Lawford Kidd's Blog

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:

A man has died after he suffered severe burns following an industrial accident at a sewage treatment works.

The incident which occurred in Yorkshire highlights the dangers of working in such an environment,  with industrial accidents in areas such as waste management and other types of work increasing according to provisional figures from the Health and Safety Executive.

Mick Jennings had worked for Yorkshire Water for eight years as a mechanical fitter in an engineering team and had a significant amount of training.

New regulations, which aim to cut the risks for those workers/employees involved in offshore installations or similar activities but also safeguard the environment as well as costal economies, came into effect on 19 July 2015.

The Offshore Installations (Offshore Safety Directive) (Safety Case etc) Regulations 2015 – otherwise known as "SCR 2015" – now apply to all oil and gas operations, which take place in UK waters.

The summer months are the most dangerous period for public place accidents that result in a personal injury claim, according to new analysis by Ireland’s Injuries Board.

Last year, July was the month that recorded the highest frequency of accidents resulting in compensation awards, while Saturday proved to be the most dangerous day of the week for public place personal injury accidents.

Public liability (PL) awards are made in respect of injuries suffered as a result of an accident in a public place. In 2014, the Injuries Board made 2,151 PL awards with corresponding compensation totalling €53 million, compared to €44 million in 2013 in respect of 1,768 awards.

A recent campaign by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) to raise awareness of occupational cancers is continuing to grow and has become the most successful campaign the charity has developed, IOSH has reported.

No Time to Lose is highlighting five of the common risk factors for occupational cancer registrations and deaths - diesel engine exhaust emissions, solar radiation, asbestos, silica dust and shift work.

“It’s not necessarily the people who are operating plant machinery that are going to die,” explained IOSH President Ian Harper. “The person who is dying is the one who is cutting a piece of concrete with a disc cutter and making a big cloud of dust, but they are suffering a lot slower.”