Health & Safety Update (June 2010)
Safe Maintenance in Focus
To mark the World Day for Safety and Health at Work (which was
on 28 April) the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work
(EU-OSHA) launched its new Healthy Workplaces Campaign for 2010/11,
promoting safe maintenance across Europe.
In some European countries as much as 20% of all workplace
accidents are connected with maintenance and in a number of sectors
over half of all accidents are maintenance-related.
Maintenance is essential to prevent workplace risks, but it is
itself a high risk activity for the workers that carry it out. It
is estimated that in Europe 10-15% of fatal accidents at work can
be attributed to maintenance operations. It is vital, therefore,
that maintenance is carried out properly, taking into consideration
workers' safety and health.
Poorly managed maintenance activities and procedures raise the
risks of workplace accidents, including fatal accidents, involving
workers at all levels across a wide range of industries. In one of
the worst incidents of its kind in Europe, the Piper Alpha disaster
of 1988 saw the North Sea oil and gas platform turned into a
blazing inferno within seconds, killing 167 workers – a tragic
example of the potential consequences of inadequate maintenance
procedures.
You have a legal responsibility to maintain work equipment and
to provide suitable and sufficient risk assessments for employees
engaged in this hazardous activity. Call your consultant or our
24/7 Advice Service for further information on what you need to
do.