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Any type of dermatitis is an inflammation of the skin and is caused by contact with chemicals and substances used in the workplace. Some irritants cause direct inflammation whilst others may take years to have any affect on the individual and may not necessarily affect the area which was in direct contact with the substance.

Common symptoms of contact dermatitis include blisters, itching and dryness of the skin. This, in turn, can lead to cracking of the skin and weeping.
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The law in this area is covered by The Work at Height Regulations 2005. I shall first deal with the general principles which are applicable in ensuring safe work practices which are to be both followed and applied in the work place.

An obvious but important point to make – Woking at Height; is very, very dangerous!
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Unfortunately brain injuries can occur in a number of different ways and quite often can arise from a blow to the head. This may be caused by a road traffic accident, a bad fall and even sports injuries; this is demonstrated more so in the cases of rugby players and boxers.

Head injury accidents are the most common admittance in to A&E departments every year.
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Sports injury claims are very different to the usual run-of-the-mill injury claims and in my opinion require special consideration.

This is because of the law of ‘consent’. It is very common for the other party (the Defendant) to say allege that those partaking in sporting events know the risks of the sport and should bear the consequences. Most Defendants also usually claim that those involved in sporting contests (as either a participant or a spectator) consent to some risk of injury.
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It’s common sense, the red light means ‘Don’t Cross’, but you look and think the traffic looks pretty far away and you have enough time to cross the road regardless of your red light signal. Well, where do you stand if you cross the junction against the red light signal and are involved in a collision with a vehicle travelling up the road through their green light?
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As is probably given away in its name, you should only use a fog light when there is fog or similar bad conditions!

The rules of the Highway Code states that:

• You MUST use you front and rear fog lights if visibility is seriously reduced
• You MUST NOT use your fog lights if visibility is not reduced
• You should not use your lights to dazzle other road users
• You MUST switch you fog lights off when visibility improves

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The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 cover manual handling operations at work.

The below is just an intro. to the Manual Handling Regulations, there is a lot more to the regulations and I will cover the other stuff in future posts.
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A woman has suffered a horrific facial injury after being attacked by a Staffordshire bull terrier. The 47 year old woman had to have 30 stitches to deal with the wounds she suffered. According to the BBC website, the woman was attacked whilst standing at the door of a tenant’s residence while undertaking her job as a housing officer. She has been left with scars and is now said to be a lot more wary around animals and due to her injuries she had to take five weeks off work.
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Lifting injuries are such common place at work that they are covered by there very own Regulations. These are called, The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 – better known as ‘LOLER’. First of all, let me explain what is meant by the term ‘lifting equipment’?

LOLER defines the term as meaning ‘work equipment for lifting or lowering loads and includes its attachments used for anchoring, fixing or supporting it’.

What Regulations does LOLER impose on my Employer?
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Computers have been commonplace at the workplace for years now and the regulations that cover the screens to protect you are called The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992

These regulations are one of the few which are specifically targeted at a particular type of equipment and a particular activity – that’s your computer screen and the way in which you use it!

So what should your Employer be considering when there is extended use of computer screens in the workplace? In broad terms, the following points should be considered by an Employer:
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