Lawford Kidd's Blog

The UK's construction sector must improve its Health and safety standards according to interior fit-out company Newman Scott.

Said company was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) back in 2013, for failing to follow appropriate health and safety processes. Newman Scott hopes other construction companies learn from the mistakes of others as well as the HSE's refurbishment initiative. By acting now, Newman Scott suggests that the number of deaths, injuries and cases of ill health in their industry can be reduced.

New research shows that child pedestrians in Scotland are much more likely to be injured in road traffic accidents than adults across the nation.

Specifically, the recent study by Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH), shows that the risk for children is two-and-a-half times more than the risk for adults.

The Legionnaires' disease outbreak in summer 2012 was a worrying time for Edinburgh residents, mainly due to the lack of information given by local authorities at the time. Four people died and there were 56 confirmed cases, making it the worst Legionnaires' outbreak in a decade.

NHS Lothian's Incident Management Team published a report into the incident this week, which said that since the outbreak, 'the City of Edinburgh Council's Food Health and Safety Service has enhanced its ability to inspect risk systems and its capability to respond to Legionella outbreaks'.

The NHS Lothian Report

Neither the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) nor the Incident Management Team at NHS Lothian have been able to identify the source of the outbreak. The NHS summarised the outcome of the investigation as follows:

Last week, managing and minimizing the number of accidents, which occur in the aviation industry, was the focus of Cambridge-based event, hosted by IOSH's Aviation and Aerospace Group.

Aviation experts met at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford to share knowledge, experiences as well as lessons learnt and the best practices identified following previous aviation incidents, such as Germanwings plane crash in the French Alps.

Concerning new statistics - released by Transport Scotland - show that both the number of deaths and the number of persons seriously injured, on Scotland's roads, increased last year.

In particular, between 2013 an 2014, the number of persons who died in road traffic accidents across Scotland, increased by sixteen per cent (16%) to two hundred (200), while the number of serious injuries increased by one per cent (1%) 1,694.