{"id":989,"date":"2009-10-28T11:18:59","date_gmt":"2009-10-28T10:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theinjurylawyers.co.uk\/injury-lawyers-blog\/?p=989"},"modified":"2009-10-28T11:18:59","modified_gmt":"2009-10-28T10:18:59","slug":"coal-uk-employee-dies-due-to-faulty-equipment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theinjurylawyers.co.uk\/injury-lawyers-blog\/2009\/10\/28\/coal-uk-employee-dies-due-to-faulty-equipment\/","title":{"rendered":"Coal UK Employee Dies Due To Faulty Equipment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"coal-mine\"The UK\u2019s biggest coal miner, UK Coal, has suspended production at one of its sites after the death of an employee. According to The Guardian, Mr Ian Cameron died after an equipment failure, the company said.<\/p>\n

This comes hot on the heels of the Health and Safety Executive announcing that it intends to prosecute<\/strong> the company over three deaths which occurred at its Daw Mill site in Warwickshire and one at its Welbeck Colliery site in Mansfield.<\/p>\n

This kind of safety record over the last three years highlights the importance of risk assessments in the workplace. Risk assessments are conducted with the intention of minimising the risks in the workplace, to protect workers from harm.
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Workers have a right to be protected from harm caused by a failure by their employer to take reasonable measures to attempt to control<\/strong> the risks.<\/p>\n

Note the word ‘reasonable<\/em>‘.\u00a0 Employers cannot be expected to eliminate the risk entirely, only to try and take steps to minimise those risks. However, it is an ongoing requirement that employers continue to evaluate and re-evaluate the work place.<\/p>\n

It appears that Mr Cameron was the victim of a faulty piece of equipment and legislation on this matter is covered by the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (or PUWER).\u00a0 This requires that equipment be:<\/p>\n