News

The Health & Safety Executive's (HSE) Myth of the month

Myth: Health and safety bans traditional school ties

The reality

Few parents would see wearing school ties as a safety issue and we agree with them. After all, millions of kids have been wearing ties for years without any real problems. Taking simple precautions during laboratory work or around machinery makes sense. But if the concern is about kids fighting, although clip-on ties may help, the real issue is discipline. So no, health and safety doesn't ban school ties. It's down to the school to make decisions about uniform, not HSE.

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News

Tougher health and safety penalties to be enshrined in law

The Health and Safety (Offences) Act, which increases the penalties for health and safety crimes, will come into law in January next year now that the Bill has gained Royal Assent. The Bill amends the Health and Safety at Work etc., Act 1974 and raises the maximum fine that may be imposed by the lower courts from £5000 to £20,000 for most health and safety offences, and makes imprisonment an option for more offences in both lower and higher courts.

Health and safety minister, Lord McKenzie of Luton, said: "The level of fines for some health and safety offences is too low, these changes will ensure that sentences can now be more easily set at a level to deter businesses that do not take their health and safety-management responsibilities seriously, and further encourage employers and others to comply with the law. Furthermore, by extending the £20,000 maximum fine to the lower courts and making imprisonment an option, more cases will be resolved in the lower courts.

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work launch a 2 year campaign on 'risk assessment'

The Healthy Workplaces campaign launched on the 24th June 2008, aims to promote an integrated management approach to risk assessment.

This campaign is aimed at a wide range of stakeholders, including employers, workers and safety representatives, and is intended to promote the benefits of completing and implementing a risk assessment. The campaign seeks to demystify the risk assessment process to show that risk assessment is not necessarily complicated or bureaucratic.

A recent review found a general lack of awareness, in particular among SMEs, of what is required and how to carry out a risk assessment, so for the next 2 years Insperctors will be checking up on the quality of risk assessments in all types and sizes of businesses.

Judge’s comments on sensible risk when sentencing two men for manslaughter

Following the death of a 28-year-old man at a concrete plant in November 2005, the Managing Director and Area Manager of the Concrete Company were sentenced at Norwich Crown Court on 3 July 2007 after admitting charges of gross negligence manslaughter. In his ruling, his honour Judge Jacobs commented:

"These days, on some occasions, in this sometimes over politically correct world of ours, so called health and safety gets a bad name, but if anybody wants to really know what health and safety is about, they should sit here when I have to deal with these cases because here, there was no concern, and here you are dealing with the safety, the livelihood of the lives, the physical wellbeing of decent men who work in these plants, and in this particular case, there was no structure at all. There was no risk assessment. There is no policy. There is no policy of inspection and reporting. There is no line of responsibility. There is nothing throughout all of these plants."