The Health and Safety Executive’s provisional figures, released this week (2 July), indicate a decrease in the number of people killed at work and a drop in the leading cause of fatal injuries to workers.  The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) Work-related fatal injuries in Great Britain, 2025 report finds that a total of 124 workers were killed in accidents in 2024/25, a decrease of 14 fatalities from 2023/24.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector says it was “lucky nobody was killed” after four men were injured, including two seriously, when the first floor of a house collapsed during building works.  Aryn Stones Ltd had been contracted to build a new domestic property in Hampstead, north London. On 31 May 2022, remedial works were being carried out on a partially built beam-and-block floor when it collapsed, taking two of the workers down with it.

In May 2023, a customer fell to her death at the Langton Arms in Market Harborough, which is owned by RedCat Pub Company.  Julie Hyatt, who was aged 57, had been looking for the toilets during a Sunday lunch with friends when she opened the unlocked cellar door thinking it led to the restrooms and fell down an unlit staircase.

The Sentencing Council for England and Wales has amended its guidelines for health and safety offences, corporate manslaughter, food safety and hygiene offences in a move that some commentators argue could result in very large organisations (VLOs) being handed heavier fines.   Responding to the Sentencing Council’s updated guideline on 1 June, global law firm Eversheds Sutherland notes that when it was first introduced in February 2016, the guideline offered no upper limit or structured approach for sentencing entities whose turnover ‘very greatly exceeds’ the £50bn benchmark for a large organisation. 

There's no law for maximum working temperature, or when it's too hot to work, because every workplace is different.  No meaningful upper limit can be imposed because in many indoor workplaces high temperatures are not seasonal but created by work activity, for example in bakeries or foundries.  However, employers must stick to health and safety at work law - read on.

A housebuilder has been fined £800,000 after a teen apprentice was injured when a temporary stairwell covering collapsed.  Charlie Marsh, 17, had been working as a contractor on a Taylor Wimpey UK Limited site as it built around 450 new homes on its Meadfields site in Weston-Super-Mare.

A college in Nantwich that specialises in outdoor-based careers has been fined £40,000 after a student’s fingers were severed when his hand came into contact with a mitre saw.  Aaron Maguire, from Crewe, was a second year Horticulture student at Reaseheath College when his hand came into contact with the blade of the saw on 20 September 2023. He had been using the saw to cut a piece of wood along its length when the wood twisted and pulled his hand into the cutting disc of the saw.

MD Safety comment:  Another case to highlight why the HSE is targeting the health risks of airborne hazards

A company that manufactures popular stone kitchen worktops has been fined £60,000 after it repeatedly failed to protect workers from exposure to hazardous dust.  Inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) visited Inova Stone Ltd nine times over a six year period, and found little or no improvement across several areas of concern.

MD Safety comment:  Another case to highlight why the HSE is targeting the health risks of airborne hazards

A wood supplier has been fined £40,000 for failing to protect its workers from exposure to wood dust.  Fakenham-based Nat Pal Limited was visited by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in April 2023. Dust was found scattered across the floor, and the inspection identified failings in the company’s control measures to prevent exposure of their employees to wood dust and enforcement action was taken.

A farming partnership has been fined £20,000 after an employee trapped his leg in a potato harvester machine whilst working on a farm in Cheshire.  The employee, who was 20-years-old at the time, was working for LP Ollier & Son on its potato farm when the incident occurred on 18 October 2023. Whilst assessing a blockage in the potato harvester machine, the roller mechanism caught his right leg and pulled it into the device, causing serious injuries including crushing, fractures, nerve damage and skin damage. He has been unable to work in agriculture since the incident.