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..

A 35-year-old man from Caernarfon fell approximately 2.44 metres from a Mobile Elevating Work Platform (MEWP) whilst he was working for Aspire Park and Leisure Homes Ltd (a manufacturer of leisure lodges and park homes) on the 6th January 2022. The end gate of the Mobile Elevating Work Platform (MEWP) was taped open whilst two employees were raised into the air to spray insulating foam into a lodge wall. The injured worker broke nine ribs, forearm and suffered a kidney laceration and head trauma. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found staff at Aspire Park and Leisure Homes had not received information, instruction or training in the use of the mobile w..

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 company involved in fruit and vegetable production has been fined £320,000 after a man “who always put family first” was killed at a site in Burscough. Francis Schlachter, known as Frank, suffered severe head injuries when he fell from a skip at a farm operated by M.A.Forshaw Limited on 3 January 2020. The 64-year-old from Southport was described as ‘a rock’ by his wife of 35 years Linda, who said how much he would be missed by his friends and family. Frank had been working at the site off Marsh Moss Lane, tipping food waste into a skip from a container attached to a forklift truck (FLT). The container could not be securely attached to the FLT, which was known to detach from ..

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..

Damaged pallet racking is not only a severe health risk to workers in warehouses, but also a financial nightmare to any business. As an employer, you are legally required to implement and maintain procedures that minimise these risks. Racking inspections are a form of risk assessment. They look for any damage in the racking and can highlight vulnerable areas. The inspection is a crucial opportunity to identify, repair, or replace any areas of damaged racking. The Health and Safety Executive recommends regular warehouse racking inspections to provide insights for preventative maintenance decisions and reduce health and safety risks. The three different types of racking inspections all hig..

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..

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Earlcoate Construction & Plant Hire Limited, had failed to adequately protect a 16-year-old whilst on paid work experience. On August 3, 2021, the teenager, Tom Cutler, was hoping to start a vehicle maintenance course at Sparsholt College after gaining some work experience at Earlcoate Construction & Plant Hire Limited, Folds Farm, in the New Forest. On that fateful day he was driving a tractor down a track when it overturned causing Tom to be thrown from the tractor (which did not have a seat belt fitted). When the dust settled, Tom found himself pinned under the roof of the tractor by his upper leg. Alone an..

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..

On average, predictive maintenance increases productivity by 25%, reduces breakdowns by 70% and lowers maintenance costs by 25%. Depending on the type of assets, costs and technical sophistication, a broad spectrum of maintenance strategies should be applied. One failing machine may halt the whole production process. Poor maintenance strategies can reduce the overall productive capacity of a plant by 5 to 20 percent. “Predictive maintenance increases equipment uptime by 10 to 20% while reducing overall maintenance costs by 5 to 10% and maintenance planning time by 20 to 50%” Why Preventative Maintenance? 1. Unplanned repairs can lead to substantial downtime and jeopardise p..