The National Audit Office (NAO) recently published a report, highlighting key safety issues related to the condition of school buildings in England. The report focuses on the progress made by the Department for Education (DfE) in understanding and evaluating the condition of school buildings and the further progress still required. Key findings include: Just over a third of English school … Read More

The Health Protection Notification Regulations 2010 (HPNR) were introduced to help the government respond effectively and quickly to newly discovered cases of infectious diseases and prevent their spread if they pose such a risk. In the wake of COVID, the Government has been considering adding a number of amendments to the regulations in order to ensure the discovery of infectious … Read More

The HSE have published figures for work-related fatalities in Great Britain for the period of 2022 to 2023.  During this period a total of 135 workers were killed in work related incidents. While this represents an increase of 12 from the 123 recorded the year before, it is important to note that the coronavirus pandemic would have influenced this figure … Read More

The recent workplace fatality statistics published by the HSE also break those statistics down by the type of accident. The most common types of fatal accident during 2022/23 were: falls from a height – 40 struck by moving objects – 29 struck by moving vehicles – 20 trapped by something collapsing / overturning – 12 contact with moving machinery – … Read More

The HSE recently issued a safety notice regarding a risk of crushing for persons involved in the maintenance of pop-up toilets. The safety notice follows a fatal accident where an individual was crushed when working beneath a raised pop-up toilet. The hazards identified by the notice arise during the lowering of a raised pop-up toilet during cleaning, maintenance, or inspection … Read More

The Environment Agency has released a warning regarding risks of using apps to arrange disposal of waste. All businesses which carry, broker or deal with waste must have an ‘upper tier’ registration with the Environment Agency, however recent investigations have found a number of apps set up by unregistered operators, apps which do not register or allow unregistered operators to … Read More

Following on from the previous alert from the UK Material Handling Association the HSE have now also issued their own safety alert regarding the issue of LPG forklift fire risks. The HSE outline the primary issue as being a build up of deposits in fuel systems, particularly related to the vaporiser units of LPG powered vehicles causing fires. The HSE … Read More

As part of their on-going ‘Step Up to Safe Ladders’ telescopic ladder safety campaign the Ladder Association has released a second report urging the government to make regulatory changes to hold suppliers and online platforms accountable for the ladders that they sell. The report, named ‘It’s time to Step in’, follows an initial report, ‘Step up to Safe Ladders’ released … Read More

The International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) has released new guidance as part of their High Voltage! global electric safety campaign. The IPAF High Voltage! campaign is designed to help those planning and using MEWPs to properly consider the hazards and risks associated with working near power lines and what control measures can be taken to safely negotiate the risks. The … Read More

Three new draft guides have been published by the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) with the aid of the Construction Industry Advisory Council (CONIAC). The guides are available to read on the CONIAC website under resources and were subject to a period of consultation and industry input between their publication on 3rd March and the 1st May. Further edits to the … Read More