24 January Building Safety Regulator The government have announced that a new regulator, as part of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will have oversight of the design, construction and occupation of high-risk buildings. Dame Judith Hackitt will chair a board to oversee the transition. The Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said: The government is committed to bringing about the biggest change … Read More
18 January Fall from height death – and a forged signature It may be tempting to try and cover things things up when something goes wrong. Don’t do it. At the least, the Company (and yourself) will fail to learn the necessary lessons, and in the worst case your actions may result in a prison sentence. This is yet another example of work at height not … Read More
16 January Annual assessment of fire and rescue services in England In his first annual assessment of fire and rescue services in England, Her Majesty’s Chief inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Sir Thomas Winsor acknowledges the strong commitment from firefighters to protect the communities they serve. The sector’s greatest strength is in how it responds to emergencies, with demonstration of a number of life-saving initiatives … Read More
16 January Fall from height – loading an aircraft Another case of an avoidable fall from height incident leading to serious injury. A company providing a range of airline ground support services has been fined after an employee fell from a height of more than two metres and suffered skull fractures and brain injury Luton Magistrates’ Court heard that in December 2016 RS (of … Read More
24 December Fire Safety Bill for 2020 The Fire Safety Bill was announced in the Queen’s speech, to … “ensure an appalling tragedy like Grenfell can never happen again” The Bill suggests that it will support the findings of the Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry Phase One Report, released earlier this year. Outlined as the “main benefits of the Bill”, there is mention of … Read More
27 September HSE – Health Inspection Initiative – October 2019 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 More
27 September Fall from a ladder leads to £120,000 fine Vertellus 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 More
27 September Large fine resulting from lack of planning of lifting operation Many 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 More
6 September Failure to assess the risks – £1 Million Fine results Two 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 More
3 September Missing fire barriers in new-build homes raises concerns over training House 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 … Read More