Plant safety at any cost?
Don't get me wrong: it's hard to argue with current moves to streamline health and safety legislation, in line with Lord Young's 'Common Sense, Common Safety' report – especially given that chief among the aims is to reduce the bureaucratic burden on small companies. If that makes the UK a more attractive place for employers to set up plants, resulting in increased employment, more tax revenue, and a stimulated and revitalised economy, that's good news.
Peril of particles
Mark Venables examines the issues facing managers as they balance the needs of people and productivity associated with laser and 3D printing processes, particularly in meeting their health and safety obligations in the light of recent nanoparticle research
Hazardous electrics
Hazardous areas demand properly certified equipment – and that applies to maintenance kit, too. But cost and efficiency are also key. Gordon Low examines the issues
Sellafield special seal
Novel wet pipeline sealing and deployment techniques, successfully trialled for the now redundant first-generation nuclear waste treatment and storage plant at Sellafield, will not only prevent hazardous conditions arising on plant, but significantly reduce operator exposure to radiation during their implementation.
Dust explosion
Running motors and low voltage ac drives on plants with dusty environments has been regulated under the ATEX directives since 2006. Steve Ruddell explains the detail
Fire hazard
Fire in an engineering environment is likely to have far more serious consequences than in almost any other industrial premises.
Fluid thinking
According to the Carbon Trust, UK industry spends around £9.5 billion on energy, with at least 40% of that consumed by process heating. 'Using straightforward techniques, between 5% and 10% of this could be saved, reducing spending on energy by £280 million,' it states. A sobering thought in an age when going green - and doing so for sound economic reasons - has never been higher up the corporate agenda.
Common sense, common safety
In the aftermath of Lord Young of Graffham's long awaited 'Common Sense, Common Safety' report, most health and safety engineers must be thinking, 'so what?'. Setting aside his now infamous gaff, Lord Young's only noteworthy recommendations are the register of safety consultants, and consolidating health and safety regulations – although the latter cannot apply to high-hazard plants.
Deepwater Horizon
Last month's report by BP into the causes of its Gulf rig explosion and fire, and the lessons to be learned, point to a chilling sequence of failures. Brian Tinham reports
Don't trust to luck
While the risk of a prison sentence as a result of an accident resulting from the non-observance of safety regulations remains small, it is a possibility. The legal complications and potential damage to a business as a consequence of a serious accident is so great that not paying them proper attention would be a policy of complete idiocy.