The ongoing Coronavirus pandemic has left employers with many questions such as: Can we ask employees to reveal whether or not they have received the vaccination? What action should we take if an employee refuses the vaccination when it is offered? Can we dismiss an employee who refuses to come into the workplace due to Covid concerns? Unfortunately, there are … Read More
IMPROVING VISIBILITY FOR PLANT OPERATORS
The HSE report that “there are 25 fatal injuries each year on average, and hundreds of non-fatal injuries to workers [in Great Britain] as a result of being struck by moving vehicles in the workplace” and “Restricted operator visibility is often identified as a contributing factor in these accidents”. As part of the process of reducing these accidents the HSE … Read More
CORONAVIRUS AND OCCUPATIONAL RISK
While the majority of deaths involving Covid-19 have affected people in the 65 and over age groups, there have been a significant number of deaths of people younger than this. In January the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published an analysis of deaths by different occupational groups, among men and women aged 20 to 64 years in England and Wales. … Read More
CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTS REGULATOR ANNOUNCED
The Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety following the Grenfell Tower tragedy recommended that industry and government must ensure that construction products are properly tested, certified, labelled and marketed. Following on from the launch of the Building and fire Safety Bills in 2020 the government has now announced the launch of a new National Construction Product regulator which will … Read More
BUILDING SAFETY REGULATOR GETS A CHIEF INSPECTOR
The Building Safety Regulator announced as part of Building Safety Bill published in July 2020 is a key component of the Government’s reforms of the building safety system following the Grenfell Tower tragedy and the recommendations made in the subsequent review of building regulation and fire safety The HSE have been given the task of setting up the Building Safety … Read More
ADAPTING FIRE PRECATIONS DURING A PANDEMIC
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the need to keep workplaces safe has brought many changes to the way we work, with many people now working from home or extra hygiene and measures to support social distancing being put in place in workplaces. Some of the measures put in place to control Covid have implications for fire safety and a number … Read More
CORONAVIRUS CHANGES TO OUTBREAK REPORTING GUIDANCE
The office guidance on how to keep your workplace safe during the Coronavirus pandemic is constantly evolving as the situation and knowledge changes. Different rules and guidance can apply in in different parts of the UK so we recommend that you regularly check the guidance for area / sector. Official guidance can be found at: England – https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus Northern Ireland – https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/campaigns/coronavirus-covid-19 … Read More
NEW YEAR NEW RULES NEW LOCKDOWNS
With the coronavirus threat ongoing, in many ways 2021 is not getting off to the best of starts. Wherever you are in the UK there are lockdowns and restrictions currently in place, while the exact details may vary between the different nations, for example garden centres can open in England but must close in Scotland (the opposite applies to golf … Read More
Coronavirus – When to Report an Outbreak
Official advice on what actions you need to take to protect yourself, your employees, your customers and others is continually being updated as the situation changes and local and national regulations are introduced. Sometimes this can lead to differences in the guidance and requirements for different parts of the UK. Any article that try’s to explain all the different requirements … Read More
FALLS FROM HEIGHT THE BIGGEST CAUSE OF FATAL INJURY AT WORK
The HSE recently released the final statistics for injury and ill health in the UK in the year to April 2020. Earlier we reported that provisional statistics showed a record low of 111 workers were killed as a result of accidents at work in the year April 2019 to March 2020. At the time it was not possible to say … Read More