The Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2005 will come into effect on 1 January 2006, and their provisions will replace over a dozen sets of earlier regulations. Most notable revocations include the Food Premises (Registration) Regulations 1991, the Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995 and the Food Safety (Temperature Control) Regulations 1995.

The new legislation makes the presumption that all food is intended for human consumption and therefore must be of an acceptable standard for that purpose. The new legislation will require all food businesses to put food safety management systems in place based upon HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) principles. To comply with the new regulations from January 2006 all food businesses must be able to show what they do to make food that is safe to eat and have this written down.

Following a number of awards made to members of the teaching profession, teachers’ union NASUWT has called for a review of health and safety rules in the education system.

Examples of compensation claims include: a teacher from Bristol who was awarded £14,000 after a bookshelf collapsed on top of her; a primary school teacher in Nottingham who won £150,000 when she suffered permanent damage to her vocal cords after working for three years in a poorly-ventilated and overheated classroom; a special needs teacher in South Wales who received £250,000 for a back injury; and a craft teacher in Lancashire who was awarded £130,000 after developing asthma from breathing in wood dust.

A new bill for England and Wales that will regulate claims management companies accused of encouraging people to sue has been announced in an attempt to curb a growing “compensation culture”.

One of the aims is to encourage schools to reconsider before cancelling activities for fear of being sued should something go wrong. However, none of the planned measures take away the need for organisations to undertake a suitable and sufficient risk assessment of activities planned.

A care home proprietor decided not to carry out remedial works on the strength of advice he received from an electrical contractor. When Suffolk Coastal District Council asked the contractor to explain his advice, the contractor repeatedly failed to respond. Ipswich magistrates levied a fine and costs of £1,000 because the contractor’s actions had held up an investigation into safety standards. The council is also considering action against the proprietor of the residential care home.

Norwich Crown Court has jailed a company director for 12 months for the manslaughter of an employee who was killed in a paper-shredding machine. The director, Paul White, also incurred costs and a fine totalling £85,000. The machine had suddenly restarted while the employee was trying to clear a blockage.

If you are already a customer of ours, please don’t think us mean or blame your poor postman when you fail to receive a Christmas card from us.

Instead of sending cards this year, we will be making a donation to a charity that helps adults with learning disabilities