Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has been ordered to pay £19,000 after flies, a cockroach and a mouse were found in one of its West End branches. Health inspectors reportedly found a cockroach eating a chip near takeaway boxes and tongs in the Leicester Square branch, as well as seeing a mouse, flies and dried chicken blood on the floor. The… read more →
Devon and Somerset Fire & Rescue Service has reminded landlords and owners of rented accommodation of their legal responsibilities after a fatal fire last month at a residential property in Teignmouth. The property was a house in multiple occupation and initial findings point to the fire having started accidentally from cooking. The owner of the property, April Ridley, died in… read more →
A landlord who pleaded guilty to five offences under fire safety legislation has been ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid community service. Esther Bartlett, of Plymstock, was also ordered to pay a total of £6,929 in costs by Plymouth Magistrates Court on 19 April. The service was alerted to suspected breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order… read more →
A Suffolk landlord has been jailed for two-and-a-half years after a tenant was practically baked alive in a fire at one of his properties in Norwich. Nineteen-year-old Layla Skalli suffered 80-per-cent deep-tissue burns and was given a less than one-per-cent chance of survival following the blaze, on 14 April 2009. Virtually all the skin below her neck was destroyed by… read more →
The Co-operative Group was this week fined over £200,000 after pleading guilty in Southampton Crown Court to serious fire safety breaches at its store in Shirley Road, Southampton. The prosecution by Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority took into account six breaches of fire safety under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The Co-Operative Group was fined £35,000 for each… read more →
The UK’s largest confectionery firm has been fined a total of £300,000 after an employee was crushed to death in one of its sweet-making machines. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Tangerine Confectionery Limited, of Vicarage Lane, Blackpool, following the death of employee Martin Pejril at its Poole factory. The company that manufactures sweets such as Sherbet Dip Dabs,… read more →
Multinational steel maker, Corus, has been fined £240,000 after a lorry driver was crushed to death at its site in Staffordshire. The firm was prosecuted by the HSE after three tonnes of steel plates fell on Ross Beddow, at the firm’s base in Wombourne. Corus (UK) Ltd was also ordered to pay £112,500 costs at Stafford Crown Court, on 14… read more →
Biffa Waste Services Ltd has been fined after a member of the public was crushed to death. The prosecution followed a HSE investigation into Biffa Waste Services Ltd after the death of Dennis Krauesslar, at its waste disposal site in Newbury on 10 September 2007. Mr Krauesslar was crushed to death by a motorised loading shovel bucket used to flatten… read more →
New research has found that a quarter of workers have never participated in a full fire evacuation of their workplace, despite government guidelines suggesting full drills be undertaken at least once a year. The study of over 2,000 adults by insurer RSA also found that one in 20 UK workers admitted their workplace had no marked fire exits at all.… read more →
The House of Lords has redefined the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act as a result of a decade-long employment case, it has been reported. Previously the law stated that an employer only had to make reasonable adjustments if the chance of recurrence of a condition was “more probable than not”. This definition has now been altered so employers must… read more →
