A 51 year old mans right leg was amputated above the knee after he was struck by a telehandler on the 16th March 2022. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Eco Waste and Recycling Limited had failed to act on risk assessments and adequately separate vehicles and pedestrians at its Hullocks Pill Hill, Newnham site. Had they acted on risk assessment details, the man would not have been struck by a reversing telehandler whilst he was sorting recyclable materials by hand. Eco Waste and Recycling Limited, of High Firs Crescent, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, pleaded guilty to breaching 4(1) of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 a..

Starting on 24 April, the HSE (The Health and Safety Executive) will carry out 100 targeted inspections of fairground and theme park rides following a string of incidents throughout the UK. The campaign's strategy is to promote the safe use of fairground rides and inflatable devices and reduce the risk of catastrophic incidents. The campaign is targeted at both theme park sites and travelling fairgrounds and is set to finish by September 2023. It wasn't long ago that we wrote about an incident at Oakwood Theme Park in Wales when a man and his teenage daughter's support bars failed on a rollercoaster resulting in the man falling 26ft to the ground. In our previous blog we highlighted a str..

Nearly 4000 trailers (including 730 caravans) were checked by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) between 2019 and 2021. The inspections carried out by the DVSA highlighted significant issues with many of the trailers and caravans. Of the 3,083 trailers (not a caravan) that were inspected, 50% were non-compliant, and 41% were issued with an immediate prohibition (defects so dangerous that repairs are required prior to re-use). The data available shows that construction trailers had the highest prohibition rates (52%), compared to agriculture (32%), livestock (28%) and vehicle transporter (28%). However, analysts have advised that this data should be considered indicative ra..

Anyone involved with driving for work or for the management of fleet vehicles should find our latest guide of interest as it highlights ways for businesses to improve vehicle inspections and management. This TakeAIM guide provides useful advice on getting the most out of your fleet and covers many of the key questions and considerations that management may come across. We look at key legislation, industry statistics, grey fleet issues, and driver concerns as we aim to deliver the answers and possible solutions to help improve and implement fleet management systems. With the large costs associated with running a fleet in today’s market, a good fleet manager can actually result in a posi..

The Government continues to implement new legislation following the Hackett review and Grenfell Tower Inquiry. This has resulted in amendments to the existing Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (Fire Safety Order) which governs day to day fire safety. There are also very challenging new fire safety regulations – the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 – which came into force on 23 January 2023. With these regulations now in place, we thought we'd remind everyone that TakeAIM can help users to ensure fire safety checks are completed and recorded efficiently and accurately. TakeAIM has pre-installed checklists for numerous fire safety equipment and we also include a generic fi..

The UK Material Handling Association have recently released their latest Safety Alert which looks at cold starting an LPG truck engine. This Safety Alert has been issued following some reports of users of LPG powered trucks experiencing issues with the start-up process. David Goss, UKMHA Technical Director, explains, “Investigations into the root cause are ongoing, but instances where a build-up of deposits in the evaporator (pressure regulator), flow regulator and shut-off valve have been identified. “The concern is that sticking valves could lead to a mixture which is too rich and therefore cannot be ignited. If there are then repeated starting attempts, this can lead to a release of..

It’s not always obvious where to start with managing driver risk. After all, there are so many different areas that need to be tackled. And how do we know whether what we’re doing is good or bad, or whether we have any glaring gaps. It’s easy to feel like we’re just going round in circles. There is a simple process that can help you, based around four easy-to-understand steps: 1. Benchmarking – Do I need to improve? 2. Gap Analysis – If I need to improve, where do I start? 3. Action – How do I make improvements? 4. Check – How big were the improvements? Driving for Better Business has created a range of free online tools that can help you with all these key steps. Benchmarking s..

I don't know about you, but whenever i see the husk of a blown out tyre at the side of a dual carriageway / motorway, it gives me the chills. The rubber fragments and skid marks weaving across the lanes is a firm reminder that tyre blowouts are common and extremely dangerous. Whilst analysing almost 400,000 cars over a 21 month period, Evans Halshaw found that on average 26% of UK motorists had at least one illegal tyre. Read Evans Halshaws full findings - click here Workers such as HGV drivers are more likely to experience a tyre blowout and although they are trained on how to recover from a blowout, tyre blowouts are extremely unpredictable and can cause even the best drive..

Driving may be one of the most hazardous working activities in the UK The government’s Work-Related Road Safety Task Group estimates that up to a third of all road traffic accidents involve someone who is at work at the time. This may account for over twenty fatalities and 250 serious injuries every week. Managing the risks to employees who drive at work requires more than just compliance with road traffic legislation. The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 requires employers to take appropriate steps to ensure the health and safety of their employees and others who may be affected by their activities when at work. This includes the time when they are driving or riding at w..

A story recently posted by the EuroNews told readers how one person prevented a catastrophic loss of life by reporting an unsafe building. The sharp-eyed man alerted emergency services after seeing cracks appear in a four-storey building. The building which was made up of both commercial and residential properties was cordoned off by the fire department and evacuated. The building then collapsed, the firefighters rescued one person from the rubble, with only light injuries and one death was later confirmed. If it weren't for the sharp eyed man who alerted authorities to the issue, there would have been many more deaths. An investigation into why the four-story building collapsed is un..

The HSE (Health and Safety Executive) have investigated an accident where a HGV driver suffered fatal chest injuries. The driver was unstrapping a load on the flatbed trailer, when the load (steel gates) fell and tragically crushed him. Andrew Bayley-Machin, 41, was fatally crushed after the steel gates fell approximately 10 ft from the trailer. Do you play the National Lottery? Millions do and, every week, they buy a ticket in the hope of winning the jackpot. Yet the odds of doing that are a vanishingly small 1 in 45 million! And still millions of people think it might be them. In Great Britain, there are roughly 20 million vehicles driven on business. made up of just under on..

The HSE (Health and Safety Executive) have investigated an accident where a HGV driver suffered fatal chest injuries. The driver was unstrapping a load on the flatbed trailer, when the load (steel gates) fell and tragically crushed him. Andrew Bayley-Machin, 41, was fatally crushed after the steel gates fell approximately 10 ft from the trailer. The investigation by the HSE found that planning arrangements for restraining the load were inadequate. Heavy goods should be stable independent of the straps, this ensures that the release of the straps does not allow the load to fall from the vehicle. Both Joseph Ash Ltd (the company who loaded the gates onto the HGV) and LM Bateman &..

Every year in the UK there are hundreds of serious injuries, including fatalities, to forklift truck operators and pedestrians, which could have been prevented if staff were properly trained and followed safe systems of work. Within the material handling industry alone, there are over 1,300 forklift truck accidents a year, which means on average there are five accidents every workday in the UK. When we look at statistics from the United States, these numbers are even more staggering with an average of 95 people being seriously injured in forklift accidents EVERY DAY and 1 person losing their life due to forklift accidents EVERY 4 DAYS. Approximately 11% of forklifts in the U.S. will b..

Factories and warehouses have numerous health and safety risks. If you fail to manage them, your business may face a number of different issues such as lost working days, injuries and in the worst case scenario, fatalities. As an employer, you are legally required to implement and maintain procedures that minimise these risks. Safety measures must protect workers from factory and warehousing hazards and enable workers to carry out their jobs safely. Maintaining good safety will not only ensure you are compliant with regulations, but also shows employees that you value their wellbeing. In turn this boosts motivation and increases trust in your capabilities as a employer. ..

Defective and poorly-maintained vehicles were linked to 1,759 road casualties recorded in 2021. Issues such as defective lights, worn tyres and ineffective brakes caused a 7% rise on the previous year. The number of road casualties caused by defective / faulty vehicles in 2021 continued to be impacted by the UK restrictions following the coronavirus pandemic, including a period of lockdown in the first quarter of the year. There was a rise in casualty numbers compared to 2020, which was also affected by the pandemic, but 2021 statistics remained lower than the pre-pandemic (2019) levels. Overall, casualties caused by defective / faulty vehicles have generally followed trends in traff..