Lawford Kidd's Blog

The winners of the 2014 International Safety Awards have recently been announced by the British Safety Council.

Vision of no more workplace deaths or injuries

The Awards set out to recognise and honour the achievements of winning organisations in keeping their workplaces and workers healthy and safe throughout the year.

Alex Botha, the British Safety Council’s chief executive, explained that the Council’s vision is that no one should be injured, made ill or killed by work activity anywhere in the world, and that the winning organisations had shown a real dedication and commitment to preventing injury and ill health in the workplace.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has turned its attention to the issue of forestry safety, and is holding a Safety and Health Awareness Day to highlight the specific health and safety issues affecting workers in the forestry industry.

The day will cover issues relating to the use of forestry machinery and forestry chainsaw work, directional felling including the use of hydraulic wedges and bottle jacks, hand-arm and whole body vibration, and public access issues.

One of the most dangerous industries

The HSE warns that forestry is still one of the most dangerous occupations in Great Britain, and treework alone is responsible for 38 work related fatalities over the past ten years.

Two roofers have received suspended sentences after a Derbyshire office worker was injured when a roll of roofing felt crashed through the ceiling of her office.

The woman was sitting at her desk when the metre-long, 37kg roll fell through a roof light and came through the ceiling, hitting her on the shoulder.

She was taken to hospital with injuries to her head, shoulder and left arm and was off work for two weeks following the incident in September 2010.

An Ayr recycling company was fined £80,000 after a worker was severely injured when he was crushed between two skips.