GroundsWeek is an annual celebration of the often overlooked groundskeeper, who plays a vital role in maintaining the green spaces that enhance our lives and support mental and physical well-being. The week is marked by activities and campaigns to promote the profession, share best practices, and appreciate the work groundskeeping professionals accomplish. An entire week dedicated to highlighting the skills of grounds staff, whilst inspiring everyone to appreciate the industry. Groundskeepers Roles and Responsibilities It requires specialist training to enable for a grounds person to carry out their daily activities such as mowing, hedge-cutting, strimming and leaf blowing...

Thorough inspection checklists of all warehouse equipment are required under Health and Safety law: LOLER 1998 & PUWER 1998 Asking employees to perform pre-use inspections before using forklifts, pallet trucks, racking, ladders, tow tractors, podium steps or any other warehouse equipment is not only a smart and responsible policy to enforce, but is also required by law. Good to Go Safety provides companies easy-to-use inspections which enable competent employees to walk-through a series of checks to ensure that their warehouse equipment is safe to use. Each inspection only takes a short time to complete but ensures equipment is safe and provides invaluable evidence should an accident o..

An investigation was conducted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following a serious incident on the 13th June 2023. A father of three sustained serious injuries after falling more than 25 feet (7.5 metres) whilst manually carrying roof tiles down a ladder attached to fixed scaffolding. Devon Air Ambulance took Mr Ian Smith to the hospital where he was put into an induced coma for five days. He has since made a fantastic recovery however still suffers from his injuries, which included five broken vertebrae as well as skull and rib fractures. His employer, Daniel Hooper (self-employed) was given a 16-week custodial sentence (suspended for 12months) following the incident..

2% OF ALL ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO VEHICLE DEFECTS AND FAULTS Given that the National average age of UK vehicles is 8 years, it's no surprise that faults such as tyre blow outs, broken lights and smearing window wipers are causing accidents across the UK. ONLY 44% OF PEOPLE INSPECT THEIR CAR PRIOR TO TRAVELLING FOR WORK.. and of that 44% who do complete checks... • 30% don't check their oil levels • 42% have a warning light on their dashboard • 57% have deferred their MOT • 27% don't check tyre pressure • 35% don't check brake lights • 32% don't check tyre tread • 32% don't check headlights THERE ARE 6 CARS IN EVER..

Managing hazards in a business is fundamental to maintaining the safety of employees. Under UK law, employers have a duty of care to ensure the health, safety, and wellbeing of all employees. This means it’s an employer’s responsibility to identify the hazards facing their employees and implement measures to mitigate them. It's fairly common for employees (and in many cases, management) to be unaware of the hazards they face regularly. Those who haven't encountered an accident often feel they aren't at risk. Additionally, many workers become accustomed to an unhealthy or unsafe workplace due to working in that environment for an extended period. The best way to prevent injuries..

Forklift truck inspections can increase productivity by up to 25%. Additionally it will reduce breakdowns by 70% and lowers forklift truck maintenance costs by 25%. Depending on the type of forklift truck, costs and technical sophistication, a broad spectrum of maintenance strategies should be applied. A faulty forklift truck may significantly slow or completely halt your entire production process. Poor maintenance strategies can reduce the overall productive capacity of a warehouse 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 Preve..

Capital Karts in Barking, East London has been fined almost £120,000 after an incident on the 6th August 2021. Newham youth group organised a fun filled day at Capital Karts with a group of teens, however the day turned to horror when one of the teens had to be resuscitated at the venue after her hijab (a traditional muslim headscarf) got caught in a go karts drive axle. Ruwaida Adan, 15, died in hospital of hypoxic brain injury and asphyxiation four days after she visited Capital Karts in Barking, east London, she was described by her mother as a "beacon of kindness" with the "sweetest soul". An investigation by Barking and Dagenham Council found that Capital Karts fail..

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..

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..

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..

In the UK, we bear witness to over 1300 fork lift truck accidents every year, which means on average there are five accidents every workday in the UK that involves a forklift. In the US there are over 35,000 serious injuries every year due to forklift operation and OSHA (The Occupational Safety and Health Administration) estimates that over 70% of these incidents were preventable. It’s easy to lose sight of safety in the rush of everyday life, thats why Forklift Safety Day is so important. Forklift Safety Day reminds us to remove the daily assumptions that "the forklift was fine yesterday, it'll be fine today". Forklift safety minimises the dangers related directly and indirec..