Piper Alpha anniversary commemorations
The Scottish Government is to donate £100,000 to the Pound for Piper Memorial Trust to help maintain a memorial garden to the victims of the Piper Alpha disaster. The funding was announced as the Scottish Government unveiled plans to mark the 25th anniversary of the disaster. The donation will be made from money seized under proceeds of […]
HSE publishes data on workplace injury in Scotland
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: 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 […]
Government puts safety law back by 100 years
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has claimed that a new clause introduced to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill by the Government has put workplace health and safety back into the Victorian age. APIL president Karl Tonks explained: “At the moment, where an employer has been found to have breached health and safety […]
Fee for Intervention now in operation
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has launched a new cost recovery scheme, with the aim of recovering the costs of inspecting, investigating and taking enforcement action against businesses that break health and safety laws. Known as Fee for Intervention (FFI), the scheme began to operate on 1st October and will enable the HSE to […]
Government announces review of cosmetic procedures
The Department of Health has launched a major review into cosmetic surgery and procedures in response to concerns raised about the industry following problems with PiP breast implants. The review will look at many issues including whether the right amount of regulation is in place, if people have the right amount of information before going […]
Better information for citizens about major accident risks
New European rules are now in force that will ensure EU citizens are better informed about major threats posed by industrial plants in their immediate vicinity. The rules are part of an otherwise technical update of the Seveso Directive, a key instrument in industrial risk management, which is being adapted to reflect recent changes in […]
Firms fined for fall down lift shaft
Three companies were ordered to pay a total of £232,000 in fines and costs after two workers on an Exeter building site suffered severe injuries when the platform they were working on collapsed and fell four storeys down a lift shaft. One of the companies had been served with a prohibition notice by the HSE […]
Annual offshore injury figures continue to improve
The number of offshore oil and gas leaks that could potentially lead to a major incident continues to fall, new safety statistics have revealed. But Steve Walker, the head of offshore safety at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), has warned industry not to be complacent following the encouraging figures. He said: “While we welcome […]
Workers forced to pay for own safety equipment
A TUC survey has revealed that despite laws which say employers must give their staff personal protective equipment (PPE) free of charge, more than one in five workers are being forced to pay for it out of their own pocket. PPE includes protective clothing, helmets and goggles designed to protect workers from injury, electrical hazards, […]
HSE serves Improvement Notice on Edinburgh cooling tower
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has served an Improvement Notice on an Edinburgh company for alleged failures to adequately control the risk of legionella in a cooling tower. The Notice was served for a failure to devise and implement a sustained and effective biocide control programme in one cooling tower. HSE visited the company […]
