Tag: HSE

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 […]

Tesla recalls 53,000 cars over brake issue Tesla has issued a voluntary global recall for some of its Model S and Model X cars to fix a problem with the parking brake. The electric car maker said about 2% of the 53,000 vehicles built from February to October 2016 were affected, but all of those […]

Suspended Jail Sentence For Construction Worker With ‘Staggering Disregard For Personal Safety’ A steel erector has received a suspended jail term after a member of the public photographed him balancing on scaffold tubes about 27 m off the ground and alerted the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Manchester Magistrates’ Court was told that David Mullholland, […]

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. […]

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 […]

HSE construction inspectors will be carrying out unannounced visits to sites where refurbishment projects or repair works are underway. This year the Initiative is being undertaken as a series of two week inspections across the country, beginning 3 October 2016 ending 4 November 2016. During this period inspectors will ensure high-risk activities, particularly those affecting […]

Official Guidance Issued On Robot Ethics Isaac Asimov gave us the basic rules of good robot behaviour: don’t harm humans, obey orders and protect yourself. Now the British Standards Institute has issued a more official version aimed at helping designers create ethically sound robots. The document, BS8611 Robots and robotic devices, is written in the dry language of a […]

Would you put your phone in a cement mixer? British phone retailer Tuffphones has unveiled a new range of hard-wearing handsets aimed at construction workers and outdoors enthusiasts. It’s the latest addition to a range of extra-durable Android devices in the growing market for rugged phones. The BBC took them to a building site to […]

Sports Direct Treats Workers “As Commodities Rather Than Human Beings” A report by the Business, Innovation and Skills committee has accused Sports Direct, one of Europe’s biggest retailers, of not treating its workers like humans, after an investigation revealed “extremely disturbing working practices” and serious health and safety breaches at the company’s Shirebrook Warehouse. MPs […]

‘Obvious’ Risk Ignored by Hotel Chocolat Hotel Chocolat, the Chocolate manufacturer, has been prosecuted after a worker suffered serious hand and arm injuries whilst cleaning a machine tank. Piotr Podgorski, 35, from Bretton, in Peterborough, was working as a cell supervisor for the company on 16 August 2014 when he was asked to clean the […]