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So you’re thinking that is possibly one of the most random questions you have ever been asked – “Really” how dangerous can cutting the lawn be unless of course its at the control of the crazy Lawnmower man from that Pierce Brosnan movie of the same name?

Well, Lawnmower accidents, are more common and more serious than you might first think.

We all do it, every year the minute the weather turns nice we’re straight out there cutting the grass back and keeping it neat.

It is usually a job taken up by our other half’s admittedly (i.e. men) but should we all be aware of the risks?
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Two men have each been fined £2000 after 10 people were hurt following the collapse of a fairground ride in Suffolk. Fairground owner Walter Shufflebottom was found guilty of failing to properly maintain the fairground, while Inspector Frederick Meakin, of the Fairground Inspection Services in Leicestershire, had examined the ride on which the incident occurred on two occasions.

According to the BBC, both men admitted safety breaches over the incident, which occurred in Long Melford in November 2007.

The incident involved several cars on the Hellraiser ride coming loose and crashing in to each other. One of the injured parties, a woman aged 24, suffered multiple injuries including broken ribs.
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A four-year-old boy has been killed after he was mauled by an illegal breed of dog. The dog was a “pitbull-terrier type” and as such was banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act. John Paul Massey died from head and neck injuries following the attack at his grandmother’s home in Wavertree.

According to the BBC, his grandmother, Helen Foulkes, was also attacked as she tried to protect her grandson from the dog and received bites to her legs and body. Merseyside police have been forced to apologise, as they failed to follow up the complaints of a housing officer, who suspected illegal dog breeding was taking place. The police are alleged to have stated that it was not a police matter.
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A new law will come in to effect in Scotland this week preventing under 18s using sunbeds.

According to the BBC, the Public Health Act will see an end to unmanned, coin operated tanning salons and a ban on the sale or hire of sunbeds to those under 18, with fines handed out for those caught flouting the law.

This comes on the back of statistics stating that skin cancer rates have quadrupled over the past 30 years.

Cancer Research UK are delighted with the ruling and are now lobbying for further legislation to cover the rest of the UK.

Sarah Woolnough, head of Policy at Cancer Research stated that “…sunbeds [are] now classified in the highest risk category for cancer” and that there is “…strong scientific evidence to show the damage that they are causing to skin- both increasing skin cancer risk and ageing the skin.”
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The Health Protection Agency is investigating a number of cases of E. Coli O157 in travellers returning from Benidorm in Spain. According to the BBC, the Health Protection Agency (or HPA) have already been made aware of 14 confirmed cases of gastrointestinal infection.

Four of those suffering have been admitted to hospitals in the UK as a result of the bacteria, two of whom have now been discharged.

The HPA is now working in conjunction with the Spanish health authorities to investigate the illness and plans to interview the confirmed sufferers to try and identify a possible source which may have led to the outbreak of the illness.

E. Coli O157 is a particularly nasty strain of bacteria and while some people may be unaffected, others may suffer from mild or bloody diarrhoea. However, it is possible that some people may suffer from kidney failure. Children are the most vulnerable in this respect.
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New Look, the high street fashion chain, have been fined £400,000 for fire safety breaches following a blaze at one of their branches in London.

 According to the BBC, staff ignored smoke pouring out of a window at the shop, located on Oxford Street. The fire alarm sounded but was then switched off. Shop staff initially failed to react before panicking and evacuating customers from the shop. No-one was hurt in the accident; however judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC, sitting at Southwark Crown Court, stated that the fire could have been “a disaster almost too awful to contemplate”.

The fire occurred in April 2007 and began in the shop’s second floor storeroom. According to shopper Joanne Weaver, the fire alarm in the store went off intermittently but the initial absence of staff reaction did not “suggest there was a problem”. Ms Weaver and as many as 20 other shoppers were allowed to continue down to the basement floor before a member of staff announced that the shop was being evacuated.
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Patients in Scotland are facing an average wait of almost 2 hours in hospital casualty departments. The good news is that this falls within the national waiting time targets of four hours. The bad news? Waiting times are increasing.

According to The Times, Nicola Sturgeon, the Health Secretary has announced that waiting times have risen from an average wait on one hour and 10 minutes in 1999, the year of Scottish devolution, up to one hour and 44 minutes in A&E’s in Scotland between April and June 2009.

Conservative public health spokesman Jackson Carlaw was damning in his critique of the statistics stating, “they do not reflect well on the health policies of any administration since the advent of devolution” and urged the Health Secretary to “investigate these appalling figures before making clear what the government intends to do to turn things around”.
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Two men have been executed in China following their role in a scandal involving tainted milk powder. The powder resulted in the death of six children and left more than 300,000 other infants ill.

According to the BBC, the milk powder became contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical used in the making of plastics and fertilisers. When mixed with food products it can cause kidney stones and kidney failure.

Between July 2007 and August 2008 over 770 tonnes of the tainted milk powder was sold in China.

Mr Zhang Yujun was convicted of endangering public safety by dangerous means, and Mr Geng Jinping was convicted of supplying milk containing melamine. The Xianhua news agency confirmed that both were executed on Tuesday, but did not reveal where.
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Safety reviews are being conducted on all 1,800 bridges in Cumbria following severe flooding in the area. Six bridges have already collapsed in the area and a further bridge has been condemned due to suspicions it may be about to fall.

The collapse of the bridges and flooding of the area have caused chaos with people evacuated from their homes and some people have already been killed as a result. Amongst those was PC Bill Barker, who died on Friday morning when a bridge outside Workington collapsed.

According to the BBC, the conditions have forced the closure of schools and are playing havoc with commutes. Fire crews and structural engineers are monitoring the worst hit areas to ensure that buildings are safe.
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A traditional Bonfire night celebration may come to an end after two men suffered serious burns in a tar barrel explosion.

According to the BBC, the event involves flaming tar barrels being carried through Ottery St Mary in Devon and has been ongoing since the 17^th Century. It attracts as many as 20,000 people to the town.

However, according to police one of the crowd appears to have thrown an aerosol in to a barrel, causing an explosion. One of the men suffered serious facial burns and another received burns to his hand. In addition, a further 10 people received minor burn injuries.
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