Worrying figures from the Health & Safety Executive, which reports that workplace deaths in the UK last year rose to 144 between April 2017 and March this year, up from 135 in the previous year. This could be a blip – the HSE says the figure has been “broadly level” in recent years – or it could be, as the British Safety Council suggested, the delayed impact of austerity-related budget cuts affecting the HSE’s and local authorities ability to inspect workplaces.
Whatever the explanation, a rise is a cause for concern and underlines the fact that we must never be complacent about health and safety.
The World Cup – not just England’s performance but the whole tournament – went better than almost everyone had expected, and early fears that the UK would run out of beer, cider and other drinks because of a shortage of carbon dioxide fortunately did not materialise. The problem was real, however, caused by extended shutdowns of ammonia and bioethanol plants, which produce the gas as a by-product. Supplies are getting back to normal – but, as analysts warn in our story below, the fragile economics of the ammonia industry mean the underlying problem has not gone away.
These days we’re all familiar with the use of condition monitoring/vibration analysis to track the condition of bearings in vital equipment. Below we report on an unusual and innovative application of the technique in an unexpected area – to solve a problem in a stalled product development programme.
Enjoy reading!
David Fowler, Editor