Global arms manufacturer BAE Systems has been handed a £198,000 penalty following a fatal explosion at its Lancashire munitions plant.Lynda Wilkins died on 2 March 2005 while using lead styphnate, a highly volatile primary explosive used in detonators, which can be set off by static discharges from the human body. Though the HSE said it was unable to determine the exact cause of the blast, as Wilkins had been working ...

Encouraging staff to tell their line managers what they think of them could reduce workplace stress, according to new research co-funded by the HSE, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and the HR standard provider Investors in People UK.The study, presented this week at the British Psychological Society's occupational psychology conference, focused on the line manager-employee relationship, which it found to be the most commonly reported cause of work-related ...

The HSE has posted new information on its website on the changes to the Seveso II Directive - EU legislation implemented in the UK by the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations (COMAH) - that may change some facility's classification as COMAH sites.The Seveso Directive covers any business that uses, stores or generates dangerous substances and there is a section on the website explaining the scope of the directive and ...

An insurance industry bid to stop the Scottish Parliament from overturning a 2007 House of Lords decision to end compensation for asbestos-related pleural plaques sufferers has ended in failure.AXA General Insurance and other insurers forced a judicial review of the Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Act, which allows claims for compensation for pleural plaques (a scarring of the lungs caused by exposure to asbestos) in Scotland. They unsuccessfully argued that ...

A plastics recycling firm's failure to fit guards led to a worker losing four fingers trying to unblock a machine, a court has heard.Liverpool Magistrates' Court ordered Centriforce Products to pay almost £5000 in penalties for breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations, which states that employers must prevent access to dangerous machine parts.Machine operator Wesley Dickinson and a colleague had been working on the ...

A construction services firm has been fined £4500 after an untrained worker suffered multiple fractures when a forklift truck telehandler he was operating overturned at a site in Northumberland.Tom Lincoln was injured in July 2008 while using the telehandler, without wearing a seatbelt, to lift trusses onto a roof at the development. The vehicle toppled over onto its side and trapped him against the truck's window and controls. Fractures to ...

Heavy plant manufacturer JC Bamford Excavators (JCB) has admitted liability and settled out of court in two personal injury cases brought by GMB union members.In the first case, a plumber who worked daily with known irritants, including diesel and coolant, received £20,000 in compensation for dermatitis he developed on his hands in July 2008. Although he did wear gloves while handling the liquids, JCB had failed to provide him with ...

Business in the Community (BITC) has launched a practical toolkit providing organisations of all sizes with guidance on how to promote musculoskeletal health at work. The HSE-sponsored "working joints and muscles toolkit", which is part of BITC's business action on health campaign, draws on the experience and expertise of major employers including Birds Eye, Centrica, Parcelforce Worldwide and Wates Group. BITC's musculoskeletal steering group developed the guidance ...

Major construction contractor Laing O'Rourke has paid substantial damages to a former employee after he fell through foundations and was almost buried in concrete.Tommy Clough had been working on the construction of a new cancer centre at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle when the accident happened in December 2005. The supporting scaffolding had not been erected properly and Clough fell five metres into a pit that was about to be ...

One of Britain and Ireland's largest wood products suppliers has been convicted for the second time this year after workers were injured while maintaining and repairing conveyors.In the latest case, Balcas Timber was fined £50,000 after an employee was crushed to death at its sawmill in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. Maintenance fitter Michael Lukan died from injuries sustained on 31 May 2006 when a conveyor he was repairing started up and ...