How many Managing Directors simply employ or promote an employee into the position of Health and Safety manager and never bother to follow up on their progress, meetings or recommendations? Health and Safety affects everyone whether employees of a company or members of the public entering your workplace. It is down to each and every member of staff to ensure that all Health and Safety measures are carried out.

In this day and age there are still some Directors and employees that think Health and Safety are just a 'bunch of people that like to interfere' where in fact they are there to help everyone including Directors and Management.

Just this month, a factory in Lancashire, was fined £16,000 and ordered to pay £8000 in court costs as they pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA 1974 and one of the Directors also pleaded guilty to breaching s37(1) of the HSWA 1974 he was also fined £4000 and £2000 in costs.

In this case an employee had switched off the machine then climbed inside to clean some residue which had built up inside the drum. While he was doing this another employee, who was unaware the worker was inside, switched on the machine and the rotating blade lacerated and fatally wounded him.

The sad thing is that like most work accidents, it was totally preventable, as the management had ignored warnings from safety consultants that a number of their machines had inadequate guards.

All machines have to have a proper risk assessment and adequate Health and Safety Signage displayed for everyone to see.