Other UK News In Brief

Police Issue Robbery And Sexual Assault Appeal

Detectives investigating a robbery and a sexual assault have released a CCTV image of a man they would like to speak to in connection with the incidents. Police were first alerted to a robbery last Tuesday, along Torrington Place in London. A man approached a 19-year-old student and grabbed her around the waist. He attempted to lead her away but eventually fled the scene with her bag. The following day, a man grabbed a 21-year-old student in Ridgmount Gardens. He led her to Chenies Mews and threatened her at knife point. He sexually assaulted her but she managed to escape and raise the alarm. Officers believe that the same person may have carried out these attacks and are now looking for a black man, aged between 22 and 25 years and clean shaven. During the robbery he wore a baggy, dark, faded, charcoal-coloured hooded top. The following day he wore a black leather or waterproof bomber-style jacket with a hood.

Burnley Firm Fined £16k After Workers' Hearing Put At Risk

A Burnley manufacturing company has been fined £16,000 after it ignored a formal warning about noise levels at its factory. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Equestrian Surfaces Ltd for putting its employees’ hearing at risk, despite being given two extensions to an Improvement Notice requiring a reduction in their daily noise exposure levels. Staff at the factory on Phoenix Way, which makes flooring surfaces for horse riding centres, were required to work for several hours a day near a granulator machine as loud as a chainsaw. The machine uses metal blades to shred material into tiny pieces and can reach volumes up to at 98 decibels. Burnley Magistrates’ Court heard that the company failed to put any practical measures in place to reduce workers’ exposure to noise, even after receiving an Improvement Notice and being given advice from a specialist HSE inspector. A further HSE visit with an independent scientist showed that, although some changes had been made, the employees’ daily noise exposure remained high and the changes fell short of what could and should have been achieved. Equestrian Surfaces Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act for failing to comply with an Improvement Notice. The manufacturer was also ordered to pay £11,000 towards the cost of the prosecution.

Stress Leave Levels Rising

In the past year time off work due to stress has risen in the public sector than in the private sector, new research reveals. On average public sector workers took 9.6 days off sick, three more than the private sector over the same time period, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development research suggests. The institute said the recession was to blame and reported that more than one in three employers said time off through stress had increased. Employers reported higher levels of anxiety and depression due to extra workloads, worries about company reorganisations and domestic problems. The institute also found that more employees were struggling into work even when they were ill, because of concerns about losing their jobs. Adviser to the institute, Dr Jill Miller said: "Compared with the private sector, more public sector employees are in challenging public facing roles such as social work, policing, teaching and nursing where they often have to deal with people in difficult and emotionally charged situations.”

(BMcN/GK)