An investigation has been launched after a reality TV star died after falling from height at work.  George Gilbey, who appeared in Gogglebox and Celebrity Big Brother, was working as a self-employed electrician at a site in Essex.  According to local news reports, Essex Police said they had arrested a man on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter in connection to the 40-year-old's death.

For many people who have a serious blow to the brain, physical recovery is just the first of their problems. Depression and other mental disorders are far more likely to develop following head trauma.  The results of a small US study suggest taking a widely used antidepressant in the weeks after the injury could actually help prevent severe depression.

A Lancashire woman has been jailed and ordered to pay £10,414 after she put the lives of her tenants at risk.    Landlord, Angela Chang, pleaded guilty to six breaches of a fire safety order at properties owned by Chinese restaurant Great Fortune House, after fire safety officers found there was no fire detection in place, and the properties were cluttered with rubbish and old mattresses, which prevented her tenants from exiting the building safely. 

A SKIP hire firm whose managing director had his legs crushed by a runaway truck in “an accident waiting to happen” has been fined £55,000 for breaching health and safety rules.  Paul Skinner’s legs were broken in two places following the incident at the Skinner Skips workshop in October 2022 and he spent four weeks in hospital in the UK.

In UK health and safety there are recommended guidelines and official law, it is an employer’s responsibility to understand the difference and try to follow advisory practices from the government and HSE.  Sometimes laws can be written which you would never believe to be true or vice versa you may be unaware of specific rules which are legal requirements in your workplace. To help educate staff and employers, or simply to refresh your memory if you are aware of safety law, here is a true or false quiz to test your knowledge. Take a look below and see how many you can guess correctly before reading the official rules:

A metal processing company has been fined £12,000 after an employee sustained life changing injuries at an incident at a premises in the Oldbury in the West Midlands.  Independent Slitters Limited carries out metal slitting at the facility – a process that involves coils of metal being split into various lengths. On 3 May 2022, 53-year-old Peter Daniels, husband and father of one, had a finger severed and a de-gloving of his right hand.

An engineering and services company has been fined following the death of a worker.  Alistair Hutton,  a sub-contractor hired by NG Bailey Limited, lost his life while working on the construction of the Baird Family Hospital in Aberdeen on 18 January 2023.

A company in Hertfordshire has been fined after an employee was crushed to death.  James Rourke lost his life after being struck and run over by an excavator at Sarazen Gardens, Brampton on 18 November 2019.

Health and safety is the risk of most concern to directors and officers in 2024, a survey conducted by WTW and Clyde and Co has revealed. 

A company has been fined for health and safety failings that led to a driver suffering a traumatic brain injury.  Timothy Bates was delivering fuel for a temporary diesel generator at Haldane Fisher’s timber processing site in Walsall when he fell from a trailer on July 28, 2022.