Safety Archives - Hoang Viet

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Nov 4 2024

Cladding safety work needs target date to stop residents living with fear of fire, says government spending watchdog | UK News

Thousands of people living in buildings with dangerous cladding should be a given a target date for when their homes will be made safe, says Whitehall’s spending watchdog.

Between 9,000 and 12,000 buildings are expected to need their cladding dealt with, at a cost of around £16bn.

However, more than 7,200 of those buildings are yet to be identified and some may never be, according to the National Audit Office (NAO).

It warned work to make all those buildings safe may not be achieved in the next decade, leaving residents “living with the fear of fire and costly bills”.

The NAO report, published today, said the impacts of dangerous cladding “have extended far beyond the immediate victims of the Grenfell fire, with many people suffering significant financial and emotional distress”.

Although the Building Safety Act 2022 means most leaseholders don’t have to pay for remediation costs, many have seen hikes in service charges because of increased insurance premiums, struggled to get mortgages and are unable to move home, according to the report.

Some are also paying for “waking watches” to patrol buildings while waiting for cladding to be removed, with an average cost of £104 a month per home.

In the seven years since the Grenfell Tower fire claimed the lives of 72 people, campaigners have repeatedly criticised the slow process of remediation work.

Of the 4,821 buildings already identified as needing work, only half had either started or completed remediation works.

“Pace has been a persistent concern and remediation within the portfolio is progressing more slowly than [the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG)] expected,” said the NAO report.

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The department estimates cladding remediation will be completed by 2035, but the NAO warned this will be “challenging to achieve”.

It also warned taxpayer costs need to be kept down to meet the £5.1bn cap set by the government, and building developers would need to pay.

Their contributions aren’t expected to be collected until next autumn under a new levy.

“Putting the onus on developers to pay and introducing a more proportionate approach to remediation should help to protect taxpayers’ money. Yet it has also created grounds for dispute, causing delays,” said Gareth Davies, head of the NAO.

“To stick to its £5.1bn cap in the long run, MHCLG needs to ensure that it can recoup funds through successful implementation of the proposed Building Safety Levy.”

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Oct 8 2024

Lab-grown food may be a step closer to being approved in UK as watchdog to research its safety | UK News

Lab-grown meat and vegetable products may be getting closer to approval for consumption in the UK as the food safety watchdog will be researching them to ensure they are safe.

Cell-cultivated products (CCPs) are a new type of food made without using traditional farming methods such as rearing livestock or growing plants and grains.

Their attraction for both consumers and investors lies in their apparent sustainability as they don’t need huge amounts of land, while the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from livestock are also slashed.

With the use of science and technology, cells from plants or animals are grown in a controlled environment to make the new product.

There are currently no CCPs approved for human consumption in the UK.

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The Food Standards Agency (FSA), with Food Standards Scotland, won the bid to be awarded £1.6m in funding from the government’s Engineering Biology Sandbox Fund (EBSF) for the two-year programme.

Announcing the funding, the FSA said it needed to learn “about these products and how they’re made, to make sure they’re safe to for consumers to eat”.

“This information will enable us to make well-informed and more timely science and evidence-based recommendations about product safety and address questions that must be answered before any CCPs can enter the market.

“It will also allow us to better guide companies on how to make products in a safe way and how to demonstrate this to us.”

Professor Robin May, chief scientific advisor at the FSA, said: “Ensuring consumers can trust the safety of new foods is one of our most crucial responsibilities.

“The CCP sandbox programme will enable safe innovation and allow us to keep pace with new technologies being used by the food industry to ultimately provide consumers with a wider choice of safe foods.”

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Jun 10 2024

Dr Michael Mosley: After a painstaking four-day search, TV doctor’s body was found just metres from safety at beach resort | World News

It is the strangest of scenes at the tiny resort on Agia beach.

Holidaygoers spread out on sunbeds, people swim in the Mediterranean turquoise sea and the only noise is from waves lapping up against the rocks.

A wired fence surrounds the resort, the only access at a small gate by the sea on the northern tip.

Just outside the perimeter, two men stand over a body, which Greek officials say is that of Dr Michael Mosley.

He’d been missing for four days and police said they believed he had walked north from Pedi marina in the direction of Agia beach.

For four days, ground search teams and a helicopter had painstakingly searched this area. They were convinced Dr Mosley was walking towards the resort.

In the end it was a cameraman from a Greek television channel who found him.

Antonios Mystilovlou told us he was on a boat this morning and thought he had seen something in the rocks.

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He returned to the marina about 10 minutes away and looked more closely at his footage before realising what he was looking it.

“There was the body. He was laying down with his hand on his belly and he’s carrying his bag in his other hand,” he told Sky News.

Mr Mystilovlou said the body was about 50 metres from the sea.

“I think he was planning to get down and got tired, dizzy, I don’t know… sat down and fainted, that’s my guess.

“This is a very, very sad ending for him and his family.”

Mr Mystilovlou holds back tears as he acknowledges the grief this news will no doubt bring to Dr Mosley’s family.

It is the sentiment echoed by a man in charge of the volunteer crisis rescue team. As he perches on a sun bed metres away from the body, a Greek coastguard official consoles him.

“A man died but it took so long to find him,” the rescue team chief says.

Just after 2pm, a coroner arrives from Rhodes. She and her team take photos of the scene before carefully wrapping the body in an orange cloth.

A coastguard boat is waiting at the shore to take the body to Rhodes for a post-mortem and formal identification.

It takes about half an hour to gently lift it on to a stretcher and carry it 50 metres down to the sea.

A journey Dr Mosley never ended up making himself.

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Mar 13 2024

A day out with Labour MP Zarah Sultana reveals how she constantly has to think about her safety | Politics News

Zarah Sultana starts every event she attends the same way.

She has to log the date, location and time into a little mechanical device at each destination so security teams know where she is.

That way, if any danger were to occur, her colleagues and the parliamentary authorities can send support as quickly as possible.

She’s the Labour MP for Coventry South and the youngest Muslim MP ever elected in this country and believes this is partly the reason why this year – according to parliament’s own records – she’s the most at-risk MP online.

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Since the 7 October attacks by Hamas on Israel, there has been a noticeable uptick in the hatred and abuse she receives online and she says, ever since she has started talking about Palestinian rights, the abuse has come thick and fast.

Often when talking about abuse, out of politeness, we risk sanitising the words that people direct towards her. So I cautiously ask her whether she would mind being open about what life is like for her on an average day.

She candidly whips out her phone and rattles off some of the types of abuse she has to deal with.

“‘You should be deported b***h,” the first one reads.

“Go home to Pakistan,” another abuser writes.

The last one before I stop her is the most shocking – it simply says: “Send that b***h to Palestine they are low on targets.”

I ask her why then she’s on social media at all. She insists it’s a crucial part of the job and it’s the most effective way to communicate with constituents as a young MP.

I’m accompanying her over 24 hours to see how these threats have impacted her, but in the process I’m amazed at how many security decisions she’s constantly making. She avoids public transport when she can, she’s thinking of any exits of every building she walks into in case of threats, and she is never alone on visits.

Out door-knocking with her and her team I casually mention that this is perhaps the most exposing part of being an MP.

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It involves knocking on strangers’ doors to ask for their vote. She accepts it’s part of the job but acknowledges the risks and says there have been times where she’s not been completely sure she was on solid ground in terms of her safety.

But she doesn’t want to let that get in the way of being an MP.

MP safety is a live issue and members’ duties have become more risky for members under threat.

Two MPs who were killed in their constituencies cast a long shadow.

Jo Cox was brutally murdered in 2016 and Sir David Amess was fatally stabbed five years later.

The risks are very real to sitting members of the House of Commons and for some MPs they see that risk as too high.

Mike Freer, a Conservative MP whose office was targeted in an arson attack on Christmas Eve last year, said he would be standing down at the next election, citing safety concerns as the reason.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak railed against “extremist forces trying to tear us apart” during a Downing Street address to the nation just over a week ago.

Parliamentary authorities say that safety is fundamental to democracy and offer a range of security measures for members.

More at risk MPs are entitled to more offerings and the security minister has said private cars have been given to some female MPs significantly at risk.

Ms Sultana is now upping her security – something needed even more as she starts campaigning to keep her seat in Coventry South.

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Feb 26 2024

Three female MPs given bodyguards as safety fears grow | Politics News

Three female MPs have been given bodyguards and chauffeur-driven cars amid growing concern about politicians’ safety.

It comes after a risk assessment by an organisation that helps protect the Royal Family and the prime minister.

RAVEC (the Royal and VIP Executive Committee) conducted the review after a recent increase in the threat level faced by MPs.

There are fears politicians could be targeted by extremists because of the Israel-Hamas war.

Private security staff and other measures, such as panic alarms, are in place at constituency surgeries and homes of other MPs believed to be at risk.

The three female MPs given bodyguard protection include both Tory and Labour members.

As part of Operation Bridger – a programme to protect MPs – police now email every week to get an itinerary of their whereabouts and any public events.

The initiative began after the murders of Labour’s Jo Cox in 2016, and Conservative MP Sir David Amess in 2021.

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner told Sky News this month she no longer goes out socially because of threats and abuse.

Ms Rayner and a colleague recently had to be escorted from a fundraiser that was interrupted by protesters angry at Labour’s stance on Gaza.

One MP – who’s had death threats themselves – told Sky News: “We are all getting this – it’s become normal for most controversial votes now.”

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In 2022, Tory MP Mike Freer said he would start wearing a stab vest and carrying a panic alarm when meeting the public.

Operation Bridger was also triggered this month at the home of Bournemouth MP Tobias Ellwood.

Mr Elwood told Sky News that between 60 and 80 people gathered outside – some with signs claiming he is “complicit in genocide” – while his children were indoors.

Security minister Tom Tugendhat and policing minister Chris Philp have urged police to use “robust” measures to tackle protesters who “intimidate and harass” MPs.

“The intimidation of democratically elected representatives is unacceptable,” their letter said.

“It’s important that our elected representatives are able to feel safe in their homes, free from fear and harassment.”

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Jan 23 2024

Lib Dem Lords to ignore convention and vote against Safety of Rwanda bill | Politics News

Liberal Democrat peers are poised to ignore a convention dating back to Gladstone’s day to stage a protest against the Rwanda bill in the House of Lords.

The Lib Dem group has announced that its 80 peers will vote against the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill at its second reading next Monday.

It’s a highly unusual move and won’t win support from Labour peers, who regard such tactics as a publicity stunt used by smaller parties like the Lib Dems to gain media coverage.

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And Downing Street is urging peers “not to frustrate the will of the people”, claiming that as the Rwanda bill has the support of the Commons it should be passed by the Lords.

Traditionally, opposition parties don’t vote against government bills at second reading in the Lords, but instead move amendments at committee stage which are then voted on at report stage.

But the Liberal Democrats claim that since the Rwanda policy wasn’t in the Conservative general election manifesto, the convention supported by Labour and the Tories doesn’t apply.

Last year, the Lib Dems moved a motion to “decline” the government’s Illegal Migration Bill at its second reading in the Lords. That was rejected by 179 votes to 76 and a similar result is likely this time.

The deal between the major parties is known as the Salisbury-Addison Convention, which evolved because of big Conservative majorities in the House of Lords during Liberal and Labour governments.

Lord Salisbury was Conservative prime minister in the 1880s and 90s, before and after Liberal giant William Gladstone, and Lord Addison was Labour leader in the Lords after Clement Attlee’s 1945 general election landslide.

But a government defeat in the Lords this week, on a motion to delay ratifying the Rwanda treaty until safeguards have been implemented, has emboldened the Lib Dems to defy the convention again.

In a defeat that spells trouble for Rishi Sunak, peers voted by 214 votes to 171, a hefty majority of 43, in favour of calls for protections to be introduced before deportation flights can take off for Rwanda.

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Revealing the Lib Dems’ intention to vote against the bill, a spokesperson told Sky News: “From the beginning, Liberal Democrats have been clear: We have no faith in the Conservatives’ failing Rwanda scheme.

“It’s totally unworkable and extortionately expensive for the taxpayer. Of course, we all want to stop boat crossings in the channel, but this policy will do nothing of the sort.

“So much time and money has already been wasted, with nothing to show for it. Instead, we want a long-term sustainable solution, which must include an efficient processing system to clear the asylum backlog, and safe and legal routes for refugees.

“We have opposed the bill every step of the way, voting against it at every stage in the Commons. It should be no surprise that our strategy will be the same in the Lords.”

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A party source added: “The Rwanda bill is not a manifesto bill. We wouldn’t be voting against it if was in a manifesto. And the convention was a pact between the Tories and Labour. We’re not formally a party to it.

“We voted against the Illegal Migration Bill at second reading and we feel the same way about the Rwanda bill. Since the Lords voted against the treaty this week it makes logical sense to vote against the bill as well.”

But a Labour source told Sky News: “No. We’re not backing it. Why would we stop abiding by our long-term commitment to the Salisbury-Addison convention?

“The whole thing of trying to stop a second reading is obviously a way of a smaller party getting some coverage for something that won’t happen.”

Reacting to the defeat on the Rwanda treaty and looking ahead to the bill’s second reading, a Number 10 Downing Street source told Sky News: “It’s disappointing, but Labour are once again voting against our plans to stop the boats.

“We urge the Lords not to frustrate the will of the people.

“This is the toughest legislation ever introduced in Parliament to tackle illegal migration and makes clear that if you come here illegally you will not be able to stay.

“The bill has the support of the Commons, it is now in the House of Lords. We need to get this through to ensure we get flights off to Rwanda, deter people from making perilous journeys across the Channel and stop the boats.”

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Sep 15 2023

Brixton Academy will be allowed to reopen after deadly crowd crush if it can meet 77 ‘robust’ safety conditions | UK News

The Brixton Academy will be allowed to reopen after a fatal crowd crush at the venue last year – but Lambeth Council said the venue will have to meet 77 conditions to open again safely.

It comes after security guard Gaby Hutchinson, 23, and Rebecca Ikumelo, 33, died at the south London venue on 15 December 2022, when fans without tickets tried to enter a show by Nigerian Afrobeat artist, Asake.

Both victims were in the foyer of the building when they were critically injured, the Metropolitan Police said. About 1,000 people were outside the venue at the time.

The council said the Academy will have to meet 77 “extensive and robust” conditions “designed to promote public safety” before it could reopen, in a decision announced today.

Following the crush, which also injured 10 people, the venue was ordered to shut down after its licence was suspended by Lambeth Council in December.

A hearing of the council’s licensing subcommittee to decide the venue’s ultimate fate began on Monday.

The initial decision to close Brixton Academy was supported by the venue’s owner, Academy Music Group, which offered to voluntarily close the site’s doors over the suspension period.

The Metropolitan Police has also previously urged the council to act.

Gerald Gouriet KC, who represented the Met at an earlier licensing meeting, said officers found “large-scale disorder” with crowds eventually pushing the doors open in the moments before the crush.

A police investigation was launched, and the Security Industry Authority (SIA) opened an inquiry into corruption allegations that some security staff at the venue regularly took bribes.

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Meanwhile, a petition was launched calling for the venue to reopen. It surpassed 100,000 signatures.

Members of well-known bands, such as Blur and The Chemical Brothers, supported the reopening of the venue.

Asake was forced to abandon the gig last December after performing three songs and released a statement saying his “heart is with those who were injured”.

His manager, Stephen Nana, later told Sky News he was “completely speechless and lost for words” after Ms Hutchinson’s death was announced.

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Apr 6 2023

Hospital leaders fear for patient safety ahead of ‘unprecedented’ strike by junior doctors | UK News

Hospital leaders have expressed serious concerns about how they will maintain patient safety as the health service enters “unchartered territory” during “unprecedented” strike action next week.

Junior doctors who are training in England will stage their longest walkout so far between 11 and 15 April.

The 96-hour strike is likely to be the most disruptive in the history of the health service due to the length of the action and the fact doctors have chosen to stage it directly after a long bank holiday weekend.

The bank holiday traditionally causes disruption to the NHS even without the prospect of strike action.

The walkout also coincides with the Easter school holidays, which means many consultant staff who provided cover during the first round of strikes will be unable to do so again due to pre-planned holidays and childcare commitments.

NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said the timing of the strike and its duration present a “range of challenges over and above the disruption seen from the industrial action in recent months”.

It said that during the strike, the NHS will focus resources on emergency treatment, critical care, maternity, neonatal care and trauma.

But even in these areas, there are “real concerns of a raised risk to safety”, NHS Providers said.

The strikes could lead to delays for some patients starting treatment – for instance, if a new cancer patient needed to start weekly rounds of chemotherapy, the start of their treatment may be delayed until after the strike action to ensure continuity.

Last month’s 72-hour walkout led to about 175,000 hospital appointments and operations being postponed.

Hospital leaders have raised concerns with NHS Providers about the impact of the strike.

“This is less about what planned routine work gets pulled down and everything about maintenance of safety in emergency departments, acute medicine and surgery,” one hospital trust chief executive said.

“Concerned doesn’t begin to describe it.”

Another said: “I am not confident this time that we can maintain patient safety as we will not be able to provide the cover.”

“Many of the consultants who stepped up to do nights last time are not available or are more reluctant this time,” a third said.

While another added: “Those with families almost certainly won’t as [they] can’t rearrange out of school holidays.”

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Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “It’s clear from our extensive dialogue with trust leaders that we are in uncharted territory.

“Yet again we are seeing colleagues pull out all the stops to minimise disruption and ensure patient safety. But the challenges here are unprecedented.”

Dr Latifa Patel, workforce lead for the British Medical Association, said: “No one understands better than us, the doctors who care for them, that patients are getting a substandard experience 365 days a year from an overstretched and understaffed NHS.

“In this brutal work environment, patient care is at risk every day due to chronic staff shortages and years of underinvestment in equipment and services.

“Junior doctors have no desire to strike, they been pushed into this action by long-term government inaction and now want to bring this dispute to an end as quickly as possible.

“We hope the health secretary will come to the table immediately with a meaningful pay offer so doctors can avoid more strike action and instead return to doing what they want to be doing: caring for their patients.”

A department of health and social care spokesperson said: “Four days of strikes by junior doctors will risk patient safety and cause further disruption and postponed treatment.

“The BMA’s demand for a 35% pay rise is totally unreasonable and unaffordable.

“We urge them to come to the table with a realistic approach so we can find a way forward, as we have done with other health unions, which balances fairly rewarding junior doctors for their hard work with meeting the prime minister’s ambition to halve inflation.

“We are working with NHS England to put in place contingency plans to protect patient safety.

“The NHS will prioritise resources to protect emergency treatment, critical care, maternity and neonatal care, and trauma.”

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Mar 1 2023

Search continues for aristocrat’s baby as fears grow for its safety | UK News

An urgent search for the baby of aristocrat Constance Marten and her partner Mark Gordon has entered its second day amid growing fears for the child’s safety.

Marten and Gordon were arrested in Brighton on Monday on suspicion of child neglect after being spotted by a member of the public at about 9.30pm.

They were further arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter on Tuesday.

More than 200 police officers are looking for the child and they have been concentrating on an allotment and woodland in the city.

A helicopter, sniffer dogs, thermal cameras and drones have joined the search, which has widened to include the area towards Newhaven.

Marten, 35, and Gordon, 48, were reported missing on 5 January after their car caught fire on the M61, near Bolton.

It is believed Marten had given birth just a few days before.

They were spotted multiple times in the days that followed, including in Liverpool, Essex, south London and East Sussex.

Concerns about their baby grew as it is not thought to have had any medical care.

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Met Police Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford said the couple had not given them information about the child’s whereabouts or even disclosed its gender.

“We now have to consider the possibility that the baby has come to harm,” he told reporters.

He said he still hoped the baby could be found alive but that the cold weather was an obvious risk to its safety.

“Clearly the risk is getting higher… this may not end in the way we would like, but we need to remain hopeful,” he said.

He added they were still open-minded about the possibility the child may have been given to someone else to look after.

Chief Superintendent James Collis, from Sussex Police, said the search area was “vast” at about 91 square miles and centred on land between Brighton and Newhaven – about seven miles further down the coast.

He also appealed for people to contact the force with any information or potential sightings over the last few weeks.

Marten’s father, Napier Marten, told The Independent it was “an immense relief” to know the couple had been located but “very alarming news her baby has yet to be found”.

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Feb 26 2023

Majority of drivers say aggressive cyclists threaten their safety | UK News

Almost two-thirds of drivers have said they believe aggressive cyclists are a threat to their safety.

Around 2,000 motorists in the UK were polled by road safety charity IAM RoadSmart for a survey, which also revealed that 60% of drivers believe aggressive cyclists are now a bigger problem, compared with three years ago.

A similar percentage of people said they would not support a law assuming drivers are always responsible for collisions with cyclists or pedestrians in urban areas.

“The government has introduced a range of laws in recent years in an effort to fix the daily conflicts we see between motorists and cyclists,” IAM RoadSmart director of policy and research Neil Greig said.

“However, if our research is anything to go by, this has largely been to no avail, with the majority of respondents still reporting aggression and conflict among road users.”

Mr Greig added that there was “no quick-fix” to this issue, but that the research revealed an urgent need for the government to continue to educate people on the new Highway Code.

The charity director also advised the government to invest in safe road markings for those who are “vulnerable road users,” in order to minimise the chance of “conflict”.

“In the meantime, all road users, whether on two or four wheels, should exercise calmness and restraint to help us all use Britain’s roads safely.”

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Some 108 people were killed in 2021 in crashes where aggressive driving was a contributory factor.

Cyclists can also cause ‘real harm’ when there’s ‘lack of care’

A “death by dangerous cycling” law was proposed in 2022, by then transport secretary Grant Shapps.

Under this plan, cyclists who kill other road users would be treated the same as motorists.

Mr Shapps said the law is needed “to impress on cyclists the real harm they can cause when speed is combined with lack of care,” he said in the Mail last year.

“We need to crack down on this disregard for road safety. Relatives of victims have waited too long for this straightforward measure,” he added.

Nearly four out of five (78%) respondents to the IAM RoadSmart survey said people driving motor vehicles aggressively are putting their safety at risk.

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