Every year HSE updates its statistics for the UK. All of the information gathered from the wheels and workings of government, the report made under RIDDOR and the information passed back from the NHS come together to form a picture of how we are doing as a nation. We have a lot to be proud…
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Scaffolder Terrance Murray faces up to 6 months in jail after being photographed by a retired HSE Inspector working 60 feet up on a scaffold in Manchester. Even more surprising is that the building he was working on housed the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) who are now involved in prosecuting the case against him! Scaffolder…
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Hand Arm Vibration (HAVS) is something which we have covered many times before but an area in which many still have a way to go. The following prosecution illustrates just how many are still getting it wrong and the suffering which is resulting from this. If you’re a safety advisor or manager within an organisation…
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You might well find the following report of interest if you’re in construction, particularly if you’re CDM Principal Designer. For those of you living in the South-west you might be interested to know that Bristol came second in the list for most enforcement notices issued under CDM 2015 (just behind Hammersmith in London)! We’ve just…
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With fines rising by orders of magnitude and custodial sentences being handed in more cases that ever before, businesses are feeling more exposed to risk from not managing safety effectively. They are also conscious that with uncertainty and costs rising plus a tough market, they need to balance cost against benefit wisely to remain competitive. …
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We’ve now had the first full calendar year of the updated CDM Regulations in place with some very big changes in terms of Clients duties. Some things have changed and designers, architects in the main, have begun to feel the pinch of the regulations. Contractors seem happy to proceed largely on the same basis as…
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The Health and Safety Executive has published its sector plans for the next 3-5 years following the draft it issued in March 2017. This earlier document saw HSE split the areas under its remit into 19 different sections rather than the, until now, traditional two sectors Interestingly, manufacturing has been given a ‘must try harder’…
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Almost all the people we know and work with struggle with knowing the right mix of safety aspects and operational aspects when planning work. We do have to get the job done, but let’s do it safely is a common phrase through industry and construction. However, every now and then we come across a case…
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The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations and its requirement for a Client to appoint Principal Contractor are long-established having been first issued in 1994 but more recent changes in the 2015 update are catching out some clients. We think that as time progresses HSE will be looking to enforce more regularly on client duties in…
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This recent case involving a Bristol construction firm highlights two common misconceptions; You have to have an accident to get prosecuted and fined by the HSE; Most inspections come through random HSE visits. This case disproves both of these assumptions. Firstly, the case was prosecuted based on the risk of the breach rather than based…
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