The RedCat Partnership ¦ Health and Safety Experts in Norwich

The Main Causes of Food Poisoning Remain Consistently High

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 01:34:16 -0700

In 2025, Campylobacter remains the most common cause of bacteriological food poisoning, with 69,394 cases (down slightly, by 1.4%, since 2024)

Salmonella cases in England increased marginally from 10,389 cases in 2024 to 10,406 cases in 2025, an increase of 0.17%.

Listeria infections come way down the league table at 181 cases; however, it's an example of a "low risk/high consequence" illness, as death was reported for 28 cases (19.9%). Some context is required; most cases occur in people aged over 80.

It is also aspecific risk for pregnant women and particularly the unborn foetus, as 31.4% of pregnancy associated cases (where known) resulted in still birth or miscarriage.

Bacterial food poisonign tends to be higher in the warmer months, for various reasons.

Moving to our old winter friend, Norovirus, it's a similar story; broadly similar figures in late 2025/early 2026, with numbers ramping up in December and peaking February - April.

So, the message from us remains the same; we need to maintain our food safety standards, refresh our systems, procedures and most improtantly attitudes towards both complaince and business/brand protection.

You know where we are if you need further advice, consultancy and training. Life's too short, don't make it any shorter.

Globally, the World Health Organisation estimates that 866 million – almost 1 in 9 people in the world – fall ill after eating contaminated food and 1.52 million die every year. There's a few numbers for you to think about.

The Myths of Portable Appliance Testing

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 04:19:10 -0800

Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) is one of the most misunderstood areas of health and safety compliance.

Many businesses believe:

PAT must be carried out every year

It must be done by a certified electrician
Every appliance must be formally tested
It’s a legal requirement to have a “PAT certificate”

The reality is very different.

What Does the Law Actually Say?

Under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, employers must ensure that:

Electrical systems and equipment are maintained in a safe condition to prevent danger.

However, the Regulations do not:

Specify how maintenance must be carried out
Require annual testing
State that a qualified electrician must conduct inspections
Use the term “PAT testing” at all

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), makes this clear in its guidance: inspection and testing should be proportionate to the risk and based on the type of equipment and how it is used.

In short, the law requires equipment to be safe. It does not require unnecessary testing.

Myth 1: PAT Must Be Annual

This applies to workplaces, commercial buildings and shared areas — regardless of size. Fire
risk assessments are no longer optional or informal; they must reflect real
risks and be kept up to date.

And those risks aren’t always obvious.

Recently, one of our clients experienced a fire caused by a discarded vape igniting inside a waste bin. Thankfully, no one was injured, but it caused premises damage and highlighted how easily everyday
items can create serious fire hazards.

5 Fire Risks You’re Probably Overlooking

Even inwell-managed premises, we often see the same issues cropping up:

Blocked fire exits
Fire routes used for storage can seriously delay evacuation in an emergency.

Overloadedelectrics
Extension leads, ageing wiring, cheap unregulated charging leads and damaged
plugs remain a common cause of fires.

Poorhousekeeping
Waste, packaging, and clutter can allow fires to spread faster than expected.

Outdatedrisk assessments
Changes to layouts, equipment, or occupancy can quickly make an assessment
inaccurate.

Unclearstaff procedures
If people don’t know what to do, even good fire safety measures can fail.

E. coli poisonoing on the rise?

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 01:07:15 -0700

The latest HSA report compares 2024's data to 2023, on confirmed cases of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infection. A 26% rise has been reproted; in actual numbers, 2544 cases, up from 2018. One outbreak was to blame for the jolt to the longer term average. It does demonstrate that, with relatively small numbers, 26% may not equal a massiv enumber of actual cases. That's statistics for you!

One form of the bacteria, the notorious E.coli O157 is in the forefront of our minds at the moment, as we're currently involved in investigating a local case involving a young person, who's currently in hospital with kidney failure. It's clearly a serious aillness, fatality rates are around 10% of cases, and it is very infectious.

As a reminder, there are numerous routes of infection between source (ruminant animals, particularly cattle but also sheep and goats) and receiver (us). Aside from the "usual suspect" of food poisoning (e.g. under-cooked minced beef), there are occuaptional routes of exposure we may need to consider;

- direct contact with animals themselves, or their faeces; from farmers to pest controllers

- contact with a contaminated environment, i.e. anywhere which may be contaminated with animal faeces. there was an interesting local case a few years a go at a petting zoo, where the E. coli cases were contracted from contaminated rabbit faeces on the grassed picnic area.

- person-to-person, through the delighfully named "faecal-oral" route.

The principal control for anyone working in any environment where there may be faecal contamination from animals, is good personal hygiene. Not just hand sanitisation before eating your sandwiches, but when taking off your muddy boots, "peronal habits" such as abesnt-mindedly chewing the end of your pen, chewing finger nails, etc. The simple stuff goes a long...Read More

Don't Take Your Contractors for Granted

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 07:12:27 -0700

Antony Clifton, a director of CS Appliance Repairs Limited, of Exige Way, Wymondham, was been jailed for 46 weeks in July 2025. He carried out unsafe gas work while falsely claiming to be a member of the Gas Safe Register. The work, at a home in Drayon, Norwich in January 2022, resulted in a gas escape on the inlet to a cooker that he had been fitted the day before.

There is a very basic lesson here for all our clients; it is necessary to complete a little bit of "due diligence" on our contractors. If a company engages a contractor, and the contractor has an incident that results in prosecution, there is a chance the client company could find themselves in the dock, too. Like it or not, that's the way the Health and Safety at Work Act operates.

So, a simple check is often all that is required; enginees should be able to demonstrate technical competence. Gas engineers; Gas Safe Register. Electrician; NICEIC or ECA. Fire and security; NSI, BAFE, etc. All these organisations have a simple way of checking that the engineer who claims to be a member, is indeed a member.

There is something in the image at the head of this article, that made me look twice at the report produced by the electrician, for a property in Lowestoft (leave your answers in a comment!). On checking his claimed registration with NAPIT, it turns out his registration had been revoked and his report somewhat fraudulent, and the electrical installation unsafe. He was duly reported to NAPIT.

We don't find too many of these, but we do. A responsible contractor won't mind us carrying out some simple due diligence on their technical competence, so we discuss this with all our clients. In a future artcile we'll discuss contractors' ability to work safely.

Dangerous Machinery;

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 06:49:33 -0700

A recent health and safety case involved 17-year old Aaron Maguire having fingers amputated on a circular saw, whilst studying at Reaseheath College, in Nantwich. One of the root causes was a lack or training on the machine.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czr8d0rexevo.amp

The picture behind the blog title is of a cros-saw somewhere in Norwich, that also removed two fingers from an employee's left hand, for which we helped support the employer in their difficult interactions with the HSE.

The lessons? Well, the regulations* require "adequate training". "Competence" however goes beyond training, and is the demonstration of the skill in using the machine safely, the attitude towards this and also medical fitness. An assessment of competence is a far better approach that training record.

Also, the Regulations** do quite clearly require that people using dangerous work equipment are duly authorised to do so, which can tie in quite well with the assessment of competence.

The Norwich incident, and another recent case elsewhere, both highlight the need for adequate training records. One of these cases revolved around the record not being signed by the trainee. More lessons; for work equipment, the record should include a comprehensive review of the machine's risks,

As always, if you need some help with a system of competence assessment, our contact details are below!

Richard

Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations, *Reg 9, "Training" and ** Reg 7, "Specific Risks"

Allergens; Mustard Ingredients Contaminated with Peanut

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 07:56:47 -0800

This has been an ongoing issue for a month or so, with animporter of mustard products from India having to recall a variety of products due to peanut contamination. Further advice is here;
https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/mustard-ingredients-and-peanut-contamination-guidance-for-businesses

UK Summer 2024; the unwelcome return of E. coli O157

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 07:54:57 -0800

Between May and June this summer, the UK saw a spike of 288 confirmed cases of E. coli 0157 illness, scattered across the countries. Surprisingly, but thankfully, no fatalities have been reported. The outbreak even has its own Wikipedia page;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_Kingdom_Shigatoxigenic_E._coli_outbreak#:~:text=As%20of%2027%20June%202024,with%2067%20people%20requiring%20hospitalization.

The source appears to have been salad leaves contaminated by floodwater, which itself may contain farm animal faecal matter; this is a well-known chain of causation, especially in the big feed lots of the USA.

So, what do we need to learn from this?

In catering, note whether bagged leaves are labelled “readyto eat/use” or require washing. Keep refrigerated (not that this is a great control for E. coli, as its infectious
dose is so low it doesn’t necessarily need to multiply up to higher numbers). Follow
the instructions! Also, check out page 57 of the current SFBB manual (Safe Method; Ready-to-Eat Foods). This advice is particularly relevant to “soil-on”, fresh-from-the-field products that haven’t been processed or packaged or in any way.

In manufacturing, a HACCP plan for a sandwich manufacturer would, in my experience, normally include a “sanitising rinse” for salad leaves, due to the level or risk arising from the complexity of their supply chain, as well as scale of their operations and the number of consumers likely to be involved. The sanitising agent is normally a mild acid, probably
no stronger than vinegar and usually quite organic in nature (not normally a harmful manufactured...Read More

The "5-Second" Rule; Fact or Fiction?

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 07:48:07 -0800

On the BBC, “Curious Cases” with Prof. Hannah Fry and Dara O’Brienreturn to the perennial topic of the 1/5/30/whatever-second rule for food that has fallen onto the floor. On which side do you “fall” on this argument? It’s also nice to hear Dr. Don Schaffner from the “Risky or Not” podcast chipping in, too. Should you or shouldn’t you…..?

It’s another Politician’s answer for you. In the sanctity of your own home, it depends. According to the panellists, the level of risk (that word always features somewhere) depends on the floor surface (type and cleanliness) and food (moist or dry). Dry toast on a just-cleaned floor….? Or butter-side down after the dogs have just piled through the kitchen after a long walk in the autumnal countryside? Your choice.

For a Commercial environment, the answer is more clear cut; just “NO”. Just don’t do it.

Curious Cases; https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/favourites/m0023whx

Risky or Not; https://www.riskyornot.co/

Do You Like A Rare Steak? Which Meats to Cook Thoroughly

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 07:37:56 -0800

On our current Level 4 Managing Food Safety course, theinevitable discussion has arisen about what constitutes “safe” when cooking meat in a commercial setting and achieving the balance between flavour/texture and safety. Rare pork, anyone….?

The Politician’s Answer; it’s a legal requirement for thefood business operator to prove that their food is safe. So, if you want to cook a pink duck breast or rare burger, that’s fine……so long as you have the proof that it’s safe (the legal term for this is “validation”). How do you do that? Continue reading….

Well, you could read the Food Standards Agency’s “basic”webpage on cooking safely here; (https://www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/cooking-your-food).A bit basic, perhaps.

If you want to delve into sous vide/water baths (a cookingmethod killing the pathogenic bacteria whilst maintaining meat texture), then you may well need to get your head into technical reports form the FSA’s Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food, such as the Raw, Rare and Low Temperature (RRLT) CookedFood found here.The Committee also have some useful reports on topics such as rare burgers. I’m not sure I find that concept appetising, but hey!
(Read More