Lawford Kidd's Blog

Regular safety inspections, a maximum temperature in the workplace and far greater control of carcinogens are just some of the improvements that the TUC is calling for in its new ten point safety manifesto.

The report, Time for change, features ten key recommendations which the TUC believes, if implemented by a future government, could help turn around the UK's poor safety record, and prevent a good many of the 20,000 workplace-related deaths which occur in the UK every year.

The TUC is also hoping its manifesto for change will make the case for good health and safety practice, in a climate where safety laws are increasingly seen by ministers as unnecessary burdens on business, and where spending cuts and changes in regulations are making it more difficult to police employers who play fast and loose with their employees' safety.

A man has been awarded compensation of £8,750 after he injured his ankle in the ditch of a ha-ha in the grounds of Hopetoun House, near Edinburgh, reports the Scotsman.

The man, who was 61 at the time of the accident, was attending a guided bat walk in the grounds with his grandson. The injury occurred as the pair walked back to their car in the dark at the end of the bat walk.

The compensation award was originally set at £35,000, however, according to the Scotsman, the judge reduced the amount by 75% for “a high level of contributory negligence” on behalf of the grandfather.

According to figures obtained by the Scottish Conservatives under Freedom of Information legislation, councils in Scotland have paid out over £33 million to settle around 13,000 compensation claims over the past five years.

The data reveals a wide range of claims, including a man in Edinburgh who claimed £170,000 after a firework blew up in his hand; and a person in Glasgow who got their jacket caught on a bin hoist and was lifted into the air, which has so far cost £250 in legal fees.

According to the Scottish Conservatives, the actual cost is likely to be higher than the current figures indicate, as some councils failed to respond to the information request, and there are still some outstanding cases waiting to be resolved.

A recent report commissioned by insurer RSA has found that road crashes caused by poor driver vision result in an estimated 2,900 casualties and cost £33 million per year.

Brake and RSA are calling for the numberplate test to be replaced with a requirement for drivers to have a proper vision test with a qualified professional at the start of their driving career, and mandatory re-testing every ten years thereafter linked to driving licence photocard renewal. Drivers should also be encouraged to voluntarily have their eyes tested every two years in line with NHS recommendations.

Julie Townsend, deputy chief executive, Brake, the road safety charity, said:

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has recently published provisional statistics on workplace ill-health and injury in Scotland in 2011/12.

The figures show that:

• There were 9,551 reported injuries to employees in 2011/12 compared to 10,216 in 2010/11, a fall of 7%.
• 64,000 people said they were suffering from an illness caused or made worse by their work, down from 77,000 in 2010/11.
• 20 workers were fatally injured - up from 14 the previous year. The average for the past five years was 23 worker deaths per year.

The HSE has also revealed that in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available across the EU, the standardised rate of work-related fatal injury excluding traffic accidents was 0.59 per 100,000 workers in GB, the second lowest in the EU.