FRIDAY 13 LUCKY FOR SOME
I SPENT Friday The 13th at Warrington Hospital outpatient department.
Schoolchildren were singing carols, they sang Little Donkey, my favourite.
They were excellent, much better than me. The hospital consultant informed, me that my liver cancer had not returned, and the lumps in my lungs weren’t lung cancer.
He examined me, even though I had the flu jab and pneumonia jab, and still got the flu. My lungs weren’t full of phlegm.
The rest of the staff were excellent, even though I was soaking wet due to the heavy rain.
So, Friday The 13th was lucky for me at Warrington Hospital.
I would like to wish a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all the NHS staff, and GP staff, who look after me every year. dence on cat microchipping in England, giving the public the chance to have their say on compulsory microchipping. This call for evidence is in addition to a pledge in the Conservative manifesto to ‘bring forward cat microchipping’.
With the call for evidence open until January 4, 2020, the public now only have three weeks left to respond on this important cat welfare issue.
To support Cats Protection’s campaign and send an e-letter to the Government about why microchipping cats is important, please visit www. cats. org. uk/ microchips- reunite before January 4, 2020. ber of fatal and serious injury road crashes on UK roads in the last decade.
The number of collisions involving people driving for business has remained static, at one in four of all incidents, over the same period.
In 2009 there were 5,442 serious and fatal crashes in Britain involving an at-work driver; in 2018 this had risen to 5,506.
The paper also highlights some alarming practices and attitudes when it comes to employers and their drivers.
Nearly half of business leaders polled (49%) expect their employees to answer their phone at any time, including while driving for work
Just over one in eight employees who drive for work (13%) and more than one in 20 leaders (6%) consider the hard shoulder a safe place to take a work call.
One in six UK employees who drive for work (17%) say they have been involved in an incident when driving for work due to a phone call from a colleague.
Employers need to do more to drive change across their workforce and to take their responsibilities to keep staff safe, particularly when they’re behind the wheel for business.
The report also highlights the issue of the so-called ‘grey fleet’ drivers – those using privately owned vehicles for work-related journeys.
This growing sector is one in which employers still need to exercise their responsibility for staff health and safety, IAM RoadSmart claims.
The penny hasn’t dropped for many organisations that their responsibility for a grey fleet driver is exactly the same as for a company car driver.
If companies are expecting their employees to use their own vehicles for business journeys, they must ensure they are doing so safely and with appropriate guidelines, if they are to stay within the law.
IAM RoadSmart claims responsibility for the disappointing lack of progress in reducing the number of collisions involving people driving for business must be shared between Government, HSE, police, employers, vehicle manufacturers and drivers themselves.
It adds that the Corporate Manslaughter Act introduced in 2007 was expected to underpin safer business driving and safer roads objectives – but to date, not a single person has been prosecuted or sent to jail under it in relation to death caused by a company car driver.
Where there is clear evidence of poor driving behaviour no employer of a driver involved in an avoidable death while undertaking a business journey has been anywhere near a prosecution.
It seems the legislation has proved difficult to apply.
IAM RoadSmart has called for road safety to be at the heart of procurement practice in UK industry.
It says that if a business cannot demonstrate a strong commitment to legislation compliance with regards driving for work safety, then they run the increasing risk that they might be disadvantaged when bidding for contracts in both the private and public sector.