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Legislation changes about to happen
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There are two regulations which are about to change:
Approval has been given for the change to RIDDOR where the number of lost-time days that trigger the need for a report will in future be 7 days rather than the present 3 days. As mentioned in earlier newsletters, we welcome this change, mainly because the shift patterns we now have typically have natural breaks longer than 3 days. However, don't regard this as a slackening of the approach to health and safety; for those companies who use reportable injuries as a performance measure, we'd recommend still using 3 days as your internal measure. See article on this.
There is some legislation on the horizon arising from the Groundwater Daughter Directive. We reviewed the proposed methodology for the determination of substances and it did not appear to pose any problems for the industries with which SSS are involved. We will keep you posted on this.
The above 2 changes, when they are enacted, will mean that the Register of Legislation we provide for many companies will change. We will send out new versions automatically when this happens.
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INTACT Help system now on-line
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As we mentioned in the July newsletter, the Help system for the INTACT integrated action management system is now on-line. The latest version of INTACT has a changed HELP button on the from page of each module. Instead of opening a Word manual on your own system (which kept getting out of date), this now links into the SSS on-line help front page which has an expandable menu enabling you to see how to use all the different features that INTACT now has. If you have an earlier version of INTACT, save this bookmark: http://www.strategicsafety.co.uk/INTACT-HelpFront.html
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Trinity Mirror gain PEFC certification
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Congratulations to Trinity Mirror Printing Midlands who have gained certification to PEFC, one of the paper chain-of-custody standards. We beat our previous record for gaining such a system by one day, with the time between deciding to go-ahead and passing the certification body's audit being achieved in 9 days!
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CE assessment record system introduced
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Because of the increasing number of CE assessments with which SSS is involved with different companies, we are now introducing a CE assessment record system. This it the latest in a long line of SSS structured reporting systems which provide a rigorous structure for assessments whilst removing tedious tasks which were previously present.
We have used the new system for 3 simple pieces of equipment for one company and are presently transposing data from existing Word documents into the system. The outputs are a report listing the titles of all the clauses in relevant standards with the response on how the equipment meets relevant clauses, plus a certificate of conformity. It therefore forms a key part of the technical file required by the regulations.
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Road figures show complexity of accident causes
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There's an excellent recent report from the Institute of Advanced Motorists called Licenced to Skill. It analyses the causes of accidents. Some key factors are:
67% of all accidents were caused by driver error.
The dominant factor was "failed to look properly" (part of driver error) which was 35% of all accidents.
15% was "loss of control" (also part of driver error).
16% of fatal accidents were caused by "going too fast" (not necessarily over the speed limit).
In another study, road deaths and serious accidents continue to fall despite having far fewer speed cameras. |
I hope you have found this information of interest. If you have any suggestions of other information you would like to see, please contact me.
Regards,
Philip Chambers
Strategic Safety Systems Ltd. |
