Lawford Kidd's Blog

A Forfar metal galvanising company has appeared in court over serious leg injuries sustained by an agency worker when a half-tonne A-frame slipped and fell onto him from a forklift truck.

Robert Ramsey had been helping colleagues move the large A-frame, which measured 3.82 metres by 1.6 metres and weighed almost half a tonne.

The A-frame was lifted and moved outside, where it was raining, on the forks of a forklift truck. It was then turned and was being moved into the correct position with Mr Ramsey and another colleague on opposite sides of the A-frame to steady it.

An amended Government plan to deregulate areas of health and safety remains “unnecessary, unhelpful and unwise”, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has said.

Clause 1 of the Government’s Deregulation Bill will amend the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 to exempt certain self-employed from general health and safety duties.

IOSH and a wide-range of other stakeholders have said the clause could lead to confusion, lower standards and increase the risk of injury and illness at work.

In the coming weeks, the focus will very much be on assessing and controlling the risks of fires and explosions in the workplace thanks to the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health's (IOSH).

The organisation has arranged an event – namely, Fire and Explosion - Controlling Dangerous Substances' - aimed at helping health professionals, particularly in the chemical process industry, minimise the risks of fires and explosions.

With the number of construction site inspections in Scotland falling by 30 per cent last year, according to the Union for Workers in the Construction Sector (UCATT), the lives of construction workers in Scotland are being put at an increased risk

To explain, despite inspecting 1,248 Scottish constructions sites in 2012/13 and carrying out 1,250 inspections in 2011/12, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) only inspected 881 construction sites across Scotland last year.

Earlier this week, TUC publically condemned the Government's proposed changes to UK health and safety legislation for those who are self-employed.

The House of Lords are to vote on such proposals, which if approved, will mean that certain self-employed persons will no longer be covered by the Health and Safety at Work Act, and therefore will not need to comply with the Act's obligations - unless they have certain occupations or work in particular sectors.