Health and Safety

Police officers have carried out new interviews in the criminal investigation into the fatal building collapse at Didcot Power Station. Tomorrow marks the eighth anniversary of the tragedy. Four men – Michael Collings, Ken Cresswell, Christopher Huxtable and John Shaw – died after the boiler house at the disused coal-fired…

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has taken over the criminal investigation into the death of a worker on Laing O’Rourke’s Everton Stadium project. Michael Jones, 26, died from head injuries on 14 August last year at Bramley-Moore Dock. Jones died after being crushed between a scissor ladder and a beam,…

A company has been fined £450,000 and its director handed a suspended sentence after a worker died at a construction site in Birmingham, according to the Crown Prosecution Service. Oleksander Rudyy, 49, was crushed to death in May 2019 when the structure he was standing on collapsed. He had earlier…

Police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have launched a joint investigation after a worker was injured on a construction site near Manchester. Police and ambulance services were called shortly before 1pm yesterday (12 February) to the West Vale housing development in Oldham, which is being built by Caddick…

A member of the public has died after apparently falling from a building site crane during the night. West Yorkshire Police said they were called to the site in Central Road in Leeds city centre just before 8am on Wednesday (7 February) after a body was found. A spokesperson said:…

Unite has said it is “alarming” that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does not keep track of the number of investigations it carries out involving cranes. In December, Construction News reported on calls for the re-establishment of the national crane register in the wake of a number of site…

A senior figure in the crane industry has called for mobile cranes to be subject to the same regulations and licensing as HGVs. Peter Gibbs, who chairs the Construction Plant-hire Association’s mobile crane interest group, told Construction News that he believes the machinery should be subject to oversight from traffic…

A coroner has issued a safety warning about drilling and pipe dispensing after a 71-year-old man died at an HS2 site in Birmingham last year. Charlie Harper suffered serious abdominal and chest injuries after being struck by the end of a polyethylene coiled pipe on 27 April 2023. The tail…

Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) has been found in two more prisons, with the Ministry of Justice expecting to spend around £900,000 on remediation. The collapse-risk concrete has now been identified in HMP Leyhill, a category D prison in Gloucestershire, as well as HMP Parkhurst, a category B premises that…

The director of a scaffolding company has received a suspended prison sentence after one of his employees was electrocuted. Ian Pepper, director of Kent-based Canterbury City Scaffolding, has been sentenced to 18 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to undertake 200 hours of unpaid work and 20…