Council cuts could leave 750 vulnerable people in Lincolnshire without cash for care

COST-CUTTING proposals could leave more than 750 vulnerable people without cash for their care and Telecare.

Lincolnshire County Council is planning to make people with "moderate needs" ineligible for care funding in a bid to save £4.6 million a year.

Officials say 3,096 people are classed as moderate, which is where they cannot care for themselves properly without help or specialist equipment.

Of these 1,509 will have to be reassessed, with predictions suggesting half of these people will lose their cash.

The other half are expected to be upgraded from moderate to substantial – the second highest level behind critical.

People who are only given special equipment will not be affected by the changes.

A council consultation found 88 per cent of people who responded were against the move.

Labour group leader Councillor Robert Parker said the proposed action was "scandalous", bearing in mind the majority who responded to the consultation were not in favour of it.

The Lincoln West member said he remained unconvinced that the Big Society – family, friends, neighbours and voluntary groups – could provide a replacement service to cope with the people's needs.

Mr Parker said: "You can't get it any clearer. The council goes out to consultation to reduce the support for people with moderate needs, 88 per cent say it shouldn't be withdrawn and the council is taking no notice.

"Consultation in Lincolnshire is becoming meaningless as the council takes no notice of it."

The council's adults scrutiny committee will discuss the idea next Wednesday, with the Conservative executive making a decision on Tuesday, October 4.

It is the latest example of the authority cutting back its adult social care responsibilities, following decisions to close council-owned care homes and consult on reducing in-house council services.

The authority says it will attempt to limit the impact on those who no longer qualify for financial support.

Councillor Graham Marsh, the council's executive member for adult social care, said a growing elderly population meant a decreasing budget faced increasing pressures.

Up to £39 million has to be saved by adult social care by 2015.

Mr Marsh said: "We need to limit the number of people who receive funding, rather than spreading the money too thinly and seeing no one receive the quality level of service they need.

"The proposed change to our eligibility criteria will see Lincolnshire join almost 80 per cent of authorities nationwide in funding people with substantial needs and above – in fact some only fund those with critical needs.

"This will ensure our services are in place for the future to support and improve the lives of about 13,000 people."

But opposition leader Councillor Marianne Overton said there could be greater cost for the authority by making this short-term saving.

The independent councillor said: "Moderate care sounds OK, but it means a person cannot carry out three essential personal care tasks.

"For example, they cannot get out of bed, go to the toilet and make their breakfast. People in that situation will receive no support from the council, even though they have no other income. They say they will provide alternatives, but Telecare is expensive.

"These are not people who are perfectly fine and want a little bit of help on Sundays."

A Lincoln woman, who uses council services, also told the authority: "Without this support I would struggle to move to be more independent and would become more lonely and depressed as I could not afford to pay for services out of my benefits.

"This would make me more isolated."

The council received 630 responses to its consultation.

Forty-six per cent suggested the criteria should be lowered to include all four care levels.

Petition calls for changes to working alone rules in Saskatchewan

The killing of a convenience store employee in Saskatchewan in June has spurred the provincial labour federation to support a petition to change regulations for retail employees working alone.

Many delegates attending the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour's (SFL) annual Occupational Health and Safety Conference from September 11 to 13 strongly supported and signed a petition calling for the introduction of "Jimmy's Law" into the provincial legislature, says Larry Hubich, president of the SFL. The proposed law is named after Jimmy Wiebe, who was murdered at a gas station convenience store on June 20 in Yorkton.

It would require employers to schedule two employees to work together between the hours of 10 or 11 pm and 6 am or provide protective barriers between lone workers and the public.

The incident that prompted the petition occurred in the early morning hours of June 20. At about 4:50 am, members of the Yorkton RCMP received a report of a man who had been found deceased in the Shell Canada convenience store by a customer, says Corporal Rob King, a spokesman for the Saskatchewan RCMP division. Four days after, King says, the Yorkton RCMP detachment charged Kyle Furness, 20, with first-degree murder in connection with the homicide of the 50-year-old worker, an employee of the store for more than 10 years.

Jimmy's Law is modeled after similar working alone regulations in British Columbia which were introduced in 2008, but have not yet come into effect because of the complexity of the issue, says Megan Johnston, a spokeswoman for WorkSafeBC. That year, however, BC introduced a separate pay-then-pump requirement following the death of a young gas station attendant.

"Grant's Law" - named after Grant De Patie, who was dragged to his death in March of 2005 while trying to prevent the theft of gas from a station in Maple Ridge, BC - requires mandatory pre-payment of fuel at all gas stations in BC, Johnston says.
Wayne Hoskins, president of the Western Convenience Stores Association (WCSA) in Surrey, BC, says it's important to note the distinction between mandatory pre-payment of gas and the requirement for multiple workers or barriers. "While Grant's Law was well-intended, it refers to outside, or ex-store, and not in-store coverage," Hoskins explains.

"There are some things you can do everything in the world to try and prevent or protect from happening, but they're going to happen anyway," he says. "Having an additional employee is not necessarily going to save the unfortunate tragedy from happening. It may stop that person from going to that store. If you build a better mousetrap, the mice figure out how to get around it."

In British Columbia, the working alone regulations - known as the Late Night Retail Safety Procedures and Requirements - consist of an engineering control (barrier) or administrative control (extra staff), Johnston says. Hoskins says that a third option has also been proposed: additional training, testing and certification. This option, a combination of both engineering and administrative controls, will be presented to WorkSafeBC's board of directors in October. Meanwhile, the SFL will discuss Jimmy's Law at its executive meeting on September 19 and 20 and decide on the next course of action, Hubich says.

Ontario also considering pre-payment option

Ontario is another jurisdiction considering a mandatory pre-paid policy for gas stations following a recent gas-and-dash incident. On May 19 at about 4:55 pm, gas attendant Hashem Rad, 62, was struck by a vehicle that took off with unpaid gas at a Petro-Canada station in Mississauga, Ontario (COHSN June 13, 2011). Rad was taken to hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries the following day.

Whatever the outcome with British Columbia's third option, Hoskins warns against an "emotional knee-jerk reaction" whenever there is a fatal incident at a retail outlet. "When there's random acts of violence, everybody is an expert on what the solution might be before they look into it," he contends.

"I don't know how sitting down and having a discussion about how we make sure workplaces are safe and that people who are in these vulnerable workplaces like conveniences stores and gas stations where there is a chance of them being assaulted and murdered... is a knee-jerk reaction," Hubich counters.

Writing A Lone Worker Policy

Increasing numbers of people are working on their own, at least some of the time, from shop assistants to warehouse staff to night workers and those who are occasionally based at home.

This shift away from traditional nine to five, office-based working has meant fresh challenges for employers, who need to manage the risks associated with lone working.

The first step if you have solo workers in your organization, is to carry out a proper risk assessment. Decide what needs to be done to ensure the safety of those who work alone – your current policies and procedures may not be sufficient.

You need to be sure that the person working unsupervised has the experience and good health to cope unaided, especially if they are handling potentially dangerous equipment. Has enough training been offered? Is it too stressful for them? Equally, you will need to think about how they will communicate and get help in an emergency. If the worker’s first language is not English, this can be even more important.

For example, what would be done if there were a break-in while only one night security guard was on duty? You may want to consider emergency alarms and the like. Equally, consider whether the person is trained in First Aid – or needs to be.
Regular contact and visits for those working alone can be vital. At the same time, consider how the quality of their work will be evaluated.

Some groups, such as expectant moms, the very young, older workers, those with disabilities, or trainees, may face particular challenges, and, in fact, it may not be safe for them to work without supervision.

Finally, if the lone worker deals with members of the public, there may be special considerations concerning who they see, and what emergency procedures are in place.

You may well need to have in place a lone worker policy, which sets out all these things in stone and makes procedures clear. Communicate this clearly to anyone who works alone, and display the document prominently.

Apart from anything else, lone working can be a lonely business. Make sure the employee knows they are looked after, and that you have given due consideration to their safety and welfare.

GPS Tracking Devices Attached to Toucans Help Scientists Gather Data on Seed Dispersal

In Panama, scientists form the Smithsonian Institute are using GPS tracking devices to gather data on how Toucans disperse seeds.

Toucans love nutmeg seeds. When Toucans eat, they gulp the nutmeg seeds whole. The outer pulp is processed in the bird’s crop, and the hard inner seed is then regurgitated.

There were were two main things scientists had to do to set up the experiment. First, the scientists had to figure out how long and how many seeds the Toucans would eat in a day. So the scientists gathered fresh seeds from a nutmeg tree and fed them to captive toucans at the Rotterdam Zoo.

During the GPS tracking experiment, five zoo toucans fed 100 nutmeg seeds took an average of 25.5 minutes to process and regurgitate the seeds.

Next the scientists captured six wild toucans that were feeding from a large nutmeg tree in the rainforest. The scientists attached lightweight backpacks containing GPS tracking devices to the wild birds. The GPS tracking devices recorded the birds’ exact location every 15 minutes and used accelerometers to measure the Toucans’ daily activity level.

The GPS-enabled backpacks are designed to fall off the Toucans after 10 days.

When matched with the seed-regurgitation time of the zoo toucans, the GPS tracking data indicated the wild toucans were probably dropping nutmeg seeds a distance of 472 feet, on average, from the mother tree. Each seed had a 56 percent probability of being dropped at least 328 feet from its mother tree and an 18 percent chance of being dropped some 656 feet from the tree. In addition, the accelerometer revealed that the toucans’ peak activity and movement was in the morning followed by a lull at midday, a secondary activity peak in the afternoon, and complete inactivity at night. This is a normal pattern of tropical birds.

“Time of feeding had a strong influence on seed dispersal,” the scientists write. “Seeds ingested in morning (breakfast) and afternoon (dinner) were more likely to achieve significant dispersal than seeds ingested mid-day (lunch).” This observation explains why tropical nutmegs are “early morning specialists” with fruits that typically ripen at early and mid-morning so they are quickly removed by birds.

Ideally, the scientists observed, nutmeg trees could increase their seed dispersal distances by producing fruit with gut-processing times of around 60 minutes.

Source: The original article, “The effect of feeding time on dispersal of Virola seeds by toucans determined from GPS tracking and accelerometers,” was recently published in the journal Acta Oecologica (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1146609X1100107X).

Patient safety: what's to be learned from road safety?

The idea that healthcare has a lot to learn from industries that are inherently risky but nonetheless manage good safety records – like aviation – has proven enormously persuasive. Aviation provides many examples of how to improve things that are currently not done as well as they could be, including effective teamwork and standardisation of routines.

But there are important differences between healthcare and air travel. Aviation incidents, when they occur, are dramatic, headline-grabbing events. And when a plane crashes, the crew has as much chance of going down as the passengers, so the stakes are as high for them as those they serve. By contrast, when errors occur in healthcare, they tend to harm one patient at a time, and clinicians are not affected by the outcome in the same way as patients.

Further differences lie in the scale and nature of the systems, and the constraints on what can and can’t be done. In aviation, the number of different types of personnel and types of procedure is limited: flights are scheduled and airlines can control exactly how many people are on a flight. Both crew and passengers can be compelled to comply with safety instructions, and those thought likely to pose a security risk or cause trouble can be stopped from boarding.

Hospitals are vastly more complex. Delivering good healthcare may require crossing multiple organisational, professional and institutional boundaries. Healthcare organisations conduct many thousands of different procedures, involving multiple staff, and are subject to problems of uncontrollable surge. But they often lack the ability to turn people away either because of capacity problems or because individuals pose a risk in some way.

Many of the factors that disrupt good care may be outside the control of individuals or teams, and they are dealing with autonomous patients, who may either decline or be unable to cooperate with what others feel would be in the best interests of safety. And hospital facilities, sometimes built in centuries past, are often poorly designed for the tasks they now undertake.

So, though there is much to be learned from aviation, it will never provide the full answer for healthcare, and some of its ‘solutions’ may require more adaptation to make them work in healthcare than is often recognised. In fact, looking at examples where achieving safety has been much more challenging, such as road safety, may in fact provide important lessons for patient safety.

As in healthcare, road safety accidents are only rarely headline-grabbers. Road use has the same deceptive familiarity as healthcare, and everyone has had a prang or two.

Road transportation suffers from many problems endured by healthcare: unsuitable physical infrastructure, poorly coordinated design, complexity introduced by individual autonomy and preferences, unpredictable surges, behaviour that is not always consistent with what is known to be safety-promoting, and a wide range of expertise and experience among road users, among many other things. But though it is not fully there yet, road transportation has succeeded in becoming much safer.

Both casualties and deaths on the road have shown steep declines since the 1960s (see the Office for National Statistics website), even though road traffic has substantially increased. Nearly 8,000 people were killed on the roads in the UK 1966, compared with just over 2,200 in 2009. The key is that improvements have been brought about by a range of strategies, targeting different levels and facets of the problem.

Structural and regulatory changes have gone hand in hand with large scale behavioural and cultural adjustments, and improvements to technology and infrastructure. For example, legal interventions have targeted unsafe behaviours such as speeding and drink driving; car design has massively improved; and standards of driving have improved through more rigorous training and licensing regimes.

Some interventions have removed choice and autonomy (such as removing the right to travel without a seatbelt, or to drive a banger that’s deemed not to be road worthy), but over time the resistance to them has diminished. That many people continue to be killed every year shows how difficult it can be to achieve institutional, cultural and behavioural change across the board, especially once the fabled low-hanging fruit has been picked.

Clearly, I am not trying to argue that road safety is a perfect model for patient safety. But neither is aviation. We need to be smart about how we learn from other areas, recognise that we need to select and combine many different instruments, figure out the optimal balance of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ interventions, and keep working at the wicked problems.

Mary is Professor of Medical Sociology at the University of Leicester and a member of The Health Foundation's Improvement Science Network.

Record satisfaction levels for Yorkshire telecare service

Satisfaction levels for a Yorkshire telecare service that allows elderly and vulnerable people to live independently for longer is at an all time high, according to figures from Wakefield and District Housing (WDH).

Care Link, which provides a range of modern community alarms and telecare equipment to more than 15,500 customers across the Wakefield district, has revealed that overall satisfaction for the service has grown to 96%.

Last year it became the first business in Yorkshire to receive full accreditation from its representative body, the Telecare Services Association (TSA), and will come as welcome news for the government on both local and national levels.

Telecare services help people live independently in their own homes for longer and are seen as key parts in government strategy to deal with the UK’s ageing population as they take pressure off care homes that are currently struggling to meet demand due to funding cuts from local authorities.

WDH Customer Contact Manager Mick Walsh said: “These figures are the result of our commitment to improving the service and driving it forward to meet the changing needs and requirements from our customer.

“This is obviously represented in the highest satisfaction levels we have ever recorded. This demonstrates that we are getting things right and delivering genuine peace of mind for our customers. We will continue to invest in modern technology to develop the service around those who use it.”

Care Link was founded in 1990 as part of Wakefield Council’s housing department and operated from a small converted flat in Normanton, with just 12 employees serving 7,000 customers.

Today it operates from a purpose built customer contact centre in Glasshoughton as part of WDH and has 40 employees working 24 hours a day – through Christmas, Easter and Bank Holidays – responding to emergency call-outs.

“We have a very special group of people working for us. They are absolutely dedicated to ensuring that our customers receive all the support they need, and that is the reason behind our success,” said Mr Walsh.

“Working for Care Link is more than just a job; it’s about serving the people who rely on us, round the clock, to the highest standard.”

Argyll Lone Worker Launches Proactive Risk Management Service

At the ‘Emergency Scotland 2011’ exhibition held at the SECC today, the UK’s largest Lone Worker service provider, Argyll, announced the release of ‘PRiSM’ a Proactive Risk and Safety Management service. PRiSM is a free of charge service to Argyll’s clients and stakeholders. It enables organisations with Lone Workers to identify and log the location of specific risks, such as violence & aggression, affecting their personnel and then ensure their safety by providing early intervention using powerful search tools or by issuing proactive alerts to Lone Workers upon approach to the risk location. This innovative solution is thought to be the first proactive service of it’s kind operated within the Lone Worker industry. The service has been developed by Argyll in consultation with Nick Arnold, the current Chairperson of the National Ambulance Security Group and LSMS based at East Midlands Ambulance Service who initially came to Argyll seeking a solution to enable an intelligent proactive link between workers and known locations of risk and this joint working brought about PRiSM which complies with the NHS Protect National Guidelines.

PRiSM is a membership based solution and it has been designed to be shared amongst key partner stakeholders whilst still meeting the requirements of legislation. Key risks to personnel are identified and logged by front-line staff using an Internet service. Incident markers are then vetted and eventually published to the wider membership using a rigorous management and review process. The solution is designed to reduce under reporting, eliminate false markers, minimise the time involved in creating warning markers, improve accessibility and improve management of risk incidents and data. PRiSM additionally provides each organisation with analytical statistics and helps improve work processes for risk warning markers. A formal review process ensures the quality of data reassuring the organisation that risk markers affecting the safety of personnel remain up-to-date and valid.

For further information on the PRiSM solution visit: PRiSM Solution

Garda handed $92,750 in penalties for failing to ensure worker safety

The vast majority of $92,750 in penalties levied against a national security company on Friday, for failing to ensure the safety of a female guard who was raped by an intruder at an unsecure construction site nearly five years ago, will go to a new program for safety training of lone workers.

Provincial court Judge Marlene Graham accepted the joint sentencing submission by Crown lawyer Alison McGill and Robbie Davidson, counsel for Garda Canada Securities Corp., which pleaded guilty to the Occupational Health and Safety Act charge.

The total amount includes a $5,000 fine and $750 victim fine surcharge, plus $87,000 for the Hazard Assessment Working Alone program at SAIT Polytechnic starting in September 2012.

"I like this program," said the 39-year-old woman who was attacked by the man about 3 a.m. on Nov. 1. "I feel nobody will get hurt after this program is going. It will benefit everybody."

Previously, the victim, who had been living in Canada for three years and had only been issued her security guard licence by Garda three weeks prior to the assault, told court in a victim impact statement she thought she was going to die.

"I was scared when I got there that night," she recalled on Friday outside court. "There was no entrance. It was just covered with plastic. When I heard the noise, I was in the corner so he wouldn't see me."

McGill previously told the judge this is the first such prosecution under the OHSA in Alberta, and possibly Canada, where a company has been charged after an employee working alone was the victim of a criminal offence.

The victim was called by a supervisor to keep watch overnight at a Macleod Trail site where a Shoppers Drug Mart was under construction after a co-worker called in sick.

Graham said Garda's primary negligence was failing to conduct a specific site assessment.

"In my view, this was very obviously a dangerous and unsafe site," said the judge. "It was an outdoor site just off Macleod Trail. "There was an exit door at the back that was always locked. One wonders why you'd have an exit door if it's always locked."

Graham noted the front of the site was covered by an orange tarp flap that was unsecured. She was provided with a chair, but no means of protection from anyone who might venture on to the site.

"There was a high degree of probability an intruder might enter at night in winter, for warmth or to take construction material . . . who knows what else," she said.

"It was also foreseeable that a criminal act could happen. It was patently unsafe and not addressed by Garda. It showed a high degree of negligence. (The victim) was affected profoundly by the sexual and physical assault.

"Garda is not to be prosecuted for the act of the intruder, but for its own negligence."

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Garda+handed+penalties+failing+ensure+worker+safety/5077364/story.html#ixzz1RnMzd86q

US soldier makes app for tracking down Taliban fighters

Getting shot at by Taliban fighters and need to call an air strike? There's an app for that.

Tactical Nav can be downloaded to a smartphone to figure out where an enemy is firing from, and to call in an air strike or covering fire.

It was created by US army captain Jonathan Springer after two of his comrades were killed in a rocket attack.

He says it is as accurate as any technology currently in use for the same purpose, and far cheaper too.

Captain Springer is back in his Indiana home after a 12-month tour in Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne.

Over a beer, he remembers fallen comrades - and two in particular.

"Specialist Plunk and Specialist Thompson. We were in the Pesh River Valley. They took a rocket. Died instantly."

Those deaths, he said, got him thinking.

"What can I do to help prevent something like this in future?"

His answer was to create the Tactical Nav app, which troops can download to their smartphones.

"It combines three components," he said.

"A compass, a map, and a camera. It's pretty simple - but obviously it does a little more than that."

He said he's tested his app against everything currently in use in Afghanistan - and claimed it is just as accurate.

The app is designed to give soldiers exact co-ordinates for where enemy fire is coming from.

They can then send that information to their command centre, who will decide whether to call in an air strike, or send a rescue helicopter to help wounded troops.

"The first time I tried it for real," he said, "I sighed with relief.

"I could have got into trouble - but it worked.

"As a fire support officer, I take into battle a compass, binoculars, a map, a protractor, a GPS device - a secondary GPS device in case one fails - and batteries.

"What this does is, it combines all these components, and throws it into just the one app," he said.

But Captain Springer said he'd been disappointed that his US army bosses hadn't taken more of an interest in the idea.

He said he had spent about £20,000 (more than $30,000) of his own money - and that he asked the military for financial support.

"I emailed the army saying, 'I'm not looking for a pay-cheque, but are there any kind of grants or anything you can help me with?'

"They said, 'sorry, we don't have the funds right now'."

Captain Springer said he was "very frustrated" by that response. He called it "a slap in the face".

"It really hurts because I'm doing something for the troops. But it just motivates me to continue."

The US military didn't respond when Newsbeat asked them for a comment.

In the UK, the Ministry of Defence says it's "actively exploring" ways to use smartphones in recruitment and training, as well as on the battlefield.

Now, Captain Springer is selling his app to anyone that wants it - on the iPhone's app store.

"I only sell it to try to make back the money I invested - I don't see dollar signs. I see soldiers' lives," he said.

(For full report, go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/13928538 )

Elderly 'facing cuts to care despite promises'

Social care budgets for the elderly in England will be cut this year - despite promises to invest more cash, according to an analysis of spending plans.

The Age UK research, based on freedom of information data, suggested spending on the over-65s would drop by over 8%.

The charity predicted the impact of such a cut could be "devastating" as the system was already at crisis point.

Care services minister Paul Burstow questioned the figures, suggesting the situation was not as bad as claimed.

He acknowledged budgets were "under pressure" but said that did not always lead to a deterioration in care.

"While some councils may simply be cutting care, others are working hard to get more for less with innovative ways of delivering better care, including using more telecare and cutting needless admissions to hospital and residential care," said Mr Burstow.

The findings come after extra money was promised in the 2010 spending review.

Ministers said £2bn more would be invested in social care by 2015, with the first tranche coming this financial year.

This was earmarked for both elderly care and younger adults with disabilities.
Rationing

The promise came after the government had announced a review of the system amid evidence councils were having to ration care because of the increased demands being placed on services by an ageing population.

That review is due to publish its recommendations next Monday (4th July) and pave the way for an overhaul of the means-tested system.

Social care has been struggling for funding in recent years with the overall budget only rising slightly above inflation.

In recognition of the problems, the government said last year it would set aside some extra funds to help the system until any new arrangements were introduced.

But the Age UK research suggested that the money was not yet getting through to the frontline of elderly care.

It asked all 152 councils with responsibility for social care for data on their spending plans and service provision for the elderly for this financial year.

The charity received information on spending from 110 councils, which suggested the budget would be cut by 8.4% - equivalent to £610m.

It also received evidence councils were coping by taking measures such as reducing the number of care home places and hours of home help.

Michelle Mitchell, from Age UK, said: "Funding for social care is already inadequate. The consequences of cutting expenditure further could be devastating.

"We are fearful that even more vulnerable older people will be left to struggle alone and in some cases will be put at risk."

Councillor David Rogers, of the Local Government Association (LGA), pointed out while extra money had been promised by ministers for social care, it was being cancelled out by the wider cuts to local government - its budget from central government is being reduced by a quarter over the next four years.

"As the LGA warned last year, and this report backs up, government funding cuts have left councils with huge gaps in their adult social care budgets. Savings have to be found and tough decisions will have to be made in some areas."

New figures published of fatally injured construction workers

New official statistics published today show the number of workers killed in the construction industry last year has increased.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has released provisional data for the year April 2010 to March 2011, which shows the number of workers killed was 50, an increase on the previous year, when 41 died.

Philip White, HSE's Chief Construction Inspector, said:

"The construction industry continues to see more deaths than any other industrial sector. We must not lose sight of the fact that 50 construction workers failed to come home last year, and that will have devastated those they leave behind. 

"The increase in fatalities is extremely disappointing. However, figures for a single year should not be viewed in isolation. Numbers and rates of fatal injuries in construction have seen an overall downward trend in the last five years.

 

"HSE will continue to work to reduce the number of fatal accidents, however, it is ultimately the responsibility of those who create health and safety risks to control them and prevent people being killed and injured.

"The majority of deaths continue to be on small construction sites. Big construction companies have shown steady improvements over the last decade, and we want to see smaller firms take a similar lead. This is not about money, it's about mindset - planning jobs properly, thinking before you act and taking basic steps to protect yourself and your friends."

The rate of fatal injury has increased to 2.4 per 100,000 workers compared to 1.9 per 100,000 workers in 2009/10. This compares to an average rate of 2.8 for the previous five years.

Notes to editors:

1.    The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to prevent death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training, new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk

2.    During 2010/11 there were three incidents at Great Yarmouth, Leicester and Suffolk caused by structural collapse, which led to eight workers dying.

3.    Further information on workplace statistics can be found at www.hse.gov.uk/statistics

4.    The average rate of fatal injury over the last five years has been 2.8 per 100, 000 workers

5.    In each of the last five years, the number of fatal injuries has been:

·         2009/10 - 41 workers died - finalised figures

·         2008/09 - 52 workers died

·         2007/08 - 72 workers died

·         2006/07 - 79 workers died

·         2005/06 - 60 workers died

6.    The reporting of health and safety incidents at work is a statutory requirement, set out under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR). A reportable incident includes: a death or major injury; any accident which does not result in major injury, but the injured person still has to take three or more days off their normal work to recover; a work related disease; a member of the public being injured as a result of work related activity and taken to hospital for treatment; or a dangerous occurrence, which does not result in a serious injury, but could have done.

7.    The figures for 2010/11 are provisional. They will be finalised in June 2012 following any necessary adjustments arising from investigations, in which new facts can emerge about whether the accident was work-related. The delay of a year in finalising the figures allows for such matters to be fully resolved in the light of formal interviews with all relevant witnesses, forensic investigation and coroners' rulings.

8.    This year is the first year HSE has adopted the revised SIC 2007 classification codes. More information is available on HSE Website http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/developments/news/sic2007.htm

Outfitted with tracking device, 'Clark' released into Indian River Lagoon

JENSEN BEACH — A group of about 200 children, campers and adults wished safe travels, but not goodbye, to Clark, a juvenile loggerhead sea turtle who lived at the Environmental Studies Center for nearly two years and was released into the Indian River Lagoon on Wednesday afternoon.

Clark is the first turtle to be released from the center who was fitted with three tags — two that include a satellite transmitter attached to the shell (GPS Tracker) with special glue and an internal tag, like a microchip the size of a piece of rice, in the left front flipper. The transmitter sends a signal to a satellite that beams the information back to earth, allowing Clark's location to be viewed on a map on the Internet, said Rick Herren, board vice president of Inwater Reseach Group in Jensen Beach, which donated the transmitter and the time to affix them to Clark.

"He went like he was on a mission," said ESC teacher Charlie Carr, who helped Herren carry Clark into the water. "I'm going to miss him."

To follow Clark's adventures, go to http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/index.shtml?tag_id=108706&full=1&lang.

Two firms given big fines for power-station fatality

Energy firm RWE npower and construction giant AMEC Group Ltd must pay £510,000 in fines and costs after a maintenance worker fell to his death at a power station in South Wales.

Agency worker Christopher Booker was working at RWE npower’s Aberthaw Power Station in the Vale of Glamorgan, when the incident took place on 10 June 2007. AMEC Group had been contracted to place gates inside the pit of a water-cooling system to prevent sea water from entering the cavity while workers carried out renovations on the pit. The work was part of a multi-million pound project at the facility to reduce hazardous emissions from the plant. Mr Booker was part of a team of nine workers, which had been called in to carry out grinding work to provide an effective seal of the pit.

In order to install the gates, sections of the floor gratings at the top of the pit had been removed, but no edge protection was placed around the openings. As daylight faded, lights were directed towards those doing the grinding work, which left the floor gratings at the top of the pit in near darkness. Mr Booker climbed up a ladder to the top of the pit and, as he stepped on to the gratings, he fell  12m down one of the openings and suffered fatal chest injuries.

The HSE’s investigation found that no precautions had been taken to prevent workers from accessing the openings on the platform. HSE inspector, Caroline Bird, explained that the incident could have been avoided if scaffold barriers and edge protection had been erected around the opening.

Inspector Bird said: “This tragic case highlights the consequences of failing to do something as simple as adding protection to an opening in a walkway.

"Inadequate planning and a poor choice of safety control measures meant that a very obvious hazard remained.”

RWE npower plc appeared at Cardiff Crown Court on 3 June and pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA 1974. It was fined £250,000 and ordered to pay £30,000 in costs.

AMEC Group Ltd appeared at the same hearing and pleaded guilty to reg. 11(1) of the MHSWR 1999 and was fined £200,000 plus £30,000 in costs.

The court heard that RWE npower was prosecuted for a previous incident at the same facility, which took place in February 2007. A contractor was injured while removing a valve system on the station’s general compressed air system because the air supply was not safely and securely isolated. The firm pleaded guilty to s3(1) of the HSWA 1974 and was fined £8000.

AMEC Group also had a previous related conviction, having been fined £150,000 in September 2005 following a fall-from-height fatality at an oil rig in the North Sea.

Following the joint sentencing over the pit fatality, inspector Bird said: “Both companies had a duty of care to Mr Booker that they failed to meet – with catastrophic consequences. This awful incident could so easily have been prevented had the correct safety measures been taken.

“Employers have a duty to manage the risk of falls from height, including providing protection around the edge of openings. It is completely unacceptable that this sort of risk was not managed."

AMEC Group released a statement after the hearing, which said: “We would like to express our deepest sympathy to Mr Booker’s family for their sad loss. We pleaded guilty and cooperated fully with the investigation throughout. Health and safety are of the highest priority for us, and no loss of life and no injury are acceptable. We have made sure that lessons learned from this tragic event have been taken on board and will continue to do so.”

Four workers killed in explosion at crude oil refinery

Four workers were killed in an explosion at an oil refinery which rocked nearby homes and generated a huge fireball seen by frightened residents.

The explosion at the Chevron refinery in Pembroke Dock in South-West Wales yesterday is believed to have occurred when two petrol tankers collided inside the refinery, killing both the drivers.

Police this morning confirmed two other workers also died in the blast but it is not known who they were or what jobs they had. Officers are in the process of breaking the news to their families before more details are released.

Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan said: 'I am deeply saddened by the news and send my condolences to the families and colleagues of those who have tragically lost their lives.

'Our thoughts are also with the injured. We've been in contact with Chevron and Milford Haven Port Authority and have been asked to be kept fully informed about the investigation into this tragic event. It is essential to understand how this tragedy occurred.'

Phil Horne, whose home in Milford Haven overlooks the refinery from across an estuary, said: ‘I heard an explosion, turned around and saw a large fireball disappearing into the sky. It went about halfway up the chimney stack of the refinery.’

Milford Haven resident Owen Warrell, 27, said: ‘I was in the house and the house shook, it was like someone had slammed the door quite hard, and I went outside and saw a huge plume of smoke.
‘Within about 20 minutes the smoke had stopped. I feel sad about the loss of lives.’

Micky Evans, 50, of Pembroke Dock, said: ‘It was quite a big blast - anyone standing nearby would not have stood a chance. It is tragic that people have lost their lives.’

A spokesman for the Milford Haven Coastguard, which is based across a stretch of water from the refinery, said: ‘There was a bang and there was smoke billowing.’
The Welsh Ambulance Service confirmed that paramedics had dealt with casualties at the scene and the air ambulance was deployed.

A spokesman said that the heat of the flames made it difficult to immediately ascertain how many people had been injured.

Mid and West Wales Fire Service sent 10 fire engines to the giant Chevron plant. They worked alongside the refinery’s own team of fire fighters to quell the blaze. 
Dyfed Powys Police were also at the scene.

Chevron spokesman Sean Comey said last night: ‘At 18.20 local time on 2 June 2011 an incident occurred at the Pembroke Refinery. Emergency services were called and responded immediately and remain on the scene.

‘The fire has been extinguished.  We are taking appropriate action to respond to the situation. We are still in the process of accounting for all personnel.’
A spokeswoman for Irish Ferries, which runs a passenger service between Pembroke and Rosslare, said their services had not been affected.

The refinery owned by the US energy company Chevron opened in 1964 and covers an area of 550 acres alongside the Milford Haven waterway.

It employs 1,400 people and can process up to 210,000 barrels of crude oil a day, producing millions of litres of fuel.

According to the Chevron website, the Pembroke Dock refinery specialises in processing heavy, lower quality crudes for distribution throughout the UK and to overseas markets, including the United States.

It is one of the largest manufacturers in northwest Europe. In March 2011, Chevron announced an agreement to sell the refinery to the Texan oil company Valero Energy for £458 million and another £611 million for assets including Chevron’s petrol stations in the UK and Ireland.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1393668/Chevron-refinery-explosion-4-workers-killed-petrol-tankers-crash.html#ixzz1OCtet6Kd

Sonim previews rugged phone in U.K. for lone worker safety

Sonim Technologies, global providers of rugged phones, recently announced a preview of the Sonim XP3340 Sentinel mobile phone, a lone worker safety solution that the company says provides users with the longest GPS tracking time of any mobile phone. Designed especially for security guards, FM personnel and traffic wardens, the XP3340 Sentinel will help keep remote workers safe while in isolated and hazardous environments.

The leading U.K. providers of lone worker solutions and monitoring services: Argyll, Guardian24, Peoplesafe, Professional Witness, SafeLinQ will offer an end-to-end safety solution with the XP3340 Sentinel that also includes an emergency response call center. The phone will be available starting from July 2011 to the U.K. security and FM sector though the partners above.

The Sonim XP3340 Sentinel mobile phone adds a higher resolution screen, longer battery life, and several additional lone worker capabilities to the features of its successful predecessor, the XP3

The XP3340 Sentinel offers a higher resolution screen, longer battery life, and several additional lone worker capabilities than the previous edition. The phone enhances safety by enabling calls under the worst conditions, with strong antenna performance, the "industry's longest" talk time of 20 to 24 hours and 800 hours of standby time, an active noise-canceling microphone, loud audio, and the advanced man-down accelerometer technology first seen in the Sonim XP3 Sentinel.

Sonim says the phone also meets the device requirements of British Standard BS8484 for Lone Worker Devices and Monitoring Stations and surpasses the U.K. military specifications for durability and water resistance. Sonim's U.K. partners have used these capabilities to ensure the complete solution meets and exceeds the duty-of-care requirements under U.K. law, toughened in 2008 with the Corporate Manslaughter Act.

(Full Article)

BSIA update guidelines for essential safety advice for lone workers

The British Security Industry Association (BSIA) has published a guide to help lone workers understand their own responsibilities as well as their employer’s obligations, and giving essential advice on using lone worker devices.

'Lone Workers - An Employees' Guide' provides those working alone with advice on how to stay safe at work, including information on risk assessments and the use of monitored lone worker services, including devices used to call for help. Advice is also given on what lone workers can expect from their employers, explaining duty of care and training.

Alex Carmichael, Technical Director at the BSIA, says: "This guide recognises the importance of keeping lone workers safe and secure. Responsible employers will consider the health and safety of their lone workers as a top priority, and the use of lone worker devices can help by connecting such employees with an emergency response system that has direct links to the police."

"The BSIA and its members have been at the forefront of the drive to raise standards and awareness of lone worker systems through its work with British Standards, key involvement in the development of the standard relating to lone workers (BS8484) and its Lone Worker focus group. BSIA members meet strict corporate requirements, so customers who source lone worker services from them can be confident that they will receive quality advice and service."

Employees can download the guide on this link:

http://www.bsia.co.uk/web_images/documents/284_lone_workers_employees_guide_MAY11.pdf

(Source: http://www.bsia.co.uk)

Lone Worker Protection

This positive and very informative annual became a well established platform for professionals to exchange information, recommendations and codes of practice with reference to all aspects of lone worker protection.

Providing a stage for all the colleagues who share a passion for the protection of lone workers with accurate and updated information, which go far beyond mere theory, some something that really should be allowed.

Why is the issue of lone worker protection so important? A study by the NHS 81% of lone workers are concerned about violence or aggression, and 56% of people in the NHS, local authorities and housing associations have been attacked at least once in their career . Looking over 2.5 million workers in the isolated UK alone, it is essential that we meet our legal obligations and ensure the protection of lone workers and providing a safe work environment.

After a number of events focusing on health and safety, public sector organizations and private sectors have shown great interest in the Conference Lone worker safety and exhibitions, which focuses its attention specifically and directly on the protection of lone workers.

Everyone responsible for the protection of lone workers must include all legal responsibilities. Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, management of health and safety at work regulations 1999 and the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 and other laws do not It is illegal for employees to work alone, but they do place responsibility on the employer to ensure it is safe to do so.

Employers are responsible not only for their own employees but also for others who are affected by their activities, such as self-employed and entrepreneurs. However, isolated workers also have a responsibility to take reasonable care of themselves and others affected by their work activities. This includes cooperation with employers to ensure that their legal responsibilities are met.

How changes to the Corporate Manslaughter Act may affect you

Last month saw the third anniversary of one of the key pieces of legislation affecting businesses today. The Corporate Manslaughter Act, which came into force on 6 April 2008, now involves new sentencing guidelines recommending appropriate fines to start from £500,000 in the event of a conviction.

While some smaller companies may make the mistake of thinking such legislation isn’t relevant to them, the recent high profile prosecution of a Gloucester-based SME is a grave reminder that the Act is something which all businesses, regardless of size, must take seriously. This particular case (Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings) followed the death of an engineer and the firm was fined £385,000 (115% of the company’s turnover in 2008) after being found to have seriously failed in its obligations to keep its workforce safe. The company ignored industry advice which prohibited entry to pits over 1.2 metres deep, and at the time of his death, had left the engineer unsupervised and alone.

Three years on from the legislation coming into effect, and in light of this recent prosecution, you would have thought SMEs would be doing all they can to protect their staff, right? Sadly not.

Recent economic cutbacks are just one reason for companies compromising on health and safety, and as more businesses have been forced to make reductions in spend, the rise of lone workers is one of the most significant risks for SMEs in relation to health and safety legislation.

This new breed of employee can include those working alone from home due to office closure, or one person performing a task that two people might have carried out previously. Lone working can bring huge benefits to both businesses, particularly smaller, growing enterprises, and employees. However, some organisations are frequently not properly adapting or implementing strategies to protect these staff.

Businesses need to reassess how realistic their health and safety policies are, and ensure they are being followed given the different circumstances many organisations are now operating in. For example if there are safety systems to monitor lone workers, it’s important that employees can raise the alarm when needed. Systems should be checked to make sure they work practically – if lone workers have a safety device, it should be charged and carried at all times. After all, the technology is only useful if it is being used properly.

The key to creating a safe working environment is reviewing policies frequently and ensuring their suitability and workability for the business. Directors or those within the team with HR or a health and safety remit should understand the systems in place across the business.

The importance of a health and safety policy is a key priority in many businesses, but it can be something which slips – or is ignored – within smaller organisations. It is vital that SME owners make themselves aware, taking specialist advice where necessary, and implement the necessary safeguards to protect employees and the business.

The Corporate Manslaughter Act has brought health and safety to the forefront of many organisations minds, however it should only be considered as one of the many guidelines put in place to protect workers. Organisations of all sizes need to execute their obligations,whether employees are based in the traditional office, or have joined the growing breed of lone workers. Keeping in line with health and safety legislation will not only protect an organisation, but most importantly, keep its workers safe.

Elephants being poached near cabin where Prince William proposed to Kate

Mount Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya – In Nairobi, Kenya, of seven elephants that were fitted with GPS tracking devices, four were killed in the hills of Mount Kenya over the past few months.

The area in question is very near the rustic, little cabin where Prince William’s proposal to Kate Middleton took place.

The group “Save The Elephants” put collars on the seven animals to keep track of their movements.  Over half of the elephants were killed and the founder of the group, Iain Douglas-Hamilton says he is concerned about what could be happening to those elephants that aren’t collared.

There is a “poaching crisis” in the area of Mount Kenya of which we weren’t previously aware, said Douglas-Hamilton.  He thinks the dense forest creates difficulties for rangers in patrolling and protecting un-collared elephants.

Lucy King, an official of “Save The Elephants,” says they have suspicions that the increase in poaching in the north of Kenya is connected to Asian demand for ivory.  This is nothing new in Kenya, as poaching for ivory over the past century is one of the main reasons for the decrease in numbers of elephants overall.

The deaths of four elephants are not a threat to the population of the 30,000 local Kenyan elephants, but those deaths are cruel and inhumane.

In October, the first killings occurred, which is the same month when Prince William and Kate Middleton occupied a rustic log cabin where the couple enjoyed fishing in the nearby pond and tried to keep warm during the chilly nights at this high altitude.  Whether the Royal couple saw any elephants or not, has not been made known to the public, but of the 4 poached animals, 1 died about 5 miles from the cabin, said King.

One elephant, “Marani” was shot and killed in October with a second killing in February and 2 more were killed in April, including a shooting and a death by a snare.  The agony of the last death was horrific.    The animal was found starved to death.  The elephant’s body had been snared with a rope around one leg, which was tied to a tree. She must have thrashed about to get loose, but lost strength as her poor body became emaciated from lack of water and food. 

The snares and traps are everywhere in this area. The ivory poaching started on Mount Kenya in 2009.

Even though the snares might be set for small animals, elephant calves are often found in these indiscriminate and brutal traps, and the amputated or snared calves get severe infections, which they can’t possibly survive.

The movements of elephants are tracked with the GPS collars and their paths are recorded on a Google Earth mapping program, so conservationists are alerted when they stop moving, which means the elephant has a problem or is in trouble.

King says one of the collars was shot off by poachers, with 2 AK-47 bullets.  She believes that the poachers think the chances they will be caught are increased by use of the collars, so they try to destroy the collars.

More financial support and ranger patrols are needed in the Mount Kenya vicinity to prevent these attacks on the elephants.  “Save The Elephants” does their best with what they have to control or stop the destruction of the elephants.

It’s hard to believe that people can, in all conscience, commit such violent crimes against these beautiful, innocent, mature elephants and their little calves. 

These are wanton, cruel and useless killings that need to be stopped.

* For more information about Elephants, check out ExoticAnimalLover.com