Telehandler driver sentenced over death of colleague
A self-employed telehandler driver has been sentenced after he reversed over his colleague on a construction site in Cheshire, causing fatal injuries.
In June 2023, 49-year-old James Connolly was working as a lift supervisor on a large construction site in Ince, Ellesmere Port, where Michael Nixon was working as a telehandler operator.
On the morning of 11 June, while walking back to his work area from the welfare compound, Mr Connolly was struck and reversed over by the telehandler being operated by Michael Nixon, resulting in fatal injuries.
In a victim personal statement, Jamie’s mother Pauline Connolly said: “I have constant flashbacks to that day and every time we get a phone call my heart drops and I fear the worst news, I am always saying, ‘who is it? What is it?’
“Every time I see someone in a high viz jacket and a hard hat, I think it is Jamie. I am changed forever since my son’s death. I miss and think about him every day. My first-born child. My only son.”
Read more on the HSM website.
Nearly three million Teslas recalled in China over hidden door handles
Minimalistic door handles became a signature feature of electric vehicles (EVs), but the controversial designs are now at the centre of China’s biggest car recall, affecting more than 4 million vehicles.
The recall, which includes 2.98 million Chinese-made Teslas, follows safety concerns that the hidden door handles are difficult to locate and open in emergency situations.
Other brands affected by the recall include Chinese carmakers XPeng, Xiaomi and Geely.
The recalled vehicles will have a warning label stuck on the interior door and receive a software update to automatically lower the windows in a crash.
The designs have come under scrutiny after two fatal crashes in China involving Xiaomi EVs, in which power failures were suspected to have prevented doors from being opened.
Tesla said in a statement on Friday that it was recalling some of its Model 3, Y, S and X vehicles due to door handles that are “difficult to identify and operate because their colour is similar to the interior trim”.
Learn more on the BBC website.
Cornwall sawmill and company director fined after failing to act on health and safety notices
A Cornwall-based timber company and its director have been handed a £20,000 fine after failing to comply with a series of enforcement notices issued by health and safety inspectors.
Truro Sawmills Limited and its Managing Director, Alistair Wright, have been fined after failing to comply with improvement notices served by the HSE.
Truro Sawmills Limited supplies timber and manufactures gates, fencing panels and garden furniture, processed at its sawmill in Penhallow, Truro. The company was served with Improvement Notices after HSE inspectors found that employees were not being protected from the ill health risks arising from wood dust, nor the safety risks associated with the use of rider-operated lift trucks in the workplace. If not properly controlled, wood dust can cause asthma, respiratory conditions and cancer.
Visit the HSE website to read more.
Laptop catches fire on US flight, with passenger treated at airport
One person has received medical treatment after a passenger’s laptop caught fire on an American Airlines flight.
The pilot had reported a “cabin fire in the back of the airplane” to air traffic control, saying “the flight attendants are trying to put it out now”, according to audio obtained by the BBC’s US reporting partner CBS News.
“I think we have about four to five passengers that were burned by the laptop. The laptop is contained about mid-aircraft.”
One passenger received medical attention on site and was released after American Airlines Flight 2398 – coming from Atlanta, Georgia – landed at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in Texas on Friday.
The airline told the BBC that the flight landed safely “after reports of smoke from a customer’s device during landing. We thank our crew for their professionalism and swift response to quickly contain the device.”
For more on the incident visit the BBC website.
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