intro :

The concept of health, safety and welfare at work started 200years back. with the
beginning of the industrialization period during the 18th and 19th century people
started working in factories and increased using heavy machineries .the newfound
dangers of deep mining works and the number of fatalities in the workplaces stirred
up the concern of middles class workers along with the community . As a result the
central government gradually involved in setting new health and safety standards in
the work industry.

Brief history of health and safety regulations:

IN 1802 the first legislation regarding health and safety at factories were
introduced when sir Robert Peel (MP) put the Health and Morals of Apprentices
Act through the parliament which is a piece of legislation that attempted at
reforming working conditions in factories.the the next factory act was introduced in
1819 regarding child labor in cotton mills and factories.the 1819 factory act
restricted the employment of the underage children which was developed in 1833
althorp’s factory act. This particular legislation introduced four factory inspectors
who are equivalent to the modern day executive inspectors.The major legislation
related mine working developed in 1842 which is known as the 1842 mine act.

It is the beginning of the 20th century when the health and safety standards started
to shape up drastically and gradually started improving the environment in
workplaces.in 1901 the 1901 factory and workshop act was introduced which sets
the minimum working age as 12years old and also introduced a minimum wage in
particular industries.also introduced in 1937 the 1937 factory act which limit
workers less than 16 years of age to a 44-hour a week.

In order to control health and safety on construction site, the building regulations
(health,safety and welfare) 1948 was introduced.the 1960’s saw the introduction of
four regulations that were the starting elements of the modern health and safety in
construction industry.they were The construction (general provision) regulation
1961,the construction( lifting operation) regulation 1961,the construction (health
and welfare)regulation 1966 and the construction (working places) regulation 1966.

In 1974 the health and safety at work 1974 act (also known as HASW or HSW) was
introduced. This pieces of legislation is the primary act that covers occupational
health and safety in the United Kingdom.it is the key legislation under which nearly
all the other regulations are made
Under this act The employers have a legal duty to ensure the health ,safety and
welfare at work of their employers ,for them whom they are responsible and whom
may be affected by the work they do .according to this legislation all people at work
,not just the employers have to be aware of the fact that,they have a duty to take a
reasonable care to avoid harming themselves or others by the work they do,so far
as is reasonably practical. The Health and Safety Executive is in charge for imposing
the Act and some Statutory Instruments applicable to the working
environment.Statutory instruments are the secondary types of legislation made
under specific Acts of Parliament. These cover a wide range of subjects, from
control of asbestos at work, diving, escape and rescue from mines, ionising
radiation and working at height.

the CDM regulations 1994 refers that the client,designers and contractors,all are
obliged to take nesecery steps to rethink their approach to health and safety.for any
project it should effectively be taken into account throught out all the stages of co-
ordination and management process.from the planning and design conception to
the execution of on-site works should be carried out with proper awareness and
health and safety precautions.the CDM regulation 1999…risk assessments…provide
employees with health risks and safety measures..co-opration and co-ordination
between multiple employers..capabilities and training for employees..for the
employees to carry out all the construction work according to the instruction and
training..manual handeling and operation regulation 1992---personal protective
equipments..construction(health safety and welfare regulations (CHSW) 1996 now
encompassed in the CDM regulations 2007 they cover…fragile material,falling
objects,demolition of structures,excavation,traffic routes,drowning..c the notes.

This report will focus on the health and safety legislation that applies to mines.in
the UK working conditions and safety standards in mine working is regulated from
1842.as mentioned before this law prohibited the employment of women and boys
under the age of ten and appointed inspectors for proper mine provision.the role of
these inspectors were strengthened by the 1850 mine act which allowed then to go
underground and investigate the condition of the mines.royal school of mines used
to educate and train these inspectors. . In 1860 the lower limit for the age of boys
working in the mines was raised to 12. Various safety measures were introduced in
1872, including a requirement that managers of mines be correctly trained and
certified. The working day was limited to eight hours in 1908, and reduced further
to seven and a half hours in 1930.

Historic event:

Hartly pit disaster:

In 1862 the Hartley coal pit disaster occurred in Northumberland. The tragedy took
the lives 204 men and boys when one of the steam engine beam fractured and
plunged into the only shaft of the mine.the mine shaft was separated by an airtight
wooden brattice which was the means of ventilation underground.when the beam
fell on the brattice,it was demolished and trapped the miners inside,caused a pile
debris covering the base of the shaft hence buried all the miners who eventually
died from asphyxiation..

After a thorough Investigation after the incident The two main factors came in to
discussion to the health and safety authorities.the beam that broke and fell was
over loaded and made out of cast iron instead of wrought iron.the other was about
using one mine shaft for entry and egress.had there been two different shafts to
enable both rescue and ventilation,

it caused the insertion of a clause in the C. M. R. A. requiring every mine in future to

have two separate means of ingress and egress: and it established the Miners
Permanent Relief Fund — a fund that has conferred benefit upon thousands of the
mining community, including widows, orphans, the injured workman and the aged.

Flixborough (Nypro UK) Explosion

In 1974 a poorly designed modification to a process plant at flixborough failed and
released several tones of cyclo-hexane at high pressure and temperature resulting
explosion killed a large number of people and caused extensive damage to the
neighboring properties.

Causes and consequences::

how absence of health and safety affected the incident

and how the legislation developed after the incident::

The chemical plant owned by Nypro UK produced a precursor chemical that is used
for nylon manufacturing.the process involved oxidation of cyclohaxen(flammable
substance) in a sequence of six reactors .after discovering a crack in the 5th
reactor,the authority decided to temporarily install a by-pass pipe between the 4th
and the 6th reactor so that the plant stays operational till the 5th reactor gets
repaired.this by-pass piped leaked and released a large quantity of cyclohaxen
which subsequently came in contact with the ignition source.this caused a massive
vapor cloud explosion taking the lives of 28workers and severely injured 36 of
them. It also damaged 1800 buildings in a mile radius. Eighteen fatalities out of 28
occurred in the control room as a result of the collapsed roof and the shattering
window from the explosion

The modification of the plant was carried out without a full assessment of potential
hazards. When connecting the by-pass pipe thorough calculation was ignored.
• Hazard And Operability study (HAZOP )has not been carried out; e.g. Identify
major hazards and check for availability of key hazard data, Safety audit after
a few months operation e.t.c

• No pressure testing was carried out on the installed pipe work modification.
 • The design codes for pipe work were not followed. In this particular case
following british standards are suggested: BS 6464 Specifications for
reinforced plastic pipe, fittings and joints for process plant, BS 6464
Specifications for reinforced plastic pipe, fittings and joints for process plant.

• Those concerned with the design, construction and layout of the plant did not
consider the potential for a major disaster happening instantaneously.
• The plant lay-out was unplanned-the distance between the plant and the
occupied building should follow the standard reference given by COMAH. In
all cases occupied buildings should not be sited downwind of hazardous plant
areas.

• The structural design of the control room could not withstand major hazard
events.

• Operating Procedures: number of critical decisions to be made

• Inerting: reliability/back-up/proof testing

a major environmental disaster took place in Italy seveso in 1976. The legislative
result of these disasters is Control of Industrial Major Accidents Hazards (CIMAH)
regulation 1984.this legislation enforces the manufacturers who use certain
dangerous and inflammable substances to organize a safety case( also known as
safety report now-a-days) which is to be submitted to the health and safety
executive (HSE) identifying the potential hazard of the substances that is being
used and the adequate control measures have been provided.

Contrast em both and how

ref lected the

recognition that major accidents are often the result of the coincidence of a number of factors realising their hazard
potential