Health and safety training is 'an employee right'

Companies are being urged to ensure they maintain equipment which is to be used by staff and also to provide employees with suitable training in its use, in order to safeguard their health and safety in the workplace.

The warning came in the wake of two firms being fined after four men using a suspended access cradle fell ten metres when the apparatus collapsed, killing one and injuring the other three.

Apollo Cranes was ordered to pay a total of £160,000 in fines and costs for breaching Sections 3(1) and 36 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act, while Bradway Construction pleaded guilty to contravening Section 2(1) of the same act and was made to pay £43,000.

Dave Redman, an inspector from the Health and Safety Executive, claimed the firms expected the employees to work at height with apparatus when they had no knowledge on how to use it safely.

"This is unacceptable in this day and age - all workers have a right to expect to be trained on how to use the equipment they are working with, and there is plenty of advice available to employers in the construction industry," he said.

In other news, a man was injured on a Bristol construction site recently after being hit by a falling object, thisisbristol.co.uk reported recently.