifice came into effect) 

• Make it clear that the reduced salary level does have to be used for the calculations for an employee’s 

statutory payments (such as statutory maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption and sick pay) 

 

However, all waste produced can also present a real safety hazard to workers if it is not properly managed throughout the project.” 

 

Managers/supervisors therefore need to decide: 

 

How waste produced during building work will be managed; and 

 

Who is responsible for collecting and disposal of waste? Problems arise when company and individual duties are not made clear before work starts. 

 

 

Flammable materials - make sure that all flammable waste (such as boxes, packaging and timber offcuts) are cleared away regularly to reduce fire risks; 

Work areas - make clearing waste a priority. Check that everyone is aware of what is required and that it is completed; 

Leeds Magistrates’ Court heard that on 5 August 2020 the delivery driver, an employee of Brighouse Pallet Services Ltd was struck by one or two falling pallets whilst they were being unloaded from a HGV trailer by a Seal It Services Ltd fork-lift truck (FLT) operator at the latter company’s site at Elland. 

 

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that both companies failed in their duty to provide a safe system of work. They failed to put in place simple control measures to ensure that all delivery drivers who visited the Seal It Services Ltd site were moved to a safe location for waiting, whilst HGV trailers were being unloaded by FLTs. 

 

Seal It Services Ltd of Riverbank Way, Elland, West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay £4,654.90 in costs.” 

 

According to the HSE “a principal contractor (PC) is the contractor with control over the construction phase of a project involving more than one contractor. They are appointed as early as possible by the client (commercial or domestic), before construction starts, to plan, manage, monitor and coordinate health and safety during this phase”. 

 

A principal contractor cooperates closely with the client and the principal designer and influences how the risks to health and safety are managed during the construction project. The PC ensures that requirements are understood and implemented. To do this the PC should: 

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a principal contractor for failing to safely manage a large, deep excavation during the construction of a dwelling in Greater Manchester. The defendant was Mr Matib of Bradford who was sentenced to sixteen weeks imprisonment suspended for twelve months, ordered to carry out 200 hours unpaid work and pay costs of £5,673. 

 

The inspectors reported that Mr Matib, who had employed several groundworkers, was found to have supervised unsafe excavation which put workers at risk and rendered the neighbouring property unstable. 

 

In addition, the defendant had failed to prepare a construction phase plan, with risk assessments and method statements, failed to appoint a site manager with suitable skills, knowledge and experience to manage the work. 

The regulations stated that if a risk assessment indicates that PPE is required, employers must ensure their workers have sufficient information, instruction, and training on the use of PPE. Workers have a duty to use the PPE in accordance with their training and instruction, and ensure it is returned. The employer will be responsible for the maintenance, storage and replacement of any PPE they provide. 

 

Worker means ‘an individual who has entered into or works under; 

(a) a contract of employment; or 

(b) any other contract, whether express or implied and (if it is express) whether oral or in writing, whereby the individual undertakes to do or perform personally any work or services for another party to the contract whose status is not by virtue of the contract that of a client or customer of any profession or business undertaking carried on by the individual. 

Employers need to ensure suitable PPE is:  

 

Whilst recognising employees may be prevented from attending work through ill health, businesses have a duty to provide a safe place of work, to ensure staff remain fit for work to maintain service and product delivery and minimise disruption. It is therefore important to commit to managing attendance and for managers and employees to take responsibility to work together to promote the management of sickness absence. We have therefore put together a number of points to help businesses. To achieve the desired level of attendance employers may adopt the following: 

• Promote the health, safety and wellbeing of all employees, including the use of risk assessments to identify and manage hazards impacting on health in the workplace. 

• Monitor levels of sickness absence for individuals, teams and the business as a whole. 

• Implement procedures to support and manage employee absences, whilst dealing with unjustified and/or high levels of sickness absence. 

The Health and Safety Information for Employees Regulations 1989, requires employers to either display the HSE-approved law poster or to provide each of their workers with the equivalent leaflet. 

 

If an employer chooses to use the Health and Safety Law poster to communicate with their employees, they should consider two things; the location of the poster or leaflet and the quantity that they display. 

 

HSE- approved law posters must be displayed in a prominent location in all business sites; in an area that can be easily accessed by employees; this could be in places like break rooms, kitchens, reception areas and communal spaces, ensuring they are clearly visible. 

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has reported in the 12 months to 31 March 2021, 142 workers in GB lost their lives at work, compared to the record low of 111 in 2019/2020. 

 

This increase is seen against a background of furloughed workers, Covid 19 affecting work generally and an accompanied 10% reduction in weekly hours worked (ONS figures). Last year’s low has been linked to the slow economic activity during the first wave of the pandemic in March 2020. Also, this year’s figure has risen above the 5-year average of 136 workplace fatalities, suggesting that safety standards have fallen. In addition, Covid 19 deaths have not been included in figures. 

 

The construction, agriculture and manufacturing sectors have all recorded an increase in fatalities in the 12 months to March 2021, construction 39 deaths, agriculture 34 and manufacturing 20. Comparisons with earlier years however is difficult due the effects of the pandemic. 

 

The reason for this increase is unclear, it may be due to the introduction of Covid 19 measures, or it could be due to the pressures of the pandemic overwhelming workplace safety matters.