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Health and Safety News

Occupational health and safety news and guidance

Blog posts April 2011

The Royal Wedding and Health and Safety

During and following the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton (the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge) many communities held street parties to celebrate

To try and ensure that health and safety was not used as an excuse for preventing such celebrations, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) …

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Car firm fined after fatal head injury to worker

A worker suffered fatal head injuries when he was struck by a steel barrier while carrying out maintenance on a machine.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that Cannon Automotive Limited of Tottenham, London, did not supervise, manage, monitor, audit or review its arrangements…

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Company and mechanic fined after forklift death

A Buckinghamshire plant hire company and one of its mechanics have been fined after a forklift truck overturned, killing the driver.

The Health and Safety (HSE) investigation found that Morgans Plant Hire Ltd, based in Oakley, Buckinghamshire, failed to ensure that the fork lift truck was in good…

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Waste company fined after member of the public dies

Team Waste (Southern) Ltd has been fined after a bin lorry ran over and killed a member of the public.

The HSE investigation determined that the company failed to ensure that control measures identified in their own risk assessment were put into practice. The driver reversed the refuse collection ve…

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Welding firm fined for roof fall

IFT Services Ltd has been prosecuted for safety failings after a worker was seriously injured when he plunged from a barn roof onto a grain bucket.

The firm admitted breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 in relation to the incident. The company was fined £4,000 and ord…

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Nestle Purina fined after steam scalds workers

The petcare giant has been fined after five workers suffered severe burns when a steam pressure system malfunctioned.

The five men, working on the maintenance of a hydrostat, suffered severe burns to their faces, arms and hands as a result of the incident on the 4 August 2006.

Nestle Purina Petcare …

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Woodworker prosecuted for safety failing

Asif Iqbal risked serious injury to himself and an employee after ignoring safety guidance and continuing to use an unguarded circular saw.

Dewsbury Magistrates' Court heard that Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors were forced to issue two separate Prohibition Notices to stop him using the …

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Company fined after unsafe work on roof

Mr Shea of Blackmoor Roofing, based at Petersfield Road, Greatham, Liss, Hampshire has been fined after workers were spotted removing roof tiles without scaffolding or safety barriers to prevent them falling.

One man was reportedly standing on the wet roof with no safety barriers or scaffolding, ano…

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Strontium detected in soil and plants outside of the 30km zone around the Fukushima plant

World Nuclear News reports that small amounts of the radioisotope strontium have been detected in soil and plants outside of the 30km zone around the Fukushima nuclear facility. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology has found 3.3 to 32 becquerels of strontium-90 per kil…

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Gateshead steel firm fined for crush injury

Spartan UK Ltd, of Ropery Road, Teams, Gateshead, has been fined a total of £40,000 after a worker’s feet were crushed in a rolling mill.

Alan Dixon, 62, from Gateshead, was part of a team carrying out routine maintenance at the steel firm’s site in the Teams area of the town.

The Health and S…

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Nuclear Accidents

Japan has raised the severity of its nuclear crisis from level 5 to the highest level (level 7), describing it at a "major accident" and putting it on a par with the Chernobyl disaster. Whilst reporting this, The Telegraph (click to view full article) has also included details of previous incident…

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Fukishima iodine found in further locations in Scotland

Iodine 131 believed to be from the Fukishima nuclear facility in Japan, has been found at further locations in Scotland, according to the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA).
 
SEPA said that samples had been detected at Dounreay, at Lerwick and in East Kilbride.
 
The news follows o…

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Four Reasons, Eight Lessons - Reluctance to Report May Not Be Caused By Fear

By Phil La Duke

Conventional wisdom holds that people won’t report near misses because they fear repercussions associated with admitting that they screwed up, but in most cases, conventional wisdom is wrong.

Near misses — incidents where no one was seriously injured but COULD have been — provide u…

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Update: Worker killed in trench collapse

Following on from the previous post, Worker killed in trench collapse, the BBC has released new details which can be viewed at this link.

My sympathies are with the family of the victim.

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UK Olympic stadium completed under budget and with no fatalities

"Despite concerns over delays in construction, the Olympic Stadium in the UK has been completed with time and money to spare. The brand new state-of-the-art complex was built to host the London 2012 Summer Olympics."

The construction project involved 6 million man hours by 5,250 workers from 240 com…

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Workers poisoned in carbon monoxide release

Three Sheffield workers were almost overcome by fumes when an asbestos decontamination unit (DCU) began to fill with deadly carbon monoxide. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) told Huddersfield Magistrates' court, the first two workers passed through the unit successfully but the next three men w…

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Utility worker electrocuted

A 39-year old employee of a private utility company was electrocuted upon contacting a power line in Iowa County. 

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) along with the Sheriff's Department and Coroner's Office are investigating the electrocution.

Worker killed in trench collapse

A man has been arrested on suspicion of corporate manslaughter after a worker was killed when a trench fell on him. A 24-year-old man died yesterday following an incident involving a 6ft deep trench which is believed to have been created for sewage pipes for the homes that are being built on the lan…

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Four gold miners killed in Philippines

A landslide caused by heavy rainfall has killed four workers; another two workers were rescued.

Further details.

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Two gold miners killed in South Africa

A seismic event registering 2.4 on the Richter scale has killed two workers and injured another three.

Further details.

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20 Blog Posts