Latest News in Health, Safety & the Environment

 A West Midlands steel company has been ordered to pay more than £146,000 in fines and costs after one of its employees was crushed to death by a 15-tonne crane. Wilfred Williams, 57, of Tividale, Warley, was carrying out maintenance on an overhead travelling crane at C Brown & Sons (Steel) Ltd in Dudley when the incident occurred on 27 May 2011. He was working six-and-a-half metres...

The Health & Safety Executive have releasesed their health and safety statistics 2011/12. These cover the latest top level statistics on work-related ill health, workplace fatalities and injuries, and enforcement in Great Britain. The figures indicate that 173 workers were killed at work and 1.1 million working people were suffering from a work-related illness. In addition 111 000 other injuries...

The secret factors behind the safety successes during construction of the London 2012 Olympic Park have been revealed in a new study. Researchers identified 13 distinct characteristics in relationships between clients, contractors, designers, workers and regulators during Olympic Delivery Authority's Big Build which created the 'pre-conditions' for ground breaking safety performance. The team from...

The Health and Safety Exceutive have launched new guidance on their Fee for Intervention (FFI) scheme. The HSE's Fee for Intervention (FFI) cost recovery scheme came into effect on 1 October 2012. Under The Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations 2012, those who break health and safety laws are liable for recovery of HSE’s related costs, including inspection, investigation and taking enforcement...

 A proposed change to civil liability laws in relation to breaches of health and safety duties has been included in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, which is currently working its way through Parliament. The Bill, which makes provision for a broad range of changes to the business regulatory regime, was debated in the House of Commons lastweek and will now be considered by the House of...

Employee absence levels are on the slide in both the private and public sectors, but the falls could be masking deeper health problems in the workplace.The headline finding from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) latest annual absence management survey,shows that employees took an average of 6.8 days off in the last 12 months compared with 7.7 days in the previous...