Health and Safety News

According to confirmed reports, safety consultants in the UK will soon get accreditation with a new scheme coming into force. An announcement is expected in the coming few weeks. The scheme has been devised by health and safety bodies with HSE Chief Executive Geoffrey Podger at the helm.
It is an attempt to raise the [...]

In an unfortunate incident, a 75-year old man accidentally drove off a car park’s unprotected edge and plunged into the sea below. The car park was located on a pier. Argyll and Bute Council has been fined £20,000 for failing to conduct a proper risk assessment and installing protective barriers.
On September 17, 2007, Duncan [...]

One in every three care workers are victim to physical assault by patients every year. At least this is the number that is reported. A number of such incidents go unreported every year too. Care workers are also at the receiving end of verbal abuse and aggression from the patients. This is the opinion that [...]

The union body TUC is of the opinion that all businesses must be made to submit their health and safety enforcement standards. The head of safety of TUC Hugh Robertson says that not only should the businesses file a report on this issue, but the regulators must also put into action enforcement laws for the [...]

A report, ‘Mainstreaming Occupational Safety and Health into University Education’, highlights the obstacles in the way of realising the goals of building a safe environment at workplace. It also makes recommendations on how to tackle these challenges.
It aims to find possible ways by which students can be trained beforehand; to deal with hazards in the [...]

Insurer Aviva’s latest report suggests that employers, who encourage going down to the pub for drinks as a form of work socialisation, could be affecting the health of employees even though they mean well.
More than half (57%) of the business leaders who took part in the fourth ‘Health of the Workplace’ report by Aviva, [...]

A firefighter, who lost his job for expressing his discomfort about having to lie down on reclining chairs rather than beds, has been awarded compensation of £80,000.
Christopher Bennett, a 25- year veteran with GMFRA (Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service) felt that his back problems were being exacerbated after being forced to sleep on [...]

In the light of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill tragedy, a safety and health lawyer from the UK has suggested that a global safety standard for the gas and oil industry be put in place. Bond Pearce LLP’s Hilary Ross strongly feels that consistent safety standards can help save lives and protect the environment. [...]

The Health and Safety Executive has brought charges against the Health Protection Agency for failing to follow proper safety procedures in its waste disposal unit at Colindale. The agency has been fined for this negligence.
An incident which occurred in 2007 brought to light the lack of safety precautions at the HPA. E coli O157 [...]

Plastics manufacturer TS(UK) Ltd has been slapped with a fine of £140,000 following an accident where one of its employees was crushed to death after a wooden pallet weighing more than one tonne fell on him.
The incident took place at Middleton’s Stakehill Industrial Estate on July 15’ 05. The company was prosecuted by [...]