HSE BOSS INTERVIEWED ON HEALTH RISKS AND CDM

Chief Inspector highlights impending health risk ‘blitz’ and CDM changes

It has been reported that HSE construction inspectors will in the coming months be taking more enforcement action on health hazards.

Heather Bryant, HSE Chief Inspector for Construction, has told Health and Safety at Work magazine that the construction industry has “lost its way” in securing compliance with the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations.

HSE will therefore be “pressing for more action” to safeguard workers from exposure to the hazards of asbestos, construction dust and excessive noise.

hselogo1 Bryant told Healthandsafetyatwork.com

“We will be pushing on asbestos and going back to basics on COSHH and the hierarchy of control.

Why give someone a facemask when you could control the dust by wet cutting or on-tool extraction?

The controls are out there we expect them to be used now, not just talked about.

Health will be at the front of our inspectors’ minds and we will be challenging organisations to think health first.”

Ms Bryant also confirmed that revised CDM Regulations 2007 are now not expected to come into force until April 2015. She said HSE will issue the consultation document for the new CDM Regulations in February or March 2014.

She recognises that proposals to abolish the CDM coordinator function are making some in the industry “rather nervous”.

Guidance on the new CDM Regulations is likely to include a radically shortened version of the Approved Code of Practice (ACOP). The current document is 130 pages in length.

hselogo1

This article was posted on 20th January 2014 in ALL LATEST NEWS, ASBESTOS, CDM 2007, CDM 2015, OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH, SILICA.
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HSE BOSS INTERVIEWED ON HEALTH RISKS AND CDM

Chief Inspector highlights impending health risk ‘blitz’ and CDM changes

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