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Health and Safety News

Occupational health and safety news and guidance

Blog posts : "health and safety"

What is a 'Competent Person' and does my business need one?

Photo shows two workers looking at blueprintsEven the smallest businesses have the legal responsibility to manage health and safety at work and are mandated to appoint a competent person to take ownership of fulfilling this obligation.

The definition of a competent person

A competent person does not have to be a qualified and dedicated h…

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Health > safety: how to improve workplace wellbeing

Photo shows a healthy lunch optionModern day employees can receive training for site safety, fire safety, construction safety, food safety, and a million subjects besides. In short, safety is a pretty tightly controlled and well understood discipline. Yet many of the industries where health & safety training and protocols are most p…

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New Design Innovations in Disposable Respirators

Photo shows a respiratory mask being worn when using chemicalsRespiratory innovation is happening but in baby steps. Personal protective equipment is traditionally a low innovation area, but new advances in technology in the area of materials, fabrics and overall design have dramatically improved worker protection and user comfort. Disposable respirators have …

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6 Easy Ways to Reduce VOC Exposure in the Workplace

What are VOCs?

VOCs, or volatile organic compounds, are a family of chemicals that readily evaporate and turn into gases and vapour. Put simply, this means they give off odorous fumes and increase the concentration of potentially harmful chemicals in the air.

And in the modern age, they can be…

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On the lookout for occupational asthma

Photo shows an inhaler

People who develop asthma because of the type of work they do have what's known as occupational asthma. It's actually referred to as adult-onset asthma and accounts for up to 15% of asthma cases in adults. What's more, it's believed that in certain industries, as many as 10% of workers develop o…

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11 ways to boost your health and safety culture

Photo shows happy people talking in an office 

Promoting a strong health and safety (H&S) culture is not rocket science, but it takes time, effort and resources!

The overall culture in a company has a tremendous effect on the health and safety performance of employees. Culture is a notoriously tricky concept to pin down and fully unders…

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Are you taking safety seriously or do you continue to gamble with your employees' lives?

Photo shows a reach truck in a warehouse

Unfortunately, there are still a high percentage of employers who don't take safety seriously enough and are yet to embrace and appreciate the importance of occupational safety.

There is also by some a belief that providing a safe working environment is too expensive, they cannot justify the …

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What employers need to know about workplace temperature

Photo shows a worker exposed to high temperatures

Now that the nights are drawing in and we’re all starting to think about turning the central heating on, the subject of workplace temperature becomes ever more important.

The relevant laws that govern indoor workplace temperature are set out by the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Reg…

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Dos and don’ts for working at height

Photo shows a painter standing on a stepladderWorkplace injuries can pose very real dangers in our daily jobs, particularly when the task involves working high up on a building or other structure. Safety statistics make for grim reading, with accidents on building sites responsible for more than their proportionate share of all fatal injuries a…

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How does H&S legislation compare across Europe?

Despite the European Union having a solid framework covering health and safety regulations at work, actual legislation and how it is enforced varies significantly between European countries.

Various bodies and people are held accountable differently in different countries, and some might appear t…

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How to focus on completing your NEBOSH National General Certificate

Photo shows a group of adults in a training sessionAchieving the appropriate qualifications for your job is challenging. You may have to study and train, while you’re working. Finding the time to balance both can leave you stressed out and, in general, tired.

But it is worth the investment, especially when your job requires health and safety kn…

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Addition to the Jobs page

Photo shows a health and safety job interviewA new link has been added to the Health and Safety Jobs page of the site; SafetyJobsOnline.com is linked to HealthandSafetyforBeginners.

SafetyJobsOnline offers jobseekers the opportunity to tap into a very different service from others you will find. As a jobseeker you can register on the site a…

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Chessington fined £150,000 for four-year-old girl's injuries

Photo shows the gap in a fence where the four-year-old girl fellChessington World of Adventures has been sentenced for safety failings that led to a four-year-old girl suffering life-changing head injuries when she fell from a raised walkway while queuing for a ride.

The youngster, from Kent, fell nearly four metres while waiting in line for the Tomb Blaster ri…

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The 7 most visited pages

Over the last 30 days, the seven most visited pages on HealthSafetyNews.co.uk were:

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What are employers' fire safety duties?

photo shows a building on fireEmployers, building owners and other people responsible for commercial buildings have a duty to put necessary fire safety precautions in place to all reasonable and practicable extents. This is seen in health law under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which applies to all non-domestic…

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CSCS tests: Why construction site health and safety is important

CSCS cardsBetween April 2010 and March 2011, 50 workers were killed on UK construction sites. The construction industry accounts for just 5% of employees in Britain, but 27% of fatal injuries happen on construction sites.

When you look at the figures, it’s clear that construction sites are some of the most d…

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How to protect staff at risk of an electric shock

high voltage warning signIf you are an employer, you have responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 to protect your staff and the public from hazards.

Electric shocks can result in injury or even instant death which means it’s in your interest to take the necessary precautions to minimise the …

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Devon firm fined for worker's fall from forklift

A North Devon farming business has been prosecuted for safety failings after a worker fractured his skull falling from the prong of a forklift truck at an animal feed mill.

Richard Robinson, 64, from Pyworthy, near Holsworthy, was attempting to crush recycled material when the fall occurred at Cr…

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Case Law page updated

The HealthSafetyNews.co.uk Case Law page has been updated with additional legal precedent.

The page now covers the following topics:

  • Duty of Care
  • 'Reasonably Practicable'
  • Due Diligence
  • Occupiers' Liability to Trespassers
  • Personal Liability of Executives
  • Stress
  • Suitability of Flooring

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Most popular health and safety news articles and pages

20 Blog Posts