On 29 August 2023, at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Thurlow Educational Trust pleaded guilty to breaching sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. The Trust was fined £80,000 and ordered to pay £7,116 in costs.

On 10th January 2023 at South Tyneside Magistrates Court, Newcastle City Council were fined following the death of six year old Ella Henderson. Ella was crushed when a decaying willow tree in her school playground collapsed onto to her during high winds in September 2020.

An employment tribunal in December 2022 ruled unanimously that an employee working as a disabled employability advisor had been unfairly dismissed for requesting a suitable work chair for them to use at home.

Safety culture is an oft-heard expression but what does it mean? The concept of a ‘safety culture’ is a little vague as there is no definitive model, no single recognised international standard, against which an organisation can compare its safety culture.

On 6th April 2022, the Personal Protective Equipment at Work (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (PPER 2022) came into force and amend the 1992 Regulations.

In February 2022 Newcastle Magistrates Court heard that in March 2020 a group of 13 year 10 pupils from a school in Gateshead were on an organised school trip to Helvellyn in the Lake District. The group was led by one teacher and a teaching assistant.

In December the HSE published their 2020 / 21 statistics which cover work-related ill health, non-fatal workplace injuries and enforcement action taken by them. These annual statistics are prepared to illustrate to employers, policy makers, and employees themselves, of the health and safety risks they face while at work.

Edinburgh based care organisation fined £20,000 after service user raped an employee The Action Group, who provide support to children and adults, has been fined after the HSE investigated how risks to staff were assessed, following an attack on an employee by one of its service users. Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard that on 27th December 2018, at a domestic property in Edinburgh, a female employee of the Action Group visited a male adult service user who had additional support needs. During the course of the visit, the employee was abducted, assaulted, sexually assaulted and raped.

In June a high school in Chelmsford was fined after a child died when a locker in a changing room fell on top of him. An investigation by the HSE found that the, 180cm tall and 188kg, locker unit had not been secured to the wall to prevent it from toppling over despite the unit having fixing brackets as part of its structure.

In June, Bournemouth Crown Court sentenced a self-employed gas engineer who used false registration numbers after carrying out gas work and for also breaching an HSE Prohibition Notice.

Lloyds Resister have recently published a report, ‘Employee well-being during a pandemic’, based on a survey of 5,500 people in 11 countries taken during December 2020. The aim of the survey was to determine the mental health impact caused by the change in working conditions as a result of the pandemic.