Safety Smart Monthly Update February 2024

If you missed out on our last newsletter – never fear! we’ve pulled together all the information in this blog post and there’s plenty to catch up on

Asbestos Your Duty 

Buildings that people use in their daily lives, such as workplaces, schools and hospitals are the focus of a new campaign to keep people safe from asbestos.

Asbestos: Your Duty, aims to improve understanding of what the legal duty to manage asbestos involves.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) wants anyone with responsibilities for buildings to do everything they must do to comply with the law and prevent exposure to this dangerous substance, which was widely used in post-war construction before it was completely banned in 1999.

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Hot Water Risk Assessment – What You Need To Know

Just 15% of organisations say they have conducted a workplace fire risk assessment to cover the risks posed by devices 

Dutyholders, employers or premises owners have a duty of care under health and safety law to protect users of their water systems.

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Considerate Constructors Scheme to monitor provision of women’s PPE

The Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) has added women’s personal protective equipment (PPE) to its contractor checklist.

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AI – Clearing The Fog 

Speculation about the rapid advance of artificial intelligence (AI) is popular in the press. It can seem to the onlooker that the art of the possible is changing almost daily. This leads many to speculate about where this may take us and, importantly, whether it could affect health and safety risks in the workplace.

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Fire risk education key goal of lithium-ion battery podcast

Last month we covered risk assessments around lithium-ion batteries. There’s more on the topic this month with an upcoming IFSEC Insider Podcast tune in for a three-part mini-series to talk about the risks associated with the ubiquitous resource.

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Case Studies

Recycling company fined £2m after worker killed by loading shovel

Lee Benham died while attempting to move a scissor lift at Nationwide Platform Limited’s workshop in Liskeard, Cornwall on 4 November 2021. The 45-year-old, who was from south-east London but lived in Liskeard, was working for Nationwide as an LGV driver when the incident occurred.

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Company and director sued after scaffolder receives electric shock

A Kent scaffolding company has been fined and its director given a suspended prison sentence after a scaffolder suffered an 11,000-volt electric shock.

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Joinery firm fined after failings

A joinery firm in south east London has been fined £14,000 for health and safety failings, including putting its workers at risk of exposure to wood dust as part of the workplace regulator’s Dust Kills Campaign which targets woodworking businesses due to the significant health risks associated with wood dust. 

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