Veterans warn of cold injury risk
Conditions that damaged thousands in the armed forces are still present across UK construction, logistics, and outdoor industries.
The injuries started in the military. Now they’re showing up on worksites.
As Britain endures another wet, cold season, veteran specialists are warning civilian employers: cold exposure doesn’t need to freeze skin to cause permanent damage.
This condition – known as Non-Freezing Cold Injury (NFCI) – is caused by long hours in wet boots, low temperatures, and poor circulation. Symptoms often go unnoticed until they become chronic: numbness, pain, cold sensitivity, and long-term nerve damage. Any job involving prolonged outdoor work in wet conditions can create the same risk – especially when teams can’t rotate or dry kit properly.
“Wet + cold + long hours + safety boots = the perfect conditions,” says Paul Rees, a former soldier now advising on NFCI risk. “And it doesn’t take snow. British weather does the job every winter.”
Read more on the HSM website.
Demolition contractor fined for illegal asbestos waste site
A demolition company has been ordered to pay almost £10,000 for illegally storing asbestos waste in Northumberland.
Reddem Ltd, based at Queens Road, Wooler, appeared at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court on Friday 13th February in a prosecution brought by the Environment Agency.
It pleaded guilty to one offence of operating an illegal waste site and another of keeping or treating waste in a way likely to cause pollution to the environment or harm to human health by storing waste containing asbestos in open containers.
It was fined £4,000, and ordered to pay costs of £4,000 and a victim surcharge of £1,600.
The court heard that the demolition company was running an illegal waste site at The Old Gas Works Yard, at South Road in Wooler, bringing construction and demolition waste containing asbestos to the site before onward transportation for disposal.
Learn more on the Construction Index website.
Employers unprepared for menopause compliance deadline
A poll of 276 HR, health and safety and compliance professionals has found that just under a third (29%) of organisations have committed to publishing a menopause action plan in 2026 or 2027, while most remain uncertain or unprepared.
At the same time, almost three-quarters (74%) of those surveyed believe menopause needs stronger legal protection at work – a striking verdict from an audience whose job it is to manage legal risk.
Police force fined after student officer hit by car on Christmas Eve
A police force has been fined after one of its officers was hit by a passing car while responding to a traffic collision on Christmas Eve.
The 22-year-old was a student officer working for West Mercia Police when the incident happened on 24 December 2023. The officer had been responding to the traffic collision in Bridgnorth, Shropshire. That collision occurred on a single carriageway road that had no street lighting and where the national speed limit for the road was 60 mph.
The officer had been stood on a bend, managing traffic at the scene when he was hit by a passing car. He sustained life-threatening and life-changing injuries.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that West Mercia Police failed to do all that was reasonably practicable to manage the risks arising from or in connection with traffic collisions. The force’s risk assessments were not suitable and sufficient and it failed to provide adequate equipment for safely responding to traffic collisions.
Read more about the incident on the HSE website.
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