“The Jury” Did you watch the TV programme “The Jury”? Did you find yourself shouting at the TV? How did it make you feel? Were you dismayed? Did it leave you with a sense of foreboding; thinking there must a better option? Well it got me thinking about what perceptions may be in light...
Covid-19 has caused many things a deluge of concerns, rules, guidance, information, action plans. All this has raised some recurring questions: What are our health and safety criminal law obligations in dealing with the coronavirus? What do we have to do? How can we protect ourselves from blame if we get it wrong? As...
Coronavirus has dominated the headlines and amongst all this some commentators have speculated that employers may be about to face prosecution if they don’t take all Covid-19 precautions possible to protect staff and third parties from infection. Now it is correct to say that employers in the UK owe duties under the Health and Safety at...
Coronavirus came upon the world as an unknown and everyone is now trying to ‘fight’ their way through what is COVID-19 and a severe pandemic. Unlike Corona beer which is rather enjoyable especially on a warm sunny day, the coronavirus is anything but a chilled afternoon sitting in the sun supping on your favourite beverage. It...
This tragic story really horrified us – our hearts immediately went out to the man’s family. Our second reaction was frustration. This should never have happened. Not only was it entirely avoidable – clearly a proper risk assessment wasn’t in place – but it had happened before. Someone, somewhere, knew the risk and did nothing...
Where there’s blame there’s a claim, right? Sigh. In my day, if you fell down you got back up – you didn’t try to sue the tree whose stick you just tripped over. Times change – and there’s also this thing called common sense. If you have a company that uses dangerous machines, you...
A truck company that buys, refurbishes and sells Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) and trailers has been sentenced after the death of 63-year-old self-employed worker William Price. On 21 February 2013 Mr Price suffered fatal head injuries when the half-ton frame of a lorry trailer, he was dismantling, fell on his head at the Marston...
As harrowing as the images on the news may be, I suspect many haulage and delivery companies have welcomed the news of the dismantling of “The Jungle”. The French authorities have been clearing the refugee camp in Calais and busing thousands of migrants to centres across France. It had been a major problem for lorry...
We’ve all been there. It’s the festive season, everyone’s celebrating and you have a few too many drinks. You wake up the next morning and think: “Well that was a bit heavier than I expected, I hope I’m OK to drive…” But imagine you wake up thinking that and then climb into a lorry...
Leedale Limited, a waste management and plant hire company in Derbyshire, was fined £300,000 after a worker was fatally crushed between two vehicles. Derby Crown Court heard how 39-year-old Matthew Lambert was refuelling his road sweeper at the Company’s yard. The refuelling point on the vehicle was at the rear; whilst he was refuelling a...