The UK government has rejected the Work and Pensions Committee’s key recommendation that policy makers should commit to removing all asbestos from public buildings within 40 years.   In April this year, the select committee published its Health and Safety Executive’s approach to asbestos management report calling on the government and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to develop and publish a strategic plan to remove asbestos from non-domestic buildings by 2062.

An electrician was set on fire during an explosion while using a metal spanner to repair an electrical fault at discount retailer B&M's warehouse in Liverpool.  On 22 September 2018, a workman was repairing an electrical fault when the tool he was using came into contact with a live busbar (metallic strip) linked to the power distribution and caused an electrical explosion.

A retail company and an electrical contracting company have been fined after an electrician suffered serious burns to 15 per cent of his body when he was caught in an explosion at a warehouse in Liverpool.  

All state-funded schools in England will have a defibrillator by summer 2023, the government has said.  Many schools already have the devices however the government says it aims to 'plug the gaps' by funding about 20,000 kits.

On 25 February 2021, Irfan Yakar, co-director of Alfie Salad Veg Express Ltd, was driving a forklift truck loaded with lemons at his unit at Parkway Market. The pallet of lemons obstructed his view which, coupled with maintenance defects to the vehicle, led him to drive into a man, breaking his hip in 4 places and leaving him with life changing injuries.

A Blackburn based building contractor has been sentenced after unsafe work methods constituted a public risk and resulted in asbestos being disturbed.

Laxtons Limited, a West Yorkshire manufacturing company, has been fined for safety breaches after a worker lost part of their hand in a textile machine.

 Find out about the basic factors that cause discomfort in the workplace and what the law says

A Blackburn-based warehouse owner has been fined after an employee of a roofing contractor fell approximately 30 feet through a glass skylight on a warehouse roof resulting in severe life changing injuries.  Preston Crown Court heard that roofing contractor Nizmuddin Gorji was engaged by Floors ‘n’ Carpets Limited of Gate Street, Blackburn to over-clad the existing roof. Three operatives were employed to carry out the work which started on 13 May 2020. The following day, one of the employees, Taj Zahir fell through the roof sustaining serious injuries to his pelvis, arm, knee and face and has undergone extensive surgery since.

A Lincolnshire based manufacturing company that specialises in lifting and handling equipment has been fined after an employee died after falling with a work platform onto the M25 motorway.  Reading Crown Court heard that Rick Jeager-Fozard, an employee of Kimberly Access Limited, was carrying out a routine pre-delivery inspection on a mobile elevating work platform (MEWP) on 5 June 2013.