Not an accident at work, but interesting all the same!

Kate Moss hoarding collapse on

Oxford Street

causes injuries

Four people were taken to hospital after an advertising board featuring supermodel Kate Moss collapsed on London's busiest shopping street.

The hoarding for fashion store Mango, on

Oxford Street

, fell at 16:15 GMT.

Three women and a man went to hospital, one with a suspected back injury, while others suffered minor injuries.

Part of the street was closed to traffic while emergency services attended.

Securing hoarding

A London Fire Brigade spokesman said: "Three fire engines, four fire rescue units and around 40 firefighters are at the scene. The police and London Ambulance Service are also at the scene.

Fortunately nobody was trapped but around four people are thought to have been injured.

Police carriers backed on to the hoarding to support it while efforts were made by workmen to secure it.

We understand that the Health and Safety Executive has been informed.

Mango are under a duty to ensure that the hoarding is secure and are likely to be liable for the injuries suffered to the innocent victims.

If you or a member of your family has been injured in this accident or in similar circumstances in the past three years, call our specialist personal injury solicitors on 0800 0384 384 or click here to book a free no obligation meeting

Health and safety training: What you need to know

Why is health and safety training important?

Over 200 people are killed each year in accidents at work and over one million people are injured. Over two million suffer illnesses caused by, or made worse by, their work.

Preventing accidents and ill health caused by work is a key priority for everyone at work.

Providing health and safety information and training helps to:

• ensure employees are not injured or made ill by the work they do;
• develop a positive health and safety culture, where safe and healthy working becomes second nature to everyone;
• find out how health and safety can be better managed;
• ensure that all legal duties to protect the health and safety of employees are met.

Effective training:

• will contribute towards making employees competent in health and safety;
• can help avoid the distress that accidents and ill health cause;
• can help avoid the financial costs of accidents and occupational ill health.

The law requires that employers provide whatever information, instruction and training is needed to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of employees.

If it you or a member of your family has been injured in an accident in the past three years call our specialist personal injury solicitors on 0800 0384 384 or click here to book a free no obligation meeting.

Three Common Lifting Injury Causes in the Workplace

Lifting injuries are the most prevalent form of injuries in the workplace.

The HSE (Health and Safety Executive) is a brilliant resource for in-depth legislation and health & safety advice in the workplace.

1.       Improper Lifting: Back injuries caused by lifting incorrectly. Remember to keep loads close to the waist and setting down a load before worrying about changing its direction.  Ensure that you take sensible precautions by using access equipment. One in five workplace injuries was a back injury resulting from improper lifting.

2.       Improper lifting or Access at Height: Falling Access equipment, e.g. access steps, is designed to make the process of accessing things like high garment racks safer and easier on the body. According to the HSE, around 13% of all injuries in working environments where manual handling is essential involved fall objects hitting someone as the result of improper lifting or access at height.

3.       Bad risk assessments: Risk Assessments can cover everything from lifting a heavy box quickly without checking its weight to climbing onto a box without checking whether it will support your weight. Risk assessment should cover surrounding obstacles, potential problems, personal limits and emergency response i.e. is there another co-worker around in case of an accident?

If it you or a member of your family has been injured in an accident at work in the past three years call our specialist personal injury solicitors on 0800 0384 384 or click here to book a free no obligation meeting

Safety event to curb farm deaths

A rise in deaths and injuries on farms across the UK has prompted the National Farmers Union (NFU) to organise a safety and security day.

The Weston-super-Mare branch of NFU organised the safety day on the 17^th April 212 following new figures from the Health and Safety Executive which shows that 34 people were killed in accidents on farms in 2011 – over three times as many as the UK industry average.

The event at Cricklake Farm, Cocklake, near Wedmore, included demonstrations to illustrate why accidents happen when farmers are using different types of machinery.

NFU Mutual agent for Weston, Mike House, said: "As the major insurer of farmers in the Weston area we are deeply concerned to see farm accidents continuing to cause serious injuries and deaths."

If it you or a member of your family has been injured in an accident at work in the past three years call our specialist personal injury solicitors on 0800 0384 384 or click here to book a free no obligation meeting

Hairdressers cut up over EU rules

An award-winning hairdresser has criticised new rules going before the European Parliament that could force stylists to wear rubber gloves. The award winning hairdresser has has hit out after new guidelines emerged from Europe calling for hairdressers to be banned from wearing high heels during work and told to wear arm-length rubber gloves while working, in case of cuts.

The health and safety directives also order stylists to wear "non-slip soles" and bans some type of jewellery as unhygienic.

The deal with be submitted to Brussels to become an EU-wide directive binding on all 27 states.

However, it has been said that increasing red tape and workplace guidelines will threaten the survival of some salons.

In addition, most hairdressers would consider it utterly impractical to cut hair wearing rubber gloves.

It is alleged that these proposed rules have little or no bearing on day-to-day reality.

It is well known that health and safety is important in any industry, but so is common sense. It is also known that the vast majority of what is being recommended is, in fact, already covered by UK health and safety law. The main difference is UK Law retains enough flexibility to allow salon owners to make reasonable, risk-assessed decisions about the day-to-day running of their businesses while ensuring workers are protected.

If it you or a member of your family has been injured in an accident at work in the past three years, call our specialist personal injury solicitors on 0800 0384 384 or click here to book a free no obligation meeting

Top 10 worst health and safety myths

There is no shortage of daft decisions being blamed on health and safety.

Over the years, the Health and Safety Executive has tackled some quite incredible myths about what health and safety bans or orders people to do.

It's hard to tell where some of these ridiculous and baffling myths originate, but they all have one crucial thing in common - they are not required by health and safety law.

To mark the launch of the new Myth Busters Challenge Panel, HSE has published its top ten worst myths.

They want people to work with them to challenge these myths. The time has come to end the madness!

1.         Children being banned from playing conkers unless they are wearing goggles;

2.         Office workers being banned from putting up Christmas decorations;

3.         Trapeze artists being ordered to wear hard hats;

4.         Pin the tail on the donkey games being deemed a health and safety risk;

5.         Candy floss on a stick being banned in case people trip and impale themselves;

6.         Hanging baskets being banned in case people bump their heads on them;

7.         School children being ordered to wear clip on ties in case they are choked by traditional neckwear;

8.         Park benches must be replaced because they are three inches too low;

9.         Flip flops being banned from the workplace;

10.        Graduates ordered not to throw their mortar boards in the air.

Whilst these myths make us smile, the HSE plays an important role when things really do go wrong particularly in a work environment.

If have been involved in an accident at work in the past three years, call our specialist personal injury solicitors on 0800 0384 384 or click here to book a free no obligation meeting.

Myth: You don't need to secure your load if you're just driving down the road

The reality:

If not properly secured, vehicle loads can become unsafe, even over a short distance.

Loads that haven't been firmly tied down increase the risk of vehicle rollover and spillage.

They risk the lives of drivers and other road users, and can also cause annoying traffic disruption.

More than 1200 people a year are injured as a result of unsafe loads, and millions of pounds are lost in damaged goods.

Don't take the risk – make sure your load is restrained and contained!

If have been involved in an accident as a result of an unsafe load, whether this is at work, or not, in the past three years, call our specialist personal injury solicitors on 0800 0384 384 or click here to book a free no obligation meeting.

Myth: Risk assessment is too complicated for me to do!

The reality:

Carrying out a risk assessment should be straightforward.

It's about focusing on real risks and hazards that cause real harm and, more importantly, taking action to control them.

How to assess the risks in your workplace

Follow the five steps below:

1.         Identify the hazards;

2.         Decide who might be harmed and how;

3.         Evaluate the risks and decide on precaution;

4.         Record your findings and implement them;

5.         Review your assessment and update if necessary.

Don’t overcomplicate the process.

In many organisations, the risks are well known and the necessary control measures are easy to apply.

You probably already know whether, for example, you have employees who move heavy loads and so could harm their backs, or where people are most likely to slip or trip. If so, check that you have taken reasonable precautions to avoid injury.

If have been involved in an accident at work in the past three years, due to the failure of your employer to carry out an adequate risk assessment, call our specialist personal injury solicitors on 0800 0384 384 or click here to book a free no obligation meeting.

Be Wary of What You Post on Facebook

The practice of law has changed with the arrival of the internet.

The biggest one being postings on social media sites like Facebook.

In my experience, insurance companies are using Facebook and other social media sites to find damaging information about injured people.

A classic example of how social media postings on sites like Facebook can devastate one’s injury claim is a woman whose claim was reduced due to photos posted on her Facebook page showing her at a Chippendale's show and other events.

Some say “that would never happen to me,” yet it happens everyday.

Insurance companies that are responsible for the defence of injury claims routinely check Facebook along with other social media sites to see what an injured person has posted.

Never assume your social media postings are private regardless of what your settings are.

And only post what you want everyone in the world to see.

The reality is your Facebook page, along with other social media pages, are fair game for insurance companies if you make an injury claim, or any claim for that matter. So, be wary of what you post on Facebook.

If have been involved in an accident at work in the past three years, call our specialist personal injury solicitors on 0800 0384 384 or click here to book a free no obligation meeting.

Myth: There's nothing you can do about slips and trips and they don't really hurt anyone anyway

The reality:

Most slips and trips are preventable and many happen when spills aren't cleared up or clutter tidied away.

Last year, there were four fatalities and more than 10 000 employees were seriously injured when they had a slip or trip at work.

This results in broken bones and time off work, costing the economy around £800 million per year.

Simple mistakes can shatter lives … your actions could help stop them from happening.

Don't take things for granted, cut corners or wait for someone else to do it. Clear up!

If you have been involved in an accident at work, following a slip or trip, in the past three years, call our specialist personal injury solicitors on 0800 0384 384 or click here to book a free no obligation meeting