Next door but few down is having his house sandblasted. The company hasnt sheeted and the whole street is covered in dust, including gardens and cars. Its in our house as the door wasnt sealed.

No prior notice from the neighbours or company.
Googling the sandblasting company shows a history of fines for using sand (silicosis) and not clearing up after previous jobs.

Had a chat with the guy but he’s argumentative – told him to stop.

If he doesnt – who can i report it to? Environmental health arent open weekends.

Photos, videos, speak to neighbour. If council aren’t open today it’ll have to be Monday but give cleaning bill to neighbour.

Bike lock round his van wheel until the situation is rectified?

Is there really no emergency number for EH? What he’s doing could be a serious health problem for people with asthma, breathing difficulties, etc.

Had a chat with the guy but he’s argumentative – told him to stop.

Escalate then. Don’t just tell him, make him.

The company hasnt sheeted and the whole street is covered in dust, including gardens and cars.

Form a vigilante group with your neighbours and get to work.

Not in Sale are you? A mate is having his done.

He’s tapped into a fire hydrant and using a hose to keep the dust down, has washed all the house fronts off so have put the bombers away.

sand (silicosis)

If there is a genuine silicosis risk, then the HSE would be able to stop it immediately with a prohibition order. If the sand used either contains fine dust or the blasting process creates fine dust sized particles then I imagine there may be a risk (to the contractor and his employees more than to anyone else).

The threat of a phone call to the HSE may itself be effective, since a prohibition notice will force him to stop until the HSE is satisfied that remedial action is taken. That would mean more than just sheeting, since they would be looking at the PPE and RPE issued to staff, risk assessments, maybe health monitoring etc. etc. In other words, a lot of trouble for the contractor.

As above photos, I’d video you asking him to stop. If he gets abusive then it’d be good to have evidence.

Here’s the COSHH regs pertaining to sand blasting/abrasive cleaning.
COSHH Abrasive blasting

Did you take pictures of the carnage. Local HSE office would be very interested, especially if working from a ladder with the blasting hose. A slam-dunk work at height conviction for the inspector.

He’s tapped into a fire hydrant and using a hose to keep the dust down, has washed all the house fronts off so have put the bombers away.

Not good enough. It’s illegal to use a fire hydrant without permission (bet he hasn’t got it). Report him to the fire brigade or water company. I’d also report him to the council for the other stuff. He’s just going to keep doing it otherwise.

He’s tapped into a fire hydrant

That’s another reportable offence then.

I’ve calmed down now. I returned home from work this morning to find my Mrs and the woman next door having a ding dong in the street with the guy. Using a hydrant hose has at least helped but I can’t believe in this day of HSE (and the amount I have deal with in engineering) that scruffy Transit van ‘companies’ like this guy can exist.

I feel sorry for his Nike airmax wearing sandblasting guy who’s up the ladder doing the actual blasting.

Waterboard look after hydrants ring your local board up they may have someone who can call.

Not good enough. It’s illegal to use a fire hydrant without permission (bet he hasn’t got it). Report him to the fire brigade or water company.

It sounds like that is his normal working practice given the lack of sheeting (I would not have expected a sand blasting contractor to carry around fire hydrant connections as a matter of routine).

I would report to the HSE and the water company, otherwise he is simply going to carry on doing it to other people.

Definitely worth a call to the HSE and council Monday and letting him know that he will be getting a bill – oh and a call to the Fire Brigade

I feel sorry for his Nike airmax wearing sandblasting guy who’s up the ladder doing the actual blasting.

Any PPE being used? Is the ladder secured in any way?
Sounds like a proper cowboy outfit!

I can’t believe in this day of HSE (and the amount I have deal with in engineering) that scruffy Transit van ‘companies’ like this guy can exist.

It’s difficult for the HSE to monitor peripatetic small contractors like that. However, if you can provide them with the evidence, especially if you take photographs (or even better video), it makes it much easier for them.

I feel sorry for his Nike airmax wearing sandblasting guy who’s up the ladder doing the actual blasting.

Exactly. For you and your neighbours it’s an inconvenience, but that worker is the one whose health may be being wrecked without him even realising it. That is why you should report.

I’m going to call the council & environmental health on Monday as no one open today.

It is a proper cowboy operation. I’m in engineering/projects so know the right and wrong way to do stuff. That scene when I arrived home was the wrong way.

Thanks all – bombers away. for now.

Your local authority will have a weekend contact number.

I can’t believe in this day of HSE (and the amount I have deal with in engineering) that scruffy Transit van ‘companies’ like this guy can exist.

They still exist because:
A) not enough people report them to the appropriate authorities, in this instance: HSE, Water company / fire brigade, Environment Agency (pollution incident) and environmental Heath.
B) not everyone realises that it’s harbour or just plain don’t care
C) people still want jobs doing cheap and damn everyone else.

Photographic evidence of everything is king. The HSE will prosecute on photographic evidence, and a witness statement alone if it shows endangerment of a third party particularly if that is a member of the public.

Nobeerinthefridge – Member
Your local authority will have a weekend contact number.

ha ha ha – this is Rossendale LA talking about here!

Using a hydrant isn’t against regs if he has a licensed water board stand-pipe. I say if….

I guess you’ll be changing your user name to DustyNissanPrairie now? 😉

He’s tapped into a fire hydrant and using a hose to keep the dust down, has washed all the house fronts off so have put the bombers away

He’s not likely to be using an approved standpipe or hydrant so report him to the water company, the likelihood is nothing will happen as hydrant abuse enforcement isn’t top of the agenda and staff morale is rock bottom as the pension is being shafted. Severn Trent are the only company I know of taking people to court

Using a hydrant isn’t against regs if he has a licensed water board stand-pipe

You can’t just use any hydrant even with approved kit

0300 222 5946

As others have said, ring the HSE. Silicosis is one of their “hot topics” at the moment, certainly in the NW anyway.

My Mrs took a pic of the non metered hydrant stand, Lancashire fire have a report email for illegal hydrant use so will contact them.
Got a handful of the blast media as no doubt it’ll be straight kiln sand.

Contact us out of hours

Our contact hours are Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

For council emergencies at evenings, weekends and over the holiday periods when the offices are closed call 0300 222 5946.

Is he blasting any metalwork?, could be old lead paint turned to dust. Or even coming into contact with asbestos soffits etc.

Reported to HSE via their online reporting form. Will see what happens.

They don’t use sand anymore. Well the ones we use don’t.

They don’t use sand anymore. Well the ones we use don’t.

From previous threads about sites Wrightyson, I wouldn’t expect your contractors to use sand, but one of the cowboy fraternity certainly will.

In a previous life two of my clients were done by HSE on the back of photographic evidence supplied by the public. One had his unsafe work at height on the front page of Metro one morning and the inspector popped down to Downing Street that day!

Update for anyone looking for a business opportunity.
Buy a shagged out van, don’t bother abiding by any safety regulations, do a half arsed shit job and add some petty theft (of water) into the mix.
The local EA and the HSE arnt interested so crack on and get sand blasting!

I guess that’s why they do it. They know they’ll get away with it.

Yorkshire water (or whoever it is) will be interested.
They’ll have an unexpected localised high demand on those dates that they can’t account for. The system controllers will be mystified where the water went. You could contact them with evidence of the water theft and help them prosecute the guy for his twuntish behaviour.
They get fined for loss of water under Directive General some such thing. For them to demonstrate it wasn’t leakage will save them a spanking from OFWAT

Water companies don’t give a ****! Well stw don’t, I reported illegal effluent discharge in to a foul main on my site that we’d handed over a few months previously. Thing is they wouldn’t have even known which was which as both foul and storm were 150 diameter due to on site attenuation. Photos, company number and name. Not interested.

Well stw don’t

That took me a second.

wrightyson – the EA would be concerned, report it and STW’s response to them. Or just send the evidence of zero response from STW to OFWAT directly