Don’t take back pain lying down – keep on the move

Back pain is the scourge of modern lifestyles and has a greater cost to business than stress. The Welsh Backs campaign has put together the following advice to alleviate both the pain and some of the financial implications
BACK pain in the workplace costs Welsh businesses approximately £250m each year.
The Health and Safety Executive estimates that [...]

Businesses unprepared for new legislation

On April 6th 2008 the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill 2007 will come into effect across the UK, yet research suggests that a large number of businesses are not prepared for this new legislation and are leaving senior management staff vulnerable to personal fines or even prosecution.
According to the Health & Safety Executive, there [...]

Jack & Jill’s school ‘failed to adhere to health and safety’

The school of two children recently injured while fetching a pail of water from up a hill has been charged with failing to adhere to health and safety regulations.

Full story here

FURNITURE FIRM FINED £9,000 FOR SAFETY BREACH

A Lincolnshire furniture firm has been ordered to pay nearly £9,000 by a court for breaching safety laws.
Gainsborough magistrates were told that YP Furniture risked the health of two staff by exposing them to silica dust.
The Health and Safety Executive prosecuted YP, based on the Corringham Road industrial estate, after it failed to heed two [...]

NEW DRIVING LAWS WARNING

Businesses with company cars in North Lincolnshire will need to step up a gear when new laws come in on Tuesday.
Strict legislation, under the Corporate Manslaughter Act, will mean employers can be held responsible for a worker’s death while they are driving at work.
It will change the basis on which companies are liable for prosecution.
Issues [...]

FIRM FINED £325,000 OVER LORRY CRUSH DEATH

 haulage firm has been fined £325,000 for “systematic failures” that led to a man being crushed to death between two lorries.
TDG (UK) Ltd admitted breaching health and safety regulations at its Bardon site, near Coalville, after the death of lorry driver Peter Atkins on March 8, 2005.
The 64-year-old was carrying out checks on his trailer [...]

Dangers of working at height

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), is warning employers to ensure that they have safe systems of work in place when working at height. The warning follows HSE’s prosecution of two companies based in Hertfordshire and Hackney after a worker suffered a serious head injury when he fell approximately 2.2 metres.
Team Q Maintenance Limited of [...]

RMIF warns businesses on corporate manslaughter

Motor sector businesses will need to keep health and safety management systems under constant review to avoid falling foul of the new corporate manslaughter law coming into force from April, warns the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMIF).
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act will come into force on 6 April 2008 and will be called [...]

HSE refutes registrar claims

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has hit back at claims that it ignored a number of crucial recommendations on the issue of multiple registrars made by Frontline Consultants, the 2006 gas industry Fundamental Review advisers.
 
It is also disputing the suggestion that by appointing a single provider to administer the reformed gas installer registration scheme [...]

HEALTH AND SAFETY BAN ST GEORGE’S DAY PARADE

POLICE were yesterday accused of sabotaging a great English tradition after a St George’s Day parade was cancelled – on health and safety grounds.
Full story here

Employers told to be more health and safety conscious

Employers should be held more responsible for occupational and safety mistakes, according to a recent poll.
More than nine in ten health and safety professionals surveyed by business advisors Croner, believed bosses needed to face up to their health and safety responsibilities.
During 2003 and 2004 an alarming 235 employees were killed in the workplace, a figure [...]

HSE in quad bikes safety warning

AS the lambing season approaches, potentially one of the busiest times of the year for using quad bikes, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) is urging farmers to make sure they wear a safety helmet when using the machines.
Cheryl Anthony, HSE principal inspector of agriculture, said: “Quad bikes are an essential part of life on [...]

Schools trips are an essential part of every child’s education, say’s HSC Chair

The Chair of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) this week urged teachers to take a sensible approach to risk assessment to ensure that school trips remain an essential part of every child’s education as well as acknowledging very real concerns about teachers’ own health and safety.
Speaking at the NASUWT conference fringe meeting in Birmingham [...]

Brennan: Health and safety is paramount

GAA President Nickey Brennan has rejected out of hand suggestions that security measures are inadequate at inter-county grounds.
Brennan insisted that the GAA takes health and safety more seriously than any other sporting organisation in the country
Full story here

Dangerous classrooms a health risk, say teachers

Dirty and dangerous classrooms are posing a threat to pupils’ and teachers’ health and safety, teachers have claimed.Classroom windows are left broken, while their roofs leak and their walls remain damp, a study of 5,000 teachers found.
Almost half – 48% – of the teachers quizzed for the research, conducted by the National Association of Schoolmasters [...]