Dallas McMillan's Glasgow Lawyers' Blog

A Glasgow printing and packaging company has been sentenced after a worker’s hand was severely injured in machinery.

An MP in England has published a Private Members’ Bill that calls for greater fairness for bereaved people and victims of psychiatric harm in England and Wales.

The UK Government’s Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism (SARAH) Bill has recently received Royal Assent and has now become law.

A new partnership has been launched that aims to improve safety on Scotland’s farms and crofts and reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries that occur.

The Scottish Health Secretary Alex Neil has written a letter to the Chairman of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) seeking an urgent meeting to discuss on-going concerns over the use of transvaginal mesh implants.

Male drivers are being urged to get plenty of sleep and take regular breaks, as research from Brake and Direct Line reveals a horrifying 45% admit ‘head-nodding’ at the wheel – meaning they have been asleep briefly, risking appalling crashes.

Personal injury victims who suffered brain damage as a result of their accident should ensure they seek the advice of a specialist personal injury solicitor who is experienced in the specific challenges their claims can bring, claims the Law Society of England and Wales.

Recently published figures have revealed slight falls in a number of key areas of workplace ill-health and injury in Scotland.

Proposed new rules on how old insurance records are searched are a “missed opportunity” to ensure the industry honours its responsibility to sick and dying workers.

Doctors in the UK are to become the first in the world to have regular assessments to ensure that their training and expertise are up-to-date and that they are fit to carry out their roles, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced.

Truro Crown court has heard that an elderly man with dementia was able to wander into another resident's room at his nursing home and fall to his death from a window. Reginald Gibbings, 89, fell 3.6 metres from the room in July 2008.

Dozens of construction sites across Scotland have been put under the spotlight as part of an intensive inspection regime by the Health and Safety Executive.

Plans to introduce legislation to protect people from legal action if they apologise for causing injury are “pointless and misguided” lawyers have said.

InjuriesBoard.ie has released details of its work in the first six months of 2012. Data for the period shows a gradual but consistent increase (4.1%) in claims volumes compared to the same period in 2011. The period also saw the emergence of issue-specific claims linked to Thalidomide and De Puy hip replacements.

National estimates of death following general surgery have been too optimistic, according to the first large-scale study to explore surgical outcomes across Europe, led by Queen Mary, University of London.

Government plans to abolish safety inspections in thousands of businesses across the UK will put the health of millions of workers at risk, the TUC has warned.

Campaigners have welcomed a decision by the Government to rethink its proposals to cut compensation payments for victims of crime.

An independent survey, commissioned by the not-for-profit Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), has found that almost 40% of people who have suffered a whiplash injury have never claimed compensation for it.

A recent study has exposed the distraction and danger to drivers of just having a mobile phone in the car, with a fifth of participants in a simulator situation moving their eyes from the road for more than seven seconds after simply hearing their phone ring.

The simulator study commissioned by esure car insurance reveals that motorists take 23% longer to respond to an unexpected occurrence on the road when trying to send a text message while driving – which equates to the vehicle moving 8.5metres ‘blind’ while driving at 70mph. This lag in reaction times proved larger than the increased reaction times of distractions of arguing children in the backseat (13%) or feeling stressed (4%).

The simulator study further revealed that posting a short status update on, for example facebook - an everyday temptation to those with a smartphone - had various effects in driver performance mainly causing motorists to move across their lane to a greater extent (up to one metre more than in controlled conditions), being less consistent in following distance and driving closer to the vehicle ahead.

These decreases in motoring performance occurred despite drivers slowing down – proving that a reduction in speed does not offset the true dangers of being on a smartphone and the dangers of updating a social networking status.

Two men colluded with each other to commit fraud by falsifying a record stating that a school in Abingdon had been properly cleaned of asbestos.

The "unusual fraud" was confirmed by detective work by one of the men’s employers using GPS tracking technology on the employee’s company van, which proved he had not attended the school when he claimed he had.

The deception by the two men was uncovered after an engineer went to the school to start plumbing work but could see that asbestos material had been left, putting him and others at risk of exposure to dangerous fibres.

He reported it to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which investigated and brought a prosecution against both men.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Andrew Moore said:

"HSE takes exposure to asbestos very seriously. Currently 4,000 people die every year from asbestos-related disease and the onset of these debilitating diseases can occur many years after exposure. That is why there are clear rules and regulations governing its removal and site decontamination, and that is why HSE will prosecute those who flout the legislation."