Lawford Kidd's Blog

In order to make cycling safer, the Scottish Government has been urged by campaigners to pass legislation that reduces the speed limit from 30 to 20mph in residential streets.

A London-based company has been fined nearly half a million pounds after admitting a health and safety offence when a falling barrier struck a young girl at Silverburn Shopping Centre in Glasgow.

A thematic report on Fatal Accident Inquiries (FAIs) has been published by the Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland.

The Health and Safety Executive have urged Police Scotland to take immediate action following the discovery of asbestos in some buildings.

The organisation was served with an improvement notice after traces of asbestos were found in four building used by the force in Glasgow at the start of the year. This was later confirmed by Police Scotland. As reported by the BBC the issue of asbestos was discussed at a Scottish Police Authority and that the organisation was taking the appropriate action to resolve the issue and was working closely with the HSE, staff agencies, and unions.

In a statement regarding tackling asbestos in the some police buildings, a spokeswoman said: "Immediate action has been taken to address any site-specific issues, and the service is also working closely with staff associations and trade unions to take forward the necessary action."

The Health and Safety Executive has drastically reduced on construction sites in Scotland sparking concerns that employees in one of the most dangerous sectors of employment are at risk of obtaining a serious injury.

The HSE reduced unannounced inspections by more than 55% in the last year following drastic cuts to the health and safety budget by the Westminster government, which has control over such affairs. A number of experts have blamed the cuts to budget as the main reason for the decline in the number of random inspections.

According to data collated by UCATT, through use of a Freedom of Information Act, Scotland saw a drop of 55.7% in the number of random construction inspections being made by the HSE. The drop in Scotland was significantly higher than other countries in the UK, with the nation overall seeing a drop of 8.7% regarding the overall number of surprise inspections. The North of England was seriously affected, however, the overall drop in the number of random inspections was just 2%.