New guidance for cutting paving - ..as from may 6th 2008

[seanandruby]

was impressed on a carillion job to see a guy cutting with an electric cutter attatched to a high powered vacuum, also had mask and all ppe. my firm are still letting men dry cut and grinding off the seams on the soffits with no dust suppression, the concrete dust just gathers on their masks etc. i have drawn the attention to the safety committee, who in turn put it to the management team on our job. the answer was " it is being looked at and will be addressed in due course." yet the same team are enforcing employees to wear gloves and glasses just to walk on site, madness.

[lutonlagerlout]

ear muffs seem to be getting more prevalent,i wish i had worn them from the start instead of listening to the auld fella saying "earmuffs are for poofs"
noisy pubs are a nightmare for me now,cant make out the conversation
LLL

[flowjoe]

What about all that cheering at Kenilworth Road, that couldn`t of helped.

[seanandruby]

ear muffs seem to be getting more prevalent,i wish i had worn them from the start instead of listening to the auld fella saying "earmuffs are for poofs"
noisy pubs are a nightmare for me now,cant make out the conversation
LLL

try getting them irrigated. had mine done 3 or 4 times over the years, got a bag of cement out of them last time

[Dave_L]

ear muffs seem to be getting more prevalent,i wish i had worn them from the start instead of listening to the auld fella saying "earmuffs are for poofs"
noisy pubs are a nightmare for me now,cant make out the conversation
LLL

Same here....noisy nightclubs and loud in-car music have damaged my hearing - same as you LLL, noisy pubs are a no-go for me now conversation-wise.

[GB_Groundworks]

me too i'm useless in conflicting noisy environments, i just nod and agree. i worked as a roadie for a band for a few years, always wore ear plugs though so don't know why i can't hear when people talk to me in a noisy environment. can hear a pin drop at 100 yards if its quiet.

[lutonlagerlout]

i am down to 12 % hearing in my left ear and that is at frequencies that are useless the other one is about 75% (dont ask me why one ear got it worse than the other??)
i make the lads wear earmuff all the time now when using the stihl or the breakers,i wrecked mine but hopefully they will be ok
way too much machismo back on sites in the 80's,i used to carry the muck hod as a young lad,when you think of it carrying half a wheelbarrow of mortar up a 25ft ladder in a metal box on your shoulder isnt the cleverest thing in the world
2 fellas i worked with then have had knees replaced now in their 40'S
LLL

[Rich H]

Same here. I think I can hear alright most of the time, but if there's any background noise it's hopeless. My missus has a habit of holding conversations between rooms. She can be on the landing whittering away while I'm cleaning my teeth with the bathroom fan on and she can't understand when I can't hear her.

My two Polish lads will wear PPE under sufferance if I'm there, but I know they don't when I'm not. On a highly visible driveway job recently I had to tell them they either wore the PPE or they were finished. Their choice.

[dig dug dan]

She can be on the landing whittering away while I'm cleaning my teeth with the bathroom fan on and she can't understand when I can't hear her.

its not just my missus that does that then.
Then when she suddenly announces one evening that someone is coming round, and you say "you didn't mention it?" after much arguing you realise it was when you were cleaning your teeth and you COULDN'T HEAR HER!! WOMEN!



Edited By dig dug dan on 1223904270

[danensis]

The contractors working for Severn Trent water, replacing the old mains in the Brampton area of Chesterfield certainly haven't got the idea of wet cutting. Stone kerbs, concrete kerbs, cast iron pipes, clouds of dust everywhere.

Does it apply to tarmac as well?

John

[Tony McC]

Although the new guidelines are aimed primarily at concrete paving units, there is already guidance on dust from other sources including bitmac surfaces. A word in the ear of your local Environmental Elf will probably result in a change to working practices.

[Tony McC]

As part of the 'monitoring phase' of this project, a very simple 2-minute questionnaire has been produced with the aim of helping us gauge the impact of the new guidelines on site practice. ALL feedback is useful, whether you are a one-man band or run a large organisation with umptillions of employees, because we need to understand whether the new rules are getting through to all levels or just those sites where there's a strict H&S policy, and which of the various strategies/tools/publications have been most useful.

Please give a couple of minutes of your online time to help us build a better picture of what we're doing right and what we need to re-assess. You can access the q'aire here on the HSE site

[Tony McC]

Press Release from the "Cutting" Crew at HSE.....

Time to clear the air! Solutions to cut deaths and disease in highways and street maintenance

If you are working in highway paving construction or maintenance work, it is highly likely you use a cut-off saw (also known as a disc cutter, a con saw or a ‘whizzer’). Cutting stone and concrete such as kerbs, paving or blocks can produce enormous amounts of dust. The stone dust contains respirable crystalline silica (RCS) that can cause terrible diseases including silicosis, COPD and even cancer. In 2004 there were more than 500 cancer deaths in the construction industry from RCS (or silica dust). The effects of silicosis can leave you breathless, unable to do sport or even run for the bus. Ultimately sufferers could end up housebound and on bottled oxygen. HSE is working with the construction industry and their suppliers to raise awareness and encourage action. The result is information and tools now available to eliminate bad practice in the industry. As the chair of the Major Contractors Group health and safety committee commented,

“Methods and products to prevent dust clouds have been available for a long time and this working group has produced a range of resources to facilitate their use. It is now up to industry as a whole to take the lead and prevent needless illness and deaths caused by silica dust."

The expectation is the construction industry now acts to make use of the working groups products. The industry has been very receptive taking 240,000 ‘Time to clear the air! leaflets and nearly 1000 copies of the DVD. Both were produced in collaboration with the industry and in the case of the DVD edited and scripted by them with the voice of Seamus Doyle from Daniel contractors. Clive Potter from Mark-One-Hire noted the number of dust suppression equipment being hired has rocketed but is not surprised. He stated “the project has succeeded in getting its message across. As part of the initiative hire companies are being persuaded to offer dust suppression equipment and we are now offering this free to support the work�.

Hans Fairley from STIHL (GB) has been involved with the project from the start and commented: “STIHL has been fitting dust suppression kits to its cut-off saws for more than 30 years and is committed to work both with the industry and with users to ensure not only the availability but also the use of effective dust suppression�. Recent developments have seen the manufacturer optimise the water jet system on its latest generation cut-off saws, and Hans Fairley confirms ongoing product development objectives: “to combine maximum efficiency with minimum fuss for the user�.

The project has not just focused on how to tackle a dust problem that should have been avoided. Interpave (British Precast Concrete Federation) produced an excellent guidance on good practice that includes alternatives to cutting and ways to design out the need to cut. Interpave General Manager, John Howe, noted there should not be a dust issue as there is extensive information on safe work practices and how to minimise or eliminate the need for cutting on site. Interpave produced a case study that demonstrates that even the most complicated of jobs can be achieved without the need to cut on site. This case study “Efficient Design for Safe Construction using Precast Concrete Kerbs� and information on safe site practice of cutting precast paving and kerbs is available for free from the Interpave web site.

The use of plastic kerbs is an alternative that is gaining wide support as a means to avoid dust creation. The project has helped gain Highways Agency Product Approval Scheme certificates, meaning they are no longer a departure from standards. This means wider acceptance, a fact that helped the Highways Agency recently win the Building magazine award ‘Client with the Best
Commitment to Health and Safety in 2008’, for their support for use of plastic kerbs. Steve Williams, Construction Team Leader within the National Health and Safety Team, who collected the prize and has been very active in the project: “As a major public sector client raising awareness with our contractors through the materials developed in the project is an important contribution we can make�, he said. The Highways Agency will be publicising the project on their Health and Safety Training Vehicle launched on the 4th November 2008 and have taken action to raise awareness through their Network magazine and communications with its own supply chain.

Dr Robert Ellis who has been leading the project realises there is still much to be done, especially in reaching the smaller businesses. He said “I’ve been encouraged by reports that people have observed a big increase in awareness amongst constructions associations and compliance onsite. However, I caught a sub-contractor of XXXX working without any dust suppression the other month. Their foreman said he never realised there was an issue and was shocked to realise there was a cancer risk�. The project has been engaging hire companies through the Hire Association Europe and the Builders Merchants Federation to try raise awareness in these hard to reach groups.

How well the project delivers its aim to increase compliance with good practice will take time. Lord McKenzie, Minister responsible for Health & Safety, spoke at a launch event on the 6th May 2008
to highlight the success in bringing together the various stakeholders. His message was that we are talking about the lives of real people whose health could be affected in the years to come. He stated “Today, not only do we have a series of initiatives to prevent ill health in this industry but, in the process, developed a way of working together that leads the way in devising practical solutions to other health and safety issues.� His final comment summed up what is now needed to deliver the projects aim:

We are asking the whole of the construction industry and their suppliers to take action:

• use methods, materials and equipment to meet the legal requirements;
• ensure standards are being achieved;
• inform colleagues, employees and others of the risk.

Further information and access to the project outputs can be obtained from the web communities site that is open to all:




PS: we've been told from an impeccable source that the HSE are planning an inspection activity campaign for kerb, paving and block cutting activities for next year - you've been warned!

[Dave_L]

It was so nice to see groundworkers cutting concrete paving slabs on site today with the Stihl pressurised portable water attachement onto their TS400 saws - but the lack of other PPE was appalling - no ear protection, no safety goggles.........they'll learn one day, when it is probably too late!

[Tony McC]

It's a cultural change and it will take a long time, a generation at least. It's been likened to the drink-drive campaign: there was widespread disregard for it when it was first introduced in the 1960s, but now it's almost universally regarded as 'common sense' not to drink and drive.

Hopefully, the lads working on site in, say, 2020, will gasp in unbelieving amazement when some old-timer regales them with stories about how they often worked without dust suppression back in the wild 'noughties'.