With ‘Green Cleaning’ fast catching up, housewives are queuing up to buy expensive eco-friendly products. Instead of investing on costly eco-friendly products, white vinegar can be used as an effective cleaning agent. Vinegar has mild acidic properties that works wonders on stains and kills bacteria and germs.

One common problem that every household faces is clogged drains in the kitchen sink, which emits a bad odour. A natural remedy for this problem would be to pour a cup of baking soda in the drain followed by a cup of distilled hot vinegar. Wait for five minutes and then flush the drain again with hot water.

An easy way to clean greasy ovens is to use distilled vinegar, which will help remove grease stains and splatters. Distilled vinegar can also be used to remove limescale deposits in a kettle. Add half a cup of distilled vinegar to the water in the kettle and leave it overnight. Pour out the water next morning and rinse with hot water.

Using products such as vinegar helps us to be eco-friendly without spending too much money.

<A href=”http://www.londononline.co.uk/”>London Online</A>

A fine of £2,400 has been levied on Air Livery Plc, a Southend-based company, for breaching safety regulations, which resulted in an accident. On October 10, 2007, Robert Lupton (44 years old), was wrapping a plane’s wing in plastic sheeting to protect it from paint stripper. When he stepped on the wing flap of the plane, he fell and broke his left elbow, damaging his ligaments. The accident left Robert Lupton critically injured, preventing him from working for the next two years.
Investigations conducted by HSE revealed that it was the usual practice among the employees to work on wings, without any kind of scaffolding. Commenting about the incident, HSE Inspector, Christine Haberfield said: “Air Livery should have taken the steps necessary to protect its workers by putting fall protection in place and checking to ensure that the workers were using it.”
Air Livery pleaded guilty for breaching safety regulations and was ordered to pay £9,162.54 as costs, in addition to the fine.

One of the New Year resolutions that South Yorkshire employers will have to take and keep would be to provide a safe working environment for their employees. The latest Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures reveal that last year, across the region, about 65 work related accidents occurred every week, and totally 3412 people were injured or killed.

Studies show that in 2008, 10 people were killed, 690 people critically injured and 2692 people were hospitalised due to injuries. Unsafe working areas contributing to work related injuries and accidents have resulted in loss of 2.4 million working days in Yorkshire and Humber.

Last year, HSE took legal action against 119 companies in Yorkshire and Humber for not implementing safety features. David Snowball, HSE’s Regional Director, feels that though Britain has the best health and safety record in Europe, it has a long way to go where it concerns providing a safe work environment to its employees.

Health and Safety Executive’s asbestos campaign ‘Hidden Killer’ has bagged the top honour in the health category, at the prestigious European Excellence Awards. The award honours outstanding work in public relations.

The campaign, launched in autumn 2008, was aimed at highlighting the dangers of exposure to asbestos, and to help prevent asbestos related deaths. Asbestos-related diseases kill 20 tradesmen a week in the UK.

“Asbestos remains Britain’s biggest workplace killer, but with the perception that it is largely a risk of the past we needed a hard-hitting PR campaign that would capture the imagination of tradesmen, particularly young ones,” said Steve Coldrick, HSE’s asbestos programme director.

The PR campaign was devised by HSE, in conjunction with communication agency MS&L. It used Ian Wright, ex-England football player and plasterer, as its spearhead.

This award is the latest among many accolades the ‘Hidden Killer’ campaign has already won. The print advertisements were nominated for ANNA (Awards for National Newspaper Advertising) ‘ad of the year’.

Following a major chemical fire, the Preston Crown Court slapped a fine of £150,000 on the international waste management company, Veolia ES Cleanaway (UK) Ltd, for breaching health and safety regulations. The company is also liable to pay cost of £90,000.

A major fire had broken out on the company’s site at the Red Scar Industrial Estate on July 2, 2007, resulting in the shutting down of two motorways for several hours. Nearly 132,000 litres of chemicals were set ablaze in the fire.

The prosecution came about after an investigation done jointly by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Environmental Agency and Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service.

“Our investigation showed that Veolia didn’t do enough to make sure that the dangerous chemicals on its site in Preston were stored safely,” said Linda Murray, HSE Principal Inspector for Lancashire.

Kevin Lodge, Investigation Officer at the Environment Agency, said, “This was a serious incident which had the potential to cause long-term environmental damage, as well as posing a risk to staff and members of the public.”