MD Safety comment: The stats suggest a similarity with pre-pandemic levels - however that only shows that there has been no positive progress since that time.  The industry needs to improve across all areas of Occupational Safety and Health.

One hundred and thirty-five workers were killed in work-related incidents in the UK in the last year with the highest amount in construction (45), according to figures published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).  

The Health and Safety Executive has urged motor repair workshops to ensure their processes and practices are fit for purpose as its data shows that 21 workers in the sector have been killed in incidents since 2017.  In the same period almost 4,500 reportable work-related non-fatal injuries have also been recorded by the HSE at businesses involved in the sale and repair of motor vehicles.

A construction company has been fined £12,000 after a Shropshire bricklayer fell through a stairwell opening and fractured his skull.  Scott Ife, 30, from Bridgnorth, was working for 2 Counties Construction (Midlands) Ltd when the incident took place on 8 June 2020. The company had been hired as the principal contractor overseeing the refurbishment of agricultural barns into houses on Humber Lane in Telford.

A private boarding school has been fined £50,000 after exposing two employees, five pupils, and two other children to high levels of radioactive radon gas.  Five pupils at Kingswood School in Bath, Somerset were exposed to levels of radioactive radon gas almost 8 times the legal limit. Two other children, who were not pupils at the school, were exposed to levels of radon gas almost 14 times the legal limit. Two employees were exposed to radioactive radon gas ¾ of the legal limit. Exposures to radiation need to be kept as low as reasonably practicable.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has extended the deadlines of the UK REACH transitional registration by three years.

A three-year amendment passes through Parliament and applies to all UK and ‘Grandfathered’ REACH registrations.  

An oil company has been fined £650,000 for health and safety failings which led to the tragic death of a contractor.  BP Exploration Operating Company Limited was found guilty of a health and safety breach at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on 14 July 2023.

MD Safety comment:  Always pre-qualify your Contractors to make sure they are demonstably competent.

A self-employed plumber has received a suspended prison sentence after carrying out unsafe gas work in Hampshire and for pretending to be Gas Safe registered.

MD Safety comment: Often overlooked as it can be difficult to manage, but difficult doesnt mean that it shouldnt be done.  The results of unmanaged exposure can lead to events like this.

A manufacturing company has been fined following reports that two of its employees had been diagnosed with hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS).  The two staff members at Ross & Catherall Limited – a company that manufactures and supplies metal bars for the aerospace and automotive industries – worked at the firm’s Forge Lane site in Killamarsh, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, in 2019.

A report examining the Department for Education’s (Dfe) objective around safe and well-maintained school buildings has revealed approximately 700,000 pupils are at risk from unsafe or aging properties.  

MD Safety comment:  More upgrades to requirements for fire safety.

The British Standards Institution’s BS 7273: Part 4 Code of practice for the operation of fire protection measures has recently had its exit system guidance amended.  The amendment features commentary that will accompany the standard so that it will now directly refer to ‘BS EN 13637 Building hardware – Electrically controlled exit systems for use on escape routes’ in respect of any electrically locked door on an escape route.