14 January

Annual General Meeting and Presentation of the HSE's Progress Report and Future Plans

Dr Paul Billinger, Principal Inspector, HSE West Midlands

Read last year's progress report here

Time:  Complimentary lunch 1.15pm, Meeting Starts 2pm
Venue:  The Birmingham Medical Institute, 36 Harborne Road, Birmingham B15 3AF

11 February

REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals)

Richard Bishop, HM Inspector of Health and Safety, UK REACH Competent Authority

These Regulations are aimed at giving users of chemicals a high level of protection of human health and the environment from their use. In part they will do this by making the people who place chemicals on the market (manufacturers and importers) responsible for understanding and managing the risks associated with their use. This is intended to make COSHH Assessments more manageable.

Time:  Complimentary lunch 1.15pm, Meeting Starts 2pm
Venue:  The Birmingham Medical Institute, 36 Harborne Road, Birmingham B15 3AF

10 March

HSE Construction Group Plan of Work

Richard Lockwood, Principal Inspector, Construction Group West Midlands

Richard will outline the latest news of the National Construction Campaigns plus the regional top-priority work activities.

Time:  Complimentary lunch 1.15pm, Meeting Starts 2pm
Venue:  The Birmingham Medical Institute, 36 Harborne Road, Birmingham B15 3AF

14 April

Tackling COSHH in the Real World

Simon Bull, Managing Director, Castle Group Ltd

Simon will explain simply how to make COSHH assessments more meaningfulby using simple monitoring techinques to identify real risk.

Time:  Complimentary lunch 1.15pm, Meeting Starts 2pm
Venue:  The Birmingham Medical Institute, 36 Harborne Road, Birmingham B15 3AF

19 May

Update on the Noise Regulations

Steve McCrorie, Sypol plc

Following the full implentation of the regulations, Steve will bring us up to date on their impact.

Time:  Complimentary lunch 1.15pm, Meeting Starts 2pm
Venue:  The Birmingham Medical Institute, 36 Harborne Road, Birmingham B15 3AF

11 June -Seminar

Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act 2007

Full details and booking form here

9.30am-2pm, including lunch.

This half day event is aimed at giving in-depth guidance on the new legislation which is designed to bring significant improvements in health and safety management to the boardroom.

We have managed to secure a unique line-up of speakers for this event by obtaining presentations from a leading academic who has been closely involved in the drafting of the new Act, a representative from the Crown Prosecution Service, as well as the Police. We are also fortunate to have the presence of Rosi Edwards to give us the HSE standpoint and BHSEA Member, George Allcock who, with many years as Group Safety Manager at GKN, is well-placed to give us sound, practical advice on 'how to' operate effective health and safety management systems.

Another unique feature of this Seminar is the inclusion of information about some additional legislation just going through Parliament that we think is going to have an equally strong impact on the minds of Directors and Managers when they are making provision for Health and Safety.

Venue:  The National Motorcycle Museum

8 September

Gas Safety

Terry Broughton, Course Director, Gas Safe Consultants Ltd

Gase Safe have a wide experience in training for all industries using compressed gas for all types of work activities.

Time:  Complimentary lunch 1.15pm, Meeting Starts 2pm
Venue:  The Birmingham Medical Institute, 36 Harborne Road, Birmingham B15 3AF

13 October

TG20 Scaffolding Erection Procedure

Rob Lynch, CEO and Phil Hinch, SHEQ Manager, Lyndon Scaffolding

The introduction of the new BSEN 12811 Standard, in response to a European initiative, caused a certain amount of dissention in the Construction Industry, because of its recognised practical limitations in the UK. Rob Lynch is the Chairman of the Technical Committee of the National Access and Scaffolding Confederation and was directly involved in their original response to the new

Time:  Complimentary lunch 1.15pm, Meeting Starts 2pm
Venue:  The Birmingham Medical Institute, 36 Harborne Road, Birmingham B15 3AF

10 November

Fire Regulations (RRO) Update -2 Years On

Jonathan Herrick, West Midlands Fire Service

Jonathan gave us a very well received introduction to this new legislation almost two years ago, shortly after it came into force. Because it was such a radically different approach to the previous Fire Safety Legislation, it is now appropriate to take stock of its effects and find out if there are any lessons to be learnt from the first two years of its operation.

Members' Corner
This is where we are giving Members the chance to air their views on any activity they have worked on and which they think other BHSEA Members may be interested in learning about.

This month BHSEA Chairman will be presenting a 10-minute briefing on “Quick Hitches”, ten minutes before the main meeting. Quick Hitches are the attachments that secure excavator buckets to the arms of mechanical excavators and there have been four fatalities and some serious injuries in the last 12 months, due to the mal-operation or mechanical failure of these devices. As a result, the HSE have found it necessary to take urgent action to stop the supply of new Semi-automatic Quick Hitches and to issue alerts throughout the Construction Industry to control the risk from the many quick hitches already in circulation!

Time:  Complimentary lunch 1.15pm, Members' Corner at 1.50pm. Main meeting starts 2pm
Venue:  The Birmingham Medical Institute, 36 Harborne Road, Birmingham B15 3AF

18 November

Construction Health and Safety Competence Event -a Breakfast Meeting starting at 8am

A Working Well Together (WWT) organised meeting

This is a special free breakfast meeting aimed at small businesses who are trying to prove their health and safety competence to potential clients/employers when they are looking for work. This event effectively ties in all the key providers of construction skills with guidance from employers engaged in different aspects of the construction Industry to give delegates a unique range of expert guidance on how to get work. Those BHSEA members who are in large organisations might wish to encourage small contractors in their supply chain to come along to broaden their expertise.
Download flyer here

Time:  Meeting Starts 8am
Venue:  The Birmingham Medical Institute, 36 Harborne Road, Birmingham B15 3AF

8 December

Time:  Complimentary lunch 1.15pm, Meeting Starts 2pm
Safety at Home and Work Safety at Christmas

Home Safety Unit, West Midlands Fire Service

Having an accident at home (or work) during the Festive Season, is never a happy occurrence if only because the link to Christmas is such a tragically powerful, annual reminder of what happened. Sadly, there isoften an unwelcome increase in accidents at Christmas time, as the WFMS Home Safety Unit can confirm too well! This presentation will draw on their experiences over the years.

Venue:  The Birmingham Medical Institute, 36 Harborne Road, Birmingham B15 3AF

Extracts from the presentations