BSIF in Action

The BSIF Spills Containment and Control Group developed out of former Sorbent Manufacturers and Chemical Containment groups to form a broad interest group which now covers all aspects of the industry, meeting the needs of manufacturers, distributors, service providers and site assessment specialists. In recent years this Group has formed a close cooperative relationship with the UK Environment Agency.

The joint working initiative with the EA started by addressing issues in the Transport, Logistics and Distribution industries. A series of panels, one-to-one interviews and round table debates culminated in 2010 in the publication of a Best Practice report on preventing and controlling spills in the Transport, Logistics and Distribution Industries. The EA were delighted with the outcome, resulting in a high take up of the downloadable report and producing identifiable and quantifiable improvements in compliance. Another result was the development by BSIF members of a series of small and standardised spill control kits which can easily be carried at all times in commercial vehicles, and sales of these kits continue to be strong to this day.

Encouraged by the identifiable success of this work the EA and the Spills Containment and Control Group continued to work together to produce guidance for other industries. This has resulted in the publication in recent years of two further Best Practice reports, one in Construction and the other in Waste Management. One of the key factors in their success and their impact on the industries involved is that the reports do not take an enforcement approach, but rather demonstrate how other companies in the same field have addressed and solved these issues, and some highly effective mentoring relationships between larger and smaller companies in the same industry have developed as a result.

The BSIF Spills Containment and Control Group continues to thrive. Its next meeting early in 2015 includes a presentation by a member of the Swedish Standards Institute on the performance standards they have recently developed, which are to be adopted as best practice in Sweden and appear to already be having significant impact in many other European countries. This provides a major opportunity for collaboration by the UK spill control industry.

The Advisory Committee for Roof Safety – 50th meeting anniversary 

The Advisory Committee for Roof Safety (ACR), dedicated to making working on roofs safer, chaired by Graham Willmott who also chairs the BSIF Height Safety Group, has just celebrated its 50th meeting anniversary. It was established in 1998, following the publication of HSG 33 in the late 80s where the HSE were requiring all roofing materials to be non-fragile, yet there was no definitive measure of what non-fragility meant. At that time most industrial roofs were covered with asbestos cement sheeting together with grp rooflights and were stated by the manufacturers to be “fragile”.  

 

Discussions were held with the HSE to advise that these types of products could be made stronger but industry needed a “standard” to work to.  There followed a number of meetings of the roofing sector with the HSE to determine a suitable drop test on a specified test rig that would simulate a person tripping and falling on to a roof that would retain that person after the impact.  This lead to the official forming of the ACR and the publication of their first document ACR(M) 001:1998 Test for Fragility of Roofing Assemblies. The ACR is pleased that its test is also being considered as the Standard outside the UK. 

Today the ACR is made up of nominees from 11 Trade Associations and Organisations involved in Roofwork, plus the HSE. 

The ACR is dedicated to producing free publications about safe working practices on both fragile and non-fragile surfaces and other roof safety issues. To-date, other free information covers selecting a contractor, fitness and competence to work, working on fragile roofs, edge protection requirements, safety nets, horizontal life lines, solar collectable handling and minor roof works. ARC publications are widely used in health and safety cases to explain to the Courts how work on roofs should be carried out.

 

The ACR is pleased that its involvement in making work on roofs safer is reflected in a general improvement in the health and safety performance of the roof work industry.

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