Health and safety directors lack awareness of responsibilities

Nearly half of senior managers and company directors do not have an up-to-date understanding of their health and safety-related duties and responsibilities, despite the arrival next month of the government’s long-awaited Corporate Manslaughter Act.
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Safety concerns at golf and ski centre

A HEALTH and safety report has revealed a series of concerns at the Craigavon Golf/Ski Centre.
One of the most serious revelations of the dossier was the use of tape to repair a frayed cable on a ski lift.
The report on the council-run facility also found fire exits had been obstructed, items of electrical equipment not [...]

EMPLOYEES VOLUNTEER FOR FIRST AID UPDATES

Many thousands of employees are exceeding their employers’ expectations of them by voluntarily signing up for continual first aid refresher updates.
Since its launch in autumn 2005 by the British Red Cross, one of the UK’s leading providers of first aid training, more than 15,000 people have joined Safe hands, the free programme that provides support [...]

Vaccinations: Two parents face jail for refusing polio jab

Two sets of parents in Belgium have been sentenced to prison after they refused to vaccinate their children against polio.  The vaccination is compulsory in Belgium.
The parents have been fined £4,100 ($8000) and sentenced to five months’ imprisonment.
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GP well notes ‘doomed to fail’, says doctor

Plans for GPs to sign patients as fit for work in a bid to break Britain’s sick-note culture are doomed to fail, according to a doctor involved in drawing up the plans.
Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, has announced that he wants to create a “well note” system in which doctors would list tasks employees are [...]

Corus fined for ‘avoidable’ fatal accident

STEELMAKERS Corus were fined nearly £300,000 yesterday after an “avoidable” fatal accident at its Trostre rolling mill in Llanelli.
And Swansea Crown Court was told an aggravating feature in the death of Trostre steelworker Frank Coles, 42, was Corus’s catalogue of “previous convictions”.
Mr Justice Saunders who fined Corus £250,000 with £43,000 costs over Mr Coles’s death [...]

Avoid operators’ slips, trips and falls

Stringent health and safety legislation is increasingly forcing employers to provide better care for employees and relief from the physical problems which arise from prolonged standing at work.
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Watchdog wants safety review of ‘foreign’ boats

AN URGENT review of all “flags of convenience” fishing boats operating in British waters is required following a series of incidents casting doubt on the fleet’s safety, according to the Government’s investigators.
The British-flagged but Spanish-owned trawler the Spinningdale ran aground on 1 February on rocks on St Kilda, prompting fears of a potential environmental disaster [...]

Watchdog wants safety review of ‘foreign’ boats

AN URGENT review of all “flags of convenience” fishing boats operating in British waters is required following a series of incidents casting doubt on the fleet’s safety, according to the Government’s investigators.
The British-flagged but Spanish-owned trawler the Spinningdale ran aground on 1 February on rocks on St Kilda, prompting fears of a potential environmental disaster [...]

DOORSTEP INSPECTIONS TO CHECK ON SAFETY

Building firms across Lincolnshire were today warned they could find a health and safety inspector on their doorstep.
And if there are any signs that workers’ safety is being put at risk, they could be served an enforcement notice and have to stop work and put things right.
The HSE is carrying out an on-the-spot blitz at [...]

HSE blasted for ‘ineffective’ safety checks

Site safety blitzes have been dismissed as ineffective and no more than a “sticking plaster” as the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) launches a major campaign on refurbishment jobs.
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Lancing company in court for health and safety failings

A LANCING demolition company has been ordered to pay more than £15,000 for health and safety failings which “could have killed someone”.
Astra Demolition Limited (ADL) was carrying out demolition work in Wordsworth Road, Worthing, without using “edge” protection or scaffolding.
Full story here