The Health and Safety Executive have launched a campaign called "Work Right - Agriculture" in a bid to reduce farm vehicle deaths and injuries Vehicles play a key role in farm work but incidents involving vehicles are the number one cause of deaths and serious injuries on British farms. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Britain's workplace safety regulator, is calling on everyone in the farming community to do what they can to reduce the number of injuries involving vehicles and save lives. HSE is this week launching a farm vehicle safety campaign and has created a website which brings together lots of great advice on using vehicles safely on farms. Vehicle incidents are the numbe..

The UK uses more that three and a half million vans for business activities. As part of targeted roadside checks, the DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) stop around 15,000 vans each year to carry out spot checks on vehicles and issue prohibitions if necessary. A prohibition prevents van drivers from using the vehicle until the problem is fixed and can cost owners and operators up to £4,000 per day, per vehicle. 59.9% of vehicle prohibitions were due to a mechanical defect / failure and 83.9% of vans were overloaded. The top three mechanical defects for light goods vehicles that resulted in a prohibition were: 1. Tyre condition 2. Lights and indicators 3. Steering linkage. ..

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..

TakeAIM is supplied with a number of pre-installed checklists for the most popular equipment types used for work. If TakeAIMs range of pre-loaded inspections don't have the equipment type you require, you can create your own equipment type on the TakeAIM dashboard. This enables you to create inspections, and ask the detailed question required for even the most unique piece of workplace equipment. If you'd like to see the equipment types available, plus what is included on each checklist you can watch the checklist videos on the Online Demo Area TakeAIM is an auditing, equipment inspection and maintenance app used to help companies manage workplace equipment. TakeAIM provides visibility..

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 HSE (Health and Safety Executive) carried out an investigation following an incident at British Airways Maintenance Cardiff Ltd on 10th November 2019. The findings showed that the company had failed to adequately analyse the risks of working at height due to the removal of guard rails on the docking platform. Iain Mawson, a British Airways Maintenance Cardiff Ltd employee, was placed into an induced coma for three weeks as a result of the fall. He suffered multiple skull fractures and a brain haemorrhage after falling from height whilst inspecting an aircrafts wings at a facility in Cardiff. British Airways Maintenance Cardiff Ltd of Waterside, Harmondsworth, pleaded guilty to b..

The HSE (Health and Safety Executive) conducted an investigation after a Scottish man named Robin Williamson suffered live altering injuries. The HSE found that City Property (Glasgow) did not plan, organise and supervise the work, to ensure that all risks were identified and adequate precautions were in place. Robin Williamson suffered the horrific injuries after falling eight metres whilst carrying out an asbestos survey on the roof of Netherton Community Centre, Glasgow on 5 April 2018. His severe injuries included multiple skull fractures as well as a bleed to the brain. He also sustained multiple spine and rib fractures and now uses a wheelchair. City Property (Glasgow) LL..

It's 2023, with 2022 seemingly coming and going in the blink of an eye, but as we take our first few tentative steps into a New Year, there comes the opportunity for transformation, development and improvement. I don't know about you, but i used to find it quite difficult to give up certain habits and routines - even when there were easier ways of doing things. What can I say, I don't like change, I’m a creature of habit. Routines used to (and still do) give me a sense of stability and order in my life, however the last few years really knocked me out of my comfort zone and I was left feeling like my entire life rota was burnt in a few fateful weeks. Life can change at any time and t..

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..

As young children we have all been told fairy tales, myths and legends. Innocent youngsters simply absorb the delight and magic that centres around the likes of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy; Similarly they may tremble or hide beneath the blankets when told about Ghouls, Witches, Werewolves or Monsters that may live in their closet. As adults we start to recognise that many fairy tales and the legends behind them, are actually watered-down versions of uncomfortable historical events. The Brothers Grimm sanitized their tales (originally written for adults), but they didn't totally eliminate the scary stuff. That's because fairy tales were intended not just to entertain..

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..

When it comes to checklists, there's no one more proficient than Santa. He has a checklist for good, a checklist for bad and since he found TakeAIM, he's managing them all digitally. Here's what Santa said about TakeAIM: As the Holiday season approaches, billions of people World-wide begin counting down the days until they can enjoy family get-togethers, gift giving and / or time off work, ho ho ho. As Christmas approaches some businesses begin to wind down as others see an influx of products being purchased to make the festivities as magical as possible. Many companies hire temporary workers to help manage the increased workload, but with temporary workers comes the diffi..

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..