New HSE video launched for on-torch extraction controlling exposure to welding fume.  Exposure to all welding fume, including mild steel welding fume, can cause lung cancer.  Our informative video aims to help you control worker exposure to welding fume by making effective use of on-torch Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV). 

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has fined building materials manufacturer Tarmac Building Products £633,300 for failing to prevent a “serious and entirely avoidable incident” where a worker’s legs were crushed.  In a ruling on 29 January, the workplace health and safety regulator found that not only had the building firm failed to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery, it had also failed to act after several previous and similar near misses.

A self‑employed contractor has been jailed after a teenager fell to his death during demolition works on a property in Surrey.  Jason Hill had hired 19-year-old Thomas Neate, known as Tom, to help demolish a garage at a domestic property in preparation for an extension, at an address on Glebe Road in Staines-upon-Thames.

A Hartlepool chemical manufacturer has been fined after two employees were injured in separate incidents at two of its sites within just three months.  On 3 September 2021, an employee at Exwold Technology Limited’s Haverton Hill site in Billingham sustained serious injuries when four fingers on his left hand were severed during machinery start-up. The blades of a rotary valve had not been effectively isolated from the power supply while part of the production line was being prepared between cleaning operations. As the employee checked for air flow, his fingers became caught between the blades and the valve’s internal casing, resulting in the amputation.  Less than three months later, on 24 November 2021, a second incident occurred at the company’s Brenda Road site in Hartlepool. An employee was struck by a forklift truck after the driver’s view was obscured by the load being carried. The driver was unaware that a pedestrian was walking in front of the vehicle at the time of the collision.

A plant hire company has been fined after a mechanic suffered life-changing injuries when a JCB bucket fell on him while he was helping to repair a tipper truck.  On the 24 October 2023, the employee of Salford Grab Hire Limited was assisting a colleague in repairing a broken lifting mechanism on a tipper truck body. A JCB was being used to prop up the tipper body in the raised position when the one-tonne bucket became dislodged and fell.

A site manager has been prosecuted after obstructing Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors and making threats of violence when they attempted to address unsafe work at height on a refurbishment project in Staffordshire.  David Robert Lane, 59, was managing an extensive cottage refurbishment in Rugeley when HSE inspectors identified serious safety concerns during a routine visit.

Daniel Jenner, trading as Jenner Roofing and Building Services, has received an eight-month suspended sentence after a worker fell four metres through a rooflight to the concrete floor below.  The incident occurred on 12 August 2023, when a worker was carrying out work on behalf of Jenner Roofing and Building Services, at an industrial estate in High Wycombe, working alone to clean and repair gutters and drains.

A company that runs holiday camps for children across the country has been fined £6,000 after a three-year-old girl nearly drowned during a swimming pool free-play session.  The incident occurred on 26 July 2023 at Bishopsgate School in Egham, Surrey, where Oxford Active Ltd was running a holiday camp. The three-year-old girl was found face down in the swimming pool underneath a large float and was not breathing. Staff intervened and were able to resuscitate her.

A South Yorkshire wire company has been sentenced following serious health and safety breaches that resulted in the death of one its workers.  David Lockwood, 45, sustained fatal injuries at Stanley Wire Limited’s site on Talbot Road in Penistone on 18 November 2021.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is carrying out a series of inspections at large bakeries across Great Britain from January 2026.  Inspectors will check that employers are properly protecting workers from the dangers of dusty ingredients including flour dust.