The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency have updated rule 258 of the Highway code to reflect recent changes in legislation affecting lane closures on SMART motorways. A signal showing a red “X” and flashing red lights indicates that a lane is closed, for example because a vehicle has broken down in that lane and has not been able to reach … Read More
The Health and Safety Executive issue electrical safety alert following fire
The HSE have issued a safety alert concerning high capacity electrical capacitors in industrial equipment. The alert follows investigations into a fire in 2018 that occurred in an industrial uninterruptable power supply system manufactured by Vertiv Infrastructure (previously known as Emerson / Chloride). The cause of the fire was traced to the dangerous failure of an ICAR branded capacitor. industrial … Read More
147 WORKERS FATALLY INJURED
The latest statistics just released by the HSE show that in the year 2018 to 2019 147 workers were killed as a result of accidents at work. The most common cause of fatal injury was falls from height accounting for 410 deaths, being struck by a moving vehicle resulted in 30 fatalities. Other common types of fatal accident included struck … Read More
THE SOUND OF THE FUTURE: NEW ELECTRIC VEHICLE NOISE RULES
Normally when you read an article about noise on these pages it will be about the dangers of too much noise, however sometimes a lack of noise can be even more dangerous. Concerns have been raised that vehicles powered by electric motors are too quiet and pose a risk to pedestrians who can’t hear them coming, in particular for pedestrians … Read More
ROAD SAFETY ACTION PLAN LAUNCHED
On 19th July The Department for Transport published its Road Safety Statement and supporting action plan. The action plan includes 74 actions the Government is either currently or is intending to take to improve road safety. Many of the actions involve supporting specific road safety campaigns, information, education and research programmes. Some of the other actions are: Research into the … Read More
GARDENING, GROUNDS KEEPING, HORTICULTURE – ARE YOU CONTROLLING YOUR VIBRATION RISKS?
Frequent, regular and prolonged exposure to vibration through the hands and arms can cause permanent ill health. Conditions associated with exposure to vibration include hand-arm vibration syndrome and carpal tunnel syndrome. Sufferers can experience tingling and numbness in the fingers, pain, a loss of strength in the hands and an inability to do fine work. Some examples of sources exposure … Read More
CALL FOR EVIDENCE ON FIRE SAFETY REGULATION
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 regulates fire safety in non-domestic premises such as workplaces and the common parts of residential buildings. These regulations cover such matters as fire risk assessment, duties to take general fire safety precautions, consult with and provide fire safety information, instruction and training for employees, fire detection, emergency exits etc. In conjunction with the … Read More
Shift work and increased rates of cancer
Over the years there have been a number of reports suggesting a link between shift work and increased rates of cancer, in particular breast cancer in women. One theory that has been proposed is that light at night supresses the production of the hormone melatonin which is known to have anti-carcinogenic properties. Potentially reducing the body’s ability to fight emerging … Read More
Hot and Bothered – Can I Stop Working?
With record temperatures predicted for western Europe and the summer holidays not yet begun temperature in the workplace can be a hot topic. While regulations do state that “During working hours, the temperature in all workplaces inside buildings shall be reasonable” in the UK there is no set maximum temperature for a workplace and the regulation does not apply to … Read More
Lost Your MOT Certificate?
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) have launched a new free online service, that allows motorists to replace a lost, stolen or damaged MOT certificate via the GOV.UK website at: https://www.gov.uk/replacing-lost-damaged-mot-certificate. In order to use the service you will need the vehicle’s registration and 11 digit vehicle logbook (VC5) reference number. Currently the service can be used to replace … Read More