News

The national regulator for health and safety in Great Britain today (1 January) celebrates its 50^th Anniversary.

Created by the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) was officially launched on 1^st January 1975.

For the last 50 years it has played a central role in reducing workplace death and injury, helping Great Britain become one of the safest places in the world to work. In 1974, 651 employees were killed at work; HSE’s latest annual statistics for 2023/24 show that number had reduced to 138.

Sarah Albon, chief executive of HSE, has said that despite the transformation of Britain’s workplaces over the past half century, the mission of the regulator remains as relevant as ever.

Sarah said: “Over the past half century, the Health and Safety Executive has led the way in establishing Great Britain as a safe place to work. As we look ahead to the next 50 years, we recognise there is still much for HSE to take on.

“We’re proud of our successes over the last five decades, but the fact remains that any work-related death is a tragedy, and there are still far too many workers suffering ill-health brought about by work activity.

“In 2022, we launched our 10-year strategy, Protecting People and Places, to build on HSE’s strong foundations and address our current and future challenges.

“So today, HSE’s role goes beyond worker protection to include public safety assurance on a range of issues. Recent years have added new responsibilities, such as becoming the appointed Building Safety Regulator and playing an extended role in chemical regulation, post Brexit.

“It is hard to foresee what the world of work will look like in the next 50 years but as ever, our fundamental principle will continue to be to make sure that those who create risk, take responsibility for controlling risk, and those who fail to do so will be held to account.

“We will continue to work with businesses, with industry, with other regulators and with government, to enable strong economic growth, while we continue to deliver our founding principles as we work to protect people and places.”

Minister for Social Security and Disability,  Sir Stephen Timms, said: “I’m delighted to wish a very happy 50th anniversary to the Health and Safety Executive.

“Over the last half-century this organisation has been at the heart of efforts to protect people and places across Britain: I would like to thank them for this vital work.

“As we support more people to get into work through our Get Britain Working White paper, and as we move to strengthen protection for workers, their mission will be as important as ever – now and long into the future.”

www.hse.gov.uk

The Chief Executive of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Sarah Albon has been recognised in the New Year’s honours list.

Sarah has been appointed a Companion of the Order of Bath for her services to the public sector.

The honours are given by the King and recognise achievements of people from across the United Kingdom.

Sarah Albon said: “It is a great privilege to have been awarded a CB in the King’s New Year’s Honours list.

“I’m proud to be a civil servant working on behalf of the public, and proud of the teams I lead. I have been very fortunate to work with dedicated and talented colleagues throughout my career and I see this award as testament to their achievements as much as my own.”

Chair of the HSE Board Sarah Newton added: “It’s a pleasure to work with Sarah Albon who over the past five years at HSE has led the organisation through significant challenges and change.

“Since becoming Chief Executive of HSE in 2019, Sarah has provided outstanding leadership, implementing major initiatives of national significance, protecting people and places. I’m pleased to see this award rightly recognise Sarah’s contribution, both here at HSE and in her roles across the Civil Service, and I am delighted to congratulate her on this achievement.”

Sarah joined HSE in 2019 and led the organisation’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Prior to HSE, Sarah was Chief Executive of the Insolvency Service. Before that, she worked for the Ministry of Justice and its predecessor departments.

www.hse.gov.uk

Hart Door Systems has completed several contracts for its brand leading Speedor Storm door for a number of sectors across the UK.
Ranging from leading manufacturers to an international airport, multiple orders for Speedor Storms have been reported.
"In addition to a rise in demand for the Speedor Storm high-speed door, we have also delivered eight ATEX comprising four fire shutters and four insulated shutters for a wind turbine project," says Gordon Kipling, Hart's Northern Sales Manager. "Orders for Speedor Storms range from two to eight doors. It has been a remarkable level of activity."
Hart’s Speedor Storm is a wind-resistant high-speed industrial door ready for anything the weather can throw at it. "It is an exceptional door for use in factories, warehouses, storage facilities, indeed for any kind of plant operation that must be open frequently for people and traffic," adds Mr Kipling."Wind resistance for the Speedor Storm is up to ‘wind class 5’ as defined by DIN EN 12424. This means that it can withstand winds of up to 70mph for large external openings up to 8m x 8m."

www.hartdoors.com

The Enerpac ECS-Series Cutter Spreader combination tool features powerful jaws that can cut and spread, bringing a versatile and simple tool to industrial customers.

Two Tools in One
With a 30cm maximum aperture, the powerful spreading jaws apply five tons of force to quickly open workpieces and expose the internal parts of vehicles, appliances and other industrial equipment. A pair of large blades grip and cut through extensive sections of sheet metal and similar materials, streamlining and accelerating the cutting operation. Whether recycling appliances, removing impediments or cutting materials down to size, the Enerpac Cutter Spreader combination tool is the ideal tool to access required parts and get the job done.

Easy to Use
The Cutter Spreader combination tool is an innovative and simple design that offers both cutting and spreading action in a single plug-and-play tool without the need of pumps, hoses or batteries. The tool only weighs 15 Kg and features a rotatable head for optimal positioning of the jaws on the workpiece. A large control knob positioned directly at the front of the handle makes it easy to activate the jaws, regardless of how the tool is positioned.

Fast and Powerful
The Cutter Spreader combination tool's wide aperture blades are able to grip and cut a large variety of work pieces within two to three seconds. Unlike typical spreading tools that deliver only one ton of spreading force, the powerful ECS-Series tools generate over five tons of force to get the job done fast and with ease.

For more information on the Enerpac ECS-Series Cutter Spreader tool, visit www.enerpac.com.

Industrial clean air specialist Filtermist Limited will be showing two of its latest innovations on stand F245 at Southern Manufacturing 2025. The UK manufacturer will be launching a brand-new mobile stand for its larger Filtermist oil mist filters, as well as showcasing an A.erity 10-30 oil mist collector from sister company Absolent AB.

The new portable stand is designed to make it simple to move a Filtermist oil mist filter to wherever it’s needed and is ideal for use on grinding applications when used with a cyclone pre-filter. The height of the stand also makes it easy for the Filtermist unit to be serviced and maintained – helping customers comply with Working at Height Regulations 2005.

Josh Palmer, Product Manager for Filtermist, elaborates, “We work closely with our key customers to identify how we can improve our product offering. As well as being perfect for any applications where enhanced flexibility is required, this new mobile oil mist extraction solution is also ideal for customers that would like to trial a Filtermist unit before committing to a permanent installation.”
Filtermist will also be showcasing an A.erity oil mist filter at the Farnborough show for only the second time since the new product’s launch in 2023. Key Account Manager Simon Harkis, comments, “The A.erity range from Absolent is relatively new and additional models are still being introduced. The current product line-up includes filtration units with airflows from 500-4,000m3/hr, capable of handling particle loads from 5-70mg/m³. With the modular design of the A.erity range this maximum airflow can be increased further to 12,000m3/hr using multiple units driven by one controller.
“A.erity units include multiple filtration stages with a HEPA filter as the final stage, and thanks to Absolent’s patented Catch&Release filtration media and energy efficient EcoDrive technologies, A.erity offers users up to 8760 hours of maintenance free operation.
“We have installed several A.erity units for customers across the UK and they are being very well received. Absolent also offers its A.Smart IoT monitoring solution - allowing customers to check the performance of their Absolent units from any location via an easy-to-use dashboard which can be accessed from any internet enabled device. This is a big plus for companies with multiple machines where keeping downtime to an absolute minimum is critical.”
The Filtermist team will also be reminding show visitors that it manufactures Kerstar industrial vacuum cleaners, including ATEX rated models available with a choice of compressed air or electric power. The Southern stand will include a KEVA 45H with carbon fibre kit and a KAV15 – the smallest model in the Kerstar range.
Visitors to the stand can also learn about Filtermist’s comprehensive Aftermarket division which offers spares and consumables, servicing and maintenance, and COSHH compliant LEV testing throughout the UK.
Please visit the team on stand F245 to discuss how Filtermist can support with effective extraction for oil mist, dust, fume and smoke, or go to www.filtermist.co.uk to find out more about all of the products and services available for UK manufacturers.

Mike Meen, Technical Director at Bureau Veritas, assesses whether the traditional two-dimensional approach to risk is adequate in today’s complex society, and highlights the importance of organisational maturity and resilience in hazardous environments.

The traditional two-dimensional risk model sees probability weighed up against consequence, predicting the likelihood of a risk occurring and the severity of the outcome. The problem with this model, particularly in potential hazardous environments and industries, is that it undermines the influence and importance of organisational maturity.

The 10^th edition of Deloitte’s Global Risk Management Survey found that amongst organisations with mature risk management processes, 66% were more likely to achieve their objectives, and have a 30% lower likelihood of experiencing critical incidents compared to companies with low-risk management maturity. In addition, mature organisations demonstrated stronger regulatory compliance, with 85% of mature organisations reporting fewer regulatory breaches, compared to just 55% of less mature ones.

Since the Deloitte report, McKinsey's 2023 research found only 50% of organisations feel well-prepared to handle external shocks like economic volatility and geopolitical instability, reflecting a significant gap in organisational resilience. Moreover, two-thirds are struggling with complexity and inefficiency in their structures, highlighting the need for more agile and mature systems to better manage risks and disruptions​.

Plant, Procedures, People

In today’s complex society, where technology and artificial intelligence are becoming as sophisticated as people, many organisations can become too reliant on their equipment.

Industries and plants operating in the chemical, manufacturing, nuclear, or oil and gas sectors work heavily on both physical equipment and control logic – particularly safety and environmentally-critical equipment (SECEs) whose sole purpose is to mitigate a potentially hazardous spill or explosion occurring. Although condition monitoring is now sophisticated on these items, it’s vital that ‘people’ are also considered as an additional layer of consideration, otherwise businesses can open themselves up to that third dimension of risk.

In all industrious environments, employees will have the ability to override the machines and controls in place and launch an essential shutdown. The key is ensuring those employees are trained, competent and prepared.

If a piece of plant equipment malfunctions, the next port of call is the business’ procedures and its people. As such, training is vital.

Embedding resilience into the organisation

It is the environment that a person works in that either supports or inhibits action. It is the application of appropriate processes that prevent or mitigate undesirable events; and ultimately, it is the people and their behaviours that are the source of compliance or ignorance to due process.

Training in risk and resilience doesn’t necessarily mean having to learn about lots of individual elements; it simply means understanding how to be situationally aware.

It’s important to note that organisational maturity cannot be achieved overnight, and isn’t simply the culmination of a set of company rules for employees to follow. It comes from time and investment in navigating each stage of maturity, ensuring operational and process excellence is embedded into the culture of the business.

Bureau Veritas is a leading testing, inspection and certification company offering workplace health and safety consultancy services and training. For further information, please visit https://www.bureauveritas.co.uk/.

National Grid Electricity Transmission is the latest company to join EEMUA as a corporate member.

National Grid Electricity Transmission is a business unit within the wider National Grid Group. It develops, owns and maintains the high-voltage electricity transmission network in England and Wales. The system consists of approximately 4,500 miles of overhead line, over 900 miles of underground cable and over 300 substations.

EEMUA and National Grid Electricity Transmission have well aligned objectives in terms of safety, the environment and operating performance. The sharing of good practice across different industries and global regions afforded by engagement in EEMUA will help support National Grid Electricity Transmission in the safe operation of its physical assets as it looks to connect more and more low carbon electricity to the network – crucial in helping the UK achieve its net zero ambitions.

The Engineering Equipment and Materials Users Association

EEMUA has released Edition 4 of EEMUA 191, Alarm systems – A guide to design, management and procurement.

Since it was first published in 1999, EEMUA 191 has become the globally accepted and leading guide to good practice for all aspects of alarm systems.

The new edition has been comprehensively updated and restructured to improve ease of use. The terminology has been aligned to that used in the latest editions of the standards and the opportunity has been taken to include new material on alarm management for remote sites.

Alarm systems form an essential part of the operator interfaces to large modern industrial facilities. They provide vital support to the operators by warning them of situations that need their attention and have an important role in preventing, controlling and mitigating the effects of abnormal situations.

EEMUA 191, developed by the users of alarm systems in industry, gives comprehensive guidance on designing, managing and procuring an effective alarm system. It is intended to help in improving existing systems and in developing new facilities during plant construction or during alarm system refurbishments. Both of the international standards for the management of alarm systems for the process industries, ISA 18.2 and IEC 62682: 2023, are aligned with EEMUA 191.

EEMUA 191 is primarily concerned with alarm systems provided for people operating industrial processes. These include alarm systems in industries such as chemical manufacture, power generation, oil and gas extraction and refining and others. However, much of the guidance is generic and with appropriate interpretation can be applied in other sectors. The guide has been used successfully as a basis for training in the rail and transport sectors, in the nuclear industry, and elsewhere.

www.eemua.org

i.safe MOBILE sets new standards with its new 5G radio IS440.1

In recent years, there has been an increasing shift from conventional radio technology to digital PMR technology, particularly in the industrial sector. This is where private 5G mobile networks come into play, meeting growing connectivity needs with higher coverage, bandwidth and security. Reliable communication is essential for team coordination on large company sites - in hazardous and non-hazardous areas. As not all parts of the company are usually converted to digital formats immediately, a cross-technology solution for group communication is required.

i.safe MOBILE responds to the demands of industrial users

The new development from i.safe MOBILE closes this gap: The 5G radio provides secure and interference-free PoC communication via public or private 4G/5G networks on site or Wi-Fi® as a backup connectivity. The ATEX/IECEx certified 5G radio IS440.1 for Ex-zone 1/21 enables seamless group communication via a PoC bridge server with existing devices like two-way radios (TETRA, DMR and analogue PMR). The new 5G radio supports 3GPP Release 15 and has a very reliable chipset on board. The device features a user-oriented look and feel, a replaceable battery (with 2400 or 4800 mAh), large keys for PTT, SOS, talk group selection, dual SIM (with automatic network switching), a powerful front speaker (>105 dB) for noisy environments, a unique 8-pin ISM interface for connecting headphones and heavy duty headsets (HDHS) and a functional fixing clip.  

The 5G radio is mostly used in the campus network, but an alternative SIM card for the public network can of course also be inserted to have a fallback option in an emergency, another fallback option is of course the connection via Wi-Fi. In terms of connectivity, it is equipped with Wi-Fi 6, NFC (for access control, data transfer between two devices, reading NFC tags) and Bluetooth® 5.2. In addition to all major public 4G/5G frequency bands, the IS440.1 also supports the CBRS spectrum and B68 for public safety applications.

The user can download selected apps compatible with the device directly from the pre-installed i.safe MOBILE App World and update them regularly. The App World contains product-related, pretested push-to-talk and MDM solutions. With the corresponding app from App World, the IS440.1 is more than just a radio. The IS440.1 enables advanced functions such as:

• Push-to-Talk: instant communication at the touch of a button
• Full-duplex communication: Seamless two-way calls
• Video streaming: visual information exchange in real time
• Protection of lone workers: Increased safety for isolated workers

Robin Hartmann, Manager Operative Business Development of i.safe MOBILE comments: “With the development of our 5G radio, we are responding to many of our customers’ requests for a  bridge technology between existing communication devices such as two-way radios and modern 5G devices on the road to digital transformation. This gives customers the opportunity to gradually digitalize their communications.”

Further information and a dealer directory can be found at www.isafe-mobile.com

Dr. Leszek Kasprzak, Principal Risk & Safety Consultant, and Dr. Shirin Pegg, Technical Director at Bureau Veritas, discuss how Fault Tree Analysis is helping to re-evaluate risk, and what this means for the future of Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres (DSEAR) assessment.

The modern-day approach to risk assessment must keep pace with technological advancements and emerging hazards. Forward-thinking methodologies are redefining the boundaries of safety and reliability within evaluation of hazardous facilities.

One of the most recent and innovative developments in risk assessment practices is the comprehensive application of Fault Tree Analysis (FTA). Unlike more traditional assessment models, FTA offers a detailed, system-level approach to identifying potential failure paths and evaluating the risk of critical events. This method allows organisations to gain a deeper, data-driven understanding of complex risk factors. Such insights not only support compliance but actively enhance safety measures and operational efficiency.

FTA and its significance in the current landscape

The answer to this lies in the multi-layered nature of modern industrial processes, where a single fault can trigger cascading failures. FTA maps out intricate dependencies and quantifies the likelihood of such chain reactions, considering elements like human error, component failures, and environmental influences. For instance, when analysing the risk of hydrogen explosion at battery charging stations potentially leading to severe injuries, the assessment shows transparently the presence of potential ignition sources, process controls and ventilation system failure; and occupancy level within the impacted area. This level of transparency is crucial for mitigating risks comprehensively and proactively.

Modernising risk assessment reports is another essential aspect of evolving safety practices. Detailed visual representations and extensive data references, sourced from reputable industry statistics and authoritative agencies, enhance comprehension, translating complex assessments into actionable insights. When reports are designed with clarity and precision, they not only inform but foster trust through well-documented methodologies and findings.

A significant challenge faced by many industries today is the risk posed by emerging technologies, particularly lithium-ion batteries. The multi-faceted hazards associated with these energy storage solutions are only beginning to be fully understood. Risk assessments need to extend beyond standard flammable risk considerations to include factors such as thermal runaway reactions, which can be influenced by environmental and operational variables. By examining oxidizers and reactive chemical interactions, risk evaluations can highlight potential failure scenarios that might otherwise be overlooked. Such forward-thinking analysis is essential for addressing next-generation industrial challenges.

The ability to anticipate and evaluate evolving risks - from hydrogen use in new energy systems to advanced battery technologies - positions risk assessment not just as a regulatory requirement but as a strategic pillar for safety innovation. Continuous refinement of methodologies ensures that organisations are not only compliant but prepared for the unexpected.

In an era where safety cannot be compromised, meticulous and forward-thinking risk assessments set a benchmark for resilience. Expertise and a commitment to proactive strategy are necessary to initiate a conversation that challenges the industry to think beyond immediate risks and toward future-proofed safety.

www.bureauveritas.com,