WINCANTON: A set of industry guidelines on height-associated safety for building material delivery is available to merchants.

UK: Small businesses in the construction industry now have free access to professional occupational health advice to help with individual employee health issues - just by calling a 'Health for Work Adviceline'.

WOKING: A Surrey woodworking company has been given a conditional discharge after a worker was seriously injured by large falling MDF boards.

BIRMINGHAM: HRA Builders' Merchants was fined £11 585 including costs for using an unsafe mezzanine floor.

BOLTON: DC Kennedy Homes has been fined £7500 after Ian Smith, 64, was killed when he fell from an unstable ladder.

BURY ST EDMUNDS: East Anglian building supplies and glass contracting company Kent Blaxill is one of the latest companies to be accepted by a national scheme designed to help raise industry safety standards.

UK: As Britain shivers in a big freeze, many businesses are allowing staff to work from home rather than risk treacherous journeys. However, business owners may not realise they are responsible for their staff's welfare while they're working at home.

GATESHEAD: A construction company has been ordered to pay £4500 after one of its workers was seriously injured when a forklift truck telehandler he was operating overturned.

ENNISKILLEN: Balcas, one of Britain's and Ireland's largest wood products suppliers, was fined £50 000 for a breach of health and safety laws which led to a worker's death.

BRIDGWATER: Manufacturers have responded well to the introduction of Building Regulations Part B and there is now a range of new products available to help meet the latest fire safety regulations.

The Regulations, which came into force two years ago, specify the provisions that have to be made with regard to fire safety, fire resistance and structural strength of materials.

LONDON: Time is running out for businesses to trade in their old, damaged or broken ladders for new ones. The Health and Safety Executive's Ladder Exchange project closes its doors on 31 December.

CUMBERNAULD: The Health and Safety Executive has teamed with the Working Well Together campaign and Beatsons Building Supplies to stage a safety event for stonemasons.

COVENTRY: Jewson, the supplier of timber and building materials, has joined forces with the Health and Safety Executive to help warn tradesmen of the dangers of asbestos.

BOSTON: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning illegal gas fitters that their dangerous and potentially life threatening behaviour will not be tolerated.

MARGATE: A stone company has been fined after a delivery driver had to have his left arm amputated when slabs, weighing 220 kilograms each, fell on him.

LEEDS: As part of Rhodar's drive to continually improve all that they do with respect to their core business of asbestos removal, they have developed an unusual yet very effective way of health and safety training – a board game.

LEAMINGTON SPA: All of Wolseley’s UK businesses including Build Center, Plumb Center and Parts Center will again be showing their support for the HSE’s Asbestos ‘The Hidden Killer’ campaign which begins on 2nd November and runs for four weeks.

SHIPLEY: As cases of swine flu soar, workplace equipment provider Slingsby is being inundated with orders for products that will help to protect employees against the disease.

UK: Brian Smith, the Trading Standards Institute’s lead officer for crime and disorder said his organisation was concerned by new figures that show a quarter of a million gas jobs are potentially botched every year by irresponsible traders.

LONDON: Asbestos-related disease accounts for around 4000 deaths a year, the biggest single cause of work-related deaths in Great Britain. More people die as a result of exposure to asbestos than in road accidents.

TIPTON: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted West Midlands Installations after one of its employees injured his head and ribs when he fell from a racking storage unit that he was assembling at Toolbank Specialist Services in Halesowen.

SOLIHULL: At the Mineral Products Association [MPA] Best Practice Awards 2009, Lafarge's ongoing commitment to industry-leading occupational health and safety was recognised with a collection of awards and commendations spanning its entire business operations.

HEREFORDSHIRE: Pontrilas Timber & Builders' Merchants was prosecuted after a worker had his hand pulled into a machine and nailed to a pallet.

PONTRILAS: A Herefordshire builders’ merchant has been prosecuted after a worker had his hand pulled in to a machine and nailed to a pallet.

LONDON: Major changes in work place safety requirements take effect on 1 October.

The Health and Safety Executive believes many employers are ill-prepared and could face fines.

Changes, including reclassifying medium sized businesses into low or high risk, means companies many need more trained first-aiders among their employees.

Following the success of the hard-hitting short film produced at the end of last year, the BWF-CERTIFIRE Fire Door and Doorset Scheme has been holding seminars to educate those involved in the specification, installation and maintenance of fire safety measures about the importance of third party certificated fire doors.

LIVERPOOL: Employers must be aware of the serious dangers posed to their employees working near overhead power cables, warns leading law firm Mace & Jones.

The warning comes after a man suffered serious burns when he was hit by an electrical charge while using a control lever to move the extending arm of his truck to tip waste.

John Brash has welcomed the recent publication of BS 2482:2009: Specification for timber scaffold boards, which updates the previous 1982 standard.

The British Standard now includes a new 1.2m support span for 38mm scaffold boards. This is in addition to the 1.5m support span for 38mm and 63mm boards that were covered in the earlier version.

LONDON: Craig Philips, construction entrepreneur and winner of the first series of Big Brother will be giving his support to the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) ladder safety campaign for 2009.

SHIPLEY: Despite new legislation being introduced earlier this year, which now makes imprisonment an option for most health and safety offences, some employers are still putting their employees at risk by not providing them with the correct protective work wear and equipment for their jobs.