A woman's right arm has been severed after becoming trapped in machinery whilst working for F.J Church and Sons Ltd, a metal recycling company in Rainham, Essex. An investigation by the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) followed the incident, which happened on the 12th June 2021. The investigation found that incident occurred after Ms Troia attempted to remove a blockage by reaching through an unguarded rotary valve of a catalytic converter sampling machine. Ms Troia, the victim was rushed to hospital after the rotary valve closed, trapping and severing her arm. She has been unable to work since. The HSE found that F.J. Church and Sons failed to prevent workers accessing..

An engineering firm in Perth has been fined £10,000 after an employee lost his little and ring finger. The worker, employed by Edwards Engineering (Perth) Limited, had been carrying out maintenance work on a grain dryer at East of Scotland Farmers on 28 June 2020. He inadvertently placed his hand into the blades of an unguarded rotary fan in the grain dryer. The fan was rotating at 1200 revolutions per minute when it came into contact with the worker’s hand. He was off work for seven weeks following the incident. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into this incident found Edwards Engineering (Perth) Limited had failed to risk assess the task that the emplo..

A textiles company has been fined £60,000 after an employee suffered serious injuries their right arm in an incident at a factory operated by Pin Croft Dyeing and Printing Co. Limited in Market Street, Adlington, on 20 June 2022. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the employee had been operating a large fabric spooling machine when the brake malfunctioned. During an attempt to manually slow the rotation of the machine, he broke both major bones in his forearm when his sleeve was caught by a rotating spindle. Despite the company being aware of the risk posed by the moving spindle, they failed to either remove or suitably guard this part of the machi..

Show your Forklift Trucks some love on Valentines Day (and forever) - Give them quick pre-drive inspections to make sure they're doing ok ❤️ Monitoring all your forklifts and assessing their environments with regular (pre-use / pre-move) forklift safety inspections will help achieve a safer workplace environment for employees. Pre-use / pre-move forklift checklists will not only increase the likelihood of spotting a fault early before it deteriorates further, but it also provides employees with regular reminders of their safe working practices and ensures your company complies with PUWER and Forklift Health & Safety policies. Forklift trucks are an indispensable piece of equipmen..

A North Yorkshire construction company has been fined after a worker was struck on the head and killed by a 16-ton excavator. On 13 January 2021, Dean Myers, an employee of HACS Construction Ltd, was undertaking groundwork activities in a partially excavated trench at a site in Ripon, North Yorkshire. During the works, the 56-year-old was struck on the head by the moving bucket of the excavator suffering catastrophic injuries to his face and head. He was pronounced dead at the scene by the ambulance service. The groundworks team had been preparing the trench for the laying of new drainage. Mr Myers had moved to the foot of an existing manhole directly adjacent to the trenc..

A fascinating report courtesy of TyreSafe Admin National Highways Imperial College London looking at tread depth survey at the point of tyre replacement. The 2023 findings show an overall reduction in the number of illegal and borderline tyres at the point of replacement compared to 2016 but 16.7% of tyres were below the legal limit when replaced. The 2023 findings confirm the number of illegal tyres on Britain’s roads annually is potentially as many as nearly one-in-four vehicles – at just over 6.1 million per annum! How scary is that (especially during these wintry months)? Lack of sufficient awareness among drivers of the need to carry out systematic and regular checks of their tyr..

A recent global report generated from Good to Go Safety’s TakeAIM pre-use checking app, showed that one in a hundred fleet vehicles had a fault so serious that the vehicle had to be immediately removed from service until fixed. Had these vehicles been driven, it could have resulted in a breakdown and/or a collision. There are 5.4 million fleet assets on British roads. If that 1% of vehicles which were not roadworthy is extrapolated to the whole fleet, this means 54,000 fleet vehicles on any given day are not fit or safe to drive on the public highway. The roadworthiness challenge facing fleets is even greater, as there is evidence that as fleet car registrations fall, the use of grey f..

A 24-year-old engineer was fatally crushed whilst attempting to repair a factory goods lift with his colleagues on the 14th January 2020. Lift Monitoring Systems Limited, previously known as RJ Lift Services Limited, was fined £200,000 after a HSE (Health and Safety Executive) investigation into the death. The following information was found during the HSE investigation: Lewis McFarlin (the victim) and two other lift engineers were on site to work on a different lift before being asked to resolve an issue with the door-opening mechanism on one of the lift landing doors. While attempting to resolve the issue, Mr McFarlin was on top of the lift car with one engineer i..

Farmers are being reminded they must change their attitude towards safety as Britain’s workplace regulator readies itself for a wave of inspections in the coming months. Inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will visit farms across England, Scotland and Wales as part of a push to change the culture in the industry and check for compliance with long standing legal requirements. People on farms are 21 times more likely to be killed in a workplace accident than other industries. In total, there have been 161 deaths on Britain’s farms over the last five years – an average of 26 people each year. This includes members of the public and children. HSE pla..

TyreSafe has announced the launch of its highly anticipated “Safe and Save” campaign as a part of this year’s Tyre Safety Month - a campaign which aims to educate and empower motorists across various groups to prioritise tyre safety, save money, and reduce the risks associated with driving vehicles with worn or under-inflated tyres. Tyre safety month, which runs throughout October 2023 and provides an opportunity for road safety professionals an ideal opportunity to run awareness, enforcement and educational initiatives to educate drivers about tyre care and maintenance, helping to maximise safety on our roads. There are plenty of ways to get involved in Tyre Safety Month, whos..

A Lincolnshire-based workshop has been fined after his employees were exposed to a hazardous substance. Inspectors found a significant build-up of wood dust and that Local Exhaust Ventilation systems, provided to capture wood dust and protect employees, had not been thoroughly examined and tested. The HSE prosecuted Chris Buckley, trading as The Furniture Chest of Station Road, Heckington, Lincolnshire, on the 7th April 2022. A subsequent HSE investigation found Chris Buckley had failed to prevent or adequately control employees’ exposure to wood dust and had failed to ensure that Local Exhaust Ventilation systems had been thoroughly examined and tested. Improvement Notices had bee..

National Scaffolding Week provides an opportunity for members of the industry (no matter the role) to provide advice, information and valuable insights which can influence the direction of training in the industry. The campaign, which runs from 9th – 13th October 2023 will showcase the diverse range of career options available within the industry; highlight achievements of both organisations and individuals operating within the sector and aim to inspire the next generation to take up a role within the scaffolding and access industry. There are plenty of ways to get involved in National Scaffolding Week and after the success of last years NSW, we envisage this year to have a similar ou..

Monitoring all your workplace equipment (such as forklifts) and assessing working environments with regular (pre-use / pre-move) inspections will help achieve a safer workplace environment for employees. Pre-use / pre-move inspections will not only increase the likelihood of spotting an equipment fault early before it deteriorates further, but it also provides employees with regular reminders of their safe working practices and ensures your company complies with PUWER and Health & Safety policies. Forklift trucks are an indispensable piece of equipment for many warehouses, however 11% of them are involved in accidents each year. Many of these accidents involve pedestrian impacts, fall..

A straddle carrier tipped over at Eurogate Container Terminal Hamburg earlier this week, killing the driver The accident occurred shortly before the end of the night shift at around 5am CET (3am GMT) on Wednesday, 18th January 2023. The straddle carrier tipped over as the machine was being driven without a load on the way to pick up a container. The 29-year old driver is believed to have died on impact. His body was taken from the cabin by the fire brigade whilst the police and the Office for Work Protection begun their investigation. When we learn more about this tragic accident, we will let our readers know. Our thoughts are with the friends and family of the young man. ..

As part of a nationwide inspection campaign, the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) visited hand car washing facilities throughout West and Mid Sussex and found "shocking" health and safety failings at 20 of the sites in West and Mid Sussex. The campaign's itinerary shows the next wave of inspections begins this week (19th June 2023) and is moving into East Sussex and Surrey. The nationwide campaign is in response to persistent safety problems with hand car washing businesses following the recent prosecution by HSE of a car valeting company in the North East of England. The majority of issues found during last weeks inspections (throughout West and Mid Sussex) were related to e..