When I worked as council gardener in London during the 1980s
the dangers of long-term exposure to vibrating machinery such as hedge
trimmers, lawn mowers, chain saws etc was just being recognised as a cause of an industrial injury known
as white finger. These days its called hand-arm vibration syndrome or HAVs for
short. Basically it’s a condition which affects the nerves, blood vessels and
muscles in the hand or arm as a result
of the excessive use of vibrating tools and equipment. The symptoms range from
numbness in the fingers, throbbing sensations and pain in the hand and fingers,
loss of strength and the ability to grip. In serious cases it’s sometimes necessary
to amputate fingers. In all cases HAVs has a serious impact upon a person’s
ability to do their job properly.
There are many ways to avoid getting HAVs especially arranging working patterns to reduce excessive exposure
to vibrating equipment, or using modern equipment, much of which has been re-designed to dampen vibration levels.
In 2005 the Health and Safety Executive issued The Control of Vibration at Work
Regulations which set out exposure limits and provided employers with advice
about how to safely manage vibrating equipment and protect the health of staff.
I understand that in the decade since these regulations were introduced the
number of HAVs cases in the workplace have been steadily declining. But not at
Thanet District Council.
Earlier this year the Isle of Thanet Gazette reported that
the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) was investigating TDC following complaints that some staff may
have contracted HAVs. I spoke to a senior council officer shortly before the
May elections who confirmed the accuracy of the Thanet Gazette article. He also
said to me that he believed that the resignation of another senior council
officer early in 2015 may possibly have been linked to the HSE investigation into the HAVs cases. It has
since been reported to me by another council insider that the number of suspected
cases of HAVs is into double figures which, if true,
raises some serious questions about Health and Safety practices at TDC.
Although I am speculating, reports that HAVs cases are in
double figures at TDC suggest to me that there has been a long term institutional
neglect of health and safety management at the council because HAVs doesn’t simply happen overnight
it’s a condition which generally develops following prolonged and excessive
exposure to vibrating equipment over a number of years. If this is true then it’s also a possibility that health and
safety management records may have been
falsified to give the impression that the Council had been following HSE
Regulations when it might not have been. In this regard it’s interesting to
note that last year and early this year
reviews of the Council’s Corporate Risk Register which include an evaluation
of risks in the services where HAVs appears to have been
identified, suggested that everything was fine when clearly it probably wasn't.
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| Canterbury Crown Court |
So apart from the worrying possibility that TDC may have
breached its duty of care towards its staff, where does this leave the council? I think the answer is likely to be "up to its neck in shit" and having to pay out £millions. First up it’s likely that TDC will face
several compensation claims and associated legal bills for allegedly damaging the
health of its staff. I doubt that these costs will be covered by the Council’s
insurance policy as it would appear, from what I have been told, that health and safety procedures and regulations might not have been followed. It’s hard to say what the total might be because compensation will vary
from case to case, but I reckon as a
bare minimum you are talking about £2 million – perhaps a lot more. Because don’t
forget that the HAVs cases and the apparent lack of safety management took
place over a long period of time, so there might be many ex-council staff who
have contracted this awful condition who will also have right to compensation too. So it’s
entirely possible that once this issue is fully investigated and once everyone involved
has been contacted there could possibly be 20, 30 or maybe even more serving or ex-TDC
staff who have contracted HAVs related conditions which may have been preventable had the council followed the rules.
Second what will the HSE do? Again this is
pure speculation, but the HSE Enforcement Protocol says that it will prosecute employers where serious
harm has been caused to staff; where employers have recklessly disregarded health
and safety procedures; where the standard of managing health and safety is
found to be well below what is required by health and safety law and giving
rise to significant risk. Clearly the alleged actions of Thanet Council meet
all of the HSE’s prosecution criteria so my guess is that sometime next year
TDC may find itself in the dock for major breaches of health and safety rules and for allegedly fucking up the health of 20-30 serving or ex-employees.
For crimes as serious as these its likely that such a case would be heard by the Crown Court who under current sentencing guidelines
would be able to impose an unlimited fine on an offender. Interestingly, if an HSE investigation
identifies individual culpability for
breach of safety rules or harm to staff or the public the person (s) identified as being responsible can also be prosecuted by the
courts and may even be sent to prison. Once again it’s impossible to second guess what penalties a court might
impose on TDC for its alleged failing. However if what has been reported in the
press and told to me in confidence is true then this is an extremely serious criminal
matter and I can’t see TDC getting much change from £2million when any potential
legal bills, fines and costs are taken into account.
So if my speculation proves to be correct then TDC may well have
to pay out, sometime next year, up to £4million in compensation, fines and legal costs for allegedly causing serious harm to its staff and
breaching safety rules. Add this to the reported £2.2 million overspend on
Dreamland, the £2.6 million compensation to the live animal exporters and the £3.4
losses from the secret Transeuropa Ferries debt deferral deal and you have the astronomic
figure of £12.2 million , or £202 per household, which some people might say has been wasted as a
consequence of serial political and managerial maladministration at TDC.
This incredible situation
suggests to me that the management of
TDC is well fucked-up and that the authority needs to have its governance procedures thoroughly reviewed and overhauled, especially the role
of elected councillors. I have said it
on many occasions before and will say it again TDC is, in my opinion, one of
the worst run local councils in the country and needs sorting out big time. And although I am angry that this alleged mismanagement might have cost £12.2 million over 4 years, I'm also furious that some of the Council's staff might have had their health screwed up as well!
Thanet District
Council (TDC) faces further damages and legal bills for unlawfully suspending live
farm animal exports from the Port of Ramsgate. The six-week suspension
was imposed by TDC in September 2012 after 47 sheep, judged to be unfit to
travel, had to be destroyed at the port. The suspension was challenged by the exporters
at the High Court in October 2012. The
judge, Mr Justice Birrs, ruled that TDC had unlawfully breached European Union
free trade rules and ordered the council to pay damages to the exporters.
