Nearly £50 million boost for safer roads
Drivers, passengers and cyclists across England will benefit from a £47.5 million injection into enhancing the safety of some of the most high-risk roads in England, the Department for Transport confirmed earlier this month.
Through the third round of the Safer Roads Fund, 27 new schemes will be delivered, benefiting road users around the country by driving forward safety improvements such as:
- re-designing junctions
- improving signage and road markings
The programme will reduce the risk of collisions which will in turn reduce congestion, journey times and emissions.
As part of the fund, government is continuing to deliver a wide range of improvements across all roads, while working with local authorities and safety groups.
To date, £100 million has been provided through the programme to improve the 50 most dangerous roads in England, the majority of which are rural roads.
Some of the improvements already made include improved signage, safer pedestrian crossings and better designed junctions.
For more on the scheme, visit the HSM website.
Asbestos is still a ‘very real problem’ in the UK workplace
A quarter of UK tradespeople are exposed to potentially lethal asbestos every week, a survey has found.
35% of trade workers from across the nation come across asbestos every month and 8% do so every day.
The survey, by ElectricalDirect, also found 72% of tradespeople encounter asbestos during their working lives and 60% find it every year.
It comes as 20 UK tradespeople die each week as a result of asbestos exposure and almost half of those questioned in this survey – 44% – have had symptoms of an asbestos-related disease or know a colleague who has.
Tragically, one in 20 knew someone who has died of such a condition.
The Health and Safety Executive have recently launched a campaign to spread the awareness of Asbestos aimed at the construction industry.
Learn more on the SHP website.
Company and directors fined for illegal waste site
An Essex waste company and its directors have been fined more than £20,000 after they stored tonnes of waste illegally at a site in Braintree.
Renew Recycling (London) Limited breached its exemptions by taking large amounts of wood and carpet waste onto a site at Straits Mill on Convent Lane, Braintree.
The offences occurred between December 2017 and March 2019. Officers visited the land in question on no less than 24 occasions during this time. They found that waste had been stored in breach of exemptions at the site, making the waste a risk to the environment.
The Environment Agency requested on numerous occasions that the site be cleared of non-compliant waste.
For more on the case, visit the HSM website.
Extra checks on fairground rides over summer after run of incidents
Extra checks on the safety of fairground and theme park rides will take place this summer after a string of incidents.
Britain’s workplace regulator the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will carry out 100 inspections of various rides following incidents in London, Barrow, Cardiff, Hull and Barnsley.
The HSE inspection campaign looks to promote the safe use of certain rides.
HSE inspector David Kivlin said: “When there is a failure or incorrect operation of a ride it can result in catastrophic consequences. HSE recognises that recent incidents, including the prosecution of operators following a fatal incident in March 2016 involving inflatable devices, have raised public awareness of the potential for injury and harm to users of such devices when they are not set up, maintained and operated in-line with manufacturer guidance or good practice standards.
“HSE’s overall strategy is to promote the safe use of fairground rides and inflatable devices and in doing so reduce the risk of such catastrophic incidents to as low as is reasonably practicable.”
Starting on 24 April, HSE will carry out 100 targeted inspections of specific fairground rides with the programme set to finish by September 2023.
Visit the HSE website for more on the incidents.
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