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.

Employers and other duty-holders have been reminded of the dangers that can be posed by electrical equipment in the workplace, in the wake of recent research into the failure rates of appliances.

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).

The government department in charge of fire safety policy in England and Wales has been served with an enforcement notice in relation to multiple fire-safety failings.

A food factory owner has been ordered to pay more than £20,000 in fines and costs after falling foul of fire safety regulations.

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.

The Court of Appeal has ruled against high-street retailer New Look after the company appealed that the £400,000 fine it received last year in relation to fire-safety breaches was excessive.

The owner of a timber yard has been ordered to pay a total of £130,300 after pleading guilty to several breaches of fire safety legislation.

A Suffolk landlord has been jailed for 20 months after a tenant was practically baked alive in a fire at one of his properties in Norwich.

Hilary Ross examines the New Look case – a prosecution under The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRO) 2005, which caused some disquiet in health and safety circles, not least on account of the size of the penalty imposed.

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.

Automatic fire detection systems have saved thousands of lives over the last 60 years but, by generating false alarms, they’ve also resulted in a huge waste of time and resources. Recent developments in legislation and technology are now addressing this issue, says Don Scott.

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 PHS Group has launched a new multi-disciplinary services company to deliver complete legislative compliance in areas such as fire, gas, electricity and lighting safety.

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.

Too many businesses are failing to take fire safety seriously, risking massive fines and major disruption, according to the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH).

Independent glass processor ESG is now providing Schott Pyranova fire-resistant safety glass, which, it says, allows it to offer insulation as well as integrity in an even wider range of fire-resistant glass solutions.

A range of fire survival fibre-optic cabling is now available from the AMP NetConnect business unit of Tyco Electronics.

Gore is showcasing its new GORE-TEX® Heat & Flame Garments with Gore Antistatic Technology, which is said to feature protection from the weather, flames, electric arc, and electrostatic discharges.

Ultra Suppression Systems (Ultra SS) has recently installed a bespoke water-mist fire-protection system at Stirling Palace.