Risk management

Firefighters’ union FBU has won a ‘landmark’ discrimination case against a fire and rescue service, after successfully arguing that forcing staff with disabilities to use annual leave or time off in lieu (TOIL) when shielding because of the pandemic amounted to discrimination.

Rotherham’s Principal Environmental Health Officer Adrian Monkhouse explains how a crane engineer’s six-metre fall resulted in fines totalling £100,000 and a renewed focus on contractor safety.

How can businesses enable agile working when procuring electrical and ergonomic home office equipment? Stephen Roberts, a specialist in workstation power, connectivity and ergonomics, discusses the duty of care to remote-working employees.

A small-scale mining company that was found guilty of breaching health and safety laws after one of its workers was injured and trapped in a mine collapse, has been fined £100,000, despite the firm facing liquidation.

A care company that provides housing support services for vulnerable adults and children has been fined £20,000 after one of its employees was raped by a service user, despite concerns being raised about this particular service user for more that 25 years.

When a couple of partners at Herbert Parkinson, the John Lewis textiles factory in Lancashire, approached branch safety advisor Rachael Murray to show her their bleeding fingers – the result of inserting hundreds of metal pin hooks into curtain headers by hand each week – she was not only shocked, but determined to do something about it.

A diving instructor has been fined after a trainee tragically died while searching a submarine wreck in Scotland.

An anglers association has been ordered to pay a £66,000 fine after admitting breaching health and safety laws that led to the death of one of its volunteers.

A Birmingham tyre firm and its landlord have been fined a total of £43,333 at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to breaching health and safety legislation.

Mental ill health in the workplace is a risk like any other, says Tim Marsh CFIOSH, who encourages organisations to address the psychological health of employees proactively, objectively and practically.