As usual, you can find our website at www.qesconnect.co.uk. As well as details of what we can offer your business, you can find back numbers of our newsletter, and biographies of our staff. Why not take a look?

Over the past three years, we have worked with clients in a number of industry sectors including mechanical engineering, software development, construction and the motor trade to identify and control problems that could disrupt the clients' businesses.

Examples of projects undertaken include carrying out health and safety risk assessment to meet legal obligations; simplifying existing quality management procedures originally written for ISO9001:1994 so that there is less documentation, more aligned to the needs the of client; and developing complete quality and environmental management systems to meet ISO9001 and ISO14001 standards.

The company has also assisted clients by taking on the role of quality manager and safety advisor, saving their clients the cost of employing in-house specialists.

We believe we have grown our business by giving our clients practical advice and assistance that help them get on with running their businesses.

As a client, we hope you agree. If you are not already a client, call us today to see how we could help you.

Contents:

• Transition Period Ends
• Promoting ISO9001 Certification

• Health & Safety Essentials
• Common Sense?
• Brakes on for Old Woodworking Machines
• Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atomospheres Regulations
• No Significant Change in Workplace Deaths and Injuries
• Asbestos Regulation in Force Soon

The transition period for companies to change their quality management system from the 1994 version of ISO9001/2/3 to ISO9001:2000 ended on 15 December 2003. For most companies, the transition went painlessly, and they welcomed the opportunity that the new standard gave to simplify their quality management system (QMS) documentation. A few companies have decided not to continue with registration, having taken the opportunity to review whether the cost of maintaining certification was justified by the internal and external benefits of maintaining the QMS and its registration.

Disappointingly, there is some evidence that the certification bodies are still not taking the opportunity to add value to the client's business from their audits, and are still working to a "tick box" mentality.

For companies that have achieved the "new" standard, there is a temptation to heave a sigh of relief, and settle back to the same old routine. This is not in the true spirit of ISO9001:2000, where continual improvement should be the name of the game. All businesses should be looking for opportunities to improve their work practices, and the QMS should be helping them to do this. If it is not, it could be because the QMS is being sidelined as a "stand-alone" system. The QMS should be the system by which the business is managed, and maybe it needs overhauling to meet the needs of the business. That itself would be part of a Continual Improvement Process.

If you would like help with improving your quality management system, give us a call.

ISO (The International Organisation for Standardization) has issued strict new guidelines to assist organizations in publicizing certifications to the ISO 9001:2000 quality management system and ISO 14001 environmental management system standards.

The guidelines, "Publicizing your ISO 9001:2000 or ISO 14001 certification", are intended to help organizations apply good practice when publicizing, communicating and promoting their certifications to stakeholders including staff, customers and business partners, and to the general public.

The release of the guidelines was timed to coincide with the 15 December 2003 deadline marking the end of the three-year period given for organizations to make the transition from certificates of conformity to the 1994 versions of ISO 9001, ISO 9002 and ISO 9003 to the single standard that has replaced all three - ISO 9001:2000. Following the deadline, certificates to the 1994 versions are no longer recognized as valid and lose their accredited status.

ISO's guidelines insist upon reference to the full designation of ISO 9001:2000 (and not just "ISO 9001") in order to avoid any possibility of confusion between certification to the new (and now only valid) version and the old standard.

The guidelines also emphasize: "ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 give generic requirements for management systems, not requirements for specific products or services… ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 certification marks of conformity are not to be displayed on products, on product labels, on product packaging, or in any way that may be interpreted as denoting product conformity."

"Publicizing your ISO 9001:2000 or ISO 14001 certification" is available as a free download from ISO's Web site (www.iso.ch) or as a free brochure from ISO Central Secretariat.

It is worth re-emphasising that some bits of health & safety law impose mandatory requirements on all employers of 5 or more people. These include the preparation of a documented health and safety policy, and safety arrangements, and the carrying out and recording of risk assessments. To many employers, these seem like just more paperwork, but they are the area in which QES Connect can help to get you legally compliant, and help you to see where you can make improvements to prevent accidents

We can assist you to prepare a health & safety policy document, and can carry out and record risk assessments on your behalf. We will not give you reams of wordy paperwork, but as well as giving you the documents that the law requires, we will give you a view of where you need to make changes to achieve legal compliance and improve the safety of your staff.

If you have been putting off risk assessments, or if your risk assessments are more than a year old, give us a call about a free no-obligation discussion about what we could do for you.

COMMON SENSE?

One could be forgiven for thinking that looking after the health and safety of employees was common sense, but a review of Improvement Notices and Prohibition Notices issued by the Health & Safety Executive shows that not all employers get it right.

Some examples of obviously unsafe practices that have received prohibition notices have included:

• handling asbestos waste that was not contained
• using a pallet on a fork lift truck as a working platform
• paint spraying in areas where there were sources of ignition
• using lifting equipment that was in poor condition and had not been inspected.

Other things which have attracted the attention of the HSE, resulting in Improvement Notices being served, include:

• unguarded machines
• local exhaust ventilation not tested
• fork-lift truck drivers not trained
• unguarded drops where falls were likely

Once the HSE gets involved, the business has to implement actions against a timescale imposed by the inspector. Wouldn't it be better to have these things pointed out by a friendly consultant, and implement the actions to suit your own time scale?

We can carry out risk assessment for you, and highlight areas where you need to take action, before an HSE inspector calls - or someone gets hurt!

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) advises that circular saw benches, cross cut saws and tenoning machines must now have appropriate braking devices.

Braking devices are not considered necessary where machines have a run down time of 10 seconds or less, or where machines have been built in conformity with a harmonised European Standard where the standard does not require braking devices, and in cases where DC injection might damage the motor.

The fitting of braking will improve safety on woodworking machines, especially those that are hand-fed. Occasionally workers approach the tools either forgetting or being unaware that the machine is still running down. Accidents can also result from a stroboscopic effect of light on the tools, leading workers to believe that they have come to rest when they have not.

5 December 2003 also marked the deadline for woodworking machine users to change over to LCPT. It is possible to use this type of tooling on hand-fed vertical spindle moulders; single-end tenoners, high speed routers and other machines onto which a moulding tool can be fitted.

Most woodworking machinery accidents are due to the operator's hands coming into contact with the rotating cutters, usually resulting in an amputation injury. LCPT is designed to reduce the severity of injury. It also lessens the risk of the work piece being 'kicked back'.

Now the deadline has elapsed HSE inspectors may issue improvement notices to firms that have not yet fitted brakes to relevant machinery or changed over to LCPT.

If you require help on machinery compliance, contact QES Connect Ltd.

The Health & Safety Executive has published an Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) supporting the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 (DSEAR).

The ACOP is intended to help employers eliminate or reduce fire and explosion risks from dangerous substances in the workplace. It contains practical guidance, such as what factors to consider when doing risk assessments. DSEAR supplements the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations, by addressing the fire and explosion hazards of dangerous substances. The regulations require that the risks from dangerous substances are assessed, and either eliminated or reduced. The starting point for this assessment should be the general risk assessment required by the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999, which should identify whether dangerous substances are present.

If your risk assessments do not address the fire and explosion hazards from dangerous substances, talk to QES Connect about help with carrying out risk assessments.

Two recent warnings from the HSE are relevant to people in the engineering industry. One highlights the hazards associated with CNC machining centres, and the fact that parts can be ejected without warning. This emphasises the need for adequate guarding on such machines, not just to prevent the operator getting entangled in the machine, but also to protect him from flying objects. Such protection includes transparent observation windows as well as metal panels and covers.

Does your machinery meet essential safety standards? QES Connect can help you to identify what you need to do to minimise the risk of injury.

The second warning from HSE concerns the sale of used machinery, and emphasises that sellers cannot rely on the phrase "sold as seen" which is no protection from liabilities under health and safety laws.

The warning follows an HSE prosecution of both the supplier of the second-hand machinery and the buyer following an incident when an experienced machine operator sustained serious hand injuries which have left him partly disabled.

Maureen Kingman, HM Principal Inspector of HSE Manufacturing Sector commented, "Suppliers have explicit duties to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that articles for use at work will be safe at all times when being set, used, cleaned or maintained. Suppliers should safeguard second hand machines or first obtain a written undertaking from the purchaser that they will take specified steps to ensure that the article is safe. "Sold as seen" does not absolve the supplier or the buyer of their duties under the law."

The machine had been supplied "as seen, as is", having come from a previous user who had had it in storage for some years. No changes were made to the machine by the supplier before delivery and no documentation other than an invoice stating "free from any damage other than normal wear and tear" and machine manuals were provided to the user.

The supplier did not obtain any written undertaking from the user in relation to ensuring safety before use. The user carried out an extensive overhaul returning the machine to almost original condition, but making no changes to its design or safety features.

An experienced machine operator was appointed by the user to be trained on the machine by experienced members of staff with previous knowledge of the machine. When cleaning by hand with a cloth the powered rotating gravure and pressure rollers, his hand was drawn in between them, sustaining serious crush injuries.

QES Connect can provide a safety inspection system designed for your company, backed up by an auditing service that gives you the information you need to help you review your company's health and safety management performance. Why not give us a call and avoid being an HSE statistic?

WIn 2001, it was estimated that the Motor Vehicle Repair industry in the UK employed over 170,000 people in about 44,000 businesses. The industry is dominated by small and medium-sized companies with over half the workforce employed in either zero-employee enterprises e.g. sole traders or partnerships, or businesses employing less than 10 people. Companies with less than 50 employees accounted for about 80% of the workforce. Over the last 5 years there have been over 30 fatal accidents to motor vehicle repair workers and on average about 2,000 injuries per year reported to the HSE and Local Authorities

The HSE has now launched a website giving health and safety advice specifically for this industry. The information can be accessed at http://www.hse.gov.uk/mvr.

If you need guidance on implementing some of the health and safety suggestions on the website, contact QES Connect for practical advice.

The End-of-Life Vehicles Regulations come into force from the 3rd November 2003, and imposes new duties on manufacturers and dismantlers of vehicles. While this may not be relevant to many of our customers, it is worth pointing out that similar legislation is in the pipeline for electrical and electronic equipment, banning the use of certain substances and including obligations on how waste is to be treated.

While an environmental management system will not per se ensure that companies meet new legislation, it will help them to understand the environmental impact of their activities, and develop an plan to meet regulatory requirements as well as good-practice improvements.

Many large companies with environmental management systems are cascading the requirement to their suppliers and sub-contractors, who form part of the environmental impact of the large company.

Implementing an environmental management system, and getting it registered to the ISO14001 is not an impossible task for a small business, but it requires guidance from a knowledgeable consultant.

If you are thinking of implementing ISO14001, contact Chris Hamilton at QES Connect for advice and assistance.

Readers of paper copies of our last news letter will remember that we told you that we were moving. In fact, due to circumstances beyond our control, the move has not yet taken place. We can therefore still be contacted at the old address in the web site at " Who are QES Connect Ltd?". However, correspondence and telephone calls to our new address and number (as listed in new copies of Yellow pages, and on Yell.com) are being forwarded, so you can make contact either way.

Produced by QES Connect Ltd. Except where stated, the material included in the newsletter is taken from freely available public sources. It may be reproduced without permission for non-commercial purposes.