Introduction We are now several years on from the introduction of the introduction into UK law of the Work at Heights Regulations 2005. Despite that, not all organisations have come to terms with the implications of this law on their work activities. Many organisations still view the Work at Heights Regulations 2005 as construction-related legislation. The …
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Between 7 October – 1 November, the HSE will be carrying out its latest construction inspection initiative. This will continue the focus on health, in particular, the measures in place to protect workers from occupational lung disease caused by asbestos, silica, wood and other dusts when carrying out common construction tasks. Why the focus of Health? …
Read MoreVertellus Specialties UK Limited have been fined after an employee fell two metres from a ladder and suffered a serious elbow injury. Carlisle Magistrates’ Court heard that in June 2018, at the company’s site in Northside, Workington, an employee was using a ladder to inspect a steam leak at height when the ladder failed and …
Read MoreMany organisations do not seem to grasp the need to plan lifting operations properly. In this case, the lifting operation is made more complicated because two forklift trucks were used. A Liverpool port operating company has been sentenced after a worker was struck by a load falling from two forklift trucks (FLTs) at the Port …
Read MoreAccording to Zurich Municipal, which insures about half of all schools and universities in the UK, has carried out inspections at 1,000 schools and academies over the past two years. As a result of these inspections, they claim that about two-thirds of schools in England have poor fire protection systems and are not properly prepared for …
Read More£53,000 fine after fatal fall from an insecure ladder An Aberdeen-based roofing contractor has been prosecuted by the HSE after a worker died when he fell from a ladder while exiting scaffolding. JF, a 56-year-old employee of Henderson and Aitken, fell from the top rungs of the ladder after it slipped sideways in Jute Street …
Read MoreThere have been some high profile fires in warehouses over the last few years, with a recent large-scale fire at the Ocado Warehouse in Andover. While the scale of this fire may have been worse by actions that were taken at the site, the cause was a common one: electrical fire. The Ocado warehouse fire on …
Read MoreTwo employees at Delphi Diesel Systems (a car and commercial vehicle component manufacturer) were cleaning a component washer’s distillation tank with a flammable chemical in July 2017 when the vapour ignited, triggering an explosion. Both workers sustained severe injuries; one employee’s burns were so serious that he could not return to work for more than …
Read MoreAn employee has been fined after an apprentice suffered serious injuries when he fell from a makeshift platform – a potato box lifted by a forklift truck. On 30 July 2018, FY used a forklift truck with an attached potato box to lift an apprentice electrician to a height of four metres to carry out …
Read MoreHouse builders are being urged to heed lessons from a BBC investigation that found fire barriers were missing or incorrectly installed on several new-build homes. Unsurprisingly, experts estimate that fire and smoke can spread five to 10 times faster without fire barriers, which form a complete seal between different areas of a home. The BBC …
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