Alton Towers owners to face prosecution
The owner of Alton Towers is to be prosecuted after a rollercoaster crash last year, which left five people seriously injured.
Victoria Balch and Leah Washington had their legs amputated after the crash on 2 June 2015, when the Smiler rollercoaster ride hit an empty carriage in front of it.
An investigation by the park found that staff misunderstood a shutdown message and wrongly restarted the ride.
Merlin Attractions Operation Ltd will appear at North Staffordshire Justice Centre on 22 April. It will face a charge under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Neil Craig, head of operations for the Health and Safety Executive in the Midlands, said: “This was a serious incident with life-changing consequences for five people.
“We have conducted a very thorough investigation and consider that there is sufficient evidence and that it is in the public interest to bring a prosecution.”
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Repair racking in-situ
The ROS method of pallet racking repair involves a custom, precision-engineered die being secured to the damaged upright with controlled hydraulic pressure then applied. The repair process works three dimensionally, to ensure correct re-profiling of the front face, side walls and corners, returning the upright to its original format in a matter of minutes.
ROS UK managing director Andy Timmins says: “Our upright repair system is totally unique. It has been tried and tested by world leading organisations for the last 10 years and verified by independent tests carried out by top research institutes in the UK and mainland Europe. It takes an average of just 25 minutes to repair a damaged section of racking using the ROS system, with zero disruption to operations and at as little as 20% of the cost of traditional repair methods.”
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Poundstretcher owner to face jury following breaches
The boss of discount store Poundstretcher, where a number of health and safety offences were committed is to face trial by judge and jury, it has been reported. 60-year-old Abdul Aziz Tayub, owner of the chain of Poundstretcher shops, pleaded not guilty to ten charges when he appeared at Swindon Crown Court earlier this month. He will stand trial in the autumn, after which the firm itself will be sentenced having pleaded guilty to 16 charges brought by Swindon Borough Council under a number of health and safety at work regulations. It is alleged that the company did so with Mr Tayub’s ‘consent, connivance, or neglect’.
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Crossrail to share best practice with contractors
A knowledge sharing website has been launched by Crossrail in an aim to raise the bar in the construction industry and share knowledge and insight.
Crossrail Learning Legacy encourages other projects to ‘pinch with pride’, downloading documents, templates and datasets that have been used successfully on the Crossrail programme.The policy of good practice sharing includes a wide variety of topics, including health and safety, project management, engineering and the environment.
The most popular documents feature include a paper on managing innovation on Crossrail as well as an integration project used to help design the spaces outside Crossrail stations. Further material will be published every six months during the rest of the project. Andrew Wolstenholme, Crossrail Chief Executive, said: “Passing on the lessons and good practice that we have learned at Crossrail is an absolutely essential part of raising the bar in the delivery of major projects.
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MoD to be censured over Brecon Beacons deaths
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has announced it will administer a Crown Censure to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) over the deaths of three soldiers on a training exercise in the Brecon Beacons in July 2013.
Reservists Edward Maher, James Dunsby and Craig Roberts fell ill while on a training march. Mr Roberts and Mr Maher died during the exercise, while Mr Dunsby suffered multiple organ failure (as a result of hyperthermia) and died on 30 July 2013. The men had been taking part in an “arduous march” in rugged terrain on the Brecon Beacons on one of the hottest days of the year. They had been trying to complete a 16-mile (26-km) march in under nine hours, carrying heavy kit, as part of the selection process to join the SAS.
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Recovery workers could start moving Didcot rubble if safety measures are signed off
Recovery teams could start moving the rubble of the collapsed boiler house at Didcot Power Station if safety measures are signed off at the end of this week.
Three weeks after the disaster at Didcot A, specialists hope the site will be deemed safe enough to start dismantling the 30ft pile of rubble and recover the three missing men. Calls have been made for rescue teams to start moving the 30ft pile of rubble, which buried the workers on February 23 as the building was being prepared for demolition.
Family members of the trapped men protested outside the gates at the weekend and criticised the recovery operation saying it is take too long. Claims have also been made that they are being kept in the dark. But energy company RWE Generation, which owns and is responsible for the safety on the site, has said it is doing everything to make the area safe enough for recovery teams to move in and hopes the removal of the rubble can begin at the end of this week.
To Read the Full Article on the Oxford TimesWebsite, Click HERE