Latest News in Health, Safety & the Environment

 The case of a worker who was fatally crushed on a construction site is the inspiration behind a new Bill aimed at preventing companies going into administration to escape punishment following a death or serious injury.Labour MP Luciana Berger has tabled a ten-minute Rule Bill to give health and safety inspectors the power to apply for a court order to freeze the assets, or parts thereof, of a...

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is proposing to revoke seven Statutory Instruments (SIs) -six Regulations and one Order -that have been identified as being redundant or that have been overtaken by more up to date Regulations. An initial assessment by HSE has identified six Regulations and one Order that are now redundant or that have been overtaken by more up to date Regulations. It is proposed...

Introducing an independent carbon price floor could devastate UK industry’s ability to compete in Europe and harm the bloc’s efforts to cut emissions, warn MPs. The Treasury’s plans to set a price for a tonne of carbon above that set by the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) have been labeled a revenue-raising exercise that will not help to encourage the deployment of renewable...

 From 6 April 2012, subject to Parliamentary approval, the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR’s) over three day injury reporting requirement will change. From then the trigger point will increase from over three days’ to over seven days’ incapacitation (not counting the day on which the accident happened). Incapacitation means...

 In his most strident attack yet on health and safety David Cameron has pledged to cut back the “monster” he says it has become, free business from the “stranglehold” of red tape it creates, and reduce the “pointless time-wasting” it causes for the economy.Speaking to an audience of small-business owners and entrepreneurs in Maidenhead recently Mr Cameron outlined...

Employees could save UK businesses and public bodies £500m and two million tonnes of CO2 – equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of all the households in Birmingham – thanks to a new, online office tool called ‘Carbon Trust Empower™' launched recently by the Carbon Trust. By engaging employees in cutting energy use, paper waste and travel, Carbon Trust Empower...