Connect Issue 4
21 July 2008
Welcome to the fourth issue of Connect
Hello and welcome to the fourth issue of Connect.
Two years ago, a Centrica Storage-operated platform suffered a
major gas release. Despite a fire that engulfed most of the
platform for more than 30 seconds, no-one died. Glenn Sibbick,
Operations Director and an Honorary Fellow of IOSH, tells
Connect how all health and safety professionals can learn
from what happened.
For our Spotlight feature we talk to
Amanda Squires, Head of Operations at the Royal Albert Hall, about
the Proms, which start this week – and about carrying out a risk
assessment on Doctor Who’s Tardis and having to ask rock’s
great-granddads Judas Priest to turn their amplifiers down a
notch.
In MyNews, we have the latest from the ICL Plastics inquiry and
news of the UK government’s major welfare shake-up – this is a
story for our profession to watch closely.
Happy reading, and if you have something interesting to say, or
want to comment on anything you see in Connect, please
contact Shaun Gibbons.
Shaun
Gibbons
e-Editor
Spotlight: so Amanda, how do you risk assess a Tardis?
This week sees the BBC Proms start in earnest and once
again the Royal Albert Hall provides the stunning backdrop to this
world-famous event. Connect met IOSH member Amanda Squires
backstage…
I’m not really a theatre-goer (and opera brings on indigestion)
so it was pleasing to hear that rock’s golden oldies Judas Priest
had once been politely asked to ‘turn it down a bit’ following a
performance at the Hall.
“In fact,” smiles Amanda, Head of Operations,
“we had to set a noise level from then on!”
Amanda and her team work hard to offer practical solutions to
even the most stretching demands of artistic licence. A typical day
involves dealing with artists and production companies, as well as
all the obvious issues like working from height, mini construction
sites and manual handling. On top of all this, there are the 1.2
million visitors who come to the Hall every year.
“One of the joys of working here,” explains
Amanda, “is the different arrangements for each event – the BBC
Proms, rock and pop acts… even tennis and awards dinners. There’s
always a little bit of negotiation to find a safe way of doing
something, but if you look long, hard and creatively enough you’ll
find a way to make it happen.”
She adds:
“You’ve got the promoter and the artist
together in a room and you have to make a decision. You need the
technical skill, confidence and ability to sell the solution to
them.”
To demonstrate this point, Amanda had to oversee a hastily
arranged publicity stunt involving the Tardis and maverick
violinist Nigel Kennedy.
"It was all last minute, to be honest,” said
Amanda. “Nigel Kennedy was playing the Doctor Who theme tune on the
South Steps of the Hall to promote the Doctor Who Prom. As well as
the logistical nightmares of organising an event in such a short
space of time, we also had to organise a smoke machine. The Tardis
risk assessment was interesting, though, I have to say!”
When it comes to productions and performances, Amanda and her
team err on the side of caution. If there are any flashing lights
in a show, signage will be put up for members of the public.
Limited pyrotechnics are allowed, but LPG gas effects aren’t.
As with all public buildings, evacuation is always a possibility
and the last one at the Royal Albert Hall was during a Tony Bennett
Show five years ago.
“We managed to get everyone fully evacuated
in less than 10 minutes, thanks to the number of exits we have,”
said Amanda. “We have between 40 and 50 stewards in the evening who
handle customer service and evacuation. Code words are used for
evacuations and if an alarm does go off, staff get approximately
three-and-a-half minutes to find out what’s going on – then they
evacuate.”
As well as having basic training in first aid, all Hall security
guards are trained in how to use defibrillators. This paid off
recently when a taxi returned after picking up a guest who had had
a heart attack in the vehicle.
But getting the right staff is always a tricky exercise, and
it’s no different for Amanda.
“I’ve always found it very difficult to
recruit,” said Amanda. “Not only do you need good technical skills,
but also the ability to sell-in health and safety and influence
people, and have the flexibility to respond quickly. Everything has
to be planned down to the last second.”
Fact file:
- There are more than 130 permanent staff at the Royal Albert
Hall
- The Royal Albert Hall opened in 1871 and has a seated capacity
of 5,222
- The Hall is a registered charity and receives no public
funding
- The Hall has the largest single weave carpet in the
world
Links:
60 second interview
Graham Munford, Safety, Health and Environment Officer for the
Forestry Commission, talks to Connect.
What’s the hot issue in your sector right
now?
I’d say probably vibration.
What’s the most challenging problem you’ve had to
overcome?
Dealing with fatalities.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever had about
working in health and safety?
Keep it simple.
What advice would you give to someone starting their
career in health and safety?
Join IOSH!
If you could ban the use of one piece of jargon, what
would it be?
Fashionable phrases like ‘paradigms’.
If you weren’t a health and safety practitioner what
would you be?
A forester.
The Health and Safety (Offences) Bill is currently in
the House of Lords. Do you think it will make a
difference?
Not in the absence of adequate enforcement,
no.
Do you want to be considered for a 60 Second Interview?
Contact the e-Editor.
Quote me
IOSH in the media…
Personnel Today
The IOSH-All Party Parliamentary Group on Occupational Safety
and Health event on young workers was covered by Personnel
Today, with honorary vice president of IOSH Michael Clapham MP
commenting on the loss of 63 young lives in the workplace in the
last decade.
“These figures are a shocking indictment of
some employers’ attitudes to their workers – an attitude that isn’t
acceptable in the 21st century. I want to see what we can do to
help prevent further loss of young lives when they enter the
workplace.”
Occupational Health
IOSH President Ray Hurst criticised the HSE’s lack of resources
in trade title Occupational Health. Ray said:
“The government must listen to the
committee’s reported concerns and ensure the HSE is adequately
resourced to do its job properly, including much needed additional
inspections.
“With an increase in the number of deaths in
the building industry and an annual total of 274,000 people
seriously injured at work across all sectors, there’s no question
that urgent action is needed.”
Metro
Ray ‘sacked’ the spoilsports who said they’d ban youngsters in
Washington, Tyne and Wear, from taking part in a sack race on the
grounds of health and safety.
Ray said:
“Banning sack races has nothing to do with
health and safety. Stopping children from having fun like this is
way over the top. As president of IOSH, Europe’s largest
health and safety professional body, I’m totally opposed to bans
that wrap children in cotton wool and don't improve youngsters’
lives. It’s obvious that children need to experience minor
risks when they’re young to help them be risk aware and not risk
averse.”
Leader
President Ray Hurst also told teachers that banning kids from
playing conkers, taking part in sports day and using egg boxes in
art lessons has nothing to do with health and safety.
Writing in Leader, the publication of the Association
of College and School Leaders, Ray said:
“We hear often about the cancellation of
trips, or sports days, or ball games involving young people being
banned “because of health and safety”. I’m not saying there aren’t
things to be wary of and, of course, there have been some tragedies
on trips involving schools and youth groups.
“But these are very much the exception to the
rule. Most trips or sports days or games pass off without incident
because they’re well planned by more than capable leaders or
teachers.”
Norwich Union Risk Services Newsletter
IOSH president Ray Hurst told Norwich Union that businesses and
employees both need access to competent health and safety advice.
He said:
"You wouldn’t put your medical needs in the
hands of an unqualified doctor, so why put lives at risk because of
incompetent health and safety advice, or risk unnecessary bans on
perfectly reasonable activities?
"Unfortunately, at the moment anyone can
operate as a health and safety consultant, without any
qualifications or experience at all. We think this is wrong.
Employers should know what to look for and should make sure that
they and their workers are getting the best advice from the best
people. They deserve that."
Good practice: learning the lessons
Glenn Sibbick, Operations Director at Centrica Storage
Limited and an Honorary Fellow of IOSH, tells Connect how
sharing learning after a major incident is the best way to
challenge your own operational culture.
In February 2006, there was a major gas release on Rough 47/3B,
a Centrica Storage-operated platform in the North Sea.
A heat exchanger suffered an unforeseeable, undetectable failure
that resulted in the release of almost 10 tonnes of gas. The
enormous gas cloud found an ignition source in the air intakes of
the platform’s power-producing gas turbines. Despite a severe fire
that engulfed most of the platform for more than 30 seconds,
everyone was evacuated successfully. Capital damage was kept to a
minimum too.
The company immediately launched an investigation in parallel
with the Health and Safety Executive. Both reached the same
conclusions on the root cause of the incident and how successful
the emergency evacuation and response procedures and emergency shut
down system were.
Glenn explained:
“We quickly realised that we needed to
identify the root cause of this failure to help prevent the same
thing happening in the industry. It was evident that the HSE would
carry out a detailed investigation and I decided that putting our
combined resources into one forensic examination would be better
than having two independent paths where conflict could and probably
would delay the outcome.
“This decision is a difficult one to make.
You’re exposing yourself to the organisation that could become your
prosecutor,” added Glenn. “You need to be very confident in your
position of culpability to follow this sort of strategy.”
The two organisations worked together on a detailed
investigation. In June 2006 the HSE issued industry safety notice
1/2006, which identified the potential risks of operating shell and
tube heat exchangers of this type and what operators need to do to
control those risks.
Centrica went further, and decided to share the findings of the
investigation with the offshore sector and beyond. Glenn produced a
DVD that:
- tells of the experiences of the people caught up in the
incident
- gives a technical description of how the emergency evacuation
and response procedure performed
- gives technical descriptions of the investigative process and a
summary of the findings of the investigation’s root cause
analysis
The DVD gives a technical analysis from computer simulations of
the incident and looks at how these simulations compared with
eye-witness accounts. The film also describes the platform
reinstatement programme.
“Communicating such a range of highly
technical issues to an audience of varying technical knowledge
represented a real challenge to us,” said Glenn.
The company opted for film because it offered the best way of
raising awareness quickly to a basic level.
Centrica Storage first showed the film to the workforce, in
particular those involved in the eye-witness interviews, followed
by all other offshore and onshore terminal teams. Finally,
office-based staff all had the opportunity to see it.
“The DVD has had a positive impact,” said
Glenn. “For the offshore workers it served to remind them how well
they and the platform had performed under emergency conditions. For
office staff, it raised awareness of the hazards their colleagues
working offshore and at the onshore terminals face on a daily
basis.
“We believe that to improve safety culture
and safety maturity, everyone has to recognise the impact that
their actions and decisions have – whatever their role and their
area of responsibility,” said Glenn.
So has the project been a success story? Glenn thinks so.
“We started with the sole aim of sharing our
experiences with the wider industry. No-one should be
complacent.”
If you’re involved in managing the risks linked with major
accident hazards, you can request a copy of the DVD. Email
Rebecca
Sunshine for details. You’ll need to register your
interest and make a donation to the RNLI, Centrica Storage’s
nominated charity.
Links: