A farm safety chief has pleaded for farmers to wear helmets when riding quad bikes. Rick Brunt, an agricultural safety boss, has told farmers to take heed of the simple life saving advice to wear helmets while riding quad bikes. The call comes following the emergence in court proceedings of
Several environmental associations have called upon industry members to collaborate in order to make sure that the green agenda remains a priority following the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. UK Green Building Council (UK GBC) Chief Executive Officer, Julie Hirigoyen, said that both political and economic uncertainty will
A new and improved pay deal has been secured for workers in the Construction Industry Joint Council (CIJC). GMB, Unite and Ucatt unions have all agreed to a two year settlement that will see a 2.5% pay increase from July 25 and a further rise of 2.75% in June next
The UK’s decision to leave the European Union is bad news for the proposed transition to smarter grids, warns a leading academic. Phil Taylor, Siemen’s professor of energy systems at Newcastle University, has said that the UK has made it harder to de-carbonise our energy system by “diminishing its ability
A farm safety chief has pleaded for farmers to wear helmets when riding quad bikes. Rick Brunt, an agricultural safety boss, has told farmers to take heed of the simple life saving advice to wear helmets while riding quad bikes. The call comes following the emergence in court proceedings of an horrific incident in which a teenager suffered serious head injuries. The 17 year old farm worker from Shap, Cumbria, was trapped for an hour underneath an overturned quad bike, resulting in a head wound that required 17 stitches. On June 20, Carlisle Magistrates’ Court heard that the family partnership JF & M Bland had contracted the worker to carry out general duties in agriculture and he was given instruction to use the company’s quad bike to reach a large sloping field. He did this without any prior training and no helmet provided for him to wear and after the vehicle overturned it is estimated that it took around an hour before one of the partners of the firm found him. Following an investigation of the incident’s circumstances, which happened in April 2014, the Health and Safety Executive made the decision to prosecute JF & M Bland, of Dacre, Penrith, for breaching laws of health and safety. The company pleaded guilty to a breach of Regulation 9 (1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, resulting in a fine of £6,000 and an order to pay costs of £4,693. HSE’s Head of Agriculture, Rick Brunt, said that accidents relating to vehicles are a major problem in the agricultural sector and are one of the biggest causes of death. He added that only those who have received adequate training should operate all terrain vehicles such as quad bikes. Meanwhile, HSE inspector Matthew Tinsley, commented that this incident should serve as a timely reminder to all farm workers that such risks are not worth taking.
Several environmental associations have called upon industry members to collaborate in order to make sure that the green agenda remains a priority following the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. UK Green Building Council (UK GBC) Chief Executive Officer, Julie Hirigoyen, said that both political and economic uncertainty will result in many people questioning whether the green agenda should now be de-prioritised while business goes into ‘fire fighting mode’, but she insists that this cannot be the case. She commented that there are still strong incentives for businesses to address the urgent sustainability challenges that the industry faces, including climate change. She added that these are now more important than ever in order to ensure the best people are working as productively as possible, generating new commercial enterprises, adding value for clients, reducing costs and minimising future risks. She believes that the key to meeting these objectives is a sustainable built environment. The UK GBC has said that it will further explore the commercial drivers for sustainability, while encouraging an unprecedented collaboration between trade bodies, green groups and progressive businesses. They said that they will propose to the government that a sustainable low carbon built environment is what is required for UK plc, and that this will require a consistent and clear policy landscape regardless of the UK’s involvement in the EU. Compliance director at Carbon 2018, Melanie Kendall-Reid, said that the UK must now decide whether it will cut all ties with Europe or remain part of the European Economic Area (EEA). She believes that a complete withdrawal from the EU and the EEA may result in an ‘erosion of environmental policy’, using Iceland and Norway as examples of countries can continue to follow EU climate policy and directives from the EEA without being part of the EU. Ms Kendall-Reid added that environmental policies in Europe provide UK firms with business opportunities to make them market leaders in developing new technologies.
A new and improved pay deal has been secured for workers in the Construction Industry Joint Council (CIJC). GMB, Unite and Ucatt unions have all agreed to a two year settlement that will see a 2.5% pay increase from July 25 and a further rise of 2.75% in June next year. Subsistence allowance and sick pay will also increase at least in line with these rises, while travel allowances will now be paid in miles as opposed to kilometres. From January next year, workers will also receive a further day’s holiday, which the unions say is equal to a further 0.4%, along with more flexible arrangements for holiday usage. Further additional pay increases will also be given to the rates for some skilled operative workers, such as banksman, slinger/signaller, telehandler drivers and fork lift truck operators. The unions said that despite the settlement, they had informed the employers that the agreement was ‘not fit for purpose’. Among their concerns were the absence of a mechanism to apply the agreement to company supply chains, lack of recognition of the living wage in London and rates of pay. Brian Rye, acting general secretary at Ucatt, said that the deal makes sure that workers will enjoy increases above the rate of inflation for the next two year period. He added that employers must understand that the CIJC agreement does not meet the workforce’s needs and without radical reform it may soon no longer be relevant to the industry. John Allott, the national officer for construction at Unite, said that employers must understand that the deal does not in itself provide a solution, rather it is the start of a journey to address many of the problems faced by members of the construction industry. Last month, Ucatt’s members voted in favour of a move to merge with Unite, which will mark the end of Ucatt as an independent union.
The UK’s decision to leave the European Union is bad news for the proposed transition to smarter grids, warns a leading academic. Phil Taylor, Siemen’s professor of energy systems at Newcastle University, has said that the UK has made it harder to de-carbonise our energy system by “diminishing its ability to use inter connectors” for balancing systems. Taylor commented that the decision to leave the EU will reduce the UK’s ability to negotiate prices of goods, while our use of inter connectors will be more expensive and less flexible. He added that the decision is bad for system balancing and prices, while the UK is moving towards an energy system with less capacity margin and less spinning reserve which is carbon rich and expensive by replacing it with flexibility of all kinds. He continued that we have nearly diminished our ability to use inter connectors to aid the act of balancing. The National Grid’s head of strategy, markets and regulation, European business development, told the Energy and Climate Change Committee earlier in the year that the UK must try even harder to be more influential, but that it is possible to achieve looking at the example of the non-EU country Norway. Taylor also commented that it has been proved that smaller power systems and island power systems are more difficult to de-carbonise while maintaining the stability of the grid. He also said that he anticipates the out vote to result in a reduction of the incomes of academic institutions by up to 20%, while access to the vibrant European research community will be more difficult. Newcastle University is one of 13 universities around the world which has ‘global principle partner status’ with multinational firm Siemens. Taylor also warned that the UK is now in a less strong position that it was prior to the vote to convince such organisations that it is a good place to invest in development and energy research.