Lawford Kidd's Blog

A five-prong plan for driving down the number of people killed and seriously injured in the waste and recycling industry has been published.

The Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) Forum has been working on its blueprint for better risk management since a landmark summit in February, and the final plan puts the focus on those areas where industry leaders agree action needs to be concentrated.

WISH’s plan outlines 24 immediate action points under five strategic themes – providing strong leadership, involving the workforce, building competence, creating healthier and safer workplaces, and providing support for small and medium sized employers.

Essex County Council has been fined for safety failings after a child with severe learning and physical disabilities almost drowned in his school’s swimming pool.

The 9-year-old boy was pulled from the water blue in colour and needed resuscitation after the incident during a school swimming session.

The council was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found that it had failed to provide schools with adequate information and guidance on how to safely manage and run their swimming pools.

Not-for-profit campaign group, the Association of Personal Lawyers (APIL), has criticised proposed new rules on how insurance companies search their historical records if a potential claim for compensation is being made against them, saying that they are “wide of the mark”.

Responding to a consultation by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) on new search procedures, APIL has pointed out that for injured or ill workers to successfully claim compensation, it must be established which insurers provided employers' liability cover at the time they were injured or exposed. However, this can sometimes be a problem, as APIL president Karl Tonks explained:

“Victims of asbestos-related disease can become ill many years after they are exposed at work, by which time the records can be harder to find. Sometimes they are never found and those people are left with nowhere to turn.”

The Department of Transport has published detailed statistics on traffic related personal injury accidents in 2011.

Key findings from the report include:

• In 2011, there were a total of 203,950 casualties of all severities in road accidents reported to the police, 2% lower than in 2010. There were 1,901 people killed, a 3% increase over 2010 and 23,122 were seriously injured, up 2%. Motor vehicle traffic increased slightly (0.2%) over the same period.
• The number of fatalities fell for three types of road user, with a fall of 22% for bus and coach occupants, 10% for motor cyclists and 4% for pedal cyclists. Pedestrian and car occupants rose by 12% and 6% respectively.
• In 2011, it is estimated 9,990 reported casualties (5% of all road casualties) occurred when someone was driving whilst over the legal alcohol limit. The provisional number of people estimated to have been killed in drink drive accidents was 280 (15% of all road fatalities).
• Failed to look properly was again the most frequently reported contributory factor and was reported in 42% of all accidents reported to the police in 2011.
• In 2011, the economic welfare cost of reported road accidents was estimated to be around £15.6 billion.

An American court has awarded substantial damages to a man who claimed he became ill after years of breathing in the fumes of microwave popcorn, reports Yahoo!

The 59-year-old from Colorado was diagnosed with a respiratory condition known as 'popcorn lung' in 2007, after eating the microwave popcorn on an almost daily basis for a number of years. A few previous cases, brought by popcorn factory workers, have linked the condition to diacetyl, which is contained in the butter flavouring added to some popcorn.

The court found that the liability for the man's injury was shared between the manufacturer of the popcorn (80%) and the supermarket where he bought it (20%) for failing to warn of the alleged dangers of diacetyl, and awarded him compensation amounting to $7.2 million. According to Yahoo! both organisations intend to appeal against the ruling.