IOSH calls for safety and health education to be protected
IOSH has called on a new UK Government body to ensure safety and health is included in its plans for further education.
In a letter to Skills England, the body recently set up by the Government to oversee the UK’s education system, IOSH Chief Executive Vanessa Harwood-Whitcher expressed concern about the potential removal of funding Level 7 occupational safety and health (OSH) apprenticeships.
Such a move, she said, could cause harm to the OSH profession, something which could negatively affect people and the economy.
Read more on the IOSH website.
Half of homes need heat pump by 2040, government told
Four in five cars should be electric and half of homes should have heat pumps within 15 years, say the government’s independent climate advisers.
By law the UK must reach “net zero” – no longer adding to the total amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere – by 2050.
UK greenhouse gas emissions have more than halved since 1990, largely thanks to less electricity coming from fossil fuels and more from renewables. But the Climate Change Committee (CCC) says that to reach the 2050 target we will also need to change how we drive and heat our homes.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the government would consider the advice and respond in due course.
Visit the BBC website for more on the advice.
Skiing company fined after boy was killed at friend’s birthday party
An indoor skiing company in Tamworth has been fined £100,000 following the death of a schoolboy.
Twelve-year-old Louis Watkiss had been at a tobogganing birthday party at the Snowdome in Tamworth on 24 September 2021. He was descending the main ski slope on a toboggan when it slid into the back of a member of staff who was conducting a slope walk. He fell backwards onto Louis who sadly died at the scene from head injuries.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Snowdome Limited failed to ensure the safety of its customers, including Louis, while they were undertaking tobogganing at the venue.
Read more about the incident on the HSE website.
Government responds in full to Grenfell Tower Inquiry
Tough new reforms to ensure all homes are safe, secure and built to the highest standards will benefit millions of people across the country as the government takes decisive action to tackle the failures that led to the devastating Grenfell Tower tragedy – which resulted in the loss of lives of 72 innocent people.
In the full response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s final report, the government has accepted the findings and sets out its plans to act on all 58 recommendations, driving a sweeping transformation to enhance building and fire safety standards.
Under the proposals, industry will be held to account for failure, with new regulatory measures to prevent a tragedy like the events at Grenfell Tower from ever happening again.
Read more on the HSM website.
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