February 2022 Newsletter

Spring Quarry Safety Campaign 2022

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) and the Irish Concrete Federation (ICF) are jointly supporting “Spring Quarry Safety Campaign 2022” which will take place from Monday 14th – Friday 21st March 2022.

The theme of the campaign is “Machinery Safety”.

During the campaign, the HSA will be conducting quarry inspections, focussing on machinery safety and the HSA and ICF will present a series of online briefings for management, supervisors and safety officers on topical issues related to machinery safety.

Irish Concrete Federation Chief Executive Gerry Farrell said “Given the increased activity levels in the sector, it is critical that our members remain focused on the fundamental safety risks associated with quarrying. Therefore we greatly welcome the active support of the HSA for this campaign with its focus on machinery safety in quarries.”

In support of the “Spring Quarry Safety Campaign”, ICF members will be making commitments to carry out proactive safety measures in machinery safety.

If you are in need of any specific training to make your quarry ready for Spring Quarry Safety Week 2022, get in touch with us here and we will provide the information you need on our range of courses.

CYBERSECURITY IN 2022:  A FRESH LOOK AT SOME VERY ALARMING STATISTICS

2021 was a very trying year for cybersecurity in so many areas. There were high profile breaches such as the attack on the HSE system, Solar Winds, Colonial Pipeline and dozens of others that had major economic and security related impact.

Ransomware came on with a vengeance targeting many small and medium businesses.

Perhaps most worrisome was how critical infrastructure and supply chains security weaknesses were targeted and exploited by adversaries at higher rates than in the past.

We are just starting to learn of some of the statistics that certainly will trend in 2022 but with the shift towards remote and hybrid working, hackers will welcome that shift and look to take advantage.

Cyber attacks on all businesses, but particularly small to medium sized businesses, are becoming more frequent, targeted, and complex. According to a study, 43% of cyber
attacks are aimed at small businesses, but only 14% are prepared to defend themselves.

Not only does a cyber attack disrupt normal operations, but it may cause damage to important IT assets and infrastructure that can be impossible to recover from without the budget or resources to do so.

Small to Medium sized business around the globe report recent experiences with cyber attacks include:

1. Insufficient security measures: 45% say that their processes are ineffective at mitigating attacks.
2. Frequency of attacks: 66% have experienced a cyber attack in the past 12 months.
3. Background of attacks: 69% say that cyber attacks are becoming more targeted.

10 Small Business Cyber Security Statistics That You Should Know:

1. 43% of all data breaches involve small and medium-sized businesses.

2. If you’re still in denial about the chances of your small business becoming a victim, 61% of all SMBs have reported at least one cyber attack during the previous year.

3. A benchmark study by CISCO found that 40% of the small businesses that faced a severe cyber attack experienced at least eight hours of downtime. And this downtime accounts for a major portion of the overall cost of a security breach.

4. The above-mentioned CISCO study also found that ransomware was not among the top three cyber threats identified by small businesses. Business owners may be underestimating the threat of ransomware, however, MSPs are not. 85% of MSPs consider ransomware one of the biggest threats to their SMB clients.

5. 30% of small businesses consider phishing attacks to be the biggest cyber threat.

6. 83% of small and medium-sized businesses are not financially prepared to recover from a cyber attack.

7. Despite the staggering numbers, 91% of small businesses haven’t purchased cyber liability insurance. This truly reflects how unaware and unprepared small business owners are to deal with security breaches.

8. Only 14% of small businesses consider their cyber attack and risk mitigation ability as highly effective.

9. 43% SMBs do not have any cybersecurity plan in place.

10. One in five small companies does not use endpoint security, and 52% SMBs do not have any IT security experts in-house.

With one month to go before the rules change relating to the use of red diesel and rebated biodiesel, the Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA) is urging owners of construction plant, and the partners they work with, to be fully prepared for the changes that come into effect from 1st April 2022.

It will no longer be legal to use red diesel in plant and machinery being used for construction work from April 2022.

Kevin Minton, Chief Executive of the CPA said: “We urge all construction plant owners and their clients and customers to make sure they are up-to-date with the forthcoming changes and what it means for how they operate their plant. This applies as much to those companies looking to hire plant as it does to those supplying it.

For more infomration visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-rebated-fuels-entitlement-from-1-april-2022/check-when-rebated-fuel-can-be-used#:~:text=From%201%20April%202022%2C%20rebated,vehicles

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) began a two week transport operations and vehicles in the workplace inspection and awareness campaign Monday 28th February. The latest HSA reports show that in the last 5 years, from 2017 – 2021, there have been 102 workplace fatalities involving vehicles in Ireland.

The latest data on workplace fatalities for the year 2021, show that 16 (42%) of the 38 work-related fatalities involved vehicles.

Over the last two years the most common vehicles involved in work-related fatal incidents were cars (7), tractors (6), and trailers (5). The inspection campaign will focus on the management of vehicle risks in the workplace such as driving for work, common vehicle operations and load securing. Inspectors will focus on warehousing and storage operations within transport and logistics companies, distribution and warehousing centres, and manufacturing premises with a warehousing component. They are checking if safety management systems, including minimum risk control measures, are in place to prevent incidents relating to:

– Internal and external traffic management.

– Common high-risk vehicle activities including goods inwards/outwards, storage operations, loading and unloading of vehicles and use of forklifts and other motorised and self-propelled handling equipment.

– Racking installation, use, maintenance and inspection.