Health and Safety News
We scour the Internet for Health and Safety related news items on an almost daily basis.
The news articles and clippings, curated by MD Safety, highlight the requirements for compliance with UK Health and Safety Legislation and best practice across all industry sectors.
The majority of the information and cases will apply to a greater or lesser degree to our broad range of Clients and lessons to be learned will be able to be gained.
Contractor fined after employee falls from scaffolding
A shopfitting company has been fined after an employee suffered multiple fractures after falling fifteen feet from scaffolding.Manchester Magistrates Court heard how on the 24 October 2019, an employee of TA Knox Shopfitters Ltd was working from a tower scaffold at the front of the Footasylum Store in the Trafford Centre, Manchester, when the scaffold moved throwing him off balance.
Read MoreConstruction company fined after three contractors fall
A construction company has been fined following an incident where three contractors fell from height suffering serious injuries. Three bricklayers fell approximately 2.5 metres onto a concrete floor sustaining serious injuries ranging from a broken back, a broken sternum to a swollen knee. The three workers fell through a temporary stairwell cover, which gave way underneath them because it had not been correctly fitted. The incident happened on 18 July 2018.
Read MoreConcern about health and safety standards amid HGV driver shortage crisis
Until McDonald’s ran out of milkshakes and Nando’s was forced to close restaurants, the pressures in the transport industry were pretty much ‘off radar’, notes Dean Roscoe (CMIOSH), health and safety manager at Sovereign Transport Services. ‘But as an industry we’d been flat out for months.’ The UK’s critical HGV driver shortage – which has impacted supply chains across a range of sectors, notably medicines and food – has scarcely been out of the headlines in recent weeks. B ut it’s a problem that has been brewing for some time.
Read MoreKitchen manufacturing company fined after worker injured by machinery
Kitchen manufacturing company Omega PLC were sentenced for safety breaches after a worker severely injured their finger in unguarded machinery.Sheffield Magistrates’ Court heard that on 8 May 2018, the worker was processing wood panels on an edge-banding machine at a kitchen unit manufacturing factory in Doncaster.
Read MoreDoncaster engineering company fined after worker diagnosed with occupational asthma
Lantern Engineering Ltd was sentenced for health breaches after workers were exposed to metal working fluid (MWF). MWF is hazardous to health, and exposure can cause health conditions including irritation of the skin/dermatitis, occupational asthma, bronchitis and irritation of the upper respiratory tract.
Read MoreNew technology driving change in road safety
Since the 1980’s, the UK has seen considerable change in relation to driver technologies and practices, whether by introduction of and greater reliance upon telematics and ‘black box’ systems, to more recently the use of semi-autonomous and self-braking vehicles. Innovation and tech certainly appear to be creating a shift change, in terms of how duty holders and organisations are seeking to manage and control its work-related road risk (“WRRR”).
Read MoreEmployers must ensure workplaces are well ventilated to minimise COVID-19 spread
Businesses are being reminded that they have a legal duty to ensure that their premises have an adequate supply of fresh air in enclosed areas as part of a broad strategy to minimise the risk of the coronavirus from spreading via workplaces. With most COVID-19 restrictions lifted, Great Britain's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has updated its guidance on ventilation and air conditioning as part of a package of preventative measures to help safely manage the increasing number of people returning to the workplace and to reduce infection risk.
Read MoreAn annual gas safety check can keep us all safe
Gas Safety Week, from 13 to 19 September. If we can take one positive from the incredibly challenging past 18 months or so, it must be the acts of kindness and neighbourliness that we have all witnessed, especially during the difficult months of lockdown. From those who worked to keep essential services running to getting the weekly shop for our vulnerable neighbours or simply making time to chat, the sense of community, connectivity and collective care is one thing that most of us have wanted to preserve as we have emerged from those dark times.
Read MoreTwo companies fined for failing that led to crush injury
Two companies have been fined a total of £100,000 after an employee was crushed by machinery. Chivas Brothers Limited and Fire Protection Group (FPG) Limited pled guilty to health and safety breaches, committed between 20 December 2016 and 22 February 2017, at Dumbarton Sheriff Court.
Read MoreWorker’s arm became trapped in machinery
A rubber processing company has been fined after a worker’s arm was trapped in machinery. An employee of Marple Polymers Processors Limited was cleaning a stationary conveyor belt on a Banbury mixing machine, on 4 January 2018. Unaware cleaning was taking place, another employee started the conveyor belt system. The original employee’s left arm became trapped between the conveyor belt and the tension idler causing serious injuries to their arm and hand.
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