One of my guilty secrets this year has been watching the eight series of Inspector George Gently. As you doubtless know, it’s set in the North East of England [where I grew up] at a time when I was just a small boy. As well as being a great drama it shines a light on the prevailing attitudes of the … Read More
HSE-related Parliamentary Questions
The current parliamentary session has seen some interesting written questions from MPs and members of the House of Lords related to health and safety. Most, as you would expect, relate to some aspect of Covid-19 response while others shine a welcome light on other issues. Here’s a selection: Question from Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) (8th June 2020) “To ask … Read More
So, is Numerology Bunkum?
At the end of last year we welcomed in 2020 with a cheerful note on what we had to look forward in this year of symmetrical numbers. We cheerily looked at the positives we, as a health and safety industry, could take from Brexit, Data/Technology and Wellness, and did this with the backdrop of the Numerologists’ view that 2020 would … Read More
What’s Happening with Health & Safety in Transportation & Storage?
One sector that seems to have been in the health and safety news a lot recently is Transportation and Storage (SIC 2007 code H). The HSE report against this sector as a whole despite the somewhat diverse nature of companies that sit beneath the main headings of: 49 – Land transport and transport via 50 – Water transport 51 – … Read More
Health and Safety Year in Review 2018
Whatever industry you work in, 2018 was a year like no other. This was primarily because of Brexit and the uncertainty across all sectors about how it will impact trading and business conditions. That said, there are other things that made 2018 unique including the increasing impact technology is having on workplace health and safety and the noticeable shift in … Read More
New Safety and Health – From Hard Hats to Artificial Intelligence
You have probably seen the announcement that SHP Online and Safety & Health Expo have collaborated to introduce ‘New Safety and Health’. This is a campaign essentially focused on changing the perceptions of the health and safety industry and, in doing so, redefining the role of the health and safety professional and inspiring the next generation. This is to be … Read More
Asbestos – Out with the Old, and in with the (er) Old
And so it continues. 2018 has begun with three high profile stories on exposing employees and contractors to asbestos fibres and the associated seeming disregard for safety. Firstly, SSE Hornsea Ltd were fined £300K after 13 employees and contractors were exposed to asbestos fibres after 3 of them performed routine mechanical maintenance on a compressed air distribution system. HSE Inspector … Read More
Trump May Brexit – Cutting Red Tape or Health and Safety?
There is a clash of competing philosophies going on between health and safety on one side and cutting business bureaucracy on the other. The first side of the argument includes health and safety experts, organisations concerned with the protection of workers (like unions), and others who say health and safety regulation is essential. On the other side are businesses who … Read More
Study Claims Asbestos Substitute Kills Too!
That and other asbestos stories in this news round up of all things asbestos… The presence of asbestos in our schools and other public buildings continues to make the news. At least the local, if not the national news. Two schools were closed in Shefford, Bedfordshire this week due to an asbestos risk arising from the demolition of the old … Read More
UK Health & Safety – How Are We Really Doing?
With the recent release of the provisional figures for fatal injuries arising from accidents at work in Great Britain 2017 and being a month on from the awful disaster at Grenfell Tower, it seemed appropriate to take a moment to review the state of UK Health & Safety. What do the statistics tell us? What does the behaviour of the … Read More
UK Health & Safety – Now Will They Take It Seriously?
What a dreadful week for those who lived and died in Grenfell Tower, their families, their friends, the community of North Kensington, the city of London and UK health & safety. Those of us who work in health & safety and likely you, the reader, don’t need reminding of the importance of health & safety, it’s what gets us out … Read More
Health & Safety Sentencing Guidelines – Missing the Human Element?
Revised health and safety sentencing guidelines were introduced in February 2016. We see the results, the numbers. £14M in health and safety fines for the UK construction industry in 2016. £12M for manufacturing. But, while substantial, they don’t really resonate. Do they with you? Do you get a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach? No? Me neither. These … Read More
Post Implementation Review of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012
Published by the HSE in March 2017, the Post Implementation Review (PIR) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (CAR 2012) is available for public review here. It’s a 90 page report aimed at 1) determining if CAR 2012 is meeting its objectives; 2) whether those objectives are still valid; 3) whether the regulations are still required and, if so, … Read More
2017 Global Asbestos Awareness Week
We’re less than 2 weeks away from Global Asbestos Awareness Week (GAAW, April 1-7, 2017). Promoted by the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), the GAAW is dedicated to increasing awareness of, and preventing exposure to asbestos. ADAO is a US-based 501(c)(3) non-profit that reached over 44 countries with GAAW last year. This year’s GAAW will focus on banning the mining … Read More
