Businesses to carry out risk assessments

Categories: General Health and Safety |


Businesses to carry out risk assessments Local authorities have been warned by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to ensure they carry out and implement risk assessment procedures - such as ensuring personal protective equipment is worn.

The recommendation comes after the successful prosecution of a council by the HSE at a court today.

A fine of £7,500 plus an additional £3.763 in costs was imposed on the council after one of their street-sweeping vehicles hit a 73-year-old elderly woman last March.

HSE Inspector Paul Vinnicombe said had the council could have implemented measures to prevent the accident, including: "the use of signs, cones or barriers to separate the area from the public or fitting a rear-view CCTV camera to the vehicle".

Severe crush injuries were caused to the lady's leg and she was hospitalised for four weeks, needing four operations.

The council pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety Act.
Official HSE figures show that in the year 2004-05, 220 fatalities and over 150,000 injuries were reported at workplaces due to a failure to implement risk management procedures such as personal protective equipment.
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