University Fined £400k After Experiment Nearly Kills Students The University of Northumbria at Newcastle has been fined after two students fell seriously ill after a miscalculation in an experiment led to them being admitted to intensive care and requiring dialysis. Newcastle Crown Court heard how students were learning about the effects of caffeine as part of […]

Look, No Hands If warm words from governments were all that was needed to fuel driverless vehicles they might be all around us. Following the launch in Britain of the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) in 2015, this September a new inquiry under the House of Lords’ Science and Technology Committee was announced. […]

Throughout the day we are constantly surrounded by electronic devices that produces Electromagnetic Field’s (EMF’s). Nonetheless, the vast majority of these EMF’s are within safe levels. EMF’s are created when a piece of electrical or electronic equipment is used right from a toaster all the way to a satellite dish therefore EMF’s are most likely […]

Risk of harm, rather than simply harm itself, is increasingly the crucial factor on which the HSE and the courts are coming down hard. Recent court decisions applying the Sentencing Council Definitive Guideline for Health and Safety Offences, Corporate Manslaughter and Food Safety and Hygiene Offences have highlighted that H&S offences are concerned with failures […]

Watchdogs have banned a TV commercial for Heinz Baked Beans on health and safety grounds. The advert showed youngsters and adults tapping out the complex rhythms of a song on empty cans. Heinz fell foul of the Advertising Standards Authority because it failed to show the top of the can being taped up to cover […]

Introduction This overview highlights the key themes of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to help organisations understand the new legal framework in the EU. It explains the similarities with the existing UK Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), and describes some of the new and different requirements. When we started drafting this overview, the GDPR […]

Weil’s disease, caused by Leptospira bacteria, and spread by rodents, is debilitating or even fatal in 10% of cases. Darren Williamson, Product & Procurement Manager for Arco, explains the dangers of the bacteria within construction and how workers can combat the infection using specially formulated hand wipes and solutions. Those who come into contact with […]

Over the years I have met several training delegates and auditees who told me a similar story:  “Our safety department won’t let us reduce the severity rating on risk assessments”. These people worked in a host of different industries:  Construction, rail, manufacturing and the public sector.  They were using risk assessment methodologies that required them […]

A report from the UK Airprox Board has said that a passenger aircraft narrowly avoided a collision with a drone as it passed over central London in July this year. The Airbus A320, which was carrying around 165 passengers as it approached Heathrow Airport, was within 66ft (20m) of the device, the report said. The […]

The Most Dangerous Job In The UK If asked to name a dangerous way of earning a living, most people would probably opt for the construction industry.  This would be borne out by figures published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for workplace fatal injury rates for 2015/16, which show that the 43 deaths […]