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Manchester aluminium diecasting producer Presbar Diecastings Ltd, has been fined £140,000 after a worker suffered life threatening injuries when he became trapped in a machine. Manchester Crown Court heard that on 7 July 2015 the worker had entered the middle of the aluminium diecasting machine between the furnace pot and the front bar to clear a build up of metal. Whilst carrying out this routine procedure the robot arm started to move, the worker tried to move out of the way but was trapped by the ladle containing 400 degrees centigrade molten metal attached to the robot arm. He suffered a cardiac arrest and fourth degree burns. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the machine had only been partially guarded making access to the ladle possible. This was despite there being a risk assessment in place at the time of the incident identifying the hazard of contact or entrapment with the ladle. Presbar Diecasting Ltd of Store Street, Manchester pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was fined £140,000 and ordered to pay £9,788.56 costs and £120 victim surcharge. Speaking after the hearing HSE Principal Inspector Mike Sebastian said: “A man suffered life changing injuries which could have been prevented if the machine had been properly guarded. Employers should ensure that they regularly check, assess and review the guarding on their machinery to ensure that all access to dangerous parts in prevented.” For more information and guidance on workplace equipment go to: www.hse.gov.uk/work-equipment-machinery/puwer.htm Notes to Editors: The Health and Safety Executive is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training, new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement hse.gov.uk More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: legislation.gov.uk/ Further HSE news releases are available at press.hse.gov.uk     Journalists should approach HSE press office with any queries on regional press releases. Source link

There are just three weeks remaining before the deadline for entry into the Utility Week Awards 2016. The fourteen award categories are open to any company involved in the utilities sector, with the deadline for entries being 9 September. Companies producing, distributing and retailing energy or water. Other companies are welcome to enter jointly with utility partners. We are looking for those companies that go above and beyond the call of duty, so we will be asking you to demonstrate that you had ambitious aims, proportionate to the size of your company, and that you met or exceeded them. They recognise excellence across the industry, no matter what the sector, the size of the company or the scale of the project. Competition for these awards is fierce, and winning a place on the shortlist is an achievement in itself. We’ll honour all our winners, reveal who are the best of the best – and have a great night out – at the Grosvenor House hotel in Park Lane on 12 December. It’s the industry’s “Christmas party” and a great opportunity to join the great and good as they celebrate the year’s achievements. Entries will be judged by independent panels of industry experts. Our judges know the industry, so they are less impressed by a glossy entry than by one that clearly demonstrates achievements – and backs them up with evidence. So decide where your company has excelled: submit your entries by 9 September and get ready to celebrate your company’s achievements. The important dates to your diary are:  Call for entries – now open Entry deadline – Friday 9 September Shortlist announced – Friday 7 October Award ceremony – Monday 12 December Register your intention to enter here and receive an extra week on the entry deadline and be kept up to date with all the latest new regarding the awards. Utility Week would like to thank Capgemini, Vision Consulting, Tech Mahindra and Lowri Beck for their support of the 2016 Awards.   For more information, visit: www.utilityweekawards.co.uk Source link

Households across the UK believed that the value of their home rose in March with the imbalance between demand and supply underpinning house prices growth. Some 25.1% of the 1,500 households surveyed for the latest House Price Sentiment Index (HPSI) from Knight Frank and Markit Economics, across the UK said that the value of their home had risen over the last month, while 4% said that prices had fallen. This resulted in a HPSI reading of 60.5. This is the thirty-sixth consecutive month that the reading has been above 50. Households in every region perceived that the value of their home rose in March, however there were significant regional variations, reflecting wider trends in pricing across the UK market. Londoners perceived the biggest increase at 71.7, followed by those in the South East at 67.4 and East of England at 66.3. In Scotland and the North West the perceived rate of growth was slower at 53.3 and 54 respectively. The future HPSI, which measures what households think will happen to the value of their property over the next year, rose in March to 71.6, from 69.8 in February. March’s reading was the highest recorded by the index since August 2014. The rise in future sentiment was driven by households in southern England, with those in the South East at 81, the East of England at 80.3 and London at 78.9 were notably more confident than those in the North East at 61.4 and Scotland also at 61.4. ‘The fundamentals for the UK housing market remain steady, especially around mortgage costs which remain at record lows. The imbalance between demand and supply of housing is also underpinning house prices. The delivery of new homes remains some 30 to 40% below the levels needed to start to address the annual shortfall of housing in the UK,’ said Gráinne Gilmore, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank. ‘There have already been several large targeted government policies to try and boost development and ease the path of first time buyers and it is notable the future sentiment reading for 25 to 34 year olds is the highest it has been for 15 months,’ she pointed out. ‘As reflected in the index, the sound fundamentals of the market will combine to support overall prices in the coming year, but as the index also reveals, the market will continue to be multispeed across regions and price bands,’ she added. Tim Moore, senior economist at Markit, explained that the latest survey is a clear signal that UK house prices have stayed on an upward trajectory throughout the first quarter of 2016. ‘One of the factors supporting price sentiment seems to be the expectation that interest rates will remain ultra-low for longer, and this belief has become more widespread so far this year. Households’ current price sentiment is stronger now than at any time over the past 17 months, but the economic landscape is not lacking in potential headwinds for buyer confidence,’ he said. ‘In particular, UK pay growth is uneven at best and slowing at worst, while at the same time some lenders have started to lower their maximum loan to income ratios. Stretched affordability is of course never far from any discussion of UK house prices but it could bite harder now for first time buyers, especially in London and surrounding hotspots,’ he added. BOOKMARK THIS PAGE (What is this?)      Source link