Category Archives: Uncategorized

A joiner was left paralysed from the waist down after falling in a South Kensington parish church. A rail dropped when he leant on it, and he fell 3 metres, breaking his back. HSE inspection found that it could have been easily prevented if… Read more

A reversing fork-lift truck knocked over a lorry driver in Cardiff docks. It ran over his right leg, which later had to be amputated below the knee. A subsequent HSE visit found that Cargo Services (UK) Ltd, operators of the truck, had no… Read more

We’re all familar with the “Elf and Safety” excuse for avoiding or forbidding certain actions and activities. The HSE has set up an independent Myth Busters Challenge Panel to scrutinize such decisions. If you think a decision or advice that you… Read more

There were 50 fatalities in construction last year (2010-11). As part of a national initiative to improve construction site safety, inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive visited a total 3237 sites and saw 4080 contractors, but 581 sites… Read more

The worker at Hutchinson Technical Services (HTS) Ltd’s premises in Ditton Road, Widnes had been allowed to work on top of a chemical storage tank without any measures in place to prevent him being injured in a fall. When chemical vapour inside… Read more

A demolition worker in Worcester was told to cut through a cable. It was still live – connected to a switching unit on a substation on the site. He was engulfed by flames when the machine he was using to cut through the cable came into contact with… Read more

A worker at Montracon Ltd’s factory in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire, died from serious head injuries when a machine weighing two-thirds of a tonne fell on him. It fell after being dislodged from its mountings by a passing trailer; a number… Read more

The Health and Safety Executive’s report ‘Fatal injuries in farming, forestry, horticulture and associated industries 2010/11′ show that 42 people were killed as a result of farming and other agriculture-related activities during the year, of… Read more

23-year-old Steven Allen was killed when workers tried to use a block grab to move cement bags, which were stacked on a pallet at a Manningham, Bradford, construction site. While moving the load, the bags fell but the pallet remained in the jaws of… Read more

He had been trained in how to use the excavator to lift loads – but not how to safely transport it across a construction site. When he moved the vehicle, its boom was positioned at an unsafe height, and struck a bridge. Mr Foulke, who was not… Read more