There has been a lot of Health and Safety issues going through the courts of late. Two cases that stand out are the recycling company worker that was crushed between two skips whilst urinating that suffered extreme life changing injuries and the food plant that was fined £100k for a fatality involving a forklift truck. Read more »
Faulty Machinery at Work Place
A supermarket worker at Morrisons store had to have his big toe amputated after an incident involving a pallet-truck collision. The employee was operating a pallet truck when it collided with a protection post. His foot was crushed between the post and surgery was required to amputate his big toe. Read more »
Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome
What exactly is ‘HAVS’ and how do I recognise the symptoms and how do I control the risks? Hand-arm Vibration Syndrome is a serious, irreversible, yet preventable condition that potentially affects over two million people. Over 1 million workers are exposed to dangerous vibration levels and 300,000 suffer from advanced symptoms. It is described by [...] Read more »
Driving at Work
What are my obligations regarding employees who drive at work and how should I manage this area of safety? Research provides an estimate that up to one third of road traffic accidents involve a person who is at work at the time the accident occurs. Read more »
Permits to Work
What is a permit to work and how should it be implemented? A permit to work system ensures that all necessary actions are taken, before, during and after particularly hazardous operations. They are formal documents specifying the work to be undertaken and what precautions are required. Work can not commence until safe procedures have been [...] Read more »
Stress at Work
How can I meet my legal responsibilities regarding staff stress and improve staff efficiency? When employers’ health and safety obligations extends to the state of the minds of staff, it is perhaps understandable that even those managers less cynical about health & safety compliance find themselves reaching towards heaven in what is likely to be [...] Read more »
Safety of Pedestrians in the Workplace
How can I effectively manage and control the safety of pedestrians in the workplace? Hazards faced by people walking around the workplace can be divided into two groups: 1. Slips, trips and falls, on the same level, changing levels or from height Hazards on the same level include wet or greasy floors due to spillages, [...] Read more »
Occupational Dermatitis
Who is likely to be susceptible to Dermatitis and what can I do to prevent it? Dermatitis is the most common occupational health disease in the UK. In fact it is one of the major causes of occupational ill health. Statistics show that occupational dermatitis makes up almost two thirds of compensation claims under the [...] Read more »
Home Working
What are my obligations regarding employees who work from home? The benefits to both employers and employees of working at home are clear, so it is not surprising that this is an increasing trend. However employers’ duties under the Health & Safety at Work Act (and regulations such as the Management of Health & Safety [...] Read more »
Mechanical Handling Equipment
What are the main hazards and controls associated with handling equipment? Please also refer to other relevant sections, notably Manual Handling and Safety of Vehicles in the Workplace. Wherever possible mechanical aids should be used to reduce risks associated with manual handling injury. Such equipment may be divided into two types; (i) devices that are [...] Read more »
