Workplace Safety Volume 4 of the Savety at Work Series Edited by John Ridley and John Channing OXFORD AUCKLAND BOSTON JOHANNESBURG MELBOURNE NEW DELHI Butterworth-Heinemann Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP 225 Wildwood Avenue, Woburn, MA 01801-2041 A division of Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd A member of the Reed Elsevier plc group First published 1999 © Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd 1999 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright holder except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, England W1P 9HE. Applications for the copyright holder’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publishers British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 0 7506 4560 1 Composition by Genesis Typesetting, Laser Quay, Rochester, Kent Printed and bound in Great Britain by Biddies Ltd, Guildford and King’s Lynn Contributors John Adamson, LRSC, FBIOH, Dip. Occ. Hyg., MIOSH, RSP Manager Health, Safety, Hygiene and Fire, Kodak Chemical Manufacturing Chris Buck, BSc(Eng), MIEE, FIOSH, RSP Consultant Ray Chalklen, MIFireE Fire and Security Manager, a major pharmaceutical manufacturer John Channing, MSc(Chem), MSc(Safety), FIOSH, RSP Manager Health, Safety and Environment, Kodak Manufacturing Edwin Hooper R. Hudson, FIOSH, RSP, FRSH, ASSE Construction safety consultant John McMullen, BSc, CEng, MIMechE Eagle Star Insurance Co. Ltd John Ridley, BSc(Eng), CEng, MIMechE, FIOSH, DMS Professor P. Waterhouse, PhD, BSc, FIOSH, FIRM Contents Foreword ix Preface xi List of contributors xiii Introduction 4.1 1 Science in engineering safety J. R. Ridley 4.3 1.1 Introduction 4.3 1.2 Structure of matter 4.3 1.3 Properties of chemicals 4.5 1.4 Physical properties 4.9 1.5 Energy and work 4.15 1.6 Mechanics 4.16 1.7 Strength of materials 4.17 1.8 Modes of failure 4.19 1.9 Testing 4.20 1.10 Hydraulics 4.20 1.11 Summary 4.21 2 Fire precautions P. Waterhouse and revised by Ray Chalklen 4.23 2.1 Introduction 4.23 2.2 Basic combustion chemistry 4.23 2.3 The combustion process 4.27 2.4 Classification of fires 4.29 2.5 Ignition sources and their control 4.30 2.6 Protection against fire 4.38 2.7 Extinction 4.42 2.8 Firefighting 4.46 2.9 Fire risk 4.55 2.10 Means of escape in case of fire 4.55 2.11 Legal requirements 4.60 2.12 Liaison with the fire brigade 4.64 vi Contents 3 Safe use of machinery J. R. Ridley 4.68 3.1 Introduction 4.68 3.2 Strategy for selecting safeguards 4.68 3.3 Safeguarding techniques 4.78 3.4 Powered trucks 4.79 3.5 Lifting equipment 4.95 3.6 Pressure systems and gas containers 4.100 3.7 Conclusion 4.104 4 Electricity E. G. Hooper and revised by Chris Buck 4.107 4.1 Alternating and direct currents 4.107 4.2 Electricity supply 4.108 4.3 Statutory requirements 4.110 4.4 Voltage levels 4.111 4.5 Electrical accidents 4.111 4.6 The basic electrical circuit 4.112 4.7 Dangers from electricity 4.113 4.8 Protective means 4.116 4.9 Competency 4.118 4.10 Permits-to-work 4.120 4.11 Static electricity 4.120 4.12 Use of electricity in adverse or hazardous environments 4.123 4.13 Electrical equipment in flammable atmospheres 4.123 4.14 Portable tools 4.126 4.15 Residual current devices 4.127 4.16 Maintenance 4.127 4.17 Conclusion 4.128 5 Statutory examination of plant and equipment J. McMullen 4.130 5.1 Introduction 4.130 5.2 Legislation 4.131 5.3 Pressure systems 4.131 5.4 Lifting and handling plant 4.139 5.5 Power presses and press brakes 4.148 5.6 Local exhaust ventilation 4.149 5.7 Electrical equipment and installations 4.152 5.8 Other considerations 4.153 5.9 Conclusions 4.156 6 Safety on construction sites R. Hudson 4.161 6.1 Construction accidents 4.161 6.2 Safe working in the industry 4.162 6.3 Site hazards 4.171 6.4 Access 4.176 6.5 The Construction (Lifting Operations) Regulations 1961 4.178 6.6 Welfare facilities 4.184 6.7 Other relevant legislation 4.185 Contents vii 7 Managing chemicals safely John Adamson 4.192 7.1 Introduction 4.192 7.2 Chemical data 4.192 7.3 Source of information 4.193 7.4 Risk assessments 4.194 7.5 The management of risk 4.198 7.6 Legislative requirements 4.202 7.7 Storage of substances 4.212 7.8 Transport 4.216 7.9 Plant and process design 4.217 7.10 Further safety studies 4.226 7.11 Plant modifications 4.226 7.12 Safe systems of work 4.226 7.13 Laboratories 4.228 7.14 Emergency procedures 4.230 7.15 Conclusions 4.231 8 The environment - issues, law and management J. E. Channing 4.234 8.1 Introduction 4.234 8.2 Major environmental issues 4.234 8.3 Environmental regulation 4.248 8.4 Environmental management systems 4.245 8.5 Conclusion 4.247 Appendix 1 Institution of Occupational Safety and Health 4.249 Appendix 2 Reading for Part 1 of the NEBOSH Diploma examination 4.250 Appendix 3 List of Abbreviations 4.251 Appendix 4 Organizations providing safety information 4.257 Appendix 5 List of Statutes, Regulations and Orders 4.259 Appendix 6 List of Cases 4.267 Appendix 7 Safety at Work Series - Index 4.272 Foreword Frank J. Davies CBE, O St J, Chairman, Health and Safety Commission My forty years experience of working in industry have taught me the importance of health and safety Even so, since becoming Chairman of the Health and safety Commission (HSC) in October 1993, I have learned more about the extent to which health and safety issues impact upon so much of our economic activity. The humanitarian arguments for health and safety should be enough, but if they are not the economic ones are unanswerable now that health and safety costs British industry between £4 billion and £9 billion a year. Industry cannot afford to overlook these factors and needs to find a way of managing health and safety for its workers and for its businesses. In his foreword to the third edition of this book my predecessor, Sir John Cullen, commented on the increasing impact of Europe in the field of health and safety, most notably through European Community Directives. We have since found this to be very much so. I believe that the key challenge health and safety now faces is to engage and influence the huge variety of businesses, particularly small businesses, and to help them manage health and safety more effectively. I would add that the public sectors, our largest employers these days, also should look at their management of health and safety to ensure they are doing enough. Many businesses are willing to meet their legal obligations if given a gentle prompt and the right advice and HSC is very conscious of the x Foreword important of having good regulations which are practicable and achievable. It is, of course, vital and inescapable that an issue as critical as health and safety should be grounded in sound and effective legislation. This book covers many of these and other important health and safety developments, including environmental and industrial relations law which touch on this area to varying degrees. I welcome the contribution it makes towards the goal of reaching and maintaining effective health and safety policies and practices throughout the workplace. Preface Health and safety is not a subject in its own right but is an integration of knowledge and information from a wide spectrum of disciplines. Safety at Work reflects this in the range of chapters written by experts and in bringing the benefits of their specialised experiences and knowledge together in a single volume. While there is a continuing demand for a single volume, many managers and safety practitioners enter the field of safety with some qualifications already gained in an earlier part of their career. Their need is to add to their store of knowledge specific information in a particular sector. Equally, new students of the subject may embark on a course of modular study spread over several years, studying one module at a time. Thus there appears to be a need for each part of Safety at Work to be available as a stand-alone volume. We have met this need by making each part of Safety at Work into a separate volume whilst, at the same time, maintaining the cohesion of the complete work. This has required a revision of the presentation of the text and we have introduced a pagination system that is equally suitable for four separate volumes and for a single comprehensive tome. The numbering of pages, figures and tables has been designed so as to be identified with the particular volume but will, when the separate volumes are placed together as a single entity, provide a coherent pagination system. Each volume, in addition to its contents list and list of contributors, has appendices that contain reference information to all four volumes. Thus the reader will not only have access to the detailed content of the particular volume but also information that will refer him to, and give him an overview of, the wider fields of health and safety that are covered in the other three volumes. In this way we hope we have kept in perspective the fact that while each volume is a separate part, it is only one part, albeit a vital part, of a much wider spectrum of disciplines that go to make occupational health and safety. John Ridley John Channing October 1998