Tag Archives: job

Health & Safety, News

The Top 5 Most Dangerous Jobs In The UK

For the majority of us, we have cosy 9–5 office jobs where the primary occupational hazards are getting a papercut or spilling hot coffee all over your desk and work. If you think your job is stressful, have you ever considered that earning a living may cost some workers their lives? Workplace fatalities and injuries remain a real risk in some industries — the International Labour Office (ILO) estimates that there are around 2.3 million workplace fatalities and 340 million injuries every year — that’s 6,300 deaths every day.

Here, we take a look at the most dangerous jobs in the UK.

1. Commercial fishing

As a pastime or sport, fishing can be a fun and calming activity. However commercial fishing, according to Health and Safety Executive (HSE), is one of the UK’s most dangerous jobs. Fishermen are six times more likely to die than workers in other sectors — in 2018, the industry suffered 62 fatalities per 100,000, with workers falling overboard and drowning.

Statistics were reported after a spate of accidents that took the lives of fishermen around the North and North East of England, with calls for a change in culture. According to reports, there weren’t enough health and safety and risk assessment to prevent injury and death, with many deaths being preventable if more workers wore life jackets.

ILO 88 legislation came into effect in 2019 to improve safety and wellbeing for those working on fishing vessels — regulations include compulsory personal flotation devices to be worn at all times, high quality cameras on board, and fixed-wing aircraft.

David Fenner, Head of Fishing Safety at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, said: “Fishing is still the most dangerous profession in the UK today and, whilst we are seeing improvements in safety, tragically there were seven lives lost in the industry last year, all of which could have been prevented.”

2. Waste and recycling

Probably one of the more surprising industries to be included in this list, particularly second, is the waste and recycling industry. Around 6,000 workers suffer from ill-health from the workplace, with seven deaths last year.

The causes of fatalities were contact with moving machinery at 30%, being hit by a moving vehicle at 28%, and being struck by a moving or falling object at 16%. As the majority of accidents occur during collecting waste and when vehicles are moving, there is risk management that can be carried out such as eliminating reversing where possible and timing collections to avoid busy periods where pedestrians will be present.

3. Construction workers

According to the HSE, construction workers are in the third most dangerous industry in the UK, with 30 workers passing away in 2019. Around 79,000 workers suffered from work-related ill health in 2019, with 62% being musculoskeletal disorders, and 21% stress, depression, or anxiety.

The main cause of deaths in the industry are falling from a height at 49%, being trapped by something collapsing or overturning at 14%, being struck by a moving vehicle at 11%, being struck by a moving or falling object at 10%, and contact with electricity at 5%.

4. Oil or gas rigger

Working in the oil and gas industry comes with innate dangers. The scope of work carried out by workers is dangerous in nature, particularly offshore. Upstream oil and gas has one of the highest severe injury rates in the world, with potential for many things to go wrong, including explosions, chemical leaks, machinery malfunctions, fires, and falling equipment.

Common injuries in the oil and gas industry include injury from heavy machinery operation including trauma or crush injuries, dismemberment, fractures, severe burns, explosions, spinal cord injury, paralysis, and chemical exposure. In 2018, there were no fatal injuries, but there were 66 sustained injuries per 100,000. 235 dangerous incidents and 112 hydrocarbon releases were reported, which can result in a variety of health issues and complications.

Health and safety are the most crucial considerations when working in the oil and gas industry. Due to the nature of the work, it’s important that workers receive the best quality training that is realistic and constantly up to date, including comprehensive training with virtual reality technology.

5. Deep sea divers

There’s a reason why deep-sea divers are paid so high — it is an isolating and dangerous career that requires divers to be locked up in decompression chambers for 28 days the size of a caravan with several other people. In 2018, 19 scuba divers died in the UK, the highest death toll for 14 years. Not only extremely claustrophobic, you can suffer from a range of medical conditions and painful deaths beyond the obvious drowning and equipment malfunction.

Firstly, barotrauma occurs when tissue near pockets of air in your body are damaged, including sinuses, dental roots, lungs, and ears. It can even rupture your ear drums or lungs. Secondly, decompression sickness is when you ascend too quickly and nitrogen bubbles form in your body, causing damage to your nerves and tissue, which could end in fatality or paralysis. Thirdly, nitrogen narcosis is a result of nitrogen building up in your brain and causes you to be delirious, as if you were drunk — examples include believing you can breathe underwater and removing your regulator or being unable to read your gauge and instruments. It’s important that saturation divers follow careful regulations like ensuring your diving equipment and piston rings are airtight and ascending at a slow enough pace to avoid injury.

So, there we have some of the UK’s most dangerous jobs. It’s important to follow health and safety rules — they’re there for a reason!

Sources

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeen/1520325/new-figures-show-fishermen-six-times-more-likely-to-die-at-work/
https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/industry/waste-recycling.pdf
https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/industry/construction.pdf
https://www.slackdavis.com/blog/common-oil-rig-injuries/
https://www.msdmanuals.com/en-gb/professional/injuries-poisoning/poisoning/hydrocarbon-poisoning
https://divernet.com/2018/12/15/uk-diver-death-toll-rose-in-2018/

News, Start Ups

Entrepreneurs share their advice on overcoming adversity, as self-employment falls in the UK

Job market data shows the number of self-employed UK workers has fallen by 6.6%1 in the past six months alone, while more than 100,0002 job cuts have taken place in the UK so far during the pandemic.

Self-employment is challenging at the best of times, perhaps never more so than in 2020. With this in mind, experts from the University of Law (ULaw) Business School have analysed self-employment figures in the UK and sourced advice from successful entrepreneurs on how to overcome adversity and thrive in a challenging business environment.

Despite 2020 so far showing a drop in the number of self-employed workers, encouragingly this number has steadily increased by 34% over the last 15 years4 with more than 4.7 million Brits in this category5. The consistent increase shows that pursuing a self-employed career continues to be an attractive option.

In terms of the most prominent self-employed occupations6, construction comes out on top, with 862,060 workers in this field registered as self-employed. Other popular industries for self-employed workers are professional services, scientific and technical activities (610,385) and human health and social workers (366,566).

With self-employment representing 15% of employment in the UK7, ULaw spoke to leading entrepreneurs on why choosing to go self-employed is still a viable career option despite the current climate, as well as their top tip for a self-employed career.

Be present and consistent online
Gemma Nice, a self-employed yoga coach, recently decided to take the plunge to work for herself after being on furlough from her veterinary nursing career of 19 years. Her top tip for anyone considering going self employed is: “Be present in all aspects of social media and be consistent. People are watching and learning from you all the time even if they aren’t engaging with you there and then.”

Consider your personal pros and cons
Amie Marshall, a self-employed Clinical Nutritionist who created her own business six years ago, says: “I would encourage anyone who is debating whether to go self-employed during the current climate to write down the pros and cons in order of importance. For example, if you are used to a stable salary and that is essential to you, remember being self employed has its ups and downs – the pandemic aside, every industry has slow months, but always remember that if it’s your dream, you can make it happen.”

Seek mentorship
Lee Chambers, a self-employed Psychologist and Career Consultant, says: “I recommend considering a mentor, who can help you plot a path and advise the pitfalls they faced. It’s definitely a learning journey, so enter with a beginner’s mindset and start to read and practice the skills you will need to flourish in the early days. Start to build a network of other business owners and freelancers who understand the challenges and can collaborate together.”

Andres Perez, Director of the University of Law Business School, said: “Pre-pandemic, we were seeing self-employed figures consistently increasing in the UK as more people sought to work for themselves. Naturally, Covid-19 has slowed this growth and self-employed workers have been hit hard, but entrepreneurship comes hand in hand with grit and determination, which are certainly key to a strong recovery from any business setback – pandemic or otherwise.

“When it comes to the benefits of self-employment, research has shown that self-employed workers have reported improvements in the ability to concentrate, levels of self-confidence, self-worth and happiness. Self employment also allows workers to be flexible with their time and create a better work/life balance.

“Of course, self-employment won’t be for everyone, but the transferrable skills can propel you in any career and it’s this practical experience and knowledge we try to instil in our students.”

To find out more starting your own business, please visit: https://www.law.ac.uk/resources/blog/entrepreneurship-tips/

Appointments, Creative News, News

Cheshire Digital Agency Surefire Media Paves Way For Agency Growth With New Marketing Director

Based in Nantwich, Cheshire, Surefire Media is a digital agency that has been providing web development and marketing services since 2008. In 2018 they made the strategic decision to become a certified Shopify Partner and have since focused their efforts on eCommerce website development and marketing, gaining various individual Google certifications along the way.

Managing Director Dan Lindop states: “Whilst the pandemic has presented businesses with unprecedented challenges, we’ve also been able to identify and exploit some unique opportunities for our clients, for example, helping to get click and collect ordering quickly implemented.

Our decision to become a specialist Shopify partner agency has meant that with a large number of eCommerce retail clients, we’ve managed to navigate our way through the pandemic and have a clear strategic plan for renewed growth in place once life gets back to normal.

To help us move forwards and cement our reputation as a leading Shopify development and marketing agency, we recently made the decision to promote our Marketing Lead, Shell Robshaw-Bryan, to the role of Marketing Director.

This appointment will help us to move forwards and grow the business further whilst our clients will continue to benefit from the 20 years of commercial digital marketing experience that Shell brings to the role.”
Newly promoted Marketing Director, Shell Robshaw-Bryan said: “I’ve been with Surefire for nearly 8 years now and the close-knit team feel almost like family. I’m delighted with the promotion, though an appointment like this would usually warrant going out for celebratory team drinks – celebrating just isn’t the same on Zoom!

The last few months certainly haven’t been easy, but we’re confident we can come out the other side. I’m extremely proud of the fact that some of the very first clients we took on as a business are still with us thanks to our goal of fostering long-term working relationships. I’m very much looking forward to the challenge of helping businesses to recover in a post-lockdown landscape that we’re hoping won’t be too far away.”