A two-pronged attack on health and safety by the Government will expose workers and members of the public to greater risk of injury, campaigners have warned.
A two-pronged attack on health and safety by the Government will expose workers and members of the public to greater risk of injury, campaigners have warned.
Recently published figures have revealed slight falls in a number of key areas of workplace ill-health and injury in Scotland.
Lighter nights all year round could help to arrest the rising number of road deaths, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).
Proposed new rules on how old insurance records are searched are a “missed opportunity” to ensure the industry honours its responsibility to sick and dying workers.
Doctors in the UK are to become the first in the world to have regular assessments to ensure that their training and expertise are up-to-date and that they are fit to carry out their roles, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced.
Truro Crown court has heard that an elderly man with dementia was able to wander into another resident's room at his nursing home and fall to his death from a window. Reginald Gibbings, 89, fell 3.6 metres from the room in July 2008.
Dozens of construction sites across Scotland have been put under the spotlight as part of an intensive inspection regime by the Health and Safety Executive.
People involved in health and safety at work are being invited to take part in a UK-wide study into the sources of information they use, either in their workplaces or when giving guidance to others.
Urgent action is needed to improve the safety of young drivers, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI). The industry group says that radical measures are necessary – including a minimum one year learning period.
A Nottinghamshire demolition company and one of its employees have appeared in court after a worker suffered severe injuries when he was hit by a falling excavator bucket on his first day on site.
Plans to introduce legislation to protect people from legal action if they apologise for causing injury are “pointless and misguided” lawyers have said.
InjuriesBoard.ie has released details of its work in the first six months of 2012. Data for the period shows a gradual but consistent increase (4.1%) in claims volumes compared to the same period in 2011. The period also saw the emergence of issue-specific claims linked to Thalidomide and De Puy hip replacements.
National estimates of death following general surgery have been too optimistic, according to the first large-scale study to explore surgical outcomes across Europe, led by Queen Mary, University of London.
Campaigners say a review of workplace safety must ensure that all updates to important guidelines are made in plain English.
The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has recently launched a new initiative aimed at reducing the number of people injured or killed when working in loading bays.
Government plans to abolish safety inspections in thousands of businesses across the UK will put the health of millions of workers at risk, the TUC has warned.
Campaigners have welcomed a decision by the Government to rethink its proposals to cut compensation payments for victims of crime.
An independent survey, commissioned by the not-for-profit Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), has found that almost 40% of people who have suffered a whiplash injury have never claimed compensation for it.
Two nursing home owners have been fined after an elderly resident died following a fall from a hoist.
Two companies have been prosecuted after workers were exposed to potentially deadly asbestos fibres at a mill in Bolton.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) took legal action after finding dozens of damaged asbestos boards stacked up during a visit in October 2010.
Manchester Crown Court heard that neither company had put a plan in place to manage the asbestos in the mill on Tennyson Street, where several small businesses rent units.
HSE became aware of the issue when a contractor on the site raised concerns that asbestos insulation boards had been stripped out of unoccupied floors at the mill, releasing potentially deadly asbestos fibres into the air.
Inspectors issued two Prohibition Notices banning the removal of tools and other items from four floors of the mill in case they had become contaminated with asbestos fibres, and preventing access to the floors.
They also found that asbestos was present in other parts of the mill, occupied by tenants, but nothing had been done to protect it and make sure it was safe.
Asbestos boards were commonly used up until the 1980s to help insulate buildings, to build partition walls and as ceiling tiles. The boards only become dangerous if they are broken up and asbestos fibres are released into the air.
Fibres that are breathed in can become lodged in the lungs or digestive tract, and may lead to lung cancer or other diseases if large numbers of fibres are inhaled. However, symptoms may not appear for several decades.
Around 4,000 people die every year as a result of breathing in asbestos fibres, making it the biggest single cause of work-related deaths in the UK.