In the News
The provisional annual data for work-related fatal accidents revealed that 111 workers were fatally injured at work between April 2019 and March 2020 (a rate of 0.34 deaths per 100,000 workers), the lowest year on record. HSE comment that this represents a fall of 38 deaths from the previous year, though it is likely that this fall was accentuated by the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on the economy in the final two months of the year. https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/fatals.htm.
HSE urges businesses to become COVID-secure. Being COVID-secure means being adaptable to the current guidance and putting measures in place to control the risk of coronavirus to protect workers and others. HSE lists five practical steps that businesses can take to do that:
Carry out a COVID-19 risk assessment https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/assets/docs/risk-assessment.pdf .Develop increased cleaning, hand washing and hygiene proceduresTake all reasonable steps to help people work from homeMaintain social distancing where possibleWhere social distancing is not possible, manage transmission risk.The HSE has published guidance on restarting workplace pressure systems safely following the coronavirus outbreak. Pressure systems can be standalone or part of individual machines, processes and site (ancillary) services and include:
steam boilersair compressors and receiversindustrial refrigeration systemshydraulic cylinders for vehicle and passenger liftsarticulated jibsThere are also steam reservoirs in some café boilers, steam cleaners and solvent recovery vessels forming part of dry cleaning processes.