Reputation

A damning new report indicates workers were put at increased risk of infection by remaining open during lockdown

If businesses are like football clubs, then COVID-19 has just moved the goalposts. Duncan Spencer CFIOSH asks how firms should change their playing style to avoid relegation.

As economies, organisations and workers strive to recover from the downturn caused by the public health crisis of COVID-19, there are calls for long-term investment, prevention plans and to revitalise and ‘build back better’, writes Richard Jones, head of policy and regulatory engagement.

Companies need to be vigilant about possible labour exploitation in their supply chains and by contractors, both in the UK and overseas, and ensure they are behaving ethically.

West Japan Railway introduced the controversial training exercise in 2016 after a component had fallen off a high-speed train the previous year. The aluminum part struck the train’s body as it passed through a tunnel in southwest Japan and injured one passenger. Investigators blamed the incident on loose bolts and poor inspections.

In January, the Humber Bridge Board (HBB) brought its first private prosecution against an “urban explorer”, Ryan Taylor, who had scaled the 155.5 m tall Barton Tower on the structure’s south bank without permission. The climber was part of a group that had clambered over a barrier and used the bridge’s suspension wires as handrails to walk up the cables to the tower summit.The group took videos and selfies from the top, posting them on YouTube. They had no harnesses or any other safety equipment.

We all learn differently. Some people can read something, understand it and put it into practice without any difficulty. Others respond immediately to verbal instructions. Some need to go out and put the lessons into practice before they fully understand it.

The infrastructure provider behind the Thames Tideway scheme in London is racking up a first in occupational health (OH) provision. Tideway, the company appointed by Thames Water to build, maintain and operate the 25 km tunnel below the River Thames to relieve the capital of its sewage and rainwater, has mandated an OH service for the entire seven-year project – an arrangement unknown until now in large-scale infrastructure projects.

  Rating: As the preface says, “we have been very successful in cluttering and clogging workplaces with safety stuff that does little but clutter and clog” so it’s now time to question some of our most fundamental tenets and models.

“Relentless and largely unnoticed” is how Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) chief executive Errol Taylor recently characterised the rise in serious accidents at home and in leisure time. He went on to point out that this increase had happened in parallel with huge strides in road and workplace safety based on “scientific, evidence-based approaches to accident prevention”, and appealed for greater effort to address home and leisure risks.