2018, January

Two recent court cases appearing on the website Lexology.com have acted as a reminder that stacking boxes above head height can be a dangerous practice.

The first case involved a retail store that used trolleys to transport goods from the storeroom to the shop floor where retail assistants had to stock shelves. One assistant was faced with a trolley that had boxes stacked above her height. She asked for assistance, but no one helped her. She then lifted a box off the trolley from above head hei...

Fire safety is of paramount importance for all industries, which is why regular surveys need to be made. A UK company is using Microsoft’s HoloLens mixed reality system to make fire surveys quicker and more accurate.

Technology company Luminous has developed the RIVO system, which starts with a technician digital mapping a building. After this, a technician wears a HoloLens that overlays the real world view of the world with computer graphics. The technician then tags fire-related safety items ...

All businesses must comply with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) by making their business premises accessible for people with disabilities. Failure to comply has legal and business consequences.

About 16% of the UK adult population has some kind of disability. This rises to 45% of adults over the state pension age. If these customers cannot access your building, you are losing sales. It has been estimated that disabled and elderly people spend £60bn a year, so anything that puts these cu...

Research by law firm Hugh James has revealed that 16% of workers are employed in businesses where they have had no fire drills.

A recent poll of 2,000 employees found that nearly half did not know what to do in the event of a fire. This indicates that many employers are not taking fire safety training seriously.

Lack of fire training could not only put workers’ safety at risk, but could also be costly financially. In 2009, the New Look retail store in London caught fire. A member of staff comp...

Manual handling can cause musculoskeletal disorders that can result in workers being unable to do their job. By using access and materials handling equipment, manual handling can be reduced.

Exoskeleton wearable technology is being developed that supplements the wearer’s muscle power to make manual handling easier. Some industries are even looking at how to replace manual handling workers with fully automated technology.

Workers installing overhead line electrification on Britain’s railways n...