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 High Court has awarded a former miner around £70,000 in compensation after he developed mesotheliomia caused by exposure to asbestos at work, reports the BBC.

The 92-year-old had worked as a miner in Nottinghamshire for over 20 years, and the Department of Energy and Climate Change has admitted that he was exposed to asbestos during his time there.

As a result of his illness, Dennis Ball had to move out of his home last year, and now lives in a nursing home.

According to the BBC, Mr Ball's lawyer said that the court decision "paves the way for further elderly sufferers to receive settlements which reflect the pain and distress the disease causes, regardless of their age."

An experienced technician at a plastic products factory in Cornwall was killed after he was crushed between the plates on a machine used to make plastic lids.

The Health and Safety Executive prosecuted Curver UK Ltd (formerly Contico Europe Ltd) for failing to provide adequate safety measures.

Truro Crown Court heard that in preparing the machinery Mr O'Dwyer needed to access the plastic mouldings machine's plates. This was normally done via a guard which, when opened, prevented the machine from operating. However in this case one of the conveyors on the machine had been removed and Mr O'Dwyer was able to access the machine through an unguarded gap. Whilst he was inside the press started to operate and the plates closed crushing him at a pressure of over 1,000 tonnes.

Curver UK Ltd pleaded guilty to committing a breach of Regulation 11 (1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations under Section 33(1) (c) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £160,000 and ordered to pay £32,000 costs.

A national malt company, Pauls Malt Limited, has been fined after a worker had to have the lower part of his left leg amputated, when he became entangled in machinery inside a grain silo. His right leg was also badly broken and is still held together by plates and pins.

A poignant target of 4000 hours of free asbestos awareness training has been set in a new initiative to help tradesmen across Britain protect themselves from the deadly dust.