Lawford Kidd's Blog

McDonalds are facing an investigation after 28 workplace injury complaints were launched against the company in 19 cities.

The complaints, which were filed with the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration state that many of the injuries employees sustained when working were preventable. Employees cited restaurants being understaffed and an emphasis on working quickly as some of the key reasons for the high number of injuries.

The company could face fines of up to £50,000.for each offence.

An Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) campaign – namely, the No Time to Lose Initiative – aimed at addressing the alarming number of deaths which result from work-related cancers, is proving to be a success, Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) have been told.

The Cross Party Group on Accident Prevention and Safety Awareness, which is made up of MSPs, organisations and members of the public, heard the encouraging news when it recently met at Holyrood in Edinburgh.

The European Commission is aiming to improve working conditions across the EU with a new Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2014- 2020.

To minimise the number of workplace accidents and diseases, the Framework, which builds on the successful 2007-2012 EU Occupational Health and Safety Strategy, suggests there are three major workplace health and safety challenges to overcome in Europe. These are listed as:

Manual handling accidents remain one of the main causes of occupational injury within the UK. More than a third of all three day injuries reported each year to the Health and Safety Executive and local authorities are caused by manual handling.

In 2009/10 there were 23 fatal injuries to workers in Scotland, 2,548 reported major injuries to employees and 7992 over 3 day injuries to employees.