Mental Health Awareness Week: New HSE campaign partners in construction and entertainment
To mark mental health awareness week, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) welcomes new partners from the construction and entertainment sectors to join its Working Minds campaign.
Running a business in construction can be stressful with long hours and juggling intense workloads.
Meanwhile, the entertainment and leisure sector is a fast-paced and ever-changing industry, with many people self-employed, freelancing, or on short-term contracts. This can lead to uncertainty and unsociable hours.
Around half of all reported work-related ill health in Great Britain is due to stress, depression or anxiety . Whilst the causes can be due to difficult life events, they can also be caused by work-related issues or a combination of both.
In support of the Working Minds campaign, two new partners join the campaign to help promote support available to the construction and entertainment technology industries; The Scaffolding Association and Professional Lighting and Sound Association (Plasa). This takes the number of partners to a total of 35. They will be provided with the tools needed to promote good mental health in the workplace.
For more on the partnership visit the HSE website.
Get behind No Falls Week
We all want a future free from falls – so let’s get behind No Falls Weeks, urges Phil Pinnington.
Between 2022 and 2023, 40 workers lost their lives falling while working at height, making this the leading cause of UK workplace deaths that year. Worryingly, this was 11 deaths more than the previous year and 5 deaths above the 5-year average, so it’s clear that action is needed if we want a future free from falls.
The picture becomes bleaker still when we review non-fatal injury data, which documents 5,118 worker injuries linked to falling from a height in the workplace. Each of these injuries and each of these fatalities represents a person impacted by workplace falls, something we risk losing sight of when lost amongst the data.
Each accident and every fatality tell a story, one that impacts not only individual workers but also their colleagues, family, and friends. That’s why No Falls Week (May 13-17) led by the No Falls Foundation provides an ideal opportunity for employers and employees to focus on education, training, and prevention, making workplaces and workers safer. From reviewing risk assessments to providing refresher training, No Falls Week is the perfect opportunity to share best practice, bust myths, and above all, save lives
Read more on the HSM website.
Skills shortages, sustainability and women’s PPE cited by HS professionals as key areas of focus, report finds
A new report has highlighted skills shortages, sustainability and a lack of women’s PPE as key areas to focus on in the UK health and safety sector.
The 2024 Environment, Health and Safety industry report called Striving for Excellence revealed 82% of respondents agreed, or strongly agreed, with the statement that more needs to be done to ensure PPE is suitable for women in terms of better fit, sizes and suitability – but only 1% cited it as an important buying factor.
The report has been released by RS, a global services and solutions provider, and Director Ryan Plummer said more needs to be done to meet the need.
He said: “It seems there’s still a way to go on achieving awareness of the importance of PPE developed specifically for women.
“After the success of last year’s survey and resulting report, we wanted to follow up to see how things may have changed.
“It was interesting to see that sustainability is growing in importance, with more buyers prepared to pay a premium for sustainable products, even in the face of challenging times.
“This highlights more than ever the need for suppliers and solutions providers to really step up collaborative working with customers, to support them in making the right product choices in accordance with their business objectives, whether they be budget, environmental or staff-centred requirements.”
Visit the SHP website for more on the report.
Concerns of HSE inspection failure due to lack of data
Seven in 10 organisations operating in some of the UK’s biggest industries admit that they are unlikely to comply with on-the-spot Health & Safety Executive (HSE) inspection due to a lack of data proving that their fixed and moveable assets are managed and maintained to the required regulatory standards.
Nearly one fifth (17%) have received enforcement action in the past due to assets not meeting HSE compliance standards, with over 10% receiving an HSE fine.
The new research on 2,000 UK businesses, commissioned by enterprise asset management (EAM) solutions specialist, BPD Zenith surveyed organisations operating in the utility and renewable industries, including telecoms and broadband, as well as the defence, transport, pharmaceutical, and healthcare sectors.
The findings revealed that nearly 50% of these organisations’ moveable or fixed asset data isn’t detailed, nor updated or recorded accurately enough to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 or other HSE regulations that apply to their sectors.
Learn more on the HSM website.
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