Lawford Kidd's Blog

The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has called for the Government to include work-related road traffic accidents (RTAs) in the national accident reporting system (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995).

According to latest provisional figures from the Department of Transport, in the year ending June 2012, 24,870 people are estimated to have been killed or seriously injured on the roads in the UK. In 2010 the Government estimated that 24% of serious injuries, and 30% of road deaths could be linked to work-related road traffic accidents.

Richard Jones, head of policy and public affairs at IOSH, said: “In our latest response to the RIDDOR consultation, we have again called for the Government to make serious injuries and deaths from work-related road traffic accidents reportable under RIDDOR.

A Leicester door-fitting firm has been fined after an employee was injured when he fell from a wooden crate fixed to a fork lift truck.

The 39 year-old man fractured his wrist, heel, ankle and elbow when he fell nearly five metres while fitting a roller shutter door at a farm in Lincoln.

He needed an operation on his heel and was unable to work for about three months after the incident on 2nd September 2011. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated and prosecuted his employer for failing to properly plan work at height.

A campaign launched at the start of Road Safety Week is appealing to drivers and authorities in Scotland to GO 20, to bring about a 2012 legacy of safe walking and cycling.

Brake, the road safety charity, is appealing to drivers to slow down to 20mph or below in communities, and calling for widespread 20mph limits in built up areas.

According to Brake, children are affected by danger from fast traffic in a number of ways, including:

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.

The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has published details of its response to a HSE consultation over a changes to ‘sharps’ regulations.

In its response, IOSH highlighted the need for people in all professions to continue to be protected when working with sharp medical instruments, and warned the regulator against excluding non-medical workers from the regulations.

Injuries to workers from needles, scalpel blades and other sharp instruments – collectively known as medical sharps – have to be prevented, says IOSH. They can lead to exposure to blood-borne viruses and serious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C, from instruments contaminated with patients’ blood or other bodily fluids.