Hello and welcome to

Connect

Hello and welcome to another issue of Connect.

With the UK public about to go to the polls on Thursday 6 May, we’ve published the results of our Election Special – with some surprising voting trends.

For example, nearly four out of ten members who voted think the Conservatives are right to say that the burden and impact of health and safety legislation has become too great over the last decade.

Also, 42 per cent of members who voted think the Liberal Democrats are right to say that fines for health and safety breaches are much too low and that there should be an emphasis on risk assessment and efficient targeting of resources followed up by hefty fines to remind employers and employees of their responsibilities.

It’s perhaps the overall share of votes across the five questions that throws up the most surprising result. Support for Labour among those members who voted in our Election Special stands at 35 per cent: two per cent ahead of the Conservatives and 11 per cent ahead of the Liberal Democrats.

I’d like to thank everyone who voted in our Election Special, and to those who emailed or called us. I hope many of you found it useful.

In this issue of Connect, we look at a tragic case involving a construction worker who drowned after the dumper truck he was driving overturned into a flooded quarry.

We also speak to Lisa Masterman, head of health and safety services at International Media Group (IMG), who talks about Channel 4’s reality TV hit Alone in the Wild and how the social media phenomenon Twitter became an integral part of the programme’s risk assessment.

As well as our regular features we also have a round up of the latest industry news, including details of the inquest into the deaths of two women killed by the inflatable Dreamspace artwork four years ago.

As ever, if you have any comments about Connect or would like to be featured in one of our articles, please get in touch.

Thanks for reading.

Shaun Gibbons
e-Editor, IOSH