Lawford Kidd's Blog

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has turned its attention to the issue of forestry safety, and is holding a Safety and Health Awareness Day to highlight the specific health and safety issues affecting workers in the forestry industry.

The day will cover issues relating to the use of forestry machinery and forestry chainsaw work, directional felling including the use of hydraulic wedges and bottle jacks, hand-arm and whole body vibration, and public access issues.

One of the most dangerous industries

The HSE warns that forestry is still one of the most dangerous occupations in Great Britain, and treework alone is responsible for 38 work related fatalities over the past ten years.

Revised guidance for employers and employees on working at height has been launched by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The move comes as part of the Government’s commitment to crack down on regulations that it believes are overly complicated, out of date or too burdensome.

Working at height

Working at height is very common in the working environment, with an estimated ten million workers thought to carry out jobs that require them to work at height at some point every year.

Although there has been a general decrease in the number of injuries in the waste and recycling industry over the past few years, it continues to be one of the most high-risk sectors to work in.

High proportion of injuries

Latest figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show that although the sector accounts for only around 0.6% of British employees, it still manages to account for 2.8% of reported injuries, including 11% of all fatalities, 2.6% of major injuries and 2.8% of over-seven-day injuries.

Twelve worker fatalities in one year

Looking at the HSE provisional figures on waste and recycling for 2012/13:

The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has said it is “disappointed” and “concerned” over plans to deregulate areas of health and safety.

The Joint Committee providing pre-legislative scrutiny of the Draft Deregulation Bill issued its report towards the end of last year, and IOSH has repeated its concerns that some self-employed people could be excluded from necessary health and safety legislation.

IOSH head of policy and public affairs Richard Jones said: “IOSH is disappointed and concerned that the Committee has not recommended the removal of the clause exempting certain self-employed from health and safety law, particularly given the serious concerns raised by IOSH and others during the inquiry.”

More than one in five Americans say they have been injured on the job, according to a new survey from FindLaw.com, the legal information website.

According to the survey, 21% of American adults say that they have suffered an injury while on the job that was serious enough for them to take time off work. The vast majority of injuries involve slip-and-fall accidents, repetitive motion injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome, and other musculoskeletal injuries.

The most common types of injury were: