An employment tribunal has found in favour of a fire-fighter who was sacked for asking colleagues if their employer’s reclining chairs were hurting their backs.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has raised concerns at suggestions that Lord Young’s forthcoming review will advocate that all emergency services should be exempt from health and safety regulations.

Using lifts may be viable when evacuating people in an emergency, according to a new technical report from the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).

A group of MPs has severely criticised a project aimed at improving the responsiveness and efficiency of the Fire and Rescue Service (FRS), and has stipulated that the Government meets a raft of conditions if it is to continue with the scheme.

Fire rescue groups have endorsed a new policy statement that sets out how the Fire and Rescue Service should comply with occupational health and safety duties in their operations.

The owner of a fireworks display company has pleaded guilty to health and safety and fraud charges following an incident where a display mortar exploded in the face of a trainee.

A judge has castigated consumer-owned business giant, the Co-operative Group, for showing a lamentable approach to fire safety.

A Derbyshire technology company failed to put in place suitable control measures to protect employees working with flammable substances.

A pub management company has been convicted of breaching fire safety law by North Wiltshire magistrates.

A father and son have been jailed for manslaughter following an explosion at a fireworks factory in which two firefighters lost their lives.

David Cameron seems committed to releasing the Police from the ‘burden’ of health and safety rules that might impede their duty to the public, while Lord Young believes that all emergency services should be excluded from the HSWA. Peter Atkinson considers whether the same rigorous health and safety workplace standards exercised in non-emergency situations should apply to the blue-light services in a crisis.

Designing safer buildings requires the fire-safety engineer to gain a full understanding of the user’s needs and intentions in running the building, as Andy Passingham explains.

Can the Police Service fully comply with the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act (HSWA) and, at the same time, deliver the service level expected by the general public? Chris Roberts and Richard Booth explore the situations in which police officers can act bravely and yet, by doing so, expose themselves and their management to prosecution.

John Davidson emphasises the importance of using credible contractors for installing and maintaining fire safety equipment and explains how to identify them.

Decisions made by emergency services personnel about whether or not to take risks in fraught situations have been the subject of much negative media attention recently, so Bill Gough outlines the issues facing ‘first responders’ and suggests ways in which their managers can help them do the right thing – for themselves and those who need their help.

The majority of people believe they would respond more quickly to a voice alarm during an evacuation of a building, a survey on behalf of Notifier by Honeywell suggests.

The University of Wolverhampton has teamed up with West Midlands Fire Service to launch a new BSc (Hons) fire and rescue degree course from September 2010.

A Liverpool healthcare company has signed an agreement to provide Formula One team, Force India, with a new fire safety product.

Engineers at Sheffield Hallam University have been working with firefighters from South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue to design firefighting robots.

CIRIA is to launch a new guide later this month aimed at helping the construction industry tackle what it believes is “a worldwide hazard”.

ZOLL Medical Corporation, a manufacturer of medical devices and related software solutions, says it is now supplying the British Heart Foundation (BHF) with the ZOLL AED Plus® and ZOLL AED Pro® Automatic External Defibrillators.

Moving Edge has introduced a brand new disposable model to its range of innovative safety knives.

Sheffield-based packaging specialist Loadhog has developed a system to help solve the issues that hospitals face in storing and moving fluid stocks.

Despite stringent legislation, many businesses are still flouting the law and risking prosecution by failing to follow basic fire-safety procedures and have fire safety equipment in place, according to workplace equipment provider, Slingsby.

Draeger says its Flame 5000 colour imaging-based CCTV Flame Detector has been certified as SIL 2-capable (the international standard for electrical and electronic safety-related systems, also known as BS EN 61508).