Tesco has been fined £48,000 plus costs of £25,000 following an employee fracturing a toe and a series of previous incidents which had not been reported. Previous injuries which were not reported, include a fractured ankle and a fractured wrist.
Charles Arrand, defending, said: “Tesco is naturally…
A new page has been set up on www.healthsafetynews.co.uk giving details of case law that set legal precedent relevant to occupational health and safety - it is currently under construction but more cases will be added shortly. Visit the Law page to access this useful guidance tool; additional cases …
Three workers at the premises of Sealine International in Kidderminster experienced breathing difficulties, following a chemical spill.
Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service stated that the spill is thought to have been caused by two liquids (Styrene Monomer and Butanox) reacting inside a dr…
"Extremely low" traces of radioactive iodine 131 from the stricken nuclear plant in Japan, have been picked up by an air sampler in Glasgow.
On 12 March 2011, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne, requested Mike Weightman, HM Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations, to produce a report on the implications for the UK nuclear industry of the accident that took place at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power stat…
Matrix Polymers, Northampton, has been fined for safety failings after a worker's left hand was severed in a plastics mixing machine.
Gary McKeown had been emptying plastic granules from a hatch at the bottom of a blender when his hand got caught in rotating parts and was sheared off.
The company p…
Parkware Ltd has been fined after a worker injured his hand on a rotating saw blade.
Steven Gardiner was cutting up sheets of plywood at Loudoun Castle Theme Park when his right hand slipped forward and came into contact with the blade. He underwent a six hour bone graft operation to save his finger…
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted a landlord for breaching two counts of the Gas Safety (Installation & Use) Regulations 1998 and one count of failing to comply with the requirements of an Improvement Notice served on him in August 2010.
Portsmouth City Council notified HSE after requ…
The online Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register (OSHCR) was launched on 21 March 2011. As explained in an earlier post, OSHCR was created to increase employers' confidence that they are receiving good quality, proportionate health and safety advice (for times when they need external h…
Brian Woods, trading as Brian Woods Recycling, pleaded guilty to two breaches of Section 1(1) of the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969, and was fined £2,500 with costs of £1,000 on 21 March 2011.
Mr Woods, aged 55, who employs three people, had displayed an Employers' Liability…
The death of a worker crushed under a 31-tonne concrete beam has led to two firms being fined a total of £130,000, plus costs.
Gary Drinkald, 43, from Aylesbury, was crushed after the concrete beam taken from the bridge fell from the back of a low-loader lorry.
Micor, the main contractor, admitted…
Calsonic Kansei UK Limited has been fined £400,000 after an employee died on the day he was to take voluntary redundancy.
Darren Small, 35, from Loughor was struck by a forklift truck on 17 March 2008.
The company pleaded guilty to a charges under Section 2(1) and Section 3(1) of the Health …
China’s State Council has announced that it is suspending
approval for all new nuclear power plants until the government can issue
revised safety rules, following the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear reactor in Japan.
For further details, visit The Washington Post.
Mike Weightman, chief nuclear inspector and head (director) of the Health and Safety Executive’s Nuclear Directorate, the UK’s independent nuclear safety and security regulator has given his initial thoughts on recent events in Japan and the implications and lessons learned for the nuclear industr…
In response to the problems with the Fukishima reactors in Japan, the South Korean government has offered to send boric acid supplies for Japan to use in efforts to stabilise the reactors. Boron can be injected into the core of a nuclear reactor to inhibit nuclear reactions.
Find out more at World …
Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings has applied for permission to appeal against its conviction under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act and the £385,000 fine imposed.
The application to appeal was made on 14 March and a decision on whether it is granted permission is expected within…
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has teamed up with Mind to adapt its existing guide, ‘Taking care of business’, to provide common-sense advice to help small-business owners offer practical support to their staff.
Conditions such as depression and unmanageable stress affect one in six B…
Broadland (Builders) Limited pleaded guilty to breaching section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
The builder was sub-contracted to install anchor bolts to secure festive decorations at several locations within St. Neots town centre. On 29 November 2007, the decoration pulled out…
Richard Chodkiewicz, 53, will require 24-hour care for the rest of his life after a scaffolding pole, being used as a makeshift plumb line, fell 15 storeys down a lift shaft and hit him in the head in July 2008.
The worker was injured whilst working on the Radisson Blu hotel site.
His employer, Hois…