• Fatality involving a young worker driving an ATV that overturned - company fined £35,000 and ordered to pay £25,000 costs. The company was prosecuted under section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for failing to assess adequately the risks associated with using ATVs and for allowing its employees to use them without training.
• A tree surgeon climbed into a tree to carry out work, using a top handled chainsaw. Whilst removing branches he seriously cut his left arm and face with the chainsaw. The emergency services were called out to rescue him from the tree but he later died in hospital as a result of severe blood loss. The other workers on site did not have the necessary skills to climb the tree and carry out an aerial rescue. At the inquest the Coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death, but said that if an employee had died, rather than the tree surgeon, he would have recorded a verdict of unlawful killing, because of the lack of safe working practices.
• A farm worker sustained serious injuries when he fell through a fragile roof onto a concrete floor while removing fixings on damaged roof sheets. This employee was inexperienced and untrained in roof work and was not properly supervised or provided with fall protection. The farming company was prosecuted under regulation 7(1) of the Construction Health Safety and Welfare Regulations 1996.
Take care out there, health and safety is no accident.
Article courtesy of The Health & Safety People, 16A Market Square, Sandy, Beds, SG19 1HU Tel: 01767 682 800:
www.healthandsafetypeople.com
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Focus on pesticides and the environment
By JON ALLBUTT
THERE is no doubt that many professionals in amenity horticulture are highly trained and have been using pesticides very carefully for a long time. It is part of our training and culture to try and manage our sites in such a way that reduces the need to use a herbicide, insecticide or fungicide; but it seems that despite this we have some problems to address. Monitoring of water quality shows that some active ingredients used almost exclusively by our sector are present at unacceptable levels. Why is this and what do we need to do to correct it? Those who monitor our water supplies have identified the application of herbicides to hard surfaces as a major contributor to the problem. The main contributory factors appear to be:-
• Out of date contract specifications,
• Lack of expertise by those who write specifications
• Deciding what pesticides should be used
• Those who supervise the contractors work
Other factors are the methods used to choose contractors mainly based on bid price rather than other equally important factors such as expertise, training and equipment. If that rings a bell with you then you need to look at the many sources of information and training available to help you e.g.
www.naac.org.uk,
www.nptc.org,
www.basis-reg.com,
www.amenity.org so that you can achieve higher standards of stewardship to protect our environment. You may have heard about
the Voluntary Initiative, you may also have heard about the Amenity Forum and the Conference held on the 1st March at Warwickshire County Cricket Ground in Edgbaston; but you may not have grasped how important these initiatives are to you and your work in the amenity sector so read on! The Voluntary Initiative (VI) was set up by industry (that’s us!) in response to Government’s proposals for a Pesticides Tax. The main thrust of the VI was initially in agriculture but we were also included. The Amenity Forum is part of the VI and is the first
20
www.pitchcare.com/re
representative group from all aspects of the amenity sector to lobby at high level on behalf of all interests and assist the VI. We were closely involved in the discussions that resulted in the production of the new unified Code of Practice for Using Plant Protection Products - the old Orange Code is now redundant and the new code is now available free as a download on
www.pesticides.gov.uk. This is a ‘must have’ document for all professionals who use pesticides, or in some other way are involved in the decision that results in a pesticide being used by others. We are very disappointed that a decision has been taken to charge for hard copies (£15.00), but industry was not consulted on this point! All who are indirectly involved can store it electronically for reference; but for those at the sharp end, the operators who actually apply pesticides, this is your bible to have by you at all times so that you can be sure you are meeting your legal
duties to protect the environment.
Jon Allbutt has worked in the amenity sector for over 42 years; he is Chairman of the Amenity Forum and an independent health, safety and environmental adviser, he can be contacted on
jon@jonallbutt.co.uk
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