It seems like summer has finally arrived and with this spell of unusually fine weather comes the time-honoured problem of working in high temperatures. Looking at the legislation, you may be surprised to learn that whilst a minimum temperature is referred to in the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, no reference is made to a maximum temperature. However, there are some key issues that employers need to be mindful of in order [...]
Employees fundraising by undertaking physical challenges has become increasingly prevalent in recent years and a client of ours recently asked us…
‘…from a company risk perspective is there anything we need to be doing, e.g. if someone gets ill / has an accident etc.’.
We thought we would share our answer as it’s equally applicable to all employers.
If the event is being organised by the Company, there are a number of factors to consider. [...]
A Rochdale company has been fined after a 29-year-old worker was diagnosed with hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) – a condition causing tingling, pins and needles, numbness and pain in the affected person’s hands.
Greater Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard how the employee was exposed to vibration from tools used to sand components. Health surveillance implemented by the Company in 2014 showed that the employee had developed HAVS through exposure to vibration while working there.
An investigation by [...]
We are currently in the midst of Ramadan which, for many Muslims, is a period of religious observance. Failing to account for this in the workplace can give rise to employee relations issues and risk exposure to tribunal claims. Here, we look at ways in which employers can support their Muslim employees during this period.
Ramadan is the annual four week period during which Muslims fast from dawn until dusk, pray and give to charity. [...]
The increase follows a change in legislation made effective February 2016 by the Sentencing Council, under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.
The new guidelines were imposed for health and safety, food hygiene and corporate manslaughter offences. The court must now consider culpability, seriousness and likelihood of harm as well as the size of a business / its turnover when imposing fines. Health and Safety offences are concerned with failures to manage risks to health [...]
A former Nottingham care worker has been sentenced after the death of a service user.
Nottingham Crown Court heard how a group of service users from the day centre had been on a trip to Kings Mill Reservoir. The care worker, who at the time was supposedly providing one-to-one supervision, lost sight of the service user, who drowned when he suffered an epileptic seizure around the time that he fell into the reservoir.
A joint investigation [...]
National bread maker Warburtons has been fined £2m after a worker was hospitalised following a fall.
Wolverhampton Crown Court heard how on 11 November 2013 an employee was cleaning one of the mixing machines at their Wednesbury bakery, a routine job he carried out every few weeks, when he lost his footing and fell nearly two-metres.
The father-of-one, who had worked at the factory since 2007, was hospitalised with a compression fracture in his spine. He [...]
A Liverpool packaging Company has been fined after a worker’s thumb was severed whilst operating a machine where dangerous parts were not properly guarded. Jiffy Packaging, which produces packaging for the food industry and stationery products, was found guilty at Liverpool Crown Court following an investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE).
The Court was told that the worker reached through an unguarded section in the frame of one of the machines to perform [...]
A production Company owned by Disney has been fined following an accident in June involving Harrison Ford that occurred during the filming of Star Wars: The Force Awakens at Pinewood Studios.
Foodles Production (UK) Ltd was fined a total of £1.6m after admitting two counts of breaching the Health & Safety at Work (etc.) Act 1974 at an earlier hearing (see here for our previous article in this regard).
The star was reprising his role as [...]
A film production company admitted at Milton Keynes Magistrates Court on Tuesday last to certain health and safety breaches over an accident on the set of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ in June 2014, that broke the leg of star Harrison Ford who plays the character Han Solo.
The actor was struck by a hydraulic door on the set of the Millennium Falcon – his character’s spaceship, at Pinewood studios. The 71 year old actor [...]
