Skip to main content
IOSH Magazine: Safety, Health and Wellbeing in the world of work - return to the homepage IOSH Magaazine logo
  • Visit IOSH Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit @ioshmagazine on Twitter
  • Visit IOSH Magazine on LinkedIn
Non-verbal communication
How to build trust
March/April 2023 issue

Main navigation

  • Home
    • Browse previous issues
    • Member accolades
    • Member tributes
  • Health
    • Mental health and wellbeing
      • Bullying
      • Drugs and alcohol
      • Mental health
      • Stress
      • Wellbeing
    • Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
      • Ergonomics
      • Manual handling
      • Vibration
    • Occupational cancer
      • Asbestos
      • Hazardous substances
      • Radiation
  • Safety
    • Incident management
      • Chemicals
      • Electricity
      • Fire
      • First aid
      • Slips and trips
    • Non-health related fatalities
      • Road safety
      • Work at height
    • Risk management
      • Confined spaces
      • Disability
      • Legionella
      • Lifting operations
      • Lone workers
      • Noise
      • Personal protective equipment
      • Violence at work
      • Work equipment
      • Workplace transport
  • Management
    • Human factors
      • Accident reduction
      • Behavioural safety
      • Control of contractors
      • Migrant workers
      • Older workers
      • Reporting
      • Safe systems of work
      • Sickness absence
      • Young workers
    • Leadership and management
      • Employee involvement
      • Management systems
    • Management standards
      • ISO 45001
      • ISO 45003
    • Planning
      • Assurance
      • Compliance
      • Emergency planning
      • Insurance
    • Rehabilitation
      • Personal injury
      • Return to work
    • Strategy
      • Corporate governance
      • Performance/results
      • Regulation/enforcement
      • Reputation
    • Sustainability
      • Human capital and Vision Zero
  • Skills
    • Communication
    • Personal performance
      • Achieving Fellowship
      • Career development
      • Competencies
      • Personal development
      • Professional skills
      • Qualifications
    • Stakeholder management
    • Working with others
      • Leadership
      • Future Leaders
  • Jobs
  • Covid-19
  • Knowledge Bank
    • Back to basics
    • Book club
    • Infographics
    • Podcast
    • Reports
    • Webinars
    • Videos
  • Products & Services
  • Management
    • Human factors
      • Sickness absence
      • Accident reduction
      • Behavioural safety
      • Control of contractors
      • Migrant workers
      • Older workers
      • Reporting
      • Safe systems of work
      • Young workers
    • Leadership and management
      • Employee involvement
      • Leadership
      • Management systems
    • Management standards
      • ISO 45001
      • ISO 45003
    • Planning
      • Assurance
      • Compliance
      • Emergency planning
      • Insurance
    • Strategy
      • Corporate governance
      • Performance/results
      • Regulation/enforcement
      • Reputation
    • Sustainability
      • Human capital and Vision Zero
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • Mental health and wellbeing
      • Bullying
      • Drugs and alcohol
      • Mental health
      • Stress
      • Wellbeing
    • Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
      • Ergonomics
      • Manual handling
      • Vibration
    • Occupational cancer
      • Asbestos
      • Hazardous substances
      • Radiation
  • Safety
    • Incident management
      • Chemicals
      • Electricity
      • Fire
      • First aid
      • Slips and trips
    • Non-health related fatalities
      • Road safety
      • Work at height
    • Risk management
      • Confined spaces
      • Disability
      • Legionella
      • Lifting operations
      • Lone workers
      • Noise
      • Personal protective equipment
      • Violence at work
      • Work equipment
      • Workplace transport
  • Skills
    • Communication
    • Personal performance
      • Career development
      • Competencies
      • Personal development
      • Qualifications
      • Professional skills
      • Achieving Fellowship
    • Stakeholder management
    • Working with others
      • Leadership
      • Future Leaders
  • Transport and logistics
  • Third sector
  • Retail
  • Mining and quarrying
  • Rail
  • Rehabilitation
    • Personal injury
    • Return to work
  • Utilities
  • Manufacturing and engineering
  • Construction
  • Sector: IOSH Branch
    • Sector: Northern Ireland
    • Sector: Midland
    • Sector: Merseyside
    • Sector: Manchester and North West Districts
    • Sector: Ireland East
    • Sector: Ireland
    • Sector: Edinburgh
    • Sector: Desmond-South Munster
    • Sector: Qatar
    • Sector: Oman
    • Singapore
    • Sector: South Coast
    • Sector: South Wales
    • Sector: Thames Valley
    • Sector: Tyne and Wear
    • Sector: UAE
    • Sector: West of Scotland
    • Sector: Yorkshire
  • Healthcare
  • Sector: Fire
  • Sector: Financial/general services
  • Sector: Energy
  • Education
  • Sector: Communications and media
  • Chemicals
  • Sector: Central government
  • Catering and leisure
  • Agriculture and forestry
  • Sector: Local government
  • Sector: IOSH Group
    • Sector: Financial Services
    • Sector: Sports Grounds and Events
    • Rural industries
    • Sector: railway
    • Public Services
    • Sector: Offshore
    • Sector: Hazardous Industries
    • Sector: Food and Drink
    • Sector: Fire Risk Management
    • Education
    • Construction
    • Sector: Aviation and Aerospace
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Categories
  • Topics
  • Safety
  • Incident management
  • Fire
Management systems
Sector: Central government
Construction
Sector: Local government
News

Grenfell Tower inquiry to examine council’s response to fire risk warnings

Open-access content Friday 18th August 2017
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

The chairman of the inquiry, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, received the terms of reference from Prime Minister Theresa May on 15 August, following a public consultation.

IOSH has welcomed the terms for the inquiry, which it said must be a "watershed for safety".

They will cover:

  • The cause of the fire and how it spread so quickly
  • The design, construction, refurbishment and management of the tower block
  • The scope and adequacy of building and fire regulations relating to high-rise residential structures
  • Whether the terms of such regulations were met in the case of Grenfell Tower
  • The actions of the local authority and other responsible bodies before the tragedy
  • The fire prevention and safety measures in place at Grenfell Tower on the day of the disaster
  • The response of the London Fire Brigade
  • The central and local governments' response in the days following the blaze.

An independent review of building regulations and fire safety, previously announced by Ms May, will help to inform the work of the inquiry.

Moore-Bick said he hopes to hold a preliminary hearing in mid-September and to provide an initial report by Easter 2018.

Richard Jones, head of policy and public affairs at IOSH, said: "It's vital that this inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire becomes a watershed for fire safety and helps prevent future such tragedies.

"Agreement these terms of reference will help ensure key areas of weakness are examined and enable the chair to make necessary recommendations to improve both current and future fire risk management".

At least 80 people died when the fire devastated the 24-storey building on 14 June.

In a letter to survivors in July, the Metropolitan Police said there were "reasonable grounds" to suspect that the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the block's management body Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation committed corporate manslaughter.

"In due course, a senior representative of each corporation will be formally interviewed by police in relation to the potential offence," it said.

You may also be interested in...

 First global OSH campaign focuses on zero harm

Monday 4th September 2017
The initiative is supported by the World Health Organization, the US safety regulator OSHA and the International Association of Labour Inspection.ISSA, which represents social security institutions, government departments and agencies in more than 160 countries, is encouraging organisations to pledge to follow seven “golden rules”, including controlling risks, defining targets and developing programmes to meet them, improving worker competence and ensuring work equipment is safe.
Open-access content
Image credit: iStockphoto/LifeJourneys

 TUC charter to protect ill workers now covers half a million

Thursday 7th September 2017
The voluntary charter is part of a wider TUC campaign which calls for a terminal illness to be viewed as a “protected characteristic”. Charter signatories agree that terminally ill employees enter a “protected period” in which they cannot be dismissed because of their condition.Although the UK’s 2010 Equality Act does offer some protection for terminally ill employees, employers can dismiss them if they fail a capability assessment after “reasonable adjustments” have been made to their work arrangements, resulting in loss of income and loss of death in-service payments.
Open-access content
©IStockphoto/bobiwankanobi. The latest report includes respiratory cases caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and work-related asthma, missing from the 2014 report.

 Global work deaths total 2.78 million a year

Friday 8th September 2017
The estimated global total for fatal occupational accidents and work-related illness is 19% higher than the 2.33 million estimated in 2014, reflecting the inclusion of respiratory cases caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and work-related asthma, which was missing from the 2014 report. Work diseases account for 2.4 million (86.3%) of the total estimated deaths in the latest report, which was compiled by the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs in Finland and the Workplace Safety and Health Institute (WSH) in Singapore with the support of the ILO.
Open-access content

 Derran Williams, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Friday 25th August 2017
Unusually among the leaders interviewed for this magazine, Derran Williams CMIOSH has no one reporting to him. Yet he is responsible for overseeing the safety and health of hundreds of thousands of workers in massive infrastructure projects from road schemes to power stations across eastern Europe and beyond.As associate director and senior health and safety adviser at the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Williams has to verify that the standards of protection are acceptable on the schemes the bank funds.
Open-access content

 T is for triviality

Thursday 10th August 2017
In defining “significant” the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) uses the word “trivial” to define its opposite: “Significant risks are those that are not trivial in nature” (www.hse.gov.uk/risk/faq.htm).The word trivial does not appear in the legislation. However, it does occur in court judgements.
Open-access content
The construction site at Marine Parade in Clevedon, north Somerset. Image: HSE

 Builder ignored timber frame fire risk

Friday 25th August 2017
North Somerset Magistrates’ Court was told on 24 August that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had taken enforcement action against Ikon Construction over its failure to plan and manage work correctly at several sites before a member of the public alerted the HSE to the company’s activities on a site in Clevedon. The court was told that the HSE had issued several notices of contravention and prohibition notices covering temporary works, work at height, plant safety and fire assessment and control relating to timber frame developments but the company had failed to act.
Open-access content

Latest from News

web-morrison-shutterstock_1205515750.png

  Morrisons’ £3.5m fine is ‘a warning to all employers’, says council

Friday 24th March 2023
Morrisons supermarket has been fined £3.5 million for failing to ensure the health and safety of an epileptic employee who died after falling from a shop stairway.
Open-access content
jfc

 IOSH launches new five-year strategy

Tuesday 21st March 2023
IOSH launches its new five-year strategy this spring. It will build and act on the reshaped purpose and ambition gained during WORK 2022, which ran from 2017 to 2022.
Open-access content
web_Cranes-on-construction-site_credit_iStock-1352083784.jpg

 Risk & Compliance software provider collaborates with HSE and Costain to improve risk management on worksites

Friday 17th March 2023
A Belfast-based Risk & Compliance software provider has been collaborating with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and construction giant Costain as part of an ongoing project to unlock artificial intelligence’s (AI) potential in improving the management of risks on worksites.
Open-access content

Latest from Sector: Central government

Workers-wearing-facemasks_iStock-1214440763

 HSE grilled over its COVID response at Select Committee hearing

Tuesday 23rd March 2021
Unions and HSE leaders clashed over the enforcement of COVID guidance at work last week – IOSH magazine was there to report on it.
Open-access content
Image credit | iStock

 HSE cracks down on violence against inspectors

Friday 21st February 2020
An HSE inspector was the victim of violence and aggression while conducting an inspection at a waste and recycling site, it has been revealed.
Open-access content

 New partnership to deliver industry-leading magazine and jobs site for safety and health profession

Monday 5th August 2019
 IOSH and award-winning content marketing and publishing agency Redactive today announced a new partnership to provide news, updates, insight, careers advice and job opportunities for safety and health’s largest professional community.
Open-access content

Latest from Construction

web_Cranes-on-construction-site_credit_iStock-1352083784.jpg

 Risk & Compliance software provider collaborates with HSE and Costain to improve risk management on worksites

Friday 17th March 2023
A Belfast-based Risk & Compliance software provider has been collaborating with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and construction giant Costain as part of an ongoing project to unlock artificial intelligence’s (AI) potential in improving the management of risks on worksites.
Open-access content
BVJK

 Musculoskeletal disorders in construction

Thursday 2nd March 2023
Ian Whittles, an HSE construction inspector, reveals the cultural challenges in the sector, the drive behind the Work Right campaign and the musculoskeletal benefits it hopes to achieve.
Open-access content
dru

 Principal contractor handed £146k fine for fatal excavator crush goes into liquidation

Tuesday 14th February 2023
Birch Brothers (Kidderminster) Ltd was the principal contractor on a construction project in Derbyshire that was building a concrete overflow weir structure on the site. The Midlands firm had brought in steel fixers and joiners to undertake the work.
Open-access content

Latest from Sector: Local government

Image credit: web_traffic-warden_iStock-139960986.

 Union launches guide to protect gig economy workers

Friday 13th September 2019
The public service union Unison has published a new guide for its health and safety representatives to explain how the gig economy has affected its members and what support they can provide.
Open-access content
Image credit: web_wrist_shutterstock_135034739.

 Council fined £100k over seven HAVS injuries

Friday 13th September 2019
Dacorum Borough Council has been fined £100,000 for failing to protect its employees from hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) after seven cases were reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) over a single year.
Open-access content
Image credit: web_nz_shutterstock_513260500

 MSDs causing more than a quarter of DALYs lost in NZ

Wednesday 21st August 2019
Musculoskeletal harm now accounts for 27 per cent of all work-related disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost in New Zealand, according to a report from the country’s health and safety regulator, WorkSafe. A DALY is defined by the World Health Organization as one lost “healthy” life year.
Open-access content

Latest from Management systems

resized-Ella-Henderson-image-Jan-10-2023-release.png

 Newcastle City Council fined £280k for failing to remove rotten willow tree that crushed six-year-old school girl

Monday 16th January 2023
Newcastle City Council has accepted responsibility for failing to properly manage the risk of a decayed willow tree that collapsed in strong winds and struck several children while they were playing at Gosforth Park First School in Newcastle upon Tyne during the lunchbreak.
Open-access content
web_Catastophe_PSD_800x500

 Book review: Catastrophe and Systemic Change

Friday 6th August 2021
This excellent book by Gill Kernick shines a light on all those undercurrents and how, as you read this, they may even be undermining your safety management system.
Open-access content
EU-OSHA emphasises prevention measures to counter prolonged sitting risks_credit_LightField Studios_shutterstock_1424115872.jpg

 EU-OSHA's prevention measures to counter prolonged sitting risks

Wednesday 28th July 2021
A European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) report exploring the health risks associated with prolonged static sitting at work has outlined a range of measures that employers should include in a prevention strategy to enhance employee protection.
Open-access content

Latest from Fire

web_Firefighters-walk-to-their-vehicle_credit_Tupungato_shutterstock_1062933506.png

 Terminal cancer cases in Grenfell firefighters

Friday 20th January 2023
National media reports have revealed that up to a dozen Grenfell firefighters have been diagnosed with terminal cancer
Open-access content
yg

 Appeal success for food firm over ‘excessive’ fine

Tuesday 1st November 2022
Court of Appeal reduces Dub Catering’s £120,000 penalty for firm’s breaches of fire safety law.
Open-access content
web_Fire-extinguisher-in-use_credit_iStock-1327086620.png

 HSE publishes revised construction fire safety guidance

Thursday 1st September 2022
The GB Health and Safety Executive has recently published a revised version of its fire safety in construction (HSG168) document. 
Open-access content
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Latest Jobs

Senior Health and Safety Manager

Reading
Up to £65000.00 per annum + Great Car Allowance & Benefits
Reference
5452983

Regional Health and Safety Advisor

Northampton
Up to £53000 per annum + Travel & Excellent Benefits
Reference
5452982

Global Health, Safety and Environment Director

Up to £150000 per annum + Excellent Benefits
Reference
5452980
See all jobs »

Sign up for regular e-alerts

Receive the latest news and features, free to your inbox

Sign up

Subscribe to IOSH magazine

Receive the print edition straight to your door

Subscribe
IOSH Covers
​
FOLLOW US
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel +44 (0)20 7880 6200
​

IOSH

About IOSH
Become a member
IOSH Events
MyIOSH

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to IOSH magazine
Write for IOSH magazine

IOSH Magazine

Health
Safety
Management
Skills
IOSH Jobs

© 2023 IOSH • IOSH is not responsible for the content of external sites

ioshmagazine.com and IOSH Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ