Health and safety bulletins
Recent safety alerts and notices
It is important to keep the right people up to date with failures in equipment, process, procedures and substances used in the workplace.
Safety alerts are for major faults that would result in a serious or fatal injury and where immediate remedial action is required.
Safety notices are usually issued to facilitate a change in procedure or it requires an action to be undertaken to improve the level of protection or instruction in a potentially dangerous situation. It must be acted upon within a reasonable time, if a time period is not stated. It is not as immediate as a safety alert.
| Date | Topic | Bulletin No | Industry |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11/2024 | Risk of exposure of laboratory staff to biological agents due to missing clinical information | ED03-2024 | Workers at diagnostic laboratories are being put at risk of infection because of missing information on specimen request forms. |
| 05/2024 | Risk of serious injury from motion compensated gangways | ED02-2024 | Incidents involving motion compensated gangways (MCG) within the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) or Renewable Energy Zones have resulted in serious injury. Processes and systems should be in place, as part of a wider safe system of work, to ensure that motion compensated gangways are safe during deployment, retraction and when in use by personnel transiting to and from offshore installations, offshore windfarms and offshore energy structures. |
| 05/2024 | Service lifts in offshore and onshore wind turbines | ED01-2024 | A wind turbine service technician suffered serious injuries when his hand was trapped between fixed and moving parts of a service lift. The worker was able to place his hand into an aperture whilst sending the service lift down using the ‘one touch to operate’ external controls. The external controls were positioned on the moving parts, and the design of the landing gates and associated guarding did not prevent him reaching the moving lift car which crushed his hand against the gate. |
| 04/2024 | Manufacture, storage and carriage of thermites and thermite containing articles | CEMHD01-2024 | HSE has identified that thermites, and thermite containing articles, meeting the criteria for being classified for transport in Great Britain and the ADR area as Class 1 dangerous goods (as explosive substances and articles) are currently being transported either as non-dangerous goods or as Class 4.1 dangerous goods (flammable solids). |
| 12/2023 | Overfill of vapour recovery units | CEMHD02-2023 | A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into a gasoline overfill of a carbon adsorption vapour recovery unit (VRU) revealed concerns with the design of the VRU. |
| 12/2023 | Lorry loaders crush risk from powered tilting stabilisers | EPD04-2023 | On some lorry loaders with powered tilting, or swing-up, stabilisers people can be crushed when the stabilisers are being retracted. There is a risk of serious injury or death. |
| 10/2023 | Radiograph duplication and falsification | CEMHD01-2023 | This safety alert highlights that the non-destructive testing (NDT) process is vulnerable to tampering. HSE and other regulators have investigated several instances where NDT has been falsified. |
| 09/2023 | Motorsport/Leisure Track Safety: trackside vehicle restraint barriers | EPD03-2023 | This safety notice is aimed at Motorsport/Leisure track owners, operators, event organisers and other persons with duties for the safety of activities on tracks/circuits. This notice is particularly relevant to leisure track/circuits (permanent and temporary). |
| 09/2023 | Manage risk of damage to grating systems (walkways and deck areas) on offshore installations during rig moves | ED09-2023 | Dutyholders (including Operators and owners of offshore installations) undertaking rig moves on the UKCS |
| 08/2023 | Unsafe bolts on BendPak XPR series two-post vehicle lift | FOD02-2023 | BendPak XPR series two-post vehicle lifts have a half-moon-shaped arm restraint gear on each arm which is either welded or bolted. On some of the lifts with the arm restraint gear attached with bolts, the bolts do not meet the required strength standard increasing the risk of a major incident. |
| 06/2023 | Pop-up toilets: Risk of crushing | FOD01-2023 | Someone was killed when working underneath a raised telescopic pop-up toilet. He was in the void below when the pop-up toilet lowered, crushing him. |
| 05/2023 | LPG forklift truck fire risk | EPD02-2023 | HSE is aware of a number of fires on, and around, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) powered forklift trucks and other similar vehicles that have occurred during starting. |
| 05/2023 | Risk to offshore installation mooring lines outside 500m safety zone | ED3-2023 | There is a risk of fishing vessels colliding with offshore installation’s mooring systems when trawling near to, but outside of, exclusive 500m safety zones. |
| 04/2023 | High concentration of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in cargo and slop tanks | ED2-2023 | Operators of floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) and floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessels and floating storage units (FSU) in the UK continental shelf (UKCS). |
| 03/2023 | Unsafe use of floor grating systems in oil and gas, and wind generation | ED1-2023 | Offshore installations, wind generation units and sea going vessels |
| 01/2023 | Exposure to diacetyl vapour in food and drink manufacture | EPD01-2023 | Employers, and the self-employed, in food and drink manufacture who use diacetyl |
| 05/2022 | Mast climbing work platforms: Failure to detect mechanical failure in drive units leading to uncontrolled fall of platforms | BSCD1-2022 | Construction and all other industry users |
| 04/2022 | Ear loop respirators/masks do not provide protection as tight fitting RPE | EPD1-2022 | Those required to use tight fitting RPE at work |