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In recent times, awareness of the environmental protection issues affecting businesses has increased, and the influx of environmental legislation from the EU has resulted in hundreds of Regulations being applicable in the UK. The Government's Red Tape Challenge aims to reduce the pressure on businesses from what is deemed to be overly complicated regulation.

The initiative began in April 2011, and relies heavily on public consultation, with those dealing with legislation on a daily basis being asked to inform the Government on what is and what is not working, and to offer suggestions to improve matters. The Red Tape Challenge is now seeking views on the practical effectiveness of legislation in order to decide which of the 287 current environmental Regulations should stay and which should go. They have been categorised as follows:

• air quality;
• biodiversity, wildlife management, landscape, countryside and recreation;
• energy labelling and sustainable products;
• industry emissions and carbon reductions;
• noise and nuisance;
• waste;
• environmental permits, information and damage;
• chemicals.

After this period of consultation, the next task for ministers is to compile submissions and use them in preparing proposals aimed at reducing regulatory red tape. A "Star Chamber" will then review the proposals and the Regulations considered "onerous" will go, unless their continued application can be justified. In addition, the Department of Energy and Climate Change has published a list of 334 Regulations to be reviewed under the energy theme, which will formally begin on 25 November.

For further information on the Red Tape Challenge, visit http://cedr.ec/rtc and for details on DECC's review, check out http://cedr.ec/decc.

A safety pressure group has declared the new Westfield Stratford City shopping centre in east London a disaster, after a third safety incident in a week took place during the venue's high-profile opening ceremony.

The Construction Safety Campaign said there was "little to celebrate" in the news that a metal roof tile fell and smashed to the floor just metres away from where guests - including London Mayor Boris Johnson - were standing. A spokesperson for Westfield Stratford City, which with 250 shops, 70 dining outlets, three hotels and 130,000 square feet of office space, is Europe's largest urban shopping centre, said the incident happened in "an empty part of the mall" and that "no-one was touched, as the area had already been cleared."

However, two other incidents in the past week did result in serious injuries to two workers on the site. On 9 September, a worker on a ladder received an electric shock and fell, sustaining burns and other injuries. On 5 September, an electrician fell while working from a set of steps and broke his back. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have confirmed that they are aware of the incidents and are investigating.

Tony O'Brien, National Secretary of the Construction Safety Campaign said, "We see little to celebrate in the opening of Westfield today. The price workers pay in building these projects is often their health, disability or even death. We have always said this is unacceptable and it is shameful these people are not being remembered today."

However, construction union UCATT defended the site, saying that despite recent accidents and a fatality in late 2009, they generally had a good safety record - it recently passed a million man-hours without a reportable accident for the fourth time. But the latest incidents are a source of "extreme concern" for the union.

For more information, see:

• Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974;
• Work at Height Regulations SI 2005/735.

Two firms have been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for what they describe as 'appalling' standards on a building site in Wimbledon.

Bellway Developments was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,384.50, and Kubik Homes was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,426.50 for breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 after shocking safety standards were witnessed at the site.

Amongst the poor conditions, City of London Magistrates Court heard that there was no safe access to the first floor, only a 'makeshift' staircase which had been constructed out of a bag of sand and piles of blocks, which led to the roof of a hut. Wood planks then led from the hut to the first floor and had no protection to prevent falls.

In addition, there was a 2.5 metre-deep excavation, with no guarding to prevent falls or measures to prevent the sides collapsing.

To add to the list of safety issues, the surfaces of the work site were uneven, building material was stacked too high and welfare facilities were very poor.

The Court was told that Kubik Homes had been served three prohibition orders, one of which was being breached during a HSE visit to the site, which led to a further prohibition order being served to stop all work until site management was put into place.

HSE inspector Lorraine Charles said "Although there was no incident, the potential danger to the workers was very high. Conditions on this site were simply appalling. This is a shocking example of bad management of a construction site and it is a miracle that no one was injured."

"Both these companies failed to understand the nature of their duties under health and safety law and failed to sufficiently improve conditions on the site despite repeated interventions by the HSE. We will not hesitate to prosecute companies that behave in this way."

For more information, see:

• Work at Height Regulations SI 2005/735.

A Perth-based maintenance contractor has been fined a total of £155,000 after a man drowned when he fell into a water filled sump at a North Wales power station.

Michael Benn, 37, from Fife had been removing sludge and debris from part of a cooling tower at Connah's Quay Power Station on 27 August 2007. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found he was working in poorly lit conditions inside the cooling tower, and had entered an enclosed culvert to check the depth of water in the sump.

Colleagues working nearby heard Mr Benn's distressed shouts, but when they got to the sump he had disappeared from view. His body was subsequently recovered from the bottom of the sump. His employers, Epsco Ltd, of Arran Road, Perth, Scotland, were prosecuted by the HSE for failing to have a safe system of work in place.

At Mold Crown Court, the company pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and were fined a total £35,000, with costs of £120,000. HSE Principal Inspector Colin Mew said, "This incident was entirely foreseeable and yet it was still allowed to happen. Epsco Ltd would have known Mr Benn or one of his colleagues would need to approach the sump in the course of their work. The inherent risk of working in this manner should have been obvious to any diligent employer."

He continued, "This company failed to put a safe system of work into place. The enclosed area where this work was taking place was poorly lit, noisy and conditions were wet and slippery. The cost of providing barriers or other measures to prevent this incident and the time and effort involved would have been minimal. The real tragedy here is the human cost that has resulted from the death of Michael Benn and the ease with which his death could have been prevented - I hope that other employers take heed of this message."

See also

For further information, refer to the:

• Confined Spaces Regulations SI 1997/1713;
• Confined Spaces Regulations (Northern Ireland) SR 1999/13;
• Approved Code of Practice on safe work in confined spaces, L101;
• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations SI 1999/3242;
• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (Northern Ireland) SR 2000/388;
• Approved Code of Practice on the management of health and safety at work, L21.

The standard rate of Landfill Tax has increased from £40 per tonne to £48 per tonne, on 1 April 2010.

The Government announced several years ago that it intended to keep raising the rate of Landfill Tax, and although it is now well past its original target of £35 per tonne, the rise seems set to continue. The latest published estimate of total receipts for 2009 shows that yield is now actually falling as the twin downward pressures of the recession and the cost of sending waste to landfill have begun to outweigh the increasing rates, so an announcement of another increase for next year seems likely.

In response to the European Commission's reasoned opinion on the under implementation by the UK of Directive 83/477/EEC, on the protection of workers from the risks to exposure to asbestos at work,the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is proposing to introduce revised Control of Asbestos Regulations in order to implement the necessary provisions.

The articles which require implementation were introduced by Directive 2003/18/EC, and provide for the exemption of some types of lower risk work with asbestos from three requirements of Directive 83/477/EEC: notification of work; medical examinations; and record keeping.

The Commission's opinion states the omission of two terms in the implementing Regulations has the effect of widening the scope of the exemption, therefore allowing more types of work to be exempt from the three requirements than was intended.

The inclusion of the two terms in the revised Regulations will mean fewer types of lower risk work with asbestos will be exempt from the three requirements.

See also

For further information, refer to the:

• Control of Asbestos Regulations SI 2006/2739; and
• Control of Asbestos Regulations (Northern Ireland) SR 2007/31.