How many column inches were taken up in the build-up to the Budget wondering who exactly the Government meant by ‘working people’? And now that we know what was in it, does it really matter?
By Mike Robinson FCA, British Safety Council on 01 November 2024
When most people think of safety in road haulage they think about the machinery, but the most important part of our industry has always been the people, in this instance the person behind the wheel.
By Ashton Cull, Road Haulage Association (RHA) on 01 November 2024
According to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) statistics, 138 workers were killed in work-related accidents in 2023/24, with 25 of those fatalities involving being struck by a moving vehicle in the workplace – a 25 per cent increase on the same figure for 2022/23.
By Matthew Sulley, Pinsent Masons on 12 November 2024
Recent prosecutions of entertainment companies for health and safety failings are a reminder that the duty to safeguard the health, safety and welfare of employees and others applies to all workplaces, organisations and workers in whatever sector or business.
By Laura White, Pinsent Masons on 04 July 2024
The Grenfell tragedy uncovered serious fire and building safety defects in hundreds of thousands of flats across the UK, but in the seven years since, politicians, developers and the construction industry have failed to ensure that safety-critical remediation works are carried out quickly and at no cost to innocent leaseholders.
By Campaign team, End Our Cladding Scandal on 04 July 2024
Last month, I mentioned two big moments – the General Election and the 50th anniversary of the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) on 31 July. The lack of attention given to health, safety, or even wellbeing by most political parties in their election manifestos, while not entirely unexpected, was disappointing. And it doesn’t reflect the real concerns of workers and leaders here and around the world.
By Mike Robinson FCA on 01 July 2024
In my previous piece for Safety Management last summer (‘A new Building Safety Remediation Scheme would hold developers and builders to account for all fire and building safety defects in homes’) I set the scene on the unfolding world of building safety remediation and described how I was attempting to change things in the interests of consumer safety. Now with a general election called, there is an opportunity to influence the policies of a new, incoming administration.
By The Earl of Lytton on 28 June 2024
From undertaking hazardous activities, to identifying and predicting risk, to continuous monitoring, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to bring about significant change in workplace health and safety, but not without associated implications for prosecution and sentencing.
By Laura White and Sasha Jackson, Pinsent Masons on 12 June 2024
Despite decades of effort by many experts and a large body of evidence about the scale of the problem, the topic of indoor air quality (IAQ) in public buildings has attracted little attention beyond readers of professional journals where papers on indoor air pollution and its impacts are published. The Covid-19 pandemic changed this.
By Professor Lidia Morawska, Queensland University of Technology, Professor Prashant Kumar, University of Surrey & Professor Catherine Noakes, University of Leeds on 12 June 2024
As a member of the Healthy Air Coalition, CIEH has argued for the UK Government and devolved nations to adopt more ambitious air quality targets that meet WHO air quality guidelines, and implement a holistic regulatory framework that supports local authorities with the capacity to enforce air quality targets.
By Matthew Clark, CIEH on 10 June 2024
The world is getting hotter, and heatwaves are becoming more frequent and more severe. Recent projections say 2024 is set to be the warmest year yet. As the summer of 2022 demonstrated, despite its reputation for cold and rain, the UK is not immune from these bouts of extremely hot weather.
By Dr Radhika Khosla, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment on 07 June 2024
Climate change is changing everything. It is already posing a serious threat to the safety and health of workers in all regions of the world. Workers across different sectors are exposed to climate change-related hazards, with outdoor workers at particular risk as they carry out heavy labour in hot climates.
By Halshka Graczyk, Lacye Groening, Andreas Hoibl & Wafaa Alzaanin, International Labour Organization (ILO) on 07 June 2024
Having long campaigned on the dangers of air pollution, and as chairman of the Westminster Commission for Road Air Quality (WCRAQ) and vice chair of the APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group) on Air Pollution, it’s clear to me that there are a number of necessary steps that the UK Government and institutions need to take in order to tackle the increasingly urgent issue of air pollution from road transport.
By Barry Sheerman on 05 June 2024
