Following on from Phase 1 of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry in 2021, the government carried out a consultation on proposals to introduce a requirement for owners or managers of high-rise residential buildings to have personal emergency evacuation plans (“PEEPs”) in place for those residents who would have difficulty self-evacuating in the event of a fire. While PEEPs are common … Read More
New And Updated Compressed Gas Guidance
The British Compressed Gases Association (BCGA) recently published an updated edition of their Code of Practice covering “The Safe Use of Individual Portable or Mobile Cylinder Gas Supply Equipment”. The code covers safe use of gas supplied in either single cylinders or bundles of cylinders, e.g., oxygen, acetylene, helium, nitrogen, LPG, etc. Topics covered include: Cylinder storage, transportation, and … Read More
National Flood Risk Assessment Updated
The Environment Agency recently published updated assessments of the national flood and coastal erosion risks in England. With improvements in data modelling and technology, these represent a significant update from the previous assessments produced in 2018 and 2017, respectively. The new assessments show that 3,500 properties are expected to be in areas at risk of coastal erosion in the … Read More
Why Welds Fail – New Research from the HSE
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published a new research report examining the causes of welding-related incidents and failures over the past 15 years. A total of 47 incidents in which welding was considered to be deficient, leading to a failure, were included within the study. The failure of welds can have a wide range of consequences, including … Read More
Safe Trees
On 8th November 2024, Cheshire East Council was fined £500,000 after Christopher Hall was killed by a falling tree limb on 28th August 2020 while walking his dog. HSE investigations found that another limb had previously fallen from the same tree in September 2019; however, the council had not taken action to assess whether the tree posed future risks … Read More
LPG Fork-Lift Fire Safety Report Issued
The Office for Produce Safety and Standards (OPSS) has issued a high-risk level alert regarding a risk of fire linked to three brands of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) powered industrial lift trucks. The lift trucks in question were all fitted with the IMPCO C-Series vaporiser, manufactured by EControls BV, and installed as part of the truck’s fuel system. Recent … Read More
Work-related Stress, Depression and Anxiety
Statistics recently released by the HSE show that workplace stress, depression, and anxiety continue to be major issues. Despite a drop from an estimated 875,000 workers suffering from work-related stress, depression, or anxiety in 2022/23 to 776,000 in 2023/24, the rate is still significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels. The HSE estimates that over the past year there were 300,000 new … Read More
New Building Safety Bill Proposed for Wales
The Welsh Government has announced that it intends to introduce a new Building Safety Bill for Wales that would bring new regulations to improve fire safety for multi-occupied residential buildings. The announcement by Jane Bryant, Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government, follows the publication of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Report. Bryant emphasised that while Welsh officials … Read More
Increase in Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders
Latest figures from the HSE show an increase in the number of work-related musculoskeletal disorders over the past year. In the period 2023/2024, a total of 543,000 workers were reported as suffering from musculoskeletal disorders, up from 473,000 the previous year. 160,000 of these were reported as new cases. All of this led to a massive 7.8 million working days … Read More
Health and Safety at Work Statistics Released
The HSE has published the annual work-related ill health and workplace injuries statistics for the period 2023/24. The key figure highlighted by the HSE is that 1.7 million workers were suffering from work-related ill health through the 2023/24 period, including: 776,000 suffering from work-related stress, depression, or anxiety, down from 875,000 from the year before. 543,000 suffering from work-related … Read More