Health & Safety Update - March 2012

Construction

The HSE's latest construction e-Bulletin is available on its website. Please click here to view the bulletin. HSE has also recently published construction site safety advice. Please click here to view the advice.

COSHH

HSE has recently published information on COSHH basics. Please click here for further information.

Directors' responsibilities and corporate manslaughter

Senior staff prosecutions

According to unofficial figures released by the HSE under a Freedom of Information request the number of directors and senior managers prosecuted for health and safety failings has significantly increased in the past five years. The report in Safety and Health Practitioner, the magazine of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, argues that there has been a 400% rise in prosecutions under s.37 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Please click here for further information.

Electricity

The HSE has recently published frequently asked questions for electricity safety, quality and continuity regulations. Please click here for further information.

Fire Safety

HSE has recently published a simple guide to dangerous substances containing information on fire and explosion hazards. Please click here to view this guidance.

Food hygiene and safety

The HSE has recently published frequently asked questions in relation to maintaining equipment in the catering and hospitality industry. Please click here for further information.

Ill health/stress/disability

Employees still reluctant to disclose mental health issues

A survey carried out by CIPD of 2000 people revealed that only four in ten people would feel comfortable disclosing a mental health problem to their employer. It also found that only 37% say their employer supports employees with mental health problems well. Mental health charity MIND and the CIPD have published a new guide to help more employers support and manage mental health in the workplace. Managing and supporting mental health at work: disclosure tools for managers (December 2011).

Work-life balance – biggest health issue

Research by Group Risk Development, the trade body for the group risk industry, has found that maintaining a good work-life balance ranked as the top health issue for more than one in five employers (21%). This is ahead of stress and mental health issues (19%), currently cited as the most common cause for workplace absence. Please click here for further information.

Disability discrimination

Health and...