HSE urges employers to take action on work-related stress during Stress Awareness Week
As Stress Awareness Week begins, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is encouraging employers and managers to take practical action to prevent and manage work-related stress.
Work-related stress remains one of the leading causes of work-related ill health in Great Britain. Left unaddressed, it can affect workers’ health and wellbeing, increase sickness absence and impact workplace performance.
The good news is that small actions can make a big difference. Whether it’s starting a conversation, reviewing workplace pressures or making use of available support, every workplace can take steps to reduce stress and support good mental health.
Many employers still do not realise that they must assess and manage the risks of work-related stress in the same way as other workplace health and safety risks. Identifying the causes of stress, assessing who may be affected and taking action to eliminate or control risks are important steps in protecting workers’ health and preventing harm.
Read more on the HSE website.
Car wash company issues false safety certificates
A company has been fined after it falsely supplied electrical safety certificates to two car wash businesses in Runcorn, despite them both being declared unsafe.
Inspectors from Britain’s workplace regulator – alongside colleagues from Cheshire Police, Trading Standards and the immigration authorities – carried out an investigation into the activities of Super Hand Car Wash on Halton Road and Top Star Hand Car Wash on Bridge Street.
Both premises were found to have electrical systems that were dangerous. This resulted in Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors taking enforcement action against both businesses – forcing them to immediately stop work. The car wash owners were advised to use a National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting (NICEIC) registered electrical contractor or similar, to ensure that electrics were made safe to ensure the safety of the public and the people working on site.
Learn more on the HSM website.
Ministry of Defence issued with Crown Censure over death of soldier during Salisbury Plain exercise
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has been issued with a Crown Censure by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a British Army soldier died during a routine training exercise on Salisbury Plain.
The censure follows an investigation by HSE inspectors into the incident in 2021, which concluded the MoD had not met its duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act, and found inadequacies with the risk assessment, instructions and training for the exercise.
The incident
Private Jethro Watson-Pickering, of the 1st Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment, was taking part in an exercise known as Iron Storm at the British Army’s Salisbury Plain training area in Wiltshire on 15 October 2021. The 23-year-old had been driving a Scimitar-variant Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) (CVR(T)) armoured fighting vehicle. Their role in the exercise was to drive armoured vehicles and act as the enemy for another Army regiment.
At around 11:50am the incident vehicle was escaping ‘attack’, when the gun barrel, protruding beyond the side of the vehicle, struck a tree. On impact, the turret rotated very quickly, and the rear storage bin attached to the it struck Private Watson-Pickering’s head, causing fatal injuries. He died at the scene.
HSE investigation
An investigation by the HSE found there was no safe system of work for driving the CVR(T) Scimitar during the exercise.
Risk assessments failed to identify the danger to the driver from the turret rotating without warning. As a result, no control measures were put in place to stop the driver’s head being struck by a storage box if the barrel was accidentally hit and the turret turned.
The investigation also found that risk assessments were not properly reviewed after similar incidents in previous years. Instruction and training were also inadequate, particularly on the risk of the turret rotating unintentionally and on driving with the head up.
Read more about the incident on the HSE website.
Free toolkit helps employers manage truck driver risk
Driving For Better Business and Transport for West Midlands launched the Truck Driver Toolkit at The Hawthorns on 4 November
Driving for Better Business (DfBB) has published a free Truck Driver Toolkit to help employers manage work-related road risk. It gives truck drivers and the people who manage them straightforward advice on staying safe at work. DfBB created it with Transport for West Midlands (TfWM). Both launched it at The Hawthorns, West Bromwich Albion’s ground, on 4 November.
Driving is the most dangerous work activity that most people do (RoSPA). Every organisation has a responsibility to recognise this. It should treat road risk as it would any other health and safety duty.
Drivers spend their working day away from the workplace. Out of sight must not mean out of mind. The Truck Driver Toolkit helps employers put that into practice.
Learn more about the free toolkit on the HSM website.
To keep up to date with the latest health & safety news and advice, follow us on social media: