London breached its annual total nitrogen dioxide target for the year 2017 in the first five days of January. The highest level of warning was issued and advice suggested staying indoors, which is pretty much unprecedented since The Great Smog of 1952. This has been coming for a while though; we are seriously behind the eight ball on air quality. The UK was issued an infringement notice by the European Commission for Nitrogen Dioxide exceedances in February 2014, expected to cost £300m in fines when the decision is made (these things take pond... Continue reading

Last week saw the Learning Technologies exhibition at Olympia in London, describing itself as Europe's leading showcase of technology supported workplace learning. As in previous years, it was a buzzy event – not necessarily because of its size, rather because of the space which everything was crammed into. There was an impressive number of free seminar theatres, covering a wide range of topics. The content itself however was less impressive: varying in quality from one or two really informative presentations to the much larger volume of pr... Continue reading

A recent Employment Tribunal that ruled a London bicycle courier was a worker rather than self-employed is the latest in a string of rulings on the so-called ‘gig economy’.  This concept has become more and more of a talking point, both in the media and political circles, raising important questions about employment rights and whether contracts properly reflect the reality of modern working life for many. So what is the ‘gig economy’? The term describes a labour market in which businesses use short-term contracts of different kinds to... Continue reading

Government should substantially increase the penalties available to Employment Tribunals to award against employers who implement discriminatory dress codes at work, according to a new parliamentary report, High heels and workplace dress codes. At present, it says, such penalties are not sufficient deterrent to breaking the law. The report follows an inquiry that took place after a petition against high heels being compulsory in the workplace was started on parliament’s website and garnered 152,420 signatures. The petition was started by Nic... Continue reading

We’re delighted to welcome Stacey Collins to International Workplace, who joins us as our new Head of Environment, Health and Safety on 20 February 2017. Stacey joins the business after 15 years at law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP where, as Health, Safety and Environment Manager he developed management systems for health and safety and environment successfully certified to OHSAS 18001 and ISO 14001 management standards. Stacey managed client side H&S on a £24m 18-month refit of Freshfields head office: on time, under budget, with... Continue reading