Employment Rights Bill praised by IOSH
The UK Government’s Employment Rights Bill is ‘a watershed moment and a bold, long-overdue step forward for worker rights’, according to the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).
The Bill is set to become law after it cleared the House of Lords. It introduces sweeping reforms designed to improve security, fairness, and wellbeing for employees across the UK.
Among its key provisions are measures to replace exploitative zero-hours contracts with guaranteed hours for those who have worked regularly over a reference period, stronger rights for employees to request flexible working, and the removal of the three-day waiting period for statutory sick pay, making it available from day one.
Read more on the HSM website.
Cellulose film packaging company fined after workers exposed to harmful gas
A Cumbria-based producer of cellulose film packaging has been fined £200,000 after workers were exposed to harmful hydrogen sulphide gas.
On 24 December 2021, Futamura Chemical UK Ltd employee, Alexander Cole (known as Alec), was found collapsed in a pump room after exposure to gas at the company’s factory premises in Wigton, Cumbria. Delivery driver, Robert Dyer, attempted to assist Mr Cole but was also overcome by the gas. Both men were rescued from the area and Mr Dyer quickly regained consciousness. Tragically, Mr Cole died in hospital the following day, which was Christmas Day. A subsequent inquest concluded that, on the balance of probabilities, hydrogen sulphide had contributed to Mr Cole’s death.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Futamura Chemical (UK) Ltd failed to adequately risk assess its production process, as it did not identify that hydrogen sulphide gas, a by-product of the process, was able to enter the site’s water effluent system.
Learn more on the HSE website.
Research shows AI’s impact on workers
While AI is taking on work across the economy, it may also create new demands on the human workforce that employers must stay ahead of and swiftly respond to.
Researchers from Microsoft and Imperial College London highlight in the Society of Occupational Medicine’s (SOM) journal Occupational Medicine that AI tools will bring a multitude of benefits to the workplace. AI is likely to make accessing workplace health support much easier for employees and managers, for example by automating and simplifying booking processes and appointments.
Clinicians, too, will increasingly use AI tools to manage, track and analyse workplace health and workplace health data in their organisations.
However, as this technology becomes ever more deeply embedded within workplaces it will simultaneously create its own, new, health issues and challenges.
For more on the research visit the HSM website.
Review PPE stock and purchasing processes, urges BSIF
The British Safety Industry Federation (BSIF) is urging organisations across the UK to use January to review their PPE stock and the processes they use to source it, as concerns continue to grow around the safety and compliance of products sold through online marketplaces.
With major legislative changes approaching and early indications from BSIF’s latest testing programme suggesting that substandard PPE remains widespread on online platforms, the Federation warns that employers must take extra care to ensure the equipment they rely on is appropriate, compliant and safe.
Provisional findings from the BSIF’s 2025 product testing—set for full publication at the end of January 2026—indicate that unsafe and non-compliant PPE continues to be widely available from online marketplaces. Early trends suggest these platforms remain a significant source of high-risk, poor-quality products.
Visit the HSM website for more information.
To keep up to date with the latest health & safety news and advice, follow us on social media: