Plant protectors
Facilities managers look after buildings, but how can they mitigate the likelihood of a terrorist attack? Adam Offord examines guidance from the British Institute of Facilities Management
Safe passage
UK employees suffered 10,835 major injuries as a result of slipping and tripping in 2005/06, according to the HSE, so such accidents remain serious problems - accounting for 38% of all major injuries.
Health and Safety - Protect and survive
If people are a business's greatest asset, then ensuring their safety not only saves injuries and lives, it also makes sound economic sense. Across the whole spectrum of industry, the consequences of not providing safety equipment have often been serious and occasionally fatal injuries.
Herculean effort or Olympic gold?
As we go to press, with London on the final countdown to the 2012 Olympics, plant engineers – although excited by the spectacle and impressed by the scale of the interdisciplinary project engineering that has made it all happen – will inevitably be focused on large and looming concerns.
Sound measures
Noise and vibration beyond allowable limits can leave managers on shaky ground. No wonder then these issues are climbing plant engineers' priority lists. Steed Webzell reports
State of the nation
Health and safety in the workplace is not only about PUWER (Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations) and LOLER (Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations), important though both are. It's also not just about precautions around working at height, or in confined spaces (page 18), or slips, trips and falls. Clearly, working safely, particularly with plant and equipment, is paramount, but occupational health is increasingly being seen as at least as important.
Fee for Intervention or fining for HSE income?
Police, prosecutor, judge and jury.
Field of dreams
Ever thought about EMFs - electromagnetic fields caused by everything from power lines to mobile phones and arc welding gear? If not, you should, because a little-reported European directive that seeks to restrict exposure of workers to EMFs came within a whisker of coming into force this April - and may yet in April 2012.
Fit for purpose
Keeping your people and your balance sheet healthy – that is the central challenge of occupational health and safety, as Ian Vallely explains.
Don't stand for pain
The position of standing is one many of us take for granted in our daily lives. It is not until we start to feel the odd ache and pain that we become more aware of how much pressure the standing posture creates on our bodies. Although it may seem mundane, the floor surface we stand on is a key factor to take into consideration and, for those whose occupation requires long periods of standing, it is especially important.