HSE releases inspection activity timetable for 2023 across multiple industries

The HSE has identified that they are routinely finding poor standards of compliance and risk control for asthmagenic and carcinogenic wood dust in the woodworking industry, and as a result in line with the HSE Enforcement Policy Statement and Enforcement Management Model they aim to enforce the expected standards and take action on the underlying causes.

The HSE will aim to deliver improvements in the control and management of the risk and will review whether duty-holders across the industry can sustain the reasonable risk controls expected.

The HSE has inspected the waste and recycling sector across a number of years, but they’re still seeing poor Health & Safety standards in key areas. This Industry has one of the highest rates of workplace injury and work-related ill-health across all industries.

The purpose of this inspection programme by the HSE is to target machinery guarding and workplace transport at waste and recycling sites. Together, these two issues account for many serious and fatal injuries in the sector. 

The HSE has found the agriculture industry to be one in which risks are poorly managed which has resulted in persistently high rates of injury and ill-health. To address this the HSE will be inspecting the industry with the following inspection programs in 2022/2023:

 1) A programme of inspection targeting the major risks of injury by cattle in the livestock sector, including risks to members of the public who may encounter cattle in fields while using public footpaths.

2) A programme of inspection combined with a series of compliance events (Agriculture Compliance Events, ACE), developed from research into farmers attitudes to risk, and to bring about a change in behaviours and effective management of risk.

3) Follow up evaluation inspections to a small number of farms visited as part of the ACE inspections in 2021/2022.

4) A programme of inspection focusing on management of overhead power lines on farms. Numbers of power line strikes are high and there is an impact on national infrastructure. 

 5) A programme of inspection targeting chainsaw operations, in particular planning and competence, in the forestry industry. Being struck by trees during chainsaw felling is a major cause of fatal injury.

The HSE is conducting this inspection programme to continue and build upon the intervention work undertaken in previous years and to address emerging safety issues within the industry.

There are five main areas the HSE will be focusing on. 

1. Twist

The intervention involving Twist amusement devices (also known as Cyclone Twist, Scrambler, Merrymixer, Zigzag, Sidewinder, Disco Twist, Grass Cutter, and Sizzler) follows a serious incident in 2021 and will focus on the general condition of the device, the rider restraint system including consideration of the rotational speed of the device. 

2. Star Flyer

The intervention follows on from a serious incident in Northern Ireland and will confirm that the safe height rotation device is working correctly, so that the risk that a passenger could come into contact with fixtures of the ride (lamps, sidings, barriers etc) during the operation of the device is eliminated.

In addition, the inspection will also consider the control system for monitoring the passenger restraint system, which builds on work carried out last year with other high-speed rides with an ejection risk.

3. Work at Height

Following several serious incidents, and reports of bad practice involving work at height with the industry, the intervention will consider work at height controls for employees involved in the installation, maintenance, and inspection of amusement devices.

4. Non-destructive testing (NDT)

Interventions undertaken as part of the 2021/2022 National Fairground Inspection Team (NFIT) workplan identified several issues around the use of non-destructive testing (NDT) within the fairground industry. Specific issues were identified around the selection of appropriate NDT techniques for the components being tested, the competence and diligence of those carrying out the NDT testing, the interpretation and presentation of the findings and NDT schedules

5. High Speed rides

The inspection of high-speed rides where failure of a restraint to be properly locked could result in ejection of passengers, also remains a priority from the 2021/2022 workplan. Interventions should be applied to rides:

• where passenger containment is achieved with either ‘over the shoulder’ or ‘lap bar’ restraints.
• restraints may be automatically opened and closed or manually operated.
• there is a locking mechanism to mechanically lock the restraints down and prevent them from opening during operation.
• electrical switches (called limit switches or proximity sensors) are used to detect that the restraints are down and locked in place. This can either be as an indication to the operator, or as part of a “safety interlock” which will only allow the ride to start when all restraints are down and locked.