Hidden costs of poor workplace eyecare revealed
With UK businesses losing over £100 billion annually due to sickness, Specsavers’ new whitepaper, Blind Spot: The Business Imperative for Employee Eye Health, reveals why eyecare should be viewed not just as a health benefit but as a strategic investment in business performance.
Based on comprehensive research conducted with corporate decision-makers and employees across various industries, the whitepaper highlights a key finding: despite screen use being at an all-time high, eye health remains a low priority in workplace wellbeing strategies. The paper emphasises that providing access to eyecare is both a legal requirement and a crucial part of employee health management. Under health and safety regulations employers must offer regular eye tests for display screen equipment (DSE) users, yet research found that many businesses fail to effectively communicate or implement this essential benefit.
Read more on the HSM website.
Property developer fined for multiple construction site failures
A London property developer has been fined £63,000 plus costs after Britain’s workplace regulator found multiple failures at a construction site in Dalston.
Nofax Enterprises Limited was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following four visits to its site on Dalston Lane over a 13 month period between 2020 and 2021. The company was overseeing the construction of a four storey building on the site, containing nine flats and large basement to house a youth club.
However, the failures identified by HSE inspectors – including multiple working at height risks, poor fire precautions and exposure to large amounts of silica dust – were so serious, that they resulted in the site being closed down on two separate occasions. Other breaches of the law included failing to protect workers from exposure to wood dust, as well as insufficient covid and welfare controls.
More on the case on the HSE website.
UK Athletics denies Paralympian’s manslaughter
UK Athletics (UKA) and its former head of sport have pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter following the death of Paralympian Abdullah Hayayei.
Hayayei, 36, died on 11 July 2017 after a metal cage fell on him while he was training at Newham Leisure Centre in east London ahead of the World Para Athletics Championships.
At a pre-trial hearing at the Old Bailey, the UKA denied a further charge of failing to ensure the safety of non-employees, while Keith Davies, 77, from east London, denied failing to take reasonable care for health and safety.
According to the charges, the shot put cage that Hayayei was using was allegedly erected without its “base structure”.
Hayayei, who represented the United Arab Emirates at the Rio 2016 Paralympics, had been due to compete in the F34 shot put, discus and javelin events at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London.
UKA was accused of having “routinely” supplied or provided shot put and discus cages at events between 2012 and 2017 which were “without their said base structures”.
The charge of corporate manslaughter alleged that the conduct of the organisation’s senior management “fell far below what could reasonably be expected”.
Learn more about the incident on the BBC website.
Cracking question, Gromit!
Sat at this year’s Oscars ceremony, hoping for yet another major film accolade, was a former graduate of the Beaconsfield-based National Film and Television School (NFTS).
Sadly, Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park didn’t grab more Oscar glory that night, despite lifting a BAFTA this year for ‘Murder Most Fowl’. Yet his Hollywood reputation was very much in the minds of this year’s graduates of the NFTS as they gathered at the Odeon Luxe, Leicester Square, at the end of Oscars week. They were there to celebrate their success and honour those presented with the school’s awards for best student films, TV shows, commercials and games in 2025.
The makers of one of the films were selected by an IOSH judging panel from our Thames Valley Branch to share its £1,000 prize for this year’s ‘Health & safety management in film production’ award.
And the award went to… three graduating students, Sara Saini, Emma Hinnells and Owen Tucknott for their work on the documentary film, A Good Question. Focusing on the reshaping of Punjab since Britain’s colonisation of India, the film explores the enduring socio-political and emotional impact of migration.
The NFTS Graduate Showcase presented work made by the school’s students across the past 12 months and included over 80 shorts, TV works, animations, documentaries, commercials and games.
NFTS production safety manager Sunny Bains thanked IOSH for its continued support, saying: “The winning students should be very proud of how they managed the safety challenges during the planning and preparation of their films.
Learn more on the IOSH website.
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