Lawford Kidd's Blog

The International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) has drafted a new international health and safety standard, aimed at reducing the impact of occupational deaths and injuries.

At a meeting in Trinidad, which was hosted by The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), the ISO published the latest draft of the new standard. Health and safety professionals from different countries, industries and cultures, were then able to discuss the proposed standard. In particular, 2,500 comments from the consultation were reviewed, clauses were examined and amendments suggested by health and safety professional from around the world.

The director of a Bromley firm has given a suspended jail sentence after removing asbestos without a licence and deceiving the householders by providing a doctored air test saying the room was safe to re-enter.

Southwark Crown Court was told that the firm was hired to take out all the asbestos insulation from the boiler room of a home in Camden. The director did the work over eleven days but as well as being unlicensed to remove asbestos, he failed to effectively clean and decontaminate the area. He left visible fibres that were a danger to the householders and to the plumbers, who were due to start work in the boiler room.

After he was finished, an analyst who went to take an air test provided him with a certificate clearly showing the site had failed. However, the director provided a doctored report to the owners indicating it had passed the test and was safe for them to re-enter, which they did.

From 25th July, newly diagnosed victims of mesothelioma will receive help through a new support scheme, the Minister for Welfare, Lord Freud, and the Association of British Insurers have announced.

The new scheme will allow around 3,000 mesothelioma victims across the UK who are unable to claim compensation because they cannot trace a liable employer or employers’ liability insurer to receive approximately £300 million in payments in the first 10 years.

Although the majority of people are able to claim compensation through the employers’ liability insurance held by their employer, more than 300 mesothelioma sufferers a year currently lose out on compensation because they are unable to trace a liable employer or employers’ liability insurer.