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Corporate Manslaughter Act
Businesses need a ‘wake up call’ if they are to comply with the 6th April deadline.
Thousands of British companies remain ignorant of the Corporate Manslaughter Act, which comes into force on 6 April 2008. This leaves them vulnerable to very serious criminal charges and puts employees’ lives at risk.
It seems that the smaller the company the greater the confusion and lack of awareness. Just one third of companies with five or less employees understand the implications of the Act on their business, compared with over half of all companies with 50 employees.
Under the new Act, it is the organisation which will be prosecuted for a gross failure in the management of health & safety that causes death. Unlimited fines coupled with a publicity order, requiring an organisation to publicise the fact of its conviction and certain details of the offence in a way specified by the courts, should set alarm bells ringing, making companies sit up and take note.
“The new legislation is a wake up call to the many thousands of employers who freely admit to not understanding or even knowing about the new Act. The report reveals that around a fifth of businesses of all sizes and sectors—from sole traders and SMEs to companies with 500+ employees—have not heard of the Act, even though it becomes law in just three months time. We challenge UK companies to get their ‘Act’ together by 6 April and we are here to help them with the advice and expertise they need, regardless of their size or industry sector.”
~ Brian Nimick, CEO, British Safety Council
Tel: 0208 741 1231. 
Source
above: British companies are leaving themselves vulnerable to very serious criminal charges.
Holiday present
Christmas Day and Boxing Day 2007 were officially the first bank holidays (although not strictly bank holidays) that scrooge bosses in the UK could not count against the European minimum of four weeks holiday. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: ‘We still want UK workers to have more bank holidays to catch up with the European average, and are backing a new Community Day bank holiday in October that will celebrate and encourage community and volunteer activity.’ More
Brits pessimistic over pay packets this year
One in three UK employees expects a cut in their pay package this year, while one in ten expects their company pensions benefits to suffer too. The recent study, entitled ‘Trends in Employee Benefits 2008’, shows a clear disconnect between employee expectations and company outlook. While employees are pessimistic about the year ahead, human resource professionals are generally upbeat about improving benefits and increasing headcount in 2008. More
Health and Safety Executive say ‘Come Clean!’
The Health and Safety Executive are now offering free advice to cut workplace slips and trips. More than 1,000 workers a month suffer a serious injury following a slip, trip or fall in the UK. The HSE is running a free seminar with expert advice for the cleaning industry on how to prevent workplace accidents. Tel: 020 7556 2187. More
Heavy fines in store for employers that ask job applicants about their pension
Asking applicants about their pensions at job interviews could lead to heavy fines for employers; it emerged as the Pensions Bill received its second reading in Parliament recently. The Bill was passed unopposed, but the government signalled its intention to table an amendment at the committee stage to outlaw ‘pension discrimination’. More
British Families back in control
New Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has said flexible working will be one of his party’s key policies in 2008. In his first New Year message, he said ‘putting British families back in control of their everyday lives’ would be at the heart of all Liberal Democrat policies in 2008, adding: ‘We will campaign for flexible working, shared parental leave, and flexible benefits for all families.’ More
Government calls for ‘well notes’ to replace ‘sick notes’
Health secretary Alan Johnson has recently said he wants to see doctors to shift away from sick notes and instead to issue ‘well notes’, setting out what tasks a worker can perform instead of certificates automatically signing them off. The sick note proposal, to be piloted in the summer, will require GPs to offer patients advice about what they can do to get fit for work. Too many people end up drifting on to incapacity benefit via the sick note system. A large body of evidence has identified a more extensive problem from ‘presenteeism’—the working wounded turning in when sick, when it would be in everybody’s best interest for them to keep their germs and their recuperation at home. More
Sick break
Staff on long-term sick leave could be entitled to holiday pay, Europe’s advocate general has said in an opinion that is not binding, but is usually followed by the European Court of Justice. It was announced recently that under the Working Time Directive, employees should accrue holiday pay while absent and added that an employee could not take this holiday entitlement while on sick leave, but was entitled to the money in lieu if their contract was terminated—even if they were off sick for an entire holiday year. More
Money Laundering
April 1st regulation deadline
HMRC is urging TCSPs to register their businesses with HMRC by 1 April 2008 under the new MLR, which came into force on 15 December 2007. TCSPs need to register with HMRC by the deadline if they want to carry on in business.
At the same time, HMRC is alerting ASPs that they will be able to register with HMRC from 1 April 2008. More
Training won’t prevent back pain
If employers do not lift a finger to reduce manual handling at work and just rely on training in ‘safe’ lifting they will not stop workplace back injuries. Employers shouldn’t be relying on their employees lifting heavy weights ‘correctly’ to prevent back injury, but instead should be reducing the weight of things that need to be lifted manually. The Health and Safety Executive will now have to review its advice on manual handling as a matter of urgency. More
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National Office Week
National Office Week is a campaign designed to make your office life gorgeous. Over the year you will have access to all the things that you or your office needs to make it run at the optimum level of efficiency for the best possible price.
- Diary dates for both business and social events.
- Gorgeous office products from our stationery cupboard.
- T.O.D. The Office Directory—home of 100 suppliers.
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