Featured Articles – Expert Witness Features – page 11

Plant safety study

The safety of ageing plant is an increasingly important area of activity in the field of materials testing. Recently ESR Technology, a leading engineering, safety and risk management consultancy, announced that it has been awarded a major new contract by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to produce guidelines on the safety and integrity management of ageing process plant in the UK.

The aim of the project is to identify, target and prioritise the key issues associated with ageing plant to provide HSE field inspectors with clear guidance related to assessment, intervention and enforcement strategies. The work will build on previous research in this area carried out by the HSE and Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL).

What’s normal? It depends on which way the land lies

IN A sale-of-land agreement in South Wales my client was a public body (the vendor) who was due final payment of the sale sum from the developer (the purchaser).

The sale agreement contained an ‘abnormal site conditions’ clause, which the developer used to withhold the final payment of approximately £1m. The purchaser assessed the abnormal conditions to have cost him approximately £1.5m.

Measuring is the sure way to assess vibration

WHILE CERTAIN types of tool have long been recognised as being associated with the onset of HAVS, over the years the range of tools has increased, and continues to do so.

When Strange, Strange and Gardner was initially consulted in a matter concerning the operation of a cutter used in vehicle window removal, databases did not indicate the type of tool to be recognised as giving rise to HAVS.

Hand-arm vibration: how does a court determine what should have been done?

REGULAR AND prolonged occupational exposure of the hands to high levels of vibration can cause the distressing and disabling condition known as handarm vibration syndrome (HAVS).

The symptoms can include numbness and tingling in the fingers, with loss of dexterity, painful attacks of vibration white finger (loss of finger blood supply), joint pain, stiffness and reduced grip strength.

Asthma: what the regulations say

IN THE last issue of Your Witness we looked at occupational asthma and its causes. Professor Robert Douglas made the point that: “The first rule of management of asthma is prevention.”

The idea that ‘prevention is better than cure’ may be axiomatic, but in the case of the prevention of occupational asthma there are rules and regulations that may and have led to prosecution.