United Biscuits employee’s fingers severed by industrial machine
Well known biscuit manufacturer United Biscuits, makers of McVitie’s biscuits, has received a £10,000 fine from the Health and Safety Executive after an employee lost her fingers in a mixing machine at its Halifax factory.

In a hearing at Halifax Magistrates, the court was told how the unnamed woman lost two fingers on her right hand when she attempted to clear… read more

£200,000 fine for company after man crushed to death by empty wine bottles
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has fined a distribution company £200,000 after the tragic death of a Cornish vineyard owner, killed when a delivery of empty wine bottles fell from the tail lift of a lorry he was helping to unload.  The distribution firm, Gregory Distribution, was also ordered to pay the nearly £17,000 costs of… read more

Avoiding a back injury at work – and what to do if the worst happens
In most workplaces, there are times when you might have to undertake some form of lifting.  Even in an office environment, printers need to be restocked with paper, files transported about and parcels moved from reception to the relevant department.  In other jobs, such as those involving manual work in factories, warehouses, shops or outdoors… read more

Government responds to report into construction site accidents
The government has announced its response to Rita Donaghy’s 2009 report into deaths and injuries in the UK construction industry.  The Donaghy report, titled ‘One Death is too Many – Inquiring into the Underlying Causes of Construction Fatal Accidents’, was commissioned in 2008 to look at the underlying causes of fatal accidents in construction over the last quarter of a century.  23… read more

3 fatal accidents at work involving slips, trips and falls in North West last year
1,751 people were seriously injured during accidents at work in the North West last year, according to figures released by the Health and Safety Executive as it stepped up its “Shattered Lives” campaign.  The new campaign is aimed at preventing deaths and serious injuries in the workplace that are estimated to cost £800 million each… read more

Explosion at construction site leads to new advice from HSE
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued new guidance for the construction industry relating to the use of a type of concrete, after an explosion injured two workers on a construction site in August last year.

The accident occurred when some concrete that had been poured on a construction site was setting.  Two contractors on the site started… read more

Breaches in working at height regulations leave worker seriously injured
An aviation company has been fined by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an accident at work that left one of its employees unable to work for more than two years.

Air Livery Plc, a Southend Airport-based firm was prosecuted for failing to take the steps necessary to prevent one of its workers from falling from the wing… read more