Lawford Kidd's Blog

To mark this year’s European Week for Safety and Health at Work the Irish Injuries Board recently published an interesting analysis of the workplace accident claims it received in 2012, and warned businesses of the consequences of cutting corners when it comes to the health and safety of their employees.

Safety failings can be costly

The Irish Injuries Board is an independent Irish Government body that makes statutory personal injury awards in respect of motor, employer and public liability accidents.

Its most recent analysis reveals that the highest award for a work related accident during 2012 amounted to €332,143. In total, the Injuries Board settled 807 work related injury claims during the year, and awarded compensation amounting to €22 million. This was a slight decrease over the previous year, when there were 830 awards made, totalling €22.5 million in compensation.

Regular safety inspections, a maximum temperature in the workplace and far greater control of carcinogens are just some of the improvements that the TUC is calling for in its new ten point safety manifesto.

The report, Time for change, features ten key recommendations which the TUC believes, if implemented by a future government, could help turn around the UK's poor safety record, and prevent a good many of the 20,000 workplace-related deaths which occur in the UK every year.

The TUC is also hoping its manifesto for change will make the case for good health and safety practice, in a climate where safety laws are increasingly seen by ministers as unnecessary burdens on business, and where spending cuts and changes in regulations are making it more difficult to police employers who play fast and loose with their employees' safety.

A Leicester door-fitting firm has been fined after an employee was injured when he fell from a wooden crate fixed to a fork lift truck.

The 39 year-old man fractured his wrist, heel, ankle and elbow when he fell nearly five metres while fitting a roller shutter door at a farm in Lincoln.

He needed an operation on his heel and was unable to work for about three months after the incident on 2nd September 2011. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated and prosecuted his employer for failing to properly plan work at height.

A string of quad bike fatalities in Great Britain has prompted experts to call for more riders to wear safety helmets.

Members of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health’s (IOSH) Rural Industries Group issued a stark warning to those working with quad bikes who are reluctant to wear head protection.

Alan Plom, from the IOSH Rural Industries Group, said: “The majority of those killed riding all terrain vehicles were not wearing a helmet at the time. Riders should always wear suitable head protection, it could mean the difference between life and death – it’s that simple.”

A multinational cement firm has been fined £200,000 following the death of a worker in an explosion at its Rugby premises.