Volvo goes electric across the board
Carmaker Volvo has said all new models will have an electric motor from 2019.
The Chinese-owned firm, best known for its emphasis on driver safety, has become the first traditional carmaker to signal the end of the internal combustion engine.
It plans to launch five fully electric models between 2019 and 2021 and a range of hybrid models.
But it will still be manufacturing earlier models that have pure combustion engines.
Geely, Volvo’s Chinese owner, has been quietly pushing ahead with electric car development for more than a decade.
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Million Pound Fine For Steel Company After Worker Severely Burnt Following Explosion
A 57-year-old man’s employer has been fined £1m after an oxygen pipe exploded in front of him.
The Sheffield Forgemasters Engineering Limited (SFEL) worker suffered life changing injuries after the explosion on 9 August 2013.
Sheffield Crown Court heard that work was carried out by an in-house contractor to fit a valve to an oxygen pipe that carried pure oxygen. The worker was carrying out checks when he heard hissing from the valve. While investigating the noise, the pipe and valve erupted in flames.
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Warburtons Fined £1.9m After Injury To Agency Worker
Warburtons Ltd has been fined after a worker was injured when his arm got trapped against a running conveyor belt.
Nottingham Crown Court heard how on 4 August 2015 the agency worker was cleaning parts of the bread line when his arm got trapped leaving him with friction burns which required skin grafts.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found CCTV footage showing the worker cleaning parts of the line; as he reached into the line he became trapped between two conveyors and part of the machine had to be dismantled to release him.
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Boss Jailed Over Knightsbridge Balcony Fall Deaths
A construction boss has been jailed for “shocking failures” that resulted in two workmen falling to their deaths from a balcony during a luxury flat refit in Knightsbridge, west London.
Tomasz Procko, 22, and Karol Symanski, 29, died in an “entirely foreseeable and preventable” accident while hauling a sofa on to a first-floor balcony.
They died when 130-year-old railings supporting the sofa gave way in 2014.
Boss Martin Gutaj, 44, from Brentford, was jailed for 14 months.
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HSE releases annual workplace fatality figures
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has released its annual figures for work-related fatalities, as well as the number of people known to have died from the asbestos-related cancer, mesothelioma, in 2015.
The provisional annual data for work-related fatal accidents revealed that 137 workers were fatally injured between April 2016 and March 2017 (a rate of 0.43 per 100,000 workers), the second lowest year on record.
There has been a long-term downward trend in the number of fatal injuries to workers – they have halved over the last 20 years – although in recent years the trend shows signs of leveling.
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ISO 45001 Update – International Ballot Approved
ISO 45001, the new international standard for occupational health and safety, has just passed the crucial international ballot stage.
The process of developing ISO 45001 has taken longer than originally forecast, due to the demand for amendments and redrafting. The international ballot approval means that the second version of the standard, DIS 2 ISO 45001, can now move to the publishing stage if it is agreed that a final draft standard (FDIS) is not required.
The ISO has indicated a February 2018 publication, but the latest developments could mean that the standard is ready by the final months of 2017. The ISO 45001 project committee will next convene in September, after which we can expect a more specific timeline to be announced.
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UK to Bring in Drone Registration
The UK government has announced plans to introduce drone registration and safety awareness courses for owners of the small unmanned aircraft.
It will affect anyone who owns a drone which weighs more than 250 grams (8oz).
Drone maker DJI said it was in favour of the measures.
There is no time frame or firm plans as to how the new rules will be enforced and the Department of Transport admitted that “the nuts and bolts still have to be ironed out”.
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Inquest Begins Into Death Of Health And Safety Expert Who Fell Down Lift Shaft
An inquest began yesterday into the death of a health and safety expert who fell 30ft down a lift shaft during an inspection.
James Merritt, 39, was checking three lifts at a technology firm’s three-storey building.
Merritt, of Hampton Magna, Warwicks, worked for Zurich Engineering. He had more than 20 years’ experience and was awarded Engineer Surveyor of the Year in 2014. Dominic Dawson, chief engineer for Zurich Engineering, said he was one of its most highly- qualified experts.
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