Posted By David Carter The company that I work for is sending a small team of 5 employees to a location in the Far East to conduct trials and acceptance testing with the customer. The work is being carried out on a Naval vessel in a dockyard. The team visited the location last year but came back with frightening accounts of situations totally lacking in safety management or having a complete disregard for health and safety. Examples include; welders striking an arc and welding alongside other workers without the use of screens or communicating warnings prior to starting; The use of severely frayed ropes used for slinging equipment which is done over the heads of personnel in the vicinity; Spray painting in confined spaces without extraction / masks, warning signs or indeed any safety measure that could be observed. (Sounds like some places in the UK actually) I could go on but you've probably got the picture. How do we, as a company, ensure that we have assessed the risks that our personnel will be subjected to and carry out the required elimination / reduction / control measures? Some of the hazards that we are aware of can be assessed either qualitatively or quantitatively, others will need to be assessed 'at the coal face' by our competent project manager - a control measure in itself. Our staff are trained in areas such as manual handling, COSHH, the use of PPE etc, etc but the lack of control over the actions of another nations citizens who are operating to a completly different set of regulations (possibly) is quite concerning. Any words of wisdom and advice would be greatly appreciated. By the way, the best control measure - NOT SENDING THE TEAM OUT THERE - has been considered.

Posted By Rod Douglas I thought France and Spain were a part of the EU? Em they are!!!! Therefore "The Framework Directive" must affect them as it was founded on a requirement of Article 118A of The Treaty of Rome. "Member states have a responsibility to encourage improvements in worker safety on their territory and taking theses measures can also help in preserving the Health & Safety of others". Is it just me or does anyone else out there think that Britain is the only EU Country that does what it says on the tin?