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The Health and Safety (Offences) Act 2008 has now come into force, bringing in a number of key changes to existing legislation. It increases penalties and provides courts with greater sentencing powers for those who break health and safety law.

In particular, imprisonment will be a possible penalty for most health and safety offences in both the Magistrates' Court and the Crown Court and will also be a possible penalty for an offence committed by a corporate body.

The maximum fine available in the Magistrates' Court for breaches of regulations will be increased from £5,000 to £20,000. Additionally, certain offences, which are currently triable only in the Magistrates Court will be triable in either the Magistrates Court or the Crown Court.

Judith Hackitt, Chair of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in Great Britain welcomed the Act, saying, "It is right that there should be a real deterrent to those businesses and individuals that do not take their health and safety responsibilities seriously. Everyone has the right to work in an environment where risks to their health and safety are properly managed, and employers have a duty in law to deliver this."

She added that employers who manage health and safety well have nothing to fear from the changes since the HSE's inspectors will, "Use their powers sensibly and proportionately and will continue to target those who knowingly cut corners, put lives at risk and who gain commercial advantage over competitors by failing to comply with the law."

Theme parks and fairgrounds must make sure that all staff are properly trained and supervised, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has insisted this month. The warning follows the death of 16 year old Hayley Williams, who fell 121ft from the Hydro Ride at Oakwood, Pembrokeshire in April 2004. Oakwood Leisure Ltd was fined £250,000 after admitting failing to ensure visitors' safety.

Swansea Crown Court heard that Oakwood did not have a proper training scheme in place for staff overseeing rides and that they had failed to make sure passengers were safely restrained on the high-speed rollercoaster ride. CCTV footage showed 70.8% of passengers did not have their restraints tested on the day of the incident.

Judge Mr Justice Lloyd-Jones said, "This was a failure on a massive scale amounting to a grave breach of ensuring the public were not exposed to risks to their safety. There was the potential of very serious injuries to a large number of people. The heart of this matter lies in critical failures in the supervision and monitoring of staff carrying out their duty."

Following the case, the HSE said the majority of accidents at theme parks and fairgrounds were down to management failings, as was the case with Oakwood. HSE inspector Phil Nicolle commented, "This tragic case should serve as a warning to all fairground operators that safety must be their top priority. Our investigation showed that there were systematic failures by Oakwood to ensure their staff were properly trained and supervised to make sure they were following the basic safety procedures which are essential for rides like the Hydro. No death or serious injury at a fairground or theme park is acceptable and proper control of hazards are essential."

Local authorities across the country have turned their back on a Government recycling scheme which could have seen those leaving the most waste penalised. No councils have chosen to take part in a pilot project which would have rewarded frequent recyclers and charged those leaving the most rubbish out. Opposition parties have claimed the so called "bin tax" was now dead in the water.

The plan dates back to 2007, when former Prime Minister Tony Blair said councils should be authorised to charge households putting out the most waste to encourage recycling. The scheme was subsequently changed to a pilot project under the Climate Change Act 2008, with five councils given the opportunity to take part. However it has emerged that no councils have expressed an interest in the project at this stage.

Critics of the scheme have argued that it was widely unpopular and that councils should be free to devise their own recycling schemes on the basis of local need. Environment Minister Jane Kennedy said local authorities had requested greater powers to deal with household waste and it was "up to them" whether they chose to use them. "It is absolutely right and laudable that local authorities are working hard to reduce the amount of waste thrown away and increase the amount recycled. We have made great progress over the last few years."

Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary, Caroline Spelman said, "Bin taxes are now dead in the water, in a major snub for Gordon Brown and Labour. The laws should now be repealed and taken off the statute book. These unpopular new taxes would harm the environment by fuelling fly-tipping and backyard burning and hike tax bills for struggling families."

Councils and waste management operators in Northern Ireland are to be allowed temporary increases in storage capacity following the downturn in the Recycling markets. The Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), which is responsible for regulating the storage, treatment, recycling and disposal of waste, has issued a long-awaited set of criteria to allow the additional storage of recyclable material during the current "difficult time."

A statement released by the NIEA said, "These are difficult times for many councils and operators and we will work with them to minimise impacts on the environment now and in the longer term. It is important that local collection, treatment and reprocessing capacity is retained."

Companies or councils looking to benefit from an exemption, permit or licence extension would need to meet the following criteria to be deemed eligible:

• where recyclables need to be stored, this should be at locations regulated by the NIEA;
• operators who hold a licence and expect to need additional storage for a short period (up to six months) should approach the NIEA to discuss a temporary increase in storage of recyclable materials at their site;
• operators must make sure that any such plans do not present an increased risk to the environment;
• if operators expect to need extra storage capacity for longer than six months, they should apply for a licence variation;
• operators may be able to make use of exemptions from waste licensing. Exemptions come with restrictions with which the operator must comply. They should also check with their planning authority, landlord and insurer that they are allowed to store these materials at their site;
• it is the operator's responsibility to make sure that they remain compliant with other requirements such as planning permission.

Three-quarters of Northern Ireland's rivers are polluted beyond acceptable levels, Northern Ireland Assembly members have heard this month. In tests carried out between 2005-2007, rivers were graded from A to F. Those rated C and under were considered to be below standard. More than 200 were C or below, including Crawfordsburn, Bloody Bridge River, the Lagan and the Bann.

However, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) has rejected claims that it is not doing enough to stop pollution. The figures were released after a query from SDLP Assembly member Thomas Burns, but Mark Livingstone from the NIEA said they did not give the full picture. "Based on the 2007 data about 70% of the rivers throughout Northern Ireland are good or better, that's A or B class. Now the person that asked for that information unfortunately only asked for C class and below - so yes you've got the risk of failures and poor health, but we've got plans to fix these problems and we'll fix them as quickly as we can."

The Crawfordsburn River and the popular County Down Country Park were rated D on a biological test and C on a chemical test. At a sample point at the Con O'Neill Bridge in East Belfast, the Connswater River was graded E on the biological test. The River Lagan failed tests at numerous sample points. More than 60 rivers also failed to meet the quality criteria outlined under the EU freshwater fish Directive 2006/44/EC, with regard to supporting fishlife. These included, the Upper and Lower Bann, the Erne River in Enniskillen and the Silent Valley Reservoir.

The EU aims to coerce the US and the big emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil into signing up to a strategy to reduce greenhouse gases.

European leaders in the 27-nation bloc have approved an ambitious climate change action plan which they hope will become a model for international negotiations. European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said, "The problem is to know whether the others are ready to do what we have have been doing."

The European Commission unveiled a strategy for raising finance aimed at tackling climate change. The Commission recommends making polluters pay for each tonne of carbon dioxide that they emit. With a price starting at one euro per tonne rising gradually to three euros, the plan intends to generate about 13 billion euros in 2013, if used in the main developed countries, rising to 28 billion euros by 2020.

With four billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, the EU generates 14% of the 27 billion tonnes that escape into the atmosphere each year. The US is the biggest polluter with 5.8 billion tonnes, followed by China with 5.1 billion tonnes.

The EU hopes it can rally the other major polluters behind its approach.

Mr Barroso believes the most important issue is to have the Americans on board. New US President Barack Obama has raised hopes that he will be more receptive to Europe's strategy than his predecessor, by declaring in his inaugural address that the US will "roll back the spectre of a warming planet."

For more information, see:

• Climate Change Act 2008.