More than 300 jobs have been saved at JCB after workers at its 11 plants around the UK voted to accept a deal that would see a reduction in their working week from 39 hours to 34 hours.

Read the full story here.

Picture this. You are a professor with years of experience and education under your belt and you are in desperate need of additional funding to continue your chosen research project. Do you go cap in hand to the Government, or to industry? Do you plead poverty and hope that some lottery dollars will come your way? Or do you simply cook up some PR scam that links your name with some controversy that also mentions a high profile TV series?

Apparently, the latter is today’s preferred option.

Figures issued by the Health and Safety Executive today revealed that every week 20 tradesmen die from asbestos-related diseases, and this number is set to increase.

Former tradesman and England and Arsenal footballing legend, Ian Wright, has given his support to help highlight the importance of the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) “Asbestos:The Hidden Killer” campaign which is running throughout October and November and aims to reduce the rising death rate by educating today’s tradesmen about the danger that asbestos presents to them.

Ian Wright was shocked when he learnt that 20 tradesmen a week were dying from having been exposed to asbestos in their working lives. “I used to be a plasterer before becoming a professional footballer, and was really surprised to learn that the number of deaths is actually on the increase year on year. If that was footballers dying, the whole of the premiership would be wiped out in just three months.”

Full details and access to a range of related podcasts can be found here.

An implosion to demolish the former Dan River Dye House at the Long Mill site on Riverside Dr. in Vancouver is scheduled to occur on Oct 30 at 10:00AM. MCD Investments LLC, the owners of the property, hired a contractor to perform the demolition.

The City of Danville’s role in this operation is to provide site security and to assist with related issues such as traffic flow as well as working with residents and businesses in the area of the implosion zone with related concerns.

Read the full story here.

It seems that rarely a week goes by that US sports fans don’t say a fond farewell to a once popular sporting stadium. And it will soon be the turn of the vacant “Aud” in Buffalo, New York.

The Memorial Auditorium, known to locals as “The Aud,” was built in the 1940s as a home to the Buffalo Sabres but it was replaced 12 years ago by the HSBC Arena.

Full details on the coming destruction can be found here.

Nice video showing the controlled dismantling of the Sears store in Ontario, Canada. Built in 1954, the store is being demolished to make way for a new, replacement shopping mall.

An asbestos surveying company will have to pay out almost £40,000 after it was found guilty of failing to identify the presence of asbestos at two schools in Wales.

Guernsey-based Normandie Analytical Services carried out a series of type two asbestos surveys at Cardinal Newman Comprehensive School in Pontypridd and Aberdare Boys School, Aberdare, for the local authorities.

Full story here.

Selfridges, one of the UK’s most famous department stores, had to seal up and close the display windows in its London store after asbestos was discovered during a survey of the building.

Experts found the hazardous substance at the top of window frames in five out of 26 windows about three weeks ago and ordered its’ removal.

Read the full story here.

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