Work equipment

An award-winning engineer and a former head of safety at John Lewis discuss the dangers of making assumptions about the causes of escalator accidents, and how best to encourage safe behaviour among members of the public.

Food manufacturer Bakkavor has been fined £130,000 after one of its employees suffered two broken ribs having been crushed within an industrial cooking machine while attempting to clear a blocked water inlet.

A care home firm in Flintshire, Wales has been fined £90,000 after one of its staff – a newly-recruited care home manager – fell down a lift shaft.

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.

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 construction company has been fined £34,000 following an incident that resulted in one of its workers having their leg amputated below the knee.

An engineering company has been fined £62,334 after one of its employees suffered scalping injuries when her hair became entangled in a pillar drill, despite the company’s own risk assessment identifying that a guard should be fitted.

The cinema chain has been prosecuted for ‘a complete lack of risk assessment’ after a man was crushed to death by a faulty reclining chair.

Andy Meade, an engineer for more than 30 years, believed the power was cut to the machine he was servicing when he suffered a fatal electric shock.

Great Baddow High School in Chelmsford has been fined after a school locker unit fell and killed nine-year-old Leo Latifi.