HSE has guidance on working safely under motor vehicles being repaired and has also issued a safety alert for air suspension systems on vehicles.   A Dorset man who found his friend and neighbour crushed to death under a car has urged mechanics and car enthusiasts not to cut corners.

Leading voices in motor vehicle repair have teamed up with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to warn of the dangers of working under vehicles without proper equipment.  Figures recorded by HSE in the five years up to March 2022 show that 13 workers in the motor vehicle repair industry were killed when work took place under a vehicle that wasn’t properly supported. Since April 2022, HSE has become aware of another four cases of workers being crushed to death by an incorrectly supported vehicle.

Construction workers will now get access to new mental health support after statistics found two people in the industry take their own life every working day.  Thousands of workers will be able to speak to independent people with lived experiences offering emotional, physical and financial wellbeing support at the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity (Lighthouse Club).

A building firm has been fined for a catalogue of health and safety failings that included two builders being lifted into the air by a raised telehandler bucket.  A pair of workers stood in the bucket of a digger to fit a stone into the top of a new home in Littleborough, Greater Manchester, which was one of a number of health and safety failings found during construction work at The Villas development on Starring Road in Littleborough.

A company must pay more than £100k after one of its employees was left with life-changing injuries when a pallet of glass weighing more than one tonne fell on top of him.  Andrew Potts, from Nottingham, was left permanently disabled and reliant on a cocktail of medication after breaking his neck in five places following the incident at a depot in Lichfield on 30 September 2016.

A building firm has been fined for a catalogue of health and safety failings that included two builders being lifted into the air by a raised telehandler bucket.  A photograph caught the moment a pair of workers stood in the bucket of a digger to fit a stone into the top of a new home in Littleborough, Greater Manchester.

A wine and drinks supplier has been fined after a visiting HGV driver was killed after being hit by a forklift truck at its depot in Salford.  John Fitzpatrick was waiting for his trailer to be loaded at Kingsland Drinks Ltd in Irlam on 19 August 2020 when tragedy struck. The 59-year-old, form Oldham, suffered serious head injuries in the incident and died in hospital having never regained consciousness.

WORK HAS been going on throughout recent months to build a coalition of bodies within the Occupational Safety and Health sector, in order to be able to provide one voice to communicate, educate, create knowledge, and deliver real impact.  Ahead of the final, formal establishment of the group as an “Alliance” the leaders of this group came together to make timely calls to the Government on the Retained EU Law Bill (REUL) currently making its’ way through the parliamentary process. REUL, includes the requirement to review, reform or revoke several thousand pieces of legislation during 2023, many of which affect safety health and the environment in the UK.

The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) has urged for sprinklers to be made mandatory in all public buildings, after an inquiry into the death of two men in a fire in a Scottish hotel.

A construction company has been fined £146k after a joiner was crushed and killed by a 20-tonne excavator.  Philip McDonald had been hired by Birch Brothers (Kidderminster) Ltd to assist with the construction of a concrete overflow weir structure at Monks Pond, near Ashbourne in Derbyshire.