The National Trust has been ordered to pay more than £10,000 in a fine and costs for breaching passenger boat safety regulations in Poole Harbour.
According to the BBC, the Brownsea Enterprise can take up to 37 passengers and two crew around Brownsea Island in Dorset.
Bournemouth Magistrates’ Court heard that the trust continued to run the vessel after its certificate expired in May 2009.
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Head Teacher Accused of Breaching Health and Safety Laws
According to the BBC, John Summerfield is accused of failing to take reasonable care of pupils by taking them on to the roof of Sacred Heart Catholic College in Crosby, Merseyside.
The pupil, Joel Murray, 18, fell 8ft through a skylight, fracturing his skull, in August 2008.
Magistrates at South Sefton heard Mr Summerfield will deny the charge.
The head teacher’s barrister Patrick Cassidy said Mr Summerfield would be pleading not guilty and would be pleading not guilty and wanted to be tried by a crown court jury.
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Man Found Guilty of Causing Cyclist David McCall’s Death by Dangerous Driving
According to the BBC, the Commonwealth Games medallist was knocked down by Michael Gerard Groome. Mr McCall was taking part in a race near Nutt’s corner in County Antrim in August 2008 when he was fatally injured.
Mr Groome was hurrying to catch a flight when he struck Mr McCall’s bicycle as he was overtaking another vehicle. Initially Mr Groome left the scene of the accident without stopping but did return a short time later.
Mr McCall, a father of two, worked as a civil servant and also jointly ran Sportsactive which organises cycling and walking holidays.
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Concerns over serious fire risks at care homes
According to the BBC, Health and safety inspector James Reid has been giving evidence to the fatal accident inquiry in to the fire at the Rosepark home in Uddingston in 2004.
He said in a report he had compiled a year before he had not included key findings that caused him “concern”. But he said he had discussed the issues raised with the owners of the care homes
The blaze broke out in a cupboard on 31st January 2004, killing fourteen residents and injuring four more.
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Infection Outbreak at Dundee Hospital
According to the BBC, five elderly patients died following the outbreak in a ward of the hospital in October 2009. However, a report by the NHS Tayside has identified a number of shortcomings at the hospital and suggests that several improvements should be made.
One of the key points identified was that the hospital had issues with hand hygiene in the month before the outbreak took place. The report said that an audit of the ward had indicated that hand hygiene compliance on the ward dropped to 85% from 100% the previous months.
However, the report also said that there were no problems identified with cleaning the ward before, during or after the outbreak.
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Doctors Actions Considered “Risky”
According to the BBC, the GMC was told that the actions of Dr Adam Osbourne were “risky”.
The 33-year-old gave medication used to treat schizophrenia to a woman displaying signs of cocaine abuse. He has admitted to prescribing drugs for a friend, family member and girlfriend –but denies inappropriate conduct.
The GMC says doctors can only prescribe for family and friends in emergencies.
The hearing was told Dr Osbourne indulged in “risky” and “inappropriate” practice when he procured the medication.
He admitted failing to record the prescriptions in the “patients” records or informing their GPs. The doctor sparked concern amongst his supervisors and as soon as they discovered his dishonest behaviour they excluded him from practice at Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust.
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Power Station Worker Sacked After Unofficial Strike
According to the BBC, as many as 700 workers were involved in the walk out from Staythorpe Power Station over claims that two Spanish employees had breached scaffolding safety guidelines.
Following a health and safety investigation, site contractor Alstom stated that one employee was potentially at fault and no longer worked there.
Strikers are expected to vote later on whether to return to work.
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Driver Responsible For Train Crash
According to Sky News, the man jumped from his cab moments before the impact, which left 18 people dead.
Despite his leap from the train he did not come away unscathed and police say that he is in a serious condition in hospital and that they are waiting to interview him.
The incident occurred outside the train station at Buizingen, nine miles southwest of Brussels at 8.30am. Both trains were reported to have been travelling slowly. The governor of the region, Mr Lodewijk De Witte, has suggested that one of the two trains had gone through a red light and that this was the cause of the crash. However, National Railways spokesman Jochen Goovaerts said investigators will examine the black boxes of the two trains to try and establish what went wrong. He stated “There are a lot of possible explanations to this tragedy. We don’t want to put the blame where it doesn’t belong.”
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Advertisements shown on the digital channel ITV3 were so loud that they breached regulations.
According to the BBC, the Advertising Standards Authority (or ASA) ruled that the eight advertisements which aired during an episode of Sherlock Holmes were “excessively strident”.
However, it did state that noise complaints have gone down regarding advertisements over the last two years since the rules were tightened.
ITV3 stated that as the series was made in the 1980s it had many silent pauses so the commercial seemed louder. They also stated that the loudness of the advertisements were “appropriate and consistent in the context of the overall loudness of the channel”.
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According to the BBC, utility companies employed to carry out the works only completed them to the required standard in 75% of cases during 2009.
Devon county council have indicated that it could cost them as much as £4 million to put right the work which has been done to an inadequate standard since 2005.
However, the figure of 75% is actually an increase on the previous year’s repairs when only 55% where completed to the correct standard in 2008.
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