Welcome to the archive section of Health & Safety News.
H&S News October 2010
| Walkers fined after man killed by toxic gas. |
| Walkers Snack Foods Ltd fined a total of £200,000 and costs of £38,971 under HASAWA 1974 s2 and s3. Omnichem Ltd fined a total of £150,000 and costs of £29,229 under HASAWA 1974 s2 and s3. John Marriott, 59, was working for Omnichem when he was seriously affected by green chlorine dioxide fumes. He was driving a lorry containing four steel tanks, two with sodium chlorite and two containing hydrochloric acid. Both chemicals are used in Walker's starch reclamation unit. Mr Marriott inadvertently mixed up the hoses on the tanks while transferring the two chemicals from the lorry, causing them to produce green fumes of chlorine dioxide. When he realised his error, Mr Marriott stopped the transfer and started to hose the area down, but he was already starting to be affected by the toxic gas. Mr Marriott and a Walker's employee who tried to help were both taken to hospital. The Walker's employee had breathing difficulties, but later recovered. Mr Marriott's condition gradually deteriorated and he died from the effects of the gas a month after the incident. HSE found basic risk assessments and clear procedures could have avoided this tragic death and that there was a catalogue of serious failings. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/EM/73/10 24/9/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| BSC strips mining group of prizes. |
| The British Safety Council has withdrawn two safety awards from multi-national mining group Vedanta Resources after it emerged that the company had failed to declare a chimney collapse that killed at least 40 people in India last year. |
HSW October 2010:7 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| LG Phillips pay out for hearing loss. |
| A former process worker at LG Phillips Displays has received a compensation payout of £15,000 after his employer failed to protect him from excessive noise exposure. |
HSW October 2010:9 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Legislative calendar. |
| A calendar of new and upcoming legislation - Equality Act, Control of Artificial Optical Radiation at Work Regs, Modification of Conventional Tower Crane Regs. |
HSW October 2010:12 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| E.on: safe on the streets. |
| Tackling slips and falls and road risk has been instrumental to driving down one of the UK's leading power companies' accident rates. (Becky Allen) |
HSW October 2010:18-20 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Fit for purpose. |
| Impairment assessment as a less controversial alternative to alcohol and drug testing. (Bridget Leathley) |
HSW October 2010:22-24 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Safety as standard. |
| The protocols for CE marking and how EN standards are born and, in the case of two on fall arrest and hearing protection, allowed to die. (Dave Merchant) |
HSW October 2010:26-28 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Assessed by the best. |
| The audit stage - part of the revision series for NEBOSH Diploma students. (Lawrence Bamber) |
HSW October 2010:33-35 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Company fined after worker's saw injury. |
| WCM Europe Limited fined £6,000 and costs of £2,741 under HASAWA 1974 s2. An employee was using a circular saw to cut a block of plastic when his finger was caught by the blade. HSE found that the guard had been removed for a previous job and not replaced. The employee suffered permanent nerve damage and could have lost his middle finger had the saw been running faster when the incident happened. HSE also found that the company did not supervise or train staff properly for work with dangerous machinery. |
HSE (National) Press Release COI-E-32 24/9/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Glass maker fined for lead contamination at factory. |
| Staffordshire Crystal Ltd fined a total of £3,600 and costs of £7,000 under CLWR 1998 and WHSWR 1992. An unannounced HSE inspection of a site found levels of lead contamination to be above the occupational exposure limit. This created a significant and substantial risk to the health of employees in the factory itself and in the office areas. HSE investigation concluded that the company had not carried out sufficient risk assessments and that their employees were put at serious risk to their health as exposure to lead was not being adequately controlled. Six improvement notices were served to ensure that the company complied with the law. The visit also found there wasn't even a place for workers properly to wash their hands or a rest area for workers to have meals. In good weather they would go outside, but otherwise they would have lunch in the factory, greatly increasing the prospect of them ingesting lead. |
HSE (National) Press Release WM166/10 24/9/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Newsprint firms fined after worker's leg amputated. |
| West Ferry Printers Ltd fined £17,500 and costs of £4,303 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Meta Management Services (t/a Aktrion Media Support Services) fined £17,500 and costs of £4,303 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Mr Emery was removing newspaper reels from the end of a conveyor using an FLT. He climbed onto the conveyor to move a reel that was stuck and got his leg caught between the roller and the moving, slatted metal conveyor. His left leg was drawn in and his injuries were so severe that his leg had to be amputated. Both companies were aware of the risks from dangerous machinery. They had both been advised to carry out an assessment of the risks from the conveyor prior to the accident. Employees of Aktrion Media Services regularly accessed the conveyor to remove blockages. Both companies should have taken action to prevent this dangerous practice and considered a safer means of carrying out this activity. |
HSE (National) Press Release COI/LDN/1009 24/9/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Chicken firm fined after worker skins hand. |
| Crown Chicken Ltd fined £8,000 and costs of £5,500 under HASAWA 1974 s2. An employee was using a carcass 'de-skinning' machine when his glove became caught and his hand was pulled into the cutting blade and completely tore the skin off the back of his hand from his knuckles to his wrist, away from the underlying tissue. In a separate incident a second worker's hand was crushed. HSE investigation into the first incident found the machine did not have adequate guards, there was no emergency stop button, and the gloves were not suitably protective. Five months later another employee severed a finger when his hand was crushed by the lifting mechanism of an FLT when he was standing on the forks to access the back of a trailer. HSE and manufacturer's guidance warns it is unsafe to stand on the forks of an FLT but the company had not provided a safe way for workers to access the back of the trailers. |
HSE (National) Press Release COI-E-32 24/9/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Concrete firm fined after worker's roof plunge. |
| Master Concrete Limited fined £10,000 and costs of £18,923.25 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Alfie Deville, 59, was injured when he and 3 other men were dismantling a large steel framed building. Two of the men went onto the roof to unscrew panels before removing them. They were provided with a cherry picker, which would have enabled them to carry out the work without stepping onto the roof but they left the basket of the cherry picker. Mr Deville stepped on a panel he had previously unscrewed but not removed. The panel gave way and Mr Deville fell more than 4 metres to the ground below. He suffered a broken collarbone, six fractured ribs and a head wound requiring 7 stitches. HSE investigation showed Master Concrete had failed to properly plan the work and identify or address any hazards associated with the dismantling of the building. Workers involved in the dismantling had no training or experience of this type of work. After the incident a PN was served preventing further dismantling of the building until the work was properly planned and carried out by competent persons. However, this was ignored and the building was subsequently demolished by untrained employees. |
HSE (National) Press Release COILON/2109 27/9/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Council fined after putting worker in asbestos danger. |
| Nuneaton and Bedworth Council fined £5,000 and costs of £2,140 under CAR 2006. An employee, who is a trained plumber, was sent to deal with a water leak in a sheltered accommodation complex without warning him asbestos was present. The Council possessed a survey detailing where it was. The employee found the faulty pipe in a ceiling void on the first floor of the building after removing an asbestos insulation board (AIB) ceiling sheet. As the worker was unaware he was dealing with asbestos, he used a hand saw to cut out part of the AIB sheet to gain access to the leaking pipe. He stood directly underneath the tile while sawing the material for around 20 minutes and, though covered in dust, was not wearing any personal protective clothing. |
HSE (National) Press Release WM236/10 28/9/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Hazard health check to benefit West Yorkshire workers. |
| More than 500 businesses in Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield will be the focus of an intensive two-week safety push when the HSE joins forces with local councils to carry out a hazard health check. From Monday 4 October, HSE and local authority inspectors will be visiting businesses to see first-hand what health and safety practices are in place to protect employees and to ensure that relevant legislation is being followed. Included in the target areas are key industrial and commercial business parks and sites including converted mills involving firms employing any number of a handful to hundreds of workers. |
HSE (National) Press Release YH/232/10 28/9/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Packaging firm fined after worker's fingers severed. |
| Sirane Ltd fined £6,000 and costs of £2,083 under PUWER 1998. Worker Editha Bayliss had two digits severed while operating an automatic guillotine. She put her hand under the guard of the machine to clear a blockage from the cutting area while the machine was running. The cutting blade came down before Ms Bayliss' hand was clear, severing the tips of 2 of her fingers. The fingers were surgically amputated down to the first joint. Sirane Ltd was served with a PN which required operation of the machinery to stop immediately until it was made safe. |
HSE (National) Press Release WM237/10 28/9/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Manufacturing company prosecuted after horrific hand injury. |
| Saint-Gobain Weber Limited fined £16,000 and costs of £3,560 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Production Supervisor Simon Partridge was in charge of the night-shift when his finger and thumb were severed as he tried to unblock a waste extraction system, which took dust out of the workplace, when it became blocked. His finger and thumb could not be saved, despite extensive surgery. HSE found the machine's safety guards could be removed by members of staff using tools the company provided, which is against the legal requirement for guarding to be in place. Inspectors were also concerned about the system for isolating the power from machinery, which was below expected standards. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE-E-34 29/9/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Double prosecution after two thrown from fairground ride at British Grand Prix. |
| Michael Searle (owner of 'Tagada' ride) fined £3,000 and costs of £1,000 under HASAWA s3. Michael Rodgers, Director of Fairground Inspection Services Ltd fined £3,000 and costs of £2,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Fairground Inspection Services Ltd fined £7,000 and costs of £2,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. The Tagada is a ground-level spinning machine that bounces its riders as it turns. Two member of the public were thrown off as it spun at speed. Both suffered back injuries and bruising but have since recovered. HSE found the ride failed due to corroded structural steel work on the seating. The corrosion was significant and clear to see and should have been identified by the ride owner, Mr Searle, during an inspection visit by Mr Rodgers. The owner of the faulty fairground ride and an inspector declared it safe. |
HSE (National) Press Release COISE/3009 30/9/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Skegness firm prosecuted over fatal fall at Doncaster farm. |
| Blue Anchor Leisure Ltd fined £15,000 and costs of £4,964 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Clifford Hartley, 59, was re-roofing a fire-damaged barn. A stack of hay bales had been positioned inside the barn to provide a working platform and to try and break any falls, but when Mr Hartley fell from the roof he landed 18 inches to the side of them onto a concrete floor, sustaining fatal head injuries. The hay bales were only stacked to roof level in parts and didn't extend far enough inside the barn to provide complete protection. So when Mr Hartley fell they were effectively useless. Blue Anchor Leisure Ltd failed to adequately protect its employees. |
HSE (National) Press Release YH/236/10 30/9/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Lancashire couple in court after repeated injuries. |
| Kenneth Bramhall and Gill Brown were each fined £6,000, costs of £2,000 and £1,000 compensation to Mr Davies under PUWER 1998, after an employee as injured twice within two months. Simon Davies, 21, was cutting a small groove into a pine door when it shot out of the machine, forcing his left hand onto a rotating blade. His index finger was badly cut, most of his nail was removed and the bone was broken. Just 3 weeks before this incident, HSE had issued 7 EN notices after Mr Davies suffered similar injuries from a circular saw. The notices required specific improvements to be made at the workshop and work on the unguarded and unsafe saw to be stopped completely. Kenneth Bramhall and Gill Brown who run Village Pine, were prosecuted for failure to provide suitable training for employees and for not adequately controlling the risk to workers of being injured. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/38BrownBramhall 1/10/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Safety initiative targets region's small construction sites. |
| A new safety initiative targeting small-scale building projects is being launched across Greater Manchester and Cheshire. During the next 6 months HSE inspectors specialising in construction will be visiting short-duration building projects to offer support and advice to workers and contractors. Company owners and their employees will also be encouraged to attend one of a series of ten free H&S Awareness events to help improve standards in the industry. The first event will take place in Wigan on Thursday 7 October, at the Territorial Army Centre at 5pm. Employers and self-employed workers can book a place by calling 0161 952 8358. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/14constructionsafety 1/10/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Pinguinlutosa Foods UK Limited |
| Fined £10,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. |
HSE Prosecution 4187054 19/7/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| i2r Packaging Solutions Ltd |
| Fined £10,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. IP was injured whilst attempting to clear material blockage from tooling area of 130 tonne power press. Aluminium foil, used to make food cartons, had become entangled in the tool and had struck down the 'floating' parts of the lower tooling. The 'floating' parts were freed and forced up under air pressure that was still in the system. The tooling area is protected by interlocked guards to the sides of the machines and tunnel guards during normal operation. However, opening the interlocked guards did not isolate the pneumatics from stored energy in the air reservoirs, which meant that the 'floating parts' could still be energised unless the air pressures were let off manually, by switches on the control panel on the side of the machine. |
HSE Prosecution 4199922 19/7/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Dura Automotive Body & Glass Systems |
| Fined a total of £30,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2 and MHSWR 1999. IP was struck by a robot in an integrated manufacturing system and was seriously injured. At the time of the incident the robot was in the automatic mode and the IP had conspired with the operator so that the cell could be operated with him inside. |
HSE Prosecution 4170858 21/7/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| William Bedford t/a B & J Scaffolding |
| Fined £4,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. The scaffold had been erected with insufficient ties and no bracing, resulting in its collapse in foreseeable conditions, causing injury to a member of the public. |
HSE Prosecution 4198354 21/7/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| John Wainwright & Co Ltd |
| Fined £10,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. IP's foot was caught under machine roughly in the middle of the hopper area. IP had his foot amputated. |
HSE Prosecution 4197278 22/7/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Gee Construction Ltd |
| Fined £1,000 under WHR 2005. |
HSE Prosecution 4199444 22/7/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Izhar UI Haq |
| Fined a total of £2,000 under HASAWA 1974 s21. Prosecution case for failure to comply with improvement notices requiring remedial works to electrical system and thorough examination of hoist at a repair centre in Luton. |
HSE Prosecution 4189065 23/7/10 Week ending: 01/10/10 |
| Major pub chain sentenced over Merseyside landlord's death. |
| Enterprise Inns fined £300,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Paul Lee, 41, tenant landlord of a pub, died from carbon monoxide poisoning. He was found unconscious by a cleaner just after midday. Mr Lee had turned on a gas fire in his living room 10 hours earlier before falling asleep. Mr Lee suffered a heart attack, due to lack of oxygen, on the way to hospital and died the following morning without regaining consciousness. He had worked at the pub for less than a month. HSE investigation found that the fire may not have been serviced since 1997 and the chimney was completely blocked. Tenants at another 474 pubs were also put at risk. Enterprise Inns should have ensured that gas safety inspections were carried out at 868 of its pubs at least every 12 months, but that only 394 had valid certificates. The gas heater which caused Mr Lee's death should have been checked before he took over the tenancy. Enterprise Inns also received a written warning from HSE in 2001, following a fire at one of its properties in Birmingham which highlighted a systematic failure to implement annual gas safety checks. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/46EnterpriseInns 5/10/10 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Blame culture prominent on Transocean rigs. |
| According to a leaked HSE inspection report, a culture of fear and blame is rife across the operations of offshore drilling contractor, Transocean. The company, which BP blamed in part for the Deepwater Horizon explosion, was the subject of an HSE investigation across four of its North Sea rigs last year. |
SHP October 2010:6 Internet: www.shponline.co.uk/offshore Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Accreditation should help "restore confidence". |
| The launch of the new accreditation scheme for safety consultants is likely to be synchronised with the publication of Lord Young's review of H&S. |
SHP October 2010:7 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Bonuses paid despite massaging on RIDDOR. |
| A union has demanded that Network Rail (NR) recoup part of the bonuses paid to directors after claims that the company underreported the number of minor injuries among workers. NR's safety record is taken into account when its remuneration committee awards bonuses. Despite concerns raised by the Office of Rail Regulation over the company's procedures for reporting RIDDOR incidents, Unite says that seven directors earned £2.36m in bonuses last year. |
SHP October 2010:7 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| TUC: Government should promote not pillory H&S. |
| In what could be seen as a swipe at Lord Young, the TUC has called on the Government to appoint a health and safety tsar dedicated to championing the cause. According to the TUC, at least 20,000 people die prematurely every year as a result of their work, through health conditions, exposure to chemicals, and traffic accidents. |
SHP October 2010:7 Internet: www.tuc.org.uk/extras/the_case_for_health_and_safety.pdf Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Scotland experiences rise in conviction rate on specialist legal division's watch. |
| Expeditious resolution of H&S prosecution cases in Scotland appear to be bearing fruit, following fresh statistics from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. |
SHP October 2010:8 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Newsagent chain left staff "open to violent attacks". |
| Martin McColl fined £5,000 and costs of £5,505 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Store manager Christine Rowe was violently assaulted during a robbery at her branch. She had just opened the store when a masked man entered and dragged her into a storeroom. He demanded she open the safe. She complied and handed over £2,641, the man then struck her in the face, leaving her unconscious and fracturing an eye socket. There had been a previous robbery one month earlier and the police had given a number of suggestions to help protect staff. They discovered that the CCTV was not working, staff were unaware that the panic alarm had been disconnected and would only ring internally, and not at a security company. It was also suggested that the company install a time-delay safe. None of the suggestions had been implemented. |
SHP October 2010:17 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| The choice is yours. |
| After a workplace incident what rights do you have to choose who represents you, and how can you persuade your insurer to agree to your choice of lawyer rather than impose theirs? (Kevin Bridges) |
SHP October 2010:9 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Making mountains out of molehills. |
| How practitioners can improve their management of health and safety by viewing initiatives as "projects", adopting a structured approach to managing them, and involving health and safety committees in the process. (Nick Bell) |
SHP October 2010:34-36 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| The recovery proposition. |
| Companies could have a lot to gain if they built in sufficient time at work for employees to recover from tasks. (Mark Cropley and Jason Devereux) |
SHP October 2010:38-40 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Play safe |
| A key part of developing and sustaining a strong safety culture is addressing worker behaviour, and a key way of doing that is providing effective and engaging training. A suggestion that one way organisations can become "good at learning" is through drama and story telling. (Glen Robertson) |
SHP October 2010:42-44 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Drivers for change. |
| There are few organisations whose work activities don't require some of their employees to get behind the wheel of a vehicle - company owned or otherwise - at one point or another, so it is essential that employers have a robust driver risk-management policy in place. (Paul Holmes) |
SHP October 2010:46-48 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Moving on up. |
| Spending a day with managers and front-line staff of major global transport provider First Group, which has set itself a health and safety target that is ambitious yet achievable within the inclusive ad progressive safety culture in place throughout the company. (Tina Weadick) |
SHP October 2010:51-54 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Transfer talks. |
| Tension and communication breakdown in the supply chain can contribute to injury and death in the workplace. Why all parties, including logistics firms, suppliers and their customers have a duty of care to co-operate and communicate in order to protect the health and safety of workers and the public. (John Gollaglee and Si?n Wall) |
SHP October 2010:56-58 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Restoration firm fined after wall collapse. |
| Simon Jones Restoration and Re-design Limited fined £4,000 and costs of £3,000 under CDMR 2007 and £1,000 compensation to the injured teenager. Two employees were carrying out refurbishment work to a large domestic property which had been in a poor condition for a number of years. They were creating an opening in a lime mortar gable end wall when the wall collapsed, injuring both workers. The seriously hurt teenager, aged 17 at the time, suffered a fractured pelvis, ligament damage to his ankle and chipped tooth. |
HSE (National) Press Release WW01/10 4/10/10 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Construction firm fined after death of worker. |
| James Swinton Co Ltd fined £10,000 and costs of £4,063 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Charles Wilkinson, 51, was struck by the telehandler as it was being reversed the wrong way along a one-way residential street. The company were carrying out refurbishment work in the street and had not requested a road closure from the council and there were still residents' cars parked in the street. The telehandler driver was reversing his vehicle up the street the wrong way when it mounted the pavement and struck Mr Wilkinson, who was taken to hospital with injuries to his pelvis, spine and ribs but later released. However, Mr Wilkinson died four weeks later as a result of a blood clot. A Home Office pathologist later determined the clot was caused by the incident. |
HSE (National) Press Release NE/234/10 4/10/10 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Cutting deaths in construction - free Orkney event aims to reduce risks. |
| A practical event for builders, construction workers and contractors will take place in Orkney next week in a bid to reduce the death toll in Scotland construction industry. The Orkney Construction Training Group has organised a free safety and health awareness event at Orkney College on Monday 11 October, between 8am and 4pm. |
HSE (National) Press Release SCO/184/10 5/10/10 Contact: Orkney Training Group on 01856 879080 or email training@orkneybusinessring.co.uk Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Veolia litter picker fatally run down at work. |
| Veolia ES (UK) fined a total of £225,000 and costs of £95,239 under HASAWA 1974 s2 and s3. Damian Griffiths, 20, an agency worker for Veolia, was litter-picking on a grass verge of the A228 with a colleague, who was driving a caged vehicle, used to collect the litter, alongside him. A large goods lorry travelling in the same direction collided with the caged vehicle, shunting it into Mr Griffiths. The LGV driver escaped serious injury but Mr Griffiths died at the scene. |
HSE (National) Press Release COISE/0510 5/10/10 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Huddersfield firm fined for endangering workforce. |
| Phoenox Textiles Ltd fined £12,000 and costs of £3,056 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Dennis Hunter, 57, was left with a broken leg and crushed ankle when he fell 8 feet onto concrete while dismantling shelving. HSE found men working unsupervised and who had received no training to dismantle the 30-foot-high shelving system safely. The men had not been given any specialist equipment to enable them to work safely at height. Ladders were not suitable for the work nor secured in any way. Mr Hunter was on a lower rack while cutting through boarding with a circular saw. The board tipped and sent him crashing to the floor, breaking his leg. The heavy board then fell on top of him crushing his left ankle and badly bruising his face. Mr Hunter underwent 2 operations and was in plaster for 7 weeks before he was able to work part time. HSE served an IN ordering Phoenox to properly assess risks to staff while working at height and implement suitable controls. A PN was also served halting any further dismantling work on other poorly maintained racking at the site. |
HSE (National) Press Release YH/237/10 27/9/10 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Hospital fined after health worker infected with Hepatitis C. |
| Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust fined a total of £12,500 and costs of £9,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2 and COSHH 2002. A health worker at a Worcester hospital contracted the Hepatitis C virus after injuring herself on a needle used to take blood from an infected patient. The worker, who had been training at the Trust for 3 weeks, was instructed to take blood from a patient known to be infected with the virus. After taking the sample, she had difficulty reaching the sharps bin to dispose of the needle, because other equipment surrounding the patient prevented access for her trolley. Blood continued to seep through the patient's dressing, so the worker placed the used needle on to the nearest work surface while she attended, but as she reached for a tissue to further dress the wound, she caught her wrist on the needle. The employee was not made aware of the patient's infection status until after the injury occurred and was not supervised during the procedure. Despite action to counter infection from the injury, she was subsequently diagnosed with symptoms of the virus. An examination of the Trust's system for taking blood samples from high-risk patients found failure to carry out suitable risk assessments where there was a risk of exposure to blood-borne viruses. The Trust failed to implement adequate controls or provide training around them and lacked suitable arrangements for effective monitoring and review of safe working practices. HSE issued 4 INs to address these issues, which the Trust subsequently complied with. |
HSE (National) Press Release WM177/10 6/10/10 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| HSE publishes new guidance on fire safety in construction. |
| HSE has published revised guidance on "Fire Safety in Construction". Each year there are thousands of fires on construction sites, potentially putting the lives of workers and members of the public at risk. The new guidance, freely available on HSE's website, is about preventing fires from starting and ensuring people's safety if they do. |
HSE (National) Press Release 6/10/10 "Fire Safety in Construction" www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg168.htm Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Contractors prosecuted after hoardings collapse on family. |
| Wates Construction Ltd fined £4,000 and costs of £5,273 under CDMR 2007. Dean Lotwick, t/a Hammerwich Construction, fined £4,000 and costs of £6,963 under CDMR 2007. A 2 year old child escaped with minor injuries after a 17 metre wide shop hoarding collapsed on him at a popular Merseyside shopping centre whilst enjoying a day out with his family. The hoarding, which had been erected outside a new shop, overturned as they were walking past, leaving them with cuts and bruises. Wates Construction Ltd, recently named contractor of the year by Building Magazine, had commissioned Dean Lotwick to build the 2.4 metre high hoarding to run outside a shop which was being newly fitted out. But because the hoardings had not been designed properly, they could not withstand the wind they blew over as the family walked past. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/54Wales&Lotwick 7/10/10 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Illegal gas fitter sentenced. |
| Bennett Morley fined £500 and costs of £500 under GSIUR 1998 and was also referred to a debt counsellor. He falsely claimed to be a registered gas engineer and was sentenced for illegally installing gas appliances. The work was so poor that complaints were made by householders and remedial work had to be carried out by a registered gas engineer. Mr Morley passed himself off as a registered gas engineer by completing installation paperwork with a false identity number and advising customers that he was registered. He had worked for several years with a gas installation company but had been operating as a sole trader when the offences took place. |
HSE (National) Press Release YH/239/10 7/10/10 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| HSE and Local Authority inspectors visiting employees in West Wales to raise awareness of radon gas. |
| HSE and Local Authorities will be visiting businesses and organisations in Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion to raise awareness of radon gas in the workplace. Taking place from 11 - 15 October 2010, inspectors will be making employers in the area aware of the potential risk from breathing in radon gas, estimated to cause between 90 and 280 fatal lung cancers every year, and their responsibilities under health and safety legislation to protect their workers. Radon gas is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that can seep out of the ground and enter buildings such as homes and workplaces. Inspectors will take employers through the straightforward steps they can take to protect their workers, general advice on how to arrange a risk assessment and what further actions they should take if needed, such as making simple radon measurements. |
HSE (National) Press Release WW/0710/AP 8/10/10 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Work Well Dorset team target motor trade. |
| Officers from the HSE and local authorities in Dorset will be carrying out a programme of inspections to businesses associated with the motor vehicle trade during October and November, including motor vehicle repairers, body sprayers/repairers, tyre and exhaust fitting premises and vehicle showrooms. The main focus of this work will be to reduce the incidents of ill health from the use of hazardous substances such as isocyanate paints which are one of the biggest cause of occupational asthma in the UK, with 50 sprayers being diagnosed every year, resulting in a lifetime cost in the range of £94,000 to £138,000. |
HSE (National) Press Release 8/10/10 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Cutting deaths in construction - free Shetland event aims to reduce risks. |
| A practical event for builders, construction workers and contractors will take place in Shetland later this month in a bid to reduce accidents and ill-health in Scotland's construction industry. The Working Well Together campaign has organised a free safety and health awareness event at Clickimin Leisure Complex on Tuesday 26 October 2010, between 8.30 and 12.00pm. The half-day event is free, but places are limited. |
HSE (National) Press Release SCO/189/10 8/10/10 Contact: Tracy Forbes at HSE on 01224 252 609 or email tracy.forbes@hse.gsi.gov.uk Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| North East deaths prompt safety roadshow. |
| A white van with a difference will set off on a week-long safety tour of major construction sites in the region on Monday 18 October. The White Van Roadshow will highlight the potential dangers in the industry, after 4 construction workers were killed in the North East last year, and more than 500 were seriously injured. The tour will visits sites in Middlesbrough, Newton Aycliffe and Sunderland, focussing on the risks from untidy sites working at height, manual handling, transport, asbestos and other dust-related diseases. Representatives from leading companies in the construction industry will be among those attending the events, which will include practical demonstrations on new safety equipment. |
HSE (National) Press Release NE/239/10 8/10/10 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Fencing firm prosecuted for putting workers in danger. |
| Fencing Supplies Ltd fined £14,000 and costs of £2,774 under PUWER 1998. The company admitted putting its employees in danger by allowing them to use unguarded machinery. They allowed guards to be disabled on nine fence cutting machines at its factory. When an HSE inspector visited the site he served 9 PNs banning the use of the machines and an IN requiring changes to working practices. Guards on 5 machines had been deliberately bypassed. This meant that workers could gain access to them while they were still operating, to carry out maintenance work and remove waste materials. |
HSE (North West) Press Release 1/10/10 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Humberside Aggregates & Excavations Limited |
| Fined a total of £30,000 under QR 1999. Accident at North Cave Quarry. Wheeled loader overturned due to lack of edge protection on haul road of sharp sand stockpile. |
HSE Prosecution 4204489 28/7/10 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Express Park Construction Company Ltd |
| Fined £75,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Fatal accident. Fall from roof. |
HSE Prosecution 4080860 29/7/10 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Oxford Architects |
| Fined a total of £120,000 under CDMR 1994. Fatal accident. Fall from roof. |
HSE Prosecution 4080865 29/7/10 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| John Hogarth Limited |
| Fined £16,750 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Employee injured when becoming entangled whilst cleaning machinery. |
HSE Prosecution 4141019 29/7/10 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Robert Murray |
| Fined a total of £8,000 under WHR 2005 and CDMR 2007. Casual worker injured whilst working at height. Failure to plan and carry out demolition work in safe manner, failure to ensure competence of those engaged in work at height. |
HSE Prosecution 4161447 29/7/10 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Eric Murray |
| Fined £5,000 under WHR 2005. Failure to provide adequate measures to prevent falls for persons working under his control. |
HSE Prosecution 4161454 29/7/10 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| Ron Crouch (Building Contractors) Limited |
| Fined a total of £2,500 under CAR 2006. Unlicensed work with asbestos insulation board (AIB) following incident where company removed AIB from boiler cupboard without proper controls and encapsulated AIB in boiler cupboard without being a licensed contractor. |
HSE Prosecution 4209082 29/7/10 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| United Biscuits (UK) Ltd |
| Fined £10,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. The IP was cleaning a machine which mixes ingredients for flapjacks. IP had removed a flexible pipe which fed oats from a hopper into a screw conveyor. IP reached up to clear some oats from the bottom of the hopper and her left hand came into contact with a revolving star valve which amputated two of her fingers on her left hand. |
HSE Prosecution 4187100 30/7/10 Week ending: 08/10/10 |
| HSE welcomes Lord Young's report on health and safety. |
| HSE has warmly welcomed the publication of Lord Young's report into health and safety. HSE has already been working with others to develop responses to two of the recommendations: a 20-minute online risk assessment for offices, which was launched today, with other web tools for similarly low-risk workplaces to follow and a new Occupational Safety Consultants Register (OSCR), which will be set up in January 2011. Judith Hackitt, the HSE Chair said, "Lord Young's report is an important milestone on the road to recovery for the reputation of real health and safety. HSE welcomes it and will be actively pursuing those recommendations within our remit. We welcomed the review when it was announced by the Prime Minister in June and we are looking forward to contributing to its implementation.". |
HSE (National) Press Release 15/10/10 Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/lordyoung/index.htm Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Benchmarking tool proves costly flop. |
| According to new figures obtained by HSB, the low take-up of the HSE-sponsored Corporate Health and Safety Performance Index (CHaSPI) has meant that each completed use of the index has cost taxpayers just over £5,100. The information was requested by HSB from HSE after examining an HSE-commissioned review of CHaSPI carried out by Greenstreet Berman, which also developed and still manages CHaSPI. |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):1 Internet: CHaSPI www.chaspi.info-exchange.com "Review of CHaSPI" HSE, RR813, www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr813.pdf Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| No surprises among 2012 Olympic safety determinants. |
| Risk assessment and competence are the two overarching issues that the HSE needs to consider in connection with the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games according to a Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) report. |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):4 Internet: "A literature review of ? " HSE, RR811, www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr811.pdf Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Legislation database. |
| The National Archives has launched a new legislation website that contains all primary (Acts) and secondary (statutory instruments/Regulations/Orders) legislation enacted since 1988. It also contains the enactments of administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The site replaces and improves on the Office of Public Sector Information and Statute Law Database websites. |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):4 Internet: www.legislation.gov.uk Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Asbestos. |
| The HSE has published the latest report from an ongoing survey of asbestos workers that started in 1970. It looks at the frequency of asbestosis and mesothelioma, and identifies risks associated with the risk of death from these diseases. |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):6 Internet: "The GB survey of ? " HSE, RR805, www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr805.pdf Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Chemicals - vehicle repair. |
| The HSE is using a 2010 European-wide campaign on "Risk assessment in the use of hazardous substances" to focus on the motor vehicle repair (MVR) industry. The campaign runs until March 2011 in 26 EU Member states and Norway. The new campaign requires each country to intervene in one or more of four industries: industrial wood processing and furniture, MVR, bakeries, and industrial and dry cleaning. Most of the information that the HSE is promoting on MVR has been available since 2009. |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):6 Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/foi/internalops/sectors/manuf/03-10-01.htm and www.chemicalscampaign.eu Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Construction - cranes. |
| HSE-commissioned research from the HSL has identified 86 incidents worldwide that involved the collapse or major structural failure of a tower crane between 1989 and 2009. The UK has experienced six such major incidents since 2000. |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):6 Internet: "Tower crane ? " HSE, RR820, www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr820.pdf Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Construction - recession. |
| The "environment" in which the HSE's construction division has tried to improve standards has "proved particularly challenging" over the last 12 months, according to a paper from HSE officials "noted" at the HSE Board's meeting on 25 August. |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):7 Internet: "An update on the work of ? " HSE, Board HSE/10/68 www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/meetings/hseboard/2010/250810/paugb1068.pdf Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Health - surveillance. |
| The HSE is reviewing its guidance on health surveillance (HSG 61) which it last updated in 1999. The HSE is currently considering a new research report as part of its wider review. |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):7 Internet: "Health surveillance - a time for change?" www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr810.pdf Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| HSE - annual report. |
| The HSE's annual report has been published. |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):7 Internet: "HSE annual report and accounts 2009/10" www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/reports/0910/ar0910.pdf Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| HSE - Board. |
| There are two new faces on the HSE Board - Paul Kenny (general secretary of the GMB union) and Frances Outram Wright. |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):7 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| HSE - Generation Z. |
| According to a "horizon scanning" report from the HSL, the HSE's 2009 strategy for the UK's health and safety system "would seem to be compatible with 21st-century societal values as employees become aware of their employment rights and how to enforce them". The report looks at the implications for H&S of "Generation Z" - those under the age of 16 who are likely to enter the workforce over the next 10 years. |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):7 Internet: "The generation gap: ? " Horizon Scanning SR024 www.hse.gov.uk/horizons/downloads/generationz.pdf Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Lifting - simplification. |
| The HSE's simplification of its advice on lifting operations has met with the approval of its target audience according to HSE-commissioned research from the HSL. The HSE revised its guidance on LOLER 1998 as part of its third simplification plan. |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):8 Internet: "Evaluation of the simplified ? " HSE, RR814, www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr814.pdf Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| MSDs - ART. |
| The HSE has released the research report that enabled it to develop the Assessment of Repetitive Tasks (ART) tool from an inspection device to a tool that can be used by organisations. |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):8 Internet: "Further development of a tool ? " HSE, RR808, www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr808.pdf and www.hse.gov.uk/msd/uld/art/ Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Roads - excavations. |
| The death of a young child has resulted in the issuing of a safety notice about excavations near lamp columns with non-standard works. The death was caused by a lamp column of a non-standard root design (in which the foundation is offset from the column) that fell outside the boundary of the site where street works were taking place. |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):9 Internet: "Safety notice FOD 5-2010" www.hse.gov.uk/safetybulletins/lampcolumns.htm Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Services - Directive. |
| The HSE has confirmed that the EU services Directive will apply to more H&S Regulations than it had originally envisaged. The Directive is implemented in the UK by the Provision of Services Regulations 2009. |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):9 Internet: "EU Service Directive: ? " SMT/10/84 www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/meetings/smt/2010/070710/pjulsmt1084.pdf Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| SMEs - advice. |
| According to an independent evaluation by the Institute of Employment Studies, a pilot H&S advice service for SMEs has proved expensive to run and elicited a low rate of participation. |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):9 Internet: "Healthy Workplaces Milton Keynes pilot: ? " HSE, RR809, www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr809.pdf Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| SMEs - local authorities. |
| The HSE's Estates Excellence pilot continues its progress through southeast England. The Estates Excellence involves "specially trained visiting staff" calling on SMEs on industrial estates and offering advice to managers and workers on how to "get it right", "get efficient" and "get fit for work". |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):10 Internet: email estatesexcellence@hse.gsi.gov.uk phone 0800 849 8012 or www.hse.gov.uk/estatesexcellence Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Vibration - surveillance. |
| An analysis from three pieces of research has found evidence of likely benefits from surveying individuals with hand-arm vibration syndrome. |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):10 Internet: "Gathering intelligence from ? " HSE, RR821, www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr821.pdf Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Waste - inspections. |
| From October 2010, the HSE will start a three-year phased inspection of local authorities that are clients and managers of waste and recycling services. The HSE will also be running waste H&S awareness days until April 2011 on skip hire and scrap metal activities. |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):10 Internet: "Update on waste management ? " HSE/10/62 www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/meetings/hseboard/2010/280710/pjlyb1062.pdf Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Work at height - ladders. |
| The HSE's fourth Ladder Exchange is running from 1 September to 30 November. |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Health and safety: the state of play. |
| HSE's latest state-of-play table reviews all HSE activity and other important developments between 7 April and 6 September 2010. The table also reports on the current position for legislative proposals, and provides readers with an early warning of important or likely developments in H&S. |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):11-24 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| The Buncefield five: fuels, not fines, exceed "ultimate high. |
| The Buncefield five have escaped very lightly. (Lucinda Ponting) |
Health and Safety Bulletin October 2010 (392):25-32 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| First set of 2010 figures on pesticide resides released. |
| The Pesticide Residues Committee (PRC) has published findings from its first quarterly report for food samples collected in 2010. The report found that the majority of foods had no detectable residues and those that did contain pesticides were not likely to be harmful to health. Tests found that 214 out of 349 samples of 10 different foods tested had no detectable residues. A further 112 samples contained levels below the maximum residue level (MRL) the legally permitted level. No residues were detected in any samples of beef or milk. |
HSE (National) Press Release 8/10/10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Pesticide Residues Committee publishes 2009 annual report. |
| The 2009 Annual Report of the independent Pesticides Residues Committee (PRC) has been published. The report draws together the results of the UK's programme of pesticide residues testing in food and drink for 2009. Over 3,800 samples of both imported and home-produced food were collected from many sources including shops, markets, ports and wholesale suppliers, and tested for a wide range of different pesticides. Results are published every quarter and then summarised at the end of the year in this annual report. |
HSE (National) Press Release 8/10/10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Rochdale firm in court after worker suffers crush injuries. |
| Carter International fined £10,000 and costs of £4,184 under HASAWA 1974 s2. A 2 tonne piece of machinery fell onto a labourer, leaving him with multiple fractures. The 21 year old was crushed when the machine part toppled from an FLT onto his legs. He also broke his collar bone. He had to wear a cast for several months after the incident and was not able to return to work for ten months. The company refurbishes machines for the plastic and rubber industries. The worker was preparing to clean a section of machinery when it fell on him. HSE found that the bolts used to hold the machine part on the FLT were not designed for the job. The lifting machinery at the site had not been properly checked by Carter International, despite the company receiving an IN from the HSE in 2005, which required it to have its lifting equipment properly inspected. While it had complied with the original notice, investigation inspectors found the company had not had the machinery checked frequently enough. The company also failed to have proper lifting processes in place, with individual employees often having to decide how to carry out particular jobs. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/57CarterInternational 8/10/10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Pipework manufacturer failed to protect employees. |
| Ductwork Environmental Services Ltd fined £1,000 and costs of £750 under ELCIA 1969. Company failed to purchase compulsory insurance to protect its employees. When an Inspector from the HSE visited the premises, the company could not produce a current Employer's Liability Compulsory Insurance (ELCI) certificate and was issued with an ELCI "notice to produce", but the company failed to comply. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE-E-35 8/10/10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Fencing firm prosecuted for putting workers in danger. |
| Fencing Supplies Ltd fined £14,000 and costs of £2,774 under PUWER 1998. The company allowed guards to be disabled on nine fence cutting machines at its factory. When an HSE inspector visited, he served 9 PNs banning the use of the machines and an IN requiring changes to working practices. Guards on 5 machines had been deliberately bypassed. This meant that workers could gain access to them while they were still operating, to carry out maintenance work and remove waste materials. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/56FencingSupplies 9/10/10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Bristol company fined for cutting machine injury. |
| Darren Wring t/a Fineline fined £20,000 and costs of £1,800 under PUWER 1998. Employee Rolf Weber sustained minor head injuries after going into the working area of a machine to remove a finished work piece and inadvertently hitting his head on the cutter which was still rotating at full speed. Mr Weber's injuries were fairly minor, but the cutter on which he hit his head was rotating at 18,000rpm and he could have been very seriously injured or killed. |
HSE (National) Press Release 831/SWW/10 11/10/10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Construction firm fined after electric shock scars worker for life. |
| Dwyer Engineering Services Ltd fined £20,000 and costs of £14,532 under CDMR 2007. Employee Bradley Marsh, 28, suffered 62 per cent burns to his upper body, face, neck and arms when he inadvertently struck the 11,000 volt cable while working at a construction site. The firm did not have a capable supervisor on site, which contributed to poor practices being common place. There was also no suitable system in place for the identification of underground cables. Additionally, Mr Marsh was not trained to dig within 500mm of the live cables, a factor which led to the electrocution. Mr Marsh was hospitalised for 6 weeks after the incident and as a result of his injuries cannot expose himself to direct sunlight, due to skin grafts. His house has been adapted so he can sleep downstairs and he is unlikely to work again. |
HSE (National) Press Release COISE/1210 12/10/10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Recycling firm prosecuted over Preston worker's injuries. |
| Smurfit Kappa UK Ltd fined £5,000 and costs of £4,204 under WHSWR 1992. The 60 year old employee was pushing waste cardboard onto the conveyor belt when he was forced onto it by a reversing van, suffering broken ribs. The company should have made sure pedestrians were kept away from moving vehicles by providing barriers or marked areas. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/053 13/10/10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Blackburn firm prosecuted after teenager seriously injured. |
| General All Purpose (GAP) Plastics Ltd fined £1,000 and costs of £4,500 under PUWER 1998. The apprentice, who was just 17 at the time, suffered serious injuries when his arm was dragged into a machine. He dislocated his left shoulder and broke his arm. He was helping to assemble decorative panels for doors when he was dragged in between 2 rollers while trying to clear a jam. More than 2 years after the incident, he has still not regained full use of his hand. HSE investigation found that the company did not take adequate steps to prevent access to the most dangerous parts of the machine. The company should have provided fixed guards covering dangerous parts of the machine. The additional risk posed by the worker's lack of experience had also not been assessed. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/39Gap 14/10/10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Company fined £12,000 after injuries to three workers. |
| Oldham Seals Limited fined £12,000 and costs of £4,151.25 under HASAWA 1974 s2. A hose builder was unwinding a fabric bandage that had been wrapped around a hose mounted on a rotating machine part called a lathe, while it was moving. The bandage wound round his left hand pulling it into the machine. It was tight enough to amputate his thumb and partially removing part of his index finger. HSE investigation showed that a further 2 incidents had taken place on this machine prior to this incident. A different worker had his glove entangled in the machine and he was pulled towards the rotating parts. He suffered bruising and cuts to his torso. A third worker was winding rope round a hose he was building on a lathe when his leg was caught and he was pulled towards the machine. The rope snapped but he suffered severe lacerations to his left leg. Investigation highlighted that the incidents were preventable as, had there been suitable guarding round the moving parts, then the risk of entanglement would not have been present. |
HSE (National) Press Release COISE/1410 14/10/10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Worker's friend injured helping out in workshop. |
| Graham Salter fined £34,000 and costs of £1,622 under PUWER 1998. Business owner Mr Salter, 56, prepared veteran racing motorbikes for competitions in a workshop behind his home and also did work for a local firm modifying parts for extractor fans. Mr Salter needed extra help with the fan side of the business. His wife's friend, Julie Thackray, offered to help out, despite having no experience of that type of work. Mr Salter had programmed the milling machine to run non-stop while he replaced machined parts with new ones by hand. Guard screens around the machine had also been left open. He trained Ms Thackray to follow his method of work, initially supervised her and warned her about dangers of her clothes, hair and jewellery getting caught in the machine. He did not warn her of the risks of wearing gloves, which could get snagged by rotating parts. Ms Thackray's glove became caught in the chuck of a high-speed milling machine, leaving her with fractures and cuts to her forearm. The glove ripped apart, allowing her to free her arm, but not before she suffered very serious injuries. |
HSE (National) Press Release YH/244/10 15/10/10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| '20-minute' risk assessment for low risk offices. |
| A new online risk assessment will help cut back the time it takes to weigh up the hazards in offices to just 20 minutes. HSE has produced the web tool to help employers to consider relevant hazards in their office and think about how they control them to keep staff safe. Launched today, the tool will help avoid unnecessary paperwork and bureaucracy for office-based businesses, which tend to be low risk. Safety officials will take account of the results of the assessments when they carry out inspections - evidence that businesses have taken appropriate steps to manage workplace risk. |
HSE (National) Press Release 15/10/10 Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/risk/office.htm Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Consultants register to improve safety advice. |
| A new national register of occupational safety consultants will be set up to help employers access good quality, proportionate advice, the HSE has confirmed. The Occupational Safety Consultants Register (OSCR) will go live in January 2011. It will provide firms with details of consultants who have met the highest qualification standards of recognised professional bodies and who are bound by a code of conduct that requires them to only give advice which is sensible and proportionate. The register has been developed by HSE and a network of professional bodies representing safety consultants across Britain. Employers will visit a single website that help them to find local advisers with experience relevant to their sector. To be eligible to join the register, individual consultants will need to be either Chartered members of the safety bodies IOSH, CIEH or REHIS or a Fellow of the IIRSM. Membership will mean they have a commitment to continuous professional development, a degree equivalent qualification, 2 years experience, professional indemnity insurance and are bound by a code of conduct of conduct to only providing sensible and proportionate advice. The scheme will be managed by the professional bodies themselves through a not-for-profit company, with HSE providing support. Membership of OSCR will be voluntary. There will be an annual administration fee to be paid, although the level has yet to be set. A further announcement on the detail of the scheme will be made later in the year. |
HSE (National) Press Release 15/10/10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Plumber endangered customers' lives. |
| Michael Gallimore fined a total of one year conditional discharge and costs of £4,000 under GSIUR 1998 and HASAWA 1974 s3. HSE was alerted to Mr Gallimore's illegal work by the Gas Safe Register, which had carried out an investigation following a customer complaint. Mr Gallimore had installed boilers at houses in Suffolk and Norfolk between 2008/9. The investigation officer found the Norfolk installation was 'immediately dangerous' and classified both installations as 'at risk'. Mr Gallimore had also falsely claimed to be a legally registered engineer while working at the house in Norfolk. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE-E-36 15/10/10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Roger David Manning |
| Fined a total of £2,015 under HASAWA 1974 s7 and GSIUR 1998. Defective workmanship including incorrect method of capping gas installation pipe work and the incorrect calculation of ventilation requirements. |
HSE Prosecution 4208671 28/7/10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Klarius UK Ltd |
| Fined £8,015 under WHR 2005. PR as a result of an accident investigation. IP fell 2.4 metres resulting in a back fracture. |
HSE Prosecution 4206208 29/7/10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Gregory Distribution Ltd |
| Fined £200,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Agency driver delivering pallet load of bottles when load fell from tail lift fatally crushing vineyard owner. Failure to test tail lift within 6 months period and failure to have safe system of work for agency drivers unloading pallets of bottles using the tail lift and pallet truck. |
HSE Prosecution 4187996 29/7/10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering Ltd |
| Fined £25,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Inadequate piling platform provided resulting in piling rig collapse. |
HSE Prosecution 4172676 29/7/10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Multibuild Limited |
| Fined £20,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Inadequate piling platform provided resulting in piling rig collapse. |
HSE Prosecution 4172697 29/7/10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Anglia Lead Limited |
| Fined £10,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Prosecution for exposing employees to lead. |
HSE Prosecution 4193703 29/7/10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Carlton Edwards |
| Fined £10,000 under HASAWA 1974 s37. Director of Anglia Lead Limited prosecuted for exposing employees to lead. |
HSE Prosecution 4217107 29/7/10 Week ending: 15/10/10 |
| Burnley firm fined £16k after workers' hearing put at risk. |
| Equestrian Surfaces Ltd fined £16,000 and costs of £11,000 under HASAWA 1974 s33. The company was fined after it ignored a formal warning about noise levels at its factory, putting its employees' hearing at risk, despite being given two extensions to an IN requiring a reduction in their daily noise exposure levels. Staff 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 a 98 decibels. The company failed to put any practical measures in place to reduce workers' exposure to noise, even after receiving an IN 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. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/26Equestrian 22/10/10 Week ending: 22/10/10 |
| Latest fines under the Fire Safety Order. |
| Mon Liu, who runs New Kong Nam Food Production Company, fined £14,000 and costs of £6,300 after she pleaded guilty to seven breaches of the Order at her northeast London factory. A number of shortcomings were found on inspection including an inadequate fire risk assessment, no emergency plan, no fire protection to the first-floor fire escape (this floor was being used for sleeping accommodation), and no evidence of fire training for staff. In a separate case, Antonio Meloni fined £6,000 and costs of £2,500 for eight breaches of the Order. A routine audit of his property found various failures including a blocked fire escape, locked fire escapes and an inadequate alarm system. The top two floors of the property had been converted into flats. In a third case, Shun Lin Lam was fined £15,000 and costs of £754 for ten breaches. The case followed a serous fire when two occupants trapped on upper floors of the building had to be rescued. Mr Lam had allowed people to sleep in the premises, despite not having adequate means of escape, a fire alarm or detection system, no emergency lighting, and no fire extinguishers. |
Fire Risk Management October 2010:5 Week ending: 22/10/10 |
| Fuel futures. |
| Coal stored in underground silos can pose a unique fire safety challenge, with auto-ignition a particular risk. (Juha Sipil? and Pertti Auerkari) |
Fire Risk Management October 2010:13-15 Week ending: 22/10/10 |
| Seeing red. |
| Infrared imaging technology provides a reliable and cost-effective means of detecting hydrocarbon flames in the petrochemical industry. The technical improvements in recent decades. (Bernard Laluvein) |
Fire Risk Management October 2010:16-20 Week ending: 22/10/10 |
| Building momentum. |
| Passive fire protection on building projects needs to be client led. (Alan Oliver) |
Fire Risk Management October 2010:29-30 Week ending: 22/10/10 |
| Metro moves. |
| A safety review of the metro train system in Frankfurt, Germany, prompted a number of improvements to fire systems, procedures and firefighting operations. (Reinhard Ries) |
Fire Risk Management October 2010:37-40 Week ending: 22/10/10 |
| Maritime safety: new rules to "name and shame" poor performers. |
| New rules will see shipping companies whose vessels perform badly in vital safety inspections "named and shamed" on a publicly available register. Poorly performing companies will also be subject to more intensive inspections in European ports when new legislation comes into force next year. |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal October 2010:2 Week ending: 22/10/10 |
| Help yourselves. |
| The first two events in RoSPA's "From Industry, For Industry" programme will focus on worker engagement and safety leadership in the construction industry and asbestos. The two one-day conferences will take place on 23 November and 2 December respectively. |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal October 2010:5 Internet: www.rospa.com/events or call 0121 248 2089 Week ending: 22/10/10 |
| Court report. |
| Prosecutions of firms for failing to manage asbestos dangers in the workplace. (Ed Hodson) |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal October 2010:10-11 Week ending: 22/10/10 |
| Safe maintenance. |
| It is estimated that, in Europe, 10-15 per cent of fatal workplace accidents can be attributed to maintenance operations. In some European countries, as many as 20 per cent of all workplace accidents are maintenance related. To try and reduce these figures, safe maintenance is the theme of this year's European Week for Safety and Health at Work which takes place this month (25-29 October). (Nick Cook) |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal October 2010:13-17 Week ending: 22/10/10 |
| Talking the talk. |
| Without good communication, employee engagement - now recognised as vital to productivity and H&S performance - remains difficult to enlist. And so good communication skills have become crucial in the role of today's manager. (Elizabeth Gates) |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal October 2010:21-24 Week ending: 22/10/10 |
| Healthy workplaces. |
| Earlier this year, a survey from the CBI revealed that, in 2009, UK employees took around 180 million sick days, an average of 6.4 days each. The financial cost of this to business is estimated to be around £16.8bn. With these figures in mind, it's little surprise that targeting major public health issues should be an important priority for all employers. (Neil Jones) |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal October 2010:27-31 Week ending: 22/10/10 |
| Plumber endangered customers' lives. |
| Michael Gallimore sentenced to a one year conditional discharge plus costs of £4,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3 and GSIUR 1998. Mr Gallimore installed gas boilers at houses which were later found to be "immediately dangerous" and "at risk". He also claimed to be a registered fitter. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE-E-36 15/10/10 Week ending: 22/10/10 |
| Newport roadworks company fined over M4 death. |
| R P Traffic Management Ltd fined £100,000 and costs of £22,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Sean Luke, 30, was hit by a car while crossing the carriageway to collect traffic cones from the central reservation during resurfacing of the busy motorway in 2006. HSE investigation found Mr Hale's employers failed to ensure that a safe system of work was in place that included the use of appropriate signs to warn drivers that workmen were on the carriageway at the time. Mr Hale was working with a colleague when the incident happened. As trainees, both men were being supervised at the time but the quality of supervision was called into question. Both men were observed crossing the carriageway in a dangerous manner on a number of occasions on the same night. The firm install and remove signage, cones and other material to manage the flow and speed of traffic when construction works and other activities take place on roads. |
HSE (National) Press Release W1810AP 20/10/10 Week ending: 22/10/10 |
| Illegal gas fitter sentenced to community service. |
| James Tennyson, 55, ordered to 180 hours of community service and costs of £250 under GSIUR 1998 and HASAWA 1974 s3. A self-employed plumber, Mr Tennyson continued to carry out illegal work on gas boilers in Luton despite orders to stop. He was not registered to do gas work, a legal requirement for anyone carrying out such work. Legitimate gas engineers told HSE the plumber had left gas boilers in dangerous conditions at two homes. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE-E37 21/10/10 Week ending: 22/10/10 |
| Leiths (Scotland) Limited |
| Fined £96,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Fatality. Employee trapped and crushed whilst working beneath vehicle. Rear wheels inadequately secured and vehicle rolled off the ramp. |
HSE Prosecution 4151920 9/8/10 Week ending: 22/10/10 |
| Rushi Construction (UK) Ltd |
| Fined a total of £12,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3 and GSIUR 1998. Prosecution case for adaptions to a premises affecting a gas fitting and not ensuring the safety of persons affected by such works. |
HSE Prosecution 4206820 10/8/10 Week ending: 22/10/10 |
| Mr Vikas Patel |
| Fined a total of £3,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3 and GSIUR 1998. Prosecution case as director for adaptions to a premises affecting a gas fitting and not ensuring the safety of persons affected by such works. |
HSE Prosecution 4206822 10/8/10 Week ending: 22/10/10 |
| Construction firms fined over Lancashire worker's death. |
| Howorth Scaffolding Services Ltd fined £25,000 and costs of £13,793. Glenmill Group (Developments) Ltd, nominal fine of £1 and costs of £13,793. Both were fined under HASAWA 1974 s3. The judge said the fines reflect the companies' current financial situation. Peter Walton, 55, fell five metres from scaffolding on an Industrial Estate in 2006. He had been working on a project to build 3 new office blocks when he fell. He was critically injured when an unsecured board on the scaffolding gave way. Mr Walton died 5 weeks later in hospital. Both companies contributed to Peter Walton's death by failing to follow proper safety procedures for putting up scaffolding. Howorth Scaffolding should have made sure it constructed the scaffolding properly. Glenmill Group, principal contractor for the site, should have ensured it was safe before allowing construction workers onto it. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/61Jones 25/10/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Fines for the times. |
| Administrative fines lead to faster investigations because there is no need to assemble extensive evidence. (Mark Tyler) |
Safety Management October 2010:3 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Union supports whistleblowers. |
| Workers dismissed from a Swansea construction site after raising safety concerns are pursuing legal action against their former employer. The workers were suspended in February by J2M, a consortium of Morrison Utility Services, Jacobs Engineering and Mitsubishi Electric. |
Safety Management October 2010:8 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Campaign targets Corus. |
| Health and safety campaigners have demanded that company directors be held personally accountable after the latest death at a Corus steelworks. Barry Shaw died in what police described as a "crushing accident" at the Scunthorpe plant four months after Thomas Standerline was crushed to death. |
Safety Management October 2010:8 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Safety failings led to MoD scientist's death. |
| The MoD has been criticised over safety failings in secret bomb tests that led to the death of scientist Terry Jupp. An inquest jury found that the tests were inappropriately planned and appeared to be inadequately organised. They concluded that planning and risk assessments had not been appropriate, adequate regard was not paid to PPE, and communication and organisation at the trials appeared to be inadequate. |
Safety Management October 2010:9 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Asbestos in schools: a ticking timebomb. |
| A comprehensive survey of all schools for asbestos is vital to protect pupils and staff. (Neal Stone) |
Safety Management October 2010:15 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| End of term for chair of the board of trustees. |
| Nina Wrightson OBE, chairman of the board of trustees of the British Safety Council, will be stepping down in October after nine years of service with the organisation - four of them as chairman. She talks to SM about her career in H&S, recalling the vast improvements that have been made in preventing injury and illness over the years. (Joanna Gurman) |
Safety Management October 2010:32-35 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Sailing to success in safety at Forth Ports. |
| As one of the largest ports organisations in the UK, it is vital for Forth Ports to put safety first. And that's exactly what it is striving to do, as stated in its company-wide campaign "Safety First". (Joanna Gurman) |
Safety Management October 2010:37-40 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Banking on safety in manual handling. |
| Each month, nearly all of us will receive a bank statement through the post. But how many of us think about the massive logistical operation that goes into producing these millions of letters? (Amy Liptrot) |
Safety Management October 2010:42-45 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Safe truckin': correct use of fork-lifts at work. |
| Fork-lift trucks are involved in a quarter of all workplace transport accidents, making it essential they are operated safely. This means providing training for operators, managers and pedestrians. (David Ellison) |
Safety Management October 2010:47-48 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Spills and bins: preventing oil pollution. |
| Companies that pollute watercourses and groundwater with oil face stiff fines and expensive clean-up costs, so employers should ensure that oil is stored safely in tanks, bowsers and drums. (Keith Whitehead) |
Safety Management October 2010:51-55 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Company fined for endangering workers. |
| Capri Foods Ltd fined £15,000 and costs of £2,607 under WHR 2005. The company has been prosecuted for endangering workers after ignoring calls to make safe an unprotected and dangerous first floor doorway. They failed to act on an IN served by the HSE despite a continuous risk of a serious fall from height. The doorway, which stood approx 4 metres above the ground, was used to load and unload goods from an FLT operating in a yard outside. However, it was kept open even when the FLT was parked up, with nothing in place in terms of railings or barriers to stop employees falling through it and onto the concrete below. HSE flagged the hazard during a visit to the factory, serving a notice that required improvements to be made in a 3 month period. Follow up visit showed nothing had changed, with an HSE inspector observing an employee leaning out of the doorway to empty a bowl of water. |
HSE (National) Press Release COISE/2210 22/10/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| North Yorkshire farmer prosecuted after worker loses limb. |
| Peter Turnbull, partner in family-run farming firm GR Turnbull & Sons fined 10,000 and costs of £1,698 under PUWER 1998. A 23 year old hired farm worker's leg had to be amputated after he attempted to clear a blockage on a harvesting machine while the blades were still rotating. The worker was driving a silage trailer while Peter Turnbull was driving the forage harvester in the same field. When a blockage occurred in the cutting disc of the harvester, Peter Turnbull attempted to clear it by reversing the drive mechanism. When that failed, he left his seat to clear it by hand, leaving the machine running. The hired worker came to assist but while in the process of clearing the blockage the man's leg was caught in the harvester's rotating cutting discs. The injury was so serious, the decision was made to amputate the limb at the scene. |
HSE (National) Press Release YH/249/10 25/10/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Roofer sentenced after workers' lives put at risk. |
| Joseph Jones fined £1,000 and costs of £1,000 under WHR 2005. Four employees were spotted balancing dangerously on a barn roof. A visit from an HSE inspector found Mr Jones, 61, giving instructions to the men, who were working approx 4 metres above the ground, while they refurbished the roof. The inspector immediately requested the workers come down from the roof. A PN was issued requiring work to stop until scaffolding or edge protection had been put up at the eaves of the roof. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/61Jones 25/10/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Double-award win for HSE's 'Make the promise' agriculture campaign. |
| An HSE campaign aimed at reducing the disproportionately high rate of death and injuries in agriculture has picked up two prizes at the PR Week Awards, considered to be the 'Oscars' of the PR world. 'Make the promise. Come home safe' which encourages farmers to make the pledge to return home safely for themselves, their families and their livelihoods, won the award for the best public relations project across private, public and third sectors in the last 12 months. One of the judging panel described the campaign theme as 'an idea of genius' saying that it 'turned a hard-to-articulate issue into something human ?' 30,000 farmers have signed up to the campaign so far and one of its notable successes has been the high profile support from the NFU, the National Federation of Young Farmer's Clubs and Co-operative Farms, amongst others, who are helping take the campaign forward. |
HSE (National) Press Release 25/10/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Good progress on reducing injuries and fatalities at work not matched by progress on work-related harm to health. |
| New figures released confirm that Britain has the lowest rate of fatal occupational injuries in Europe and one of the lowest levels of work-related ill health. The statistics published by the HSE are for Britain between April 2009 and March 2010. |
HSE (National) Press Release 27/10/10 Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/statistics Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Construction still one of most dangerous industries. |
| New statistics released by the HSE show that construction is still one of Britain's most dangerous industries, despite a significant fall in the number of recorded deaths and injuries. |
HSE (National) Press Release 27/10/10 Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/statistics Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Printing firm fined after employees injure hands. |
| Wyndeham Heron fined £15,000 and costs of £2,490 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Workers at the company had been working with machines, when their hands became trapped. Press Assistant Paul Howard, 49, fractured his thumb when he tried to clear a paper jam in the stacker unit of a press at the company's site. Another employee Mark Frost, 46 was working on another press when a problem was experienced with the drive belts of a conveyer. The moving parts were unguarded and it had become common practice for employees to use objects, or their hands, to deal with conveyor belt problems. While attempting to remedy the problem, Mr Frost's hand became caught in the belts and was forced against a roller crushing his fingers. HSE found a lack of training, supervision and appropriate equipment, and that there had been no assessment on how to carry out the work safely in either case. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE-E-38 28/10/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Roofing firm prosecuted after workers' lives put at risk. |
| Furber Roofing Ltd fined a total of £2,000 and costs of £1,500 under WHR 2005 and MHSWR 1999. The company allowed 2 employees to work dangerously on the roof of a detached house. An HSE inspector spotted the workers carrying out roof and chimney repairs. The workers were asked to immediately come down from the roof and a PN was issued stopping work until measures to prevent a fall had been put in place. The men were working nearly 5 metres above the ground, with no scaffolding or edge protection around the roof to prevent a fall. It failed to carry out a risk assessment, or take suitable and sufficient measures to prevent a fall. Furber Roofing had also been served with another PN less than 3 months before this incident. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/64Furber 28/10/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Merseyside head fined after pupil suffers permanent injuries. |
| John Summerfield fined £20,000 and costs of £22,708 under HASAWA 1974 s7. The 63 year old retired head teacher led a group of teenagers onto the roof of a college. One of the 18 year old students fractured his skull, broke his ribs, perforated an eardrum and suffered permanent damage to his right eye when he fell 2.5 metres through a roof light. Mr Summerfield wanted to show his students a part of the school they had never seen. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/07Summerfield 29/10/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Company fined after death of Doncaster worker at Immingham. |
| Hargreaves (UK) Services Ltd fined £120,000 and costs of £35,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Mr Alan Noddle, 48, worked as a maintenance fitter for Hargreaves' sister company, Norec Ltd, and was working at the docks on the day of the fatal incident. He died when he was struck by a large loading shovel being used to transfer coal from one area of the plant to another. The driver of the vehicle could not see Mr Noddle as he walked across the stockyard because the large bucket on the loading shovel blocked his view. |
HSE (National) Press Release YH/251/10 29/10/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Cockermouth farm safety event aims to cut deaths. |
| Farmers are being urged to attend a free safety event on 9 November at the Lakeland Livestock Centre in Cockermouth. The event will offer tips on staying safe, practical demonstrations will focus on handling livestock, workplace transport, quad bikes, roof work, manual handling and machinery. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/18Cockermouth 29/10/10 Contact: 01228 634100 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Four-metre-long girder plummets through estate agents. |
| Pocklington Steel Structures Ltd fined £15,000 and costs of £6,706 under HASAWA 1974 s3. During the construction of a new hotel nearby, the company had been lifting girders throughout the morning at a 45 degree angle, with nothing to stop the girders slipping out of the chains. One girder did slip out of the chains and crashed through the roof and three floors of the estate agents narrowly missing the two employees on duty. It was fortunate that it was a Saturday when fewer staff were at work, and no members of the public were present. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/42Pocklington 29/10/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Worker snaps wrist after glove entangled in drill. |
| Elmatic (Cardiff) Ltd fined £8,000 and costs of £6,691.45 under PUWER 1998. Lee Baker, 21, was asked to use a pillar drill to drill holes in boxes, despite not usually working on the drill and having no formal training on how to use it. The drill did not have an appropriate guard fitted and when positioning one of the components, his glove became tangled. Mr Baker fractured his wrist in two places and had to have a plate inserted. The company had been warned on two previous occasions over the years about not providing suitable guards on drills of this type, and while thy did initially heed the warnings, the safety standards were not maintained. |
HSE (National) Press Release W2510AP 29/10/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Rafferty Chimneys Engineering Ltd |
| Fined £8,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Employee fell approximately 1.5 metres from inadequate 'H Frame' tower scaffold, serious fracture to left heel. Also 2 employees travelling over fragile asbestos sheet roof with inadequate safe guards (450mm width crawling boards only) potential fall into factory greater than 3.6 metres. |
HSE Prosecution 4193031 16/8/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Newcastle upon Tyne City Council |
| Fined £12,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Accident to IP on 'Floating in Air' exhibit at Discovery Museum. Damage caused to hand and fingers as a result of unguarded moving fan blades. |
HSE Prosecution 4202112 16/8/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Delme L James Ltd |
| Fined £8,000 under WHR 2005. IP fell from roof, sustained head injuries whilst re-roofing a single storey farm building. Company to be prosecuted for failing to ensure that work is properly planned, supervised and carried out in a safe way. |
HSE Prosecution 4208750 16/8/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| London Tower Crane Hire & Sales Limited |
| Fined a total of £18,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3 and CDMR 2007. Incident at Hertford Regional College, when the lifting rope of a tower crane operated by the defendant broke causing the hook block and load of formwork weighing some 4 tonnes to fall from height of some 36 metres. |
HSE Prosecution 4221409 16/8/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Argyll & Bute Council |
| Fined £20,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. MOP drowned as a result of their car driving off an unguarded edge of a Pier which was used as an overflow public car park. |
HSE Prosecution 4159785 18/8/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Acetech Construction Ltd |
| Fined a total of £3,400 under CAR 2006. Asbestos was released during the ship breaking process and there were no control measures in place to prevent it happening. |
HSE Prosecution 4169522 18/8/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Moulton Bulb Co Ltd |
| Fined £6,000 under WHR 2005. PR following accident where IP fell from ladder. |
HSE Prosecution 4200703 18/8/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| A C P (Concrete) Ltd |
| Fined £15,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Unsafe system of work leading to serious injury of employee at pre-stressing concrete process. |
HSE Prosecution 4173230 19/8/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Greswolde Construction Limited |
| Fined a total of £1,000 under CAR 2006. Failing to provide information, training and failure to prevent exposure to asbestos. |
HSE Prosecution 4196710 19/8/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Eastern Regional Shopfitters Ltd |
| Fined a total of £4,000 under CAR 2006 and HASAWA 1974 s3. Concerns raised by employees/manages at Arndale Centre (Manchester) regarding the removal of asbestos from the premises and disposing of it in a manner that potentially left employees and the general public exposed to it. Eastern Regional Shopfitters Ltd was prosecuted after it ignored a report which stated asbestos was present in a shop it was working on. Two workers spend five days ripping out old shop fittings before they discovered that asbestos had been used in some of the ceiling panels. Another three management staff at the Arndale Centre were also potentially exposed to the fibres during routine checks on the work. |
HSE Prosecution 4212852 19/8/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
| Formica Ltd |
| Fined £8,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. The company failed to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of employees, when dealing with manufacturing process problems. |
HSE Prosecution 4212180 20/8/10 Week ending: 29/10/10 |
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HSE Prosecutions Database
The HSE did not post prosecutions for about a year from January until November 2006. There is therefore be a gap in our database from a hearing date of 24 January 2006 until 1 November 2006. Anyone not finding a case which may have been heard between January and November 2006, should therefore try searching the HSE Prosecutions database.
When the HSE relaunched the Prosecution database in January 2007, after a break of around a year, they appear to have changed the format of the case numbers. Therefore, for all entries with a hearing date before the 24 January 2006 you should search the HSE database using the defendants name instead of the case number we have quoted if you wish to check details for yourself.