Welcome to the archive section of Health & Safety News.
H&S News January 2011
| Winter near miss acts as warning to farmers. |
| A Scottish farmer who came close to death is hoping that his story encourages others to take extra care as heavy snow and freezing conditions hit Britain's farms for the second winter running. In January 2010, Wullie Russell, a cattle farmer in the Scottish Borders, was left fighting for his life after an incident in similar conditions. He slipped on icy ground while pumping out an underground storage tank in his steading. As he fell, his shirt caught in the partially guarded PTO of his slurry tanker and he was flung into the air, hitting the back of his head on the draw bar of the tanker as he landed. He was airlifted to hospital after a supplier found Wullie in his tractor cab where he had dragged himself after lying unconscious in the snow for an hour and a half. Wullie's shirt had been ripped from his body so violently that it had flayed the skin from the left side of his chest and arm. He had also suffered a ruptured spleen, four broken ribs and damage to his lungs and kidneys. It was seven months before he was able to return to doing any manual work. Ten months on Wullie has recovered from his injuries, but the emotional trauma is still fresh. |
HSE (National) Press Release 22/12/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Stress a "ticking time-bomb" that must be defused. |
| The damaging repercussions of work-related stress have been highlighted by a trio of research reports, all released within days of each other. "Stress at work", commissioned by the British Academy, concluded that work-related stress is getting worse against a background of the economic crisis, cost-cutting, and Lord Young's views on what constitutes low risk. A CIPD survey found that stress is the most common cause for persistently high long-term absence in the public sector. And the TUC's biennial poll of safety reps found that two thirds said stress is in the top five problems faced by the workforces they represent. |
SHP December 2010:6 Internet: www.britac.ac.uk/policy/Stress-at-Work.cfm www.tuc.org.uk/extras/safetyrepssurvey2010.doc Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Budget cuts could reverse good record on work deaths and ill health. |
| The HSE has released new figures confirming that Britain has the lowest rate of work-related deaths in Europe and one of the lowest levels of occup ill health, but there are fears that the record may not be sustainable in the face of cuts to the regulator's budget. |
SHP December 2010:7 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| TUC slams "scandalous" inspection figures. |
| According to the TUC, almost half of workplaces in the UK have never been visited by a health and safety inspector, despite evidence that inspection and enforcement is the most effective way to ensure compliance with health and safety law. |
SHP December 2010:7 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| CDM failings anger construction-group head. |
| The head of a leading construction body has said he is "personally appalled" by a report which reveals a widespread lack of effective management of health and safety risks and compliance with the CDM Regulations. |
SHP December 2010:8 Internet: www.secgroup.org.uk Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Charges brought after Potters Bar inquest. |
| Network Rail Infrastructure Limited and Jarvis Rail Limited are to be prosecuted by the Office of Rail Regulation in the new year for alleged breaches of H&S law in relation to the Potters Bar derailment in 2002. |
SHP December 2010:8 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Company failed to assess risks of corrosive chemical. |
| Fretus Ltd given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £4,500 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Two teenage workers were given the job of servicing an office's air-conditioning unit. They began by cleaning the system's coils with a highly corrosive chemical. Two hours into the job, they complained to their supervisor that their hands were hurting and were instructed to wash their hands and finish the job. By the rime they finished the service five hours later, they had suffered burns and blisters to their hands and required hospital treatment. One worker had to remain there for six days, the other two days. Investigators found that the normal supplier had run out of the alcohol-based chemical usually used, and it had been provided with a replacement product. The company failed to carry out a risk assessment on the new product, despite its being labelled as containing phosphoric and hydrofluoric acid, neither did they warn the workers that they needed to wear protective gloves whilst using the chemical. |
SHP December 2010:12 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Unsecured load fell off deliver lorry and crushed worker. |
| Quoba Ltd fined a total of £4,000 and costs of £2,500 under HASAWA 1974 s2 and MHSWR 1999. Daniel Groves was helping to unload shower enclosures from a lorry. The enclosures, which weighed between 25 and 50 kg, were attached to wooden pallets with shrink wrap. The lorry driver cut away the wrapping and began passing the boxed enclosures down to Mr Groves on the ground. As the driver removed the wrapping, several enclosures fell off one of the pallets and landed on Mr Groves. He put up his hands to protect himself but was knocked over and trapped by the load. He received damaged ligaments in his wrists and was unable to return to work for a month. |
SHP December 2010:16 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Common sense, or senseless? |
| A lawyer's opinion on Lord Young's recently published recommendations on reforming health and safety. (Kevin Bridges, Simon Joyston-Bechal and Jon Cowlan) |
SHP December 2010:19 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Mind the gap. |
| Being able to manage is pivotal to what H&S practitioners do, but how many of us would consider we are effective at it? In the second part of a two part article, a consideration of the profession's management competencies and asking whether practitioners merit being called managers? (James Pomeroy and Tony Boyle) |
SHP December 2010:32-34 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Downstream guidance. |
| As the first registration deadline under REACH arrives this month, the current implications of the regulation for the downstream users of substances and products. (Paul Reeve) |
SHP December 2010:36-38 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Winning pitch. |
| Whether it's getting the workforce to wear PPE, or winning the support of directors for H&S programmes, influencing and persuading are vital parts of the practitioner's role. How practitioners can improve their arguments skills and exploring the techniques they can employ to increase the likelihood that their messages will be accepted. (Connell McBride) |
SHP December 2010:40-42 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Up to scratch. |
| Many manufacturing processes involve some form of abrasive tooling, meaning hand-arm vibration can be an issue. A reminder to employers of their responsibilities in this area and advice on steps to take to minimise vibration in the workplace. (Nigel Willcock) |
SHP December 2010:44-46 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Devil in the decibel. |
| In light of new research pointing towards a link between incessant noise in the workplace and cardiovascular disease, some pointers on hearing conservation methods and practices. (Simon Bull) |
SHP December 2010:49-50 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Don't neglect the detail when looking to prevent major incidents, HSE warns offshore industry. |
| A focus on preventing major offshore incidents is leading some companies to neglect the general maintenance of their oil and gas platforms. That is the key finding of a report by the HSE into external corrosion management published 21 December. HSE's head of offshore, Steve Walker, is using the opportunity to commend companies for their continuing efforts in ensuring safety critical elements are working effectively to prevent disaster, but is warning that workers' day-to-day safety must not be sidelined, as poor maintenance may be a contributing factor in major incidents. |
HSE (National) Press Release 21/12/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Severe weather and postponement of sporting events. |
| There have been various reports and comments in the media alluding to HSE having a role to play in cancelling sporting events during the severe weather we've been experiencing. This is not the case. The HSE responsibilities do not extend to making decisions on the cancellation or postponement of sporting and stadium events. |
HSE (National) Press Release 22/12/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Warning to users of hand-fed platen machines. |
| Users of hand-fed platen - die cutting - machines are being urged to follow revised operating and safeguarding guidance to reduce the risk of serious crush injuries and even death. Two operators were killed in 2007/08 in the UK and the HSE is aware of three other fatalities in other countries since 2007. Current guarding requirements have been effective in controlling the risk of operators suffering crush injuries to their hands and forearm but, as the machines have become larger, operators could be putting their lives at risk climbing into the lower platen. HSE is writing to known users of these machines, alerting them to the risks and providing a new information sheet to help manage them, which is based on extensive consultation with industry, users and supplies. |
HSE (National) Press Release 30/12/10 Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/printing/alert.htm Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Scissor lift safety warning following fatal overturns. |
| Users of certain types of scissor lifts are being advised to make daily safety checks after 5 people were killed in 3 separate incidents when they overturned. A safety alert has been issued by the HSE to warn services and maintenance engineers and those in the construction industry who use, or lease out JLG 500RTS and 400RTS scissor lifts to ensure that safety critical components are working correctly. |
HSE (National) Press Release 5/1/11 Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/safetybulletins/scissorlifts.htm Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Worker died on first day at work. |
| Arken PoP Ltd fined £80,000 and costs of £16,914 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Vitalijus Orlovas, 29, an agency worker, was unloading sheets of glass from a shipping container at Arken PoP's site when they fell on him. He died at the scene from the crush injuries. HSE investigation found that the company did not have adequate arrangements in place to unload the glass safely when the incident happened. |
HSE (East) Press Release 20/12/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Unsafe roof work led to fatal fall. |
| Open Contracts Ltd fined £60,000 and costs of £29,757 under WHR 2005. Malcolm Dunn, t/a 3D Coatings, fined £2,000 under WHR 2005. Mr Dunn (sub-contractor) has been ordered to pay this within 2 years or face a custodial sentence in the event of default of payment. Paul Morrissey, 57, fell to his death while working to replace old roof lights in an industrial unit. He had been on the roof cutting the bolts which were securing an old roof light, intending to replace it with a new one. It is not known what caused him to fall nearly 7 metres through the roof light onto the concrete floor below. However, the removal of the fixings securing the roof light meant that only slight pressure would have made it give way beneath him. No-one else was on the roof at the time and critically, there was nothing to break his fall. He died at the scene. HSE found that the contractor appointed to carry out the work had little knowledge or experience of this type of roof work. There was also evidence that there was a basic failure to plan the work adequately. |
HSE (London) Press Release 20/12/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Builder fined after unsafe work on hospital. |
| Dean Hutt fined a total of £1,500 and costs of £3,056 under WHR 2005 and CDMR 2007. Peter Arnstein fined £1,500 and costs of £2,181 under CDMR 2007. Safety inspectors found multiple failings on the site of a new two-storey clinic extension, including no project planning or safety measures in place. Contractor Dean Hutt was undertaking building work at the site, when a complaint about safety at the site prompted HSE inspectors to visit the project. Two PNs were issued, ordered work to stop immediately after the inspector found chainsaws being used without any personal protective equipment and scaffolding being in an unfit state for use. Mr Hutt had failed to plan, manage and monitor the construction of the extension. Director of the surgical centre, Peter Arnstein, failed to ensure Mr Hutt had properly planned the construction project. Photographs before the HSE inspection show a man in the bucket of a telescopic handler working approx 20 feet up using a chainsaw without safety protection or a harness to prevent him falling. |
HSE (South East) Press Release 21/12/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Training failures led to patient death. |
| Health and Care Services (UK) Limited fined £80,000 and costs of £40,823 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Anthony Pinder, 42, who had learning and behavioural issues, was physically restrained for around 90 minutes by staff, eventually released and crawled unaided to his room, but was found dead a short time later. The company failed to ensure staff were adequately trained to carry out the safe physical restraint of residents. Measures used to control Mr Pinder were described as "poor, inappropriate and dangerous", although those engaged in the restraint were not blamed because they were simply doing what they felt was necessary under difficult conditions. The failure to train staff in safe restraint techniques rested with management. The Commission for Social Care Inspectorate highlighted an urgent need for safe restraint training just 5 months prior to Mr Pinder's death, which prompted a written promise from senior management at Health and Care Services that improvements would be made. However, the investigation found that no such training was given. The company therefore failed to comply with a regulatory requirement and failed to take all reasonably practicable steps to protect patients. |
HSE (Yorkshire and the Humber) Press Release 21/12/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Glossop manufacturer fined over worker's death. |
| Glossop Carton and Print Ltd fined a total of £50,000 with costs of £76,150 under HASAWA 1974 s2 and s3. Maintenance worker Clive Hall, 50, suffered fatal head injuries while carrying out maintenance work to the inside of a 'cut and crease' machine, used to manufacture packaging, when it was switched on by the operator. Mr Hall was struck on the head by bars that transfer cardboard through the machine and was killed instantly. He had been working at the company for less than 2 months. |
HSE (North West) Press Release 22/12/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Bradford takeaway owner fined. |
| Mr Mohammed Aslam t/a 'The Raj' fined a total of £3,500 and costs of £2,585.40 under ELCIA 1969. Magistrates dealt with the case in his absence after he failed to appear for the second time. HSE approached Mr Aslam after receiving information that the takeaway did not have Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance (ELCI). After he ignored a letter requesting his insurance certificates, HSE served Mr Aslam with a Notice to Produce the certificate. Again Mr Aslam failed to respond. The Court heard how an HSE inspector then visited the restaurant and spoke to two employees who were unable to show an insurance certificate. As a result, Mr Aslam was invited for an interview under caution but, once more, he failed to respond. |
HSE (Yorkshire and The Humber) Press Release 23/12/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Four workers fall suffering serious injuries. |
| J & P Recruitment fined £5,000 and costs of £800 under HASAWA 1974 s2. West End Cold Stores Ltd fined £15,000 and costs of £1,862 under HASAWA 1974 s2. The workers were employed by J & P Recruitment and regularly worked at the site, owned by West End Cold Stores Ltd. They were asked to remove panels from one of the cold stores, which had previously been destroyed by a fire, in the hope that they could be reused. HSE investigation found that the workers were removing the ceiling panels using an FLT together with a man-riding cage. When trying to remove the final panels, all 4 workers stepped onto one panel. It gave way and they fell 3.5 metres to the ground. All 4 suffered a combination of broken arms, smashed femurs and broken collarbones. One worker is still unable to work as a result of this incident. |
HSE (East Midlands) Press Release 5/1/11 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Firm fined after worker's thumb and finger sawn off. |
| G J Bream & Son Ltd fined £10,000 and costs of £4,026.55 under HASAWA 1974 s2. David Heap, 24, a bench joiner, was shaping a piece of timber when it caught in the cutter and dragged his left hand into the blades. The thumb and index finger on his left hand were amputated and the remaining fingers severely cut. Reconstructive plastic surgeons were able to reattach the thumb and finger, but Mr Head will only be able to regain half their use. HSE found the company was not using the correct work holders, known as 'jigs', to keep workers' hands clear of the cutting machinery. Also, the company had not assessed the risks associated with this task properly, nor did they supervise or train staff properly for work with dangerous machinery. |
HSE (East) Press Release 6/1/11 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Plumber jailed after 'rogue traders' expose illegal gas work. |
| Andrew John Carslake, who t/a Aqua Plumbing, sentenced to six month term of imprisonment under HASAWA 1974 s33 and six additional months under GSIUR 1998 to be served concurrently. HSE received a complaint from a householder concerning gas work undertaken by 42 year old Mr Carslake. He was served a PN ordering him not to carry out further gas work until he was registered with CORGI (now Gas Safe Register) or was supervised by another registered gas engineer. Mr Carslake ignored the notice and continued to carry out further illegal gas work and was caught on camera breaking the law by the BBC's Rogue Traders consumer affairs programme. |
HSE (East) Press Release 6/1/11 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Warrington worker paralysed in roof fall. |
| Bizspace Investments Ltd fined £5,000 and costs of £9,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Three workers fell through skylights at the same industrial unit on three separate occasions, leaving one of them paralysed. First was a caretaker employed by the company while cleaning guttering. He suffered multiple rib fractures and severe bruising. Another employee was sent to take photographs of the scene, but fell through a different skylight. He landed feet-first on a mezzanine floor and escaped injury. Three weeks later a 62-year-old man employed by Massey Roofing and Building Contractors, was sent to repair the skylights. While fixing a skylight, the worker fell more than 4 metres to the ground below. He sustained severe spinal injuries, leading to him being paralysed from the waist down. Bizspace, the building's owner and the employer of the first two men, and Anthony Massey, t/a Massey Roofing and Building Contractors, were prosecuted for putting worker's lives at risk. Anthony Massey, 67, pleaded guilty under HASAWA 1974 s3. As he has been declared bankrupt, he received a conditional discharge which means that he will not be fined as long as he does not commit another offence in the next 12 months. |
HSE (North West) Press Release 7/1/11 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Food packaging firm in court over Rochdale worker's injuries. |
| Elliott Absorbent Products Ltd fined £27,500 and costs of £4,389 under PUWER 1998. A 35 year old worker was working on a laminator, used to produce absorbent pads for meat packaging, when he was pulled in by two giant rollers. He suffered friction burns to his arms, chest and stomach, requiring skin grafts to both his arms. He had been working for the company for just over 6 months. Elliott's had disabled an infra-red sensor, designed to stop the machine operating when someone approached the rollers. The company had shut off the sensor because paper dust generated by the machine had been triggering it. The company failed to provide an alternative safety guard until after the incident, when it installed a pressure mat which stopped the machine working when someone stepped on it. |
HSE (North West) Press Release 7/1/11 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Dwyer Engineering Services Ltd |
| Fined a total of £40,000 under CDMR 2007. Cable strike. IP received burns to 62% of body, including face, neck, shoulders, arms, hands and legs after damaging an 11,000 volt electrical cable. |
HSE Prosecution 4196430 11/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Darren Wring |
| Fined £20,000 under PUWER 1998. Mr D Wring t/a Fineline. Accident where an employee suffered a head injury after coming into contact with rotating cutter of Multiax T CNC 5 axis router. At the time of the accident the Multiax T machine was not adequately guarded resulting in the IP being able to accidentally go on to the bed of the machine whilst the cutter was still rotating. |
HSE Prosecution 4221933 11/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| General All Plastics Ltd |
| Fined £1,000 under PUWER 1998. A teenage apprentice suffered serious injuries when his arm was dragged in between two rollers on a machine. The company failed to provide 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 Prosecution 4173223 13/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Smurfit Kappa UK Ltd |
| Fined £5,000 under WHSWR 1992. An employee at the company's warehouse suffered broken ribs when he was forced onto a metal conveyor belt by a reversing van. The company failed to control the movements of vehicles in the warehouse, despite waste materials regularly being delivered to the site. The company should have made sure pedestrians were kept away from moving vehicles by providing barriers to marked areas. |
HSE Prosecution 4218213 13/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Michael Gallimore |
| Conditional Discharge under GSIUR 1998 and HASAWA 1974 s3. Carried out gas work, not registered to do so. |
HSE Prosecution 4184427 14/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Oldham Seals Ltd |
| Fined £12,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Company failed to provide a system of work for the task of wrapping and unwrapping ropes and bandages around rubber hoses mounted on rotating lathes that was, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe. |
HSE Prosecution 4214748 14/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Graham Salter |
| Fined £4,000 under PUWER 1998. Operator's glove entanglement at the chuck of a CNC vertical milling machine. Machine unguarded and being loaded / unloaded when on auto-cycle. IP suffered a broken right arm and lacerations to right arm. |
HSE Prosecution 4218355 14/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| RSM Castings Ltd |
| Fined £7,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. IP was following system of work shown to him by another employee, ie using chains and a bar to lift the bottom plate in a BDC 50 tonne hydraulic press, utilising the power to the press upstroke to lift the plate. Finger was caught in the chains as ram lifted. Supervisors aware that this was the method being used. |
HSE Prosecution 4213921 18/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| R P Traffic Management Ltd |
| Fined £100,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Prosecution following accident to a worker who died when he was working on the eastbound carriageway of the M4 motorway near the off-slip at J33 when he was struck by a vehicle driven by a member of the public. He was employed by RP Traffic Management Ltd as a Traffic Management Operative. On the night, he was part of a gang of three working on the motorway between J34 and J32. |
HSE Prosecution 4196737 19/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| James Tennyson |
| Community under GSIUR 1998. Mr James Tennyson, who had been previously warned in writing about carrying out unregistered gas fitting works after a number of known works in 2003, was found to have carried out installation and repair works at 2 properties in Luton and the surrounding area, within the last couple of years. Both of these works were found to be dangerous. |
HSE Prosecution 4221455 21/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Equestrian Surfaces Ltd |
| Fined £16,000 under HASAWA 1974 s33. HSE prosecuted the company for putting its employees' hearing at risk, as they were required to work for several hours a day near a granulator machine which can reach volumes up to 98 decibels. Failure 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. 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 Prosecution 4192182 22/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Capri Foods Ltd |
| Fined a total of £15,000 under WHR 2005. IN served on 31 July 2009, compliance date of 1 Nov 2009 yet had not complied by 9 Dec 2009. After 9 Dec 2009 main concern to ensure compliance (full compliance reached by March 2010). |
HSE Prosecution 4200972 22/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Glen Mill Group (Developments) Ltd |
| Fined £1 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Fatal accident to an employee of a sub-contractor. The employee was critically injured when he fell 5 metres from an unsecured board on scaffolding. As the principal contractor for the site, Glen Mill Group should have ensured it was safe before allowing construction workers onto it. |
HSE Prosecution 4123092 25/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Peter Turnbull |
| Fined £10,000 under PUWER 1998. Young tractor driver assisting with forage harvesting lost leg on contact with the cutting discs of the forager. |
HSE Prosecution 4213218 25/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Joseph Jones |
| Fined £1,000 under WHR 2005. An inspector found Mr Jones giving instructions to men who were working approx 4 metres above the ground, while they refurbished the roof. Any of Mr Jones' four employees could have suffered a serious injury as a result of falling from the barn roof. PN served for unsafe work to pitched roof due to inadequate and missing protection at eaves and gable ends when operatives on roof re-felting, battening and tiling. |
HSE Prosecution 4218509 25/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Wyndeham Heron Ltd |
| Fined £10,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Evidence to indicate that the guards over the parts of the press involved in the accident had been removed for a considerable period of time, no system for checking guards on a regular basis and no safe system of work for cleaning jams despite the fact it was regular occurrence. |
HSE Prosecution 4203007 26/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Wyndeham Heron Ltd |
| Fined a total of £15,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Failure to maintain equipment and a failure to prevent access to dangerous parts. |
HSE Prosecution 4203026 26/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Mr J Charlton |
| Prison. Manslaughter. Case brought by CPS following gas CO poisoning. |
HSE Prosecution 4230203 27/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Furber Roofing Ltd |
| Fined a total of £2,000 under MHSWR 1999 and WHR 2005. HSE inspector spotted the workers carrying our roof and chimney repairs to a house. He issued a PN stopping the work until measures to prevent a fall had been put in place. The men had been working nearly 5 metres above the ground, with no scaffolding or edge protection around the roof to prevent a fall. Furber Roofing had also been served with a PN less than 3 months earlier over a similar incident. The company failed to carry out a risk assessment, or take suitable and sufficient measures to prevent a fall. |
HSE Prosecution 4207723 28/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Hargreaves (UK) Services Ltd |
| Fined £120,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. DP was working in coal yard when struck by a loading shovel. Suffered severe multiple injuries. Pronounced dead at the scene of accident. Company failed in persons not in employment were exposed to risks during transfer of coal using loading shovels and failure to segregate pedestrian and vehicle movements. |
HSE Prosecution 4157585 29/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| John Allan Summerfield |
| Fined £20,000 under HASAWA 1974 s7. A student suffered major injuries after falling through a skylight on a flat roof. The student was one of a party of students taken onto the roof area by Mr Summerfield, the Head Teacher. Mr Summerfield failed to protect the safety of his students when he decided to allow them onto the roof. |
HSE Prosecution 4188368 29/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Pocklington Steel Structures Ltd |
| Fined £15,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. A metal girder crashed through the roof of an estate agents narrowly missing two office workers. The steel beam, weighing 80 kilograms fell about 25 metres from a crane and smashed through the roof and three floors of an estate agents. Pocklington Steel had spent the morning lifting girders at a 45-degree angle to fit into a new hotel structure but nothing was done to stop the girders slipping through the chains wrapped around them. The beams should have been lifted when level and not at an angle. The company should also have ensured the girders could not slip out of the chains by attaching shackles in holes drilled through them, as they were being lifted near to the public and other buildings. The company failed to ensure the safety of workers and the public. |
HSE Prosecution 4195448 29/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Elmatic (Cardiff) Ltd |
| Fined £8,000 under PUWER 1998. Injured person, an employee, had an accident whilst using a Meddings Pillar Drill, his gloved left hand became entangled with the rotating drill and he sustained 2 broken bones in his left wrist. A guard was not fitted in the area of he chuck or drill bit when the accident occurred. Prior to the first investigation visit the Company had fitted a guard on to the vertically movable chuck mechanism. However, this arrangement did not allow, when in the rest position, for the rotatable chuck and drill to be within the guard in the vertical plane. A PN on the use of the Meddings Pillar Drill was served. |
HSE Prosecution 4207666 29/10/10 Week ending: 07/01/11 |
| Gainsborough firm fined after worker hit by three-tonne steel tank. |
| Wefco (Gainsborough) Ltd fined £15,000 and costs of £5,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. A process tank weighing three-tonnes fell on 29 year old employee Edward Baxter. He sustained multiple fractures to his pelvis, spine and ribs, a fractured leg and ankle and head injuries as a result of the incident. A process tank was being lifted with an overhead crane, chains and a temporary lifting bracket welded onto the tank. The lifting bracket came off the tank, which then fell onto Mr Baxter. |
HSE (East Midland) Press Release 10/01/11 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Profession is still plagued by salary cuts and threats. |
| Five out of six H&S professionals in the construction sector found their pay frozen or cut in the 12 months to November. Across the whole of the private sector two-thirds of practitioners accepted pay freezes or reductions. These findings are in this year's HSW salary survey. |
HSW January 2011:4 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Lord Young may have been coalition's first and last safety tsar. |
| Advisor post "likely" to be dropped after the end of the peer. It is unlikely anyone will replace Lord Young of Graffham as advisor on health and safety policy to the Prime Minister. Question marks over the future of the post and its effect on Lord Young's report follow his resignation last month over controversial remarks made. |
HSW January 2011:5 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| John Lewis fined for asbestos failings. |
| John Lewis fined a total of £20,000 under CAR 2006, CDMR 2007 and MHSWR 1999. Morris & Spottiswood fined £20,000 under CAR 2006. Up to 15 people may have been exposed to asbestos fibres when workers disturbed an asbestos board while refurbishing an office suite. A worker discovered a board which he believed to be asbestos as he and others were dismantling a partition. He stopped the work immediately and the board was sent for analysis. The work restarted before the results came back. No Type 3 asbestos survey had been carried out before work started, staff were not suitably trained, instructed and competent for the tasks expected. |
HSW January 2011:6 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Fire fine stretches budget chain's bottom line for third time. |
| Poundstretcher fined £51,500 and costs of £3,449 under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The store were found to have put staff and public at risk by failing to keep exits and emergency routes clear, not giving employees adequate fire training and not reviewing its fire risk assessment. In October 2009 they had been fined a total of £10,961, and in July 2009 £14,460. |
HSW January 2011:8 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Oil and gas workers may face fitness tests. |
| A new report from the energy providers' body has recommended the first minimum standard fitness tests for the gas and oil industry. The report advocates minimum physical standards for tasks including opening and closing valves, use of ladders and manual lifting. |
HSW January 2011:9 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| McDonalds acid splash. |
| McDonalds must pay more than £20,000 after a worker was half-blinded in one eye when some drain cleaner, which was 91% sulphuric acid, flew in his face. The company had no risk assessment and had not given the maintenance worker any protective equipment. |
HSW January 2011:9 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Consultation calls for views on no-win, no-fee reform plans. |
| The Ministry of Justice is consulting on plans to reform no-win, no-fee agreements by stopping claimants' lawyers from recovering success fees and associated costs from unsuccessful defendants in personal injury cases and other damages claims. A review by Lord Justice Jackson last January found that conditional fee agreements have led to disproportionate rises in civil litigation costs in England. The consultation, which runs until 14 February, also seeks views on other recommendations in Lord Jackson's review. |
HSW January 2011:12 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Construction workers shattered stone stairs that supported them. |
| Osian Construction fined £6,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Paul Irvine and Frank Dever were demolishing a stone staircase tread by tread by breaking them up with sledgehammers. The banisters and handrails had been removed earlier, adding to the risk of working at height. The staircase collapsed and the men fell almost four metres into the basement below and were hit by falling debris. Failure to ensure there was a safe system of work for the demolition, and not providing their workers with adequate information and supervision. |
HSW January 2011:12 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Safety in the spotlight. |
| A question and answer session from the 4th joint HSW/IIRSM conference featuring Lord Young and HSE Chief Executive Geoffrey Podger. |
HSW January 2011:16-18 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Pay survey 2010. |
| Salary movements mirroring the weather in the annual HSW snapshot of UK practitioners' remuneration. (Louis Wustemann) |
HSW January 2011:20-23 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| From bin to boardroom. |
| The second article on reducing the accident toll in the waste industry - looking at the HSE's work with the big players. (Lucie Ponting) |
HSW January 2011:24-26 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Open and shut spaces. |
| If you focus on the dimensions when watching out for a statutory confined space, you could easily get caught out. (Dave Merchant) |
HSW January 2011:28-30 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Site specifics: Workplace transport. |
| The web is well stocked with guidance on avoiding site transport accidents. (Bridget Leathley) |
HSW January 2011:32-35 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Do not disturb. |
| Maintenance or refurbishment workers in your premises might not know their duties round asbestos. (Sarah Broadbent) |
HSW January 2011:50-51 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| LU fined. |
| London Underground fined £5,000 after commuters were injured when they were struck by a protective barrier that had become loose from a Central Line train. Magistrates heard that LU did not follow their own procedures to prevent this type of accident. |
RoSPA Occup Health & Safety Journal December 2010:4 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Court report. |
| Preventing access to moving parts of machinery is reliant on the maintenance of effective control measures and the specific requirements of PUWER 1998. However, there are other risks to be considered. A look at prosecutions involving machinery. (Ed Hodson) |
RoSPA Occup Health & Safety Journal December 2010:10-11 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Deepwater Horizon. |
| Shortly before 10.00pm on 20 April 2010, a Mayday call was made by the crew of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig located approximately 41 miles off the coast of Louisiana. A few minutes earlier the rig had lost power and two explosions had ripped through the platform setting it ablaze. Thirty six hours later the rig sank. Eleven members of the crew were missing and oil was gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. (Nick Cook) |
RoSPA Occup Health & Safety Journal December 2010:13-17 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Vehicle inspectors. |
| As part of its remit to enforce vehicle and driver safety among operators in the road haulage, bus and coach industries, the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) carries out roadside enforcement checks on around 180,000 heavy goods vehicles and public services vehicles each year. (Paul Heslop) |
RoSPA Occup Health & Safety Journal December 2010:21-25 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| WISH works. |
| RoSPA was commissioned by the HSE to carry out research to identify the best ways to get workers in non-unionised workplaces involved in H&S - what they found. (Karen McDonnell and Howard Fidderman) |
RoSPA Occup Health & Safety Journal December 2010:26-27 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Record keeping. |
| Last month, Lord Young of Graffham, he of the recent government H&S review, turned his spotlight on to "reducing regulatory and bureaucratic burdens for small businesses". The record keeping associated with H&S and finding out that, far from being a burden, it is a necessary part of running not only a safe but also an efficient business. (Mike Everley) |
RoSPA Occup Health & Safety Journal December 2010:29-31 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Prevention works! |
| Why even though prevention works, and is invariably cheaper than cure, most preventers seem to face an uphill battle in getting their assessment case across. (Roger Bibbings) |
RoSPA Occup Health & Safety Journal December 2010:42-43 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Burnham furniture firm fined after worker injured. |
| Machine Hire Ltd fined £12,000 and costs of £3,500 under PUWER 1998. Employee Daniel Gaskin, 28, a furniture assembler who had just been with the company for ten weeks, was injured when he cut most of the way through his left arm as he was slicing up wooden off-cuts with a 'cross cut' saw. Prior to the day of the accident, Mr Gaskin was given only five minutes instruction in operating the saw, on which he had no previous experience. The actual saw was unsuitable to be used for training: the standard of training given was seriously deficient and did not include instruction on the machine's guards or how to properly use them. HSE inspectors concluded that a properly adjusted nose guard would have prevented the incident. |
HSE (East) Press Release 11/01/11 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Council-owned housing company fined for asbestos exposure. |
| 2010 Rotherham Limited fined £7,000 and costs of £3,418 under HASAWA 1974 s3. The company employed a sub-contractor, Nugas of Barnsley, to remove an old bathroom and install a level-access shower room at a house. Despite an asbestos survey carried out 8 weeks earlier for 2010 Rotherham on a similar property next door that highlighted the presence of asbestos in the bathroom, the results were not passed on to Nugas. The result was that their worker, a plumber, unknowingly removed tiles bonded to a wall of asbestos insulating board (AIB), causing significant damage to the wall and being exposed to up to 50 times the legal limit for asbestos. He was not wearing any protective clothing nor respiratory protection. At the same time, a licensed asbestos removal company was in the process of removing the same wall in the flat next door after being appointed by 2010 Rotherham Ltd. The company had received previous advice and enforcement action regarding the risks from asbestos during refurbishment work including 2 ENs in 2005 and 2008. |
HSE (Yorkshire and the Humber) Press Release 12/01/11 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Halifax firm in court for series of asbestos charges. |
| MA Estates Limited fined a total of £30,100 and costs of £2,475.40 under CAR 2006 and HASAWA 1974 s3. The company, owner and landlord of a factory building failed to properly manage the removal of asbestos containing materials when employees were replacing a roof at the factory. Up to 15 employees from two businesses, both part of the same group as MA Estates and both occupants of the building, were working to upgrade the roof. This included stripping materials from support beams which, when later tested by HSE, were found to contain asbestos in limpet/spray form. A local business complained to HSE after seeing the stripped materials, suspecting that they included asbestos fibres. After visiting the premises, HSE served a PN on MA Estates to stop work immediately. HSE found the company had failed to carry out an asbestos survey or risk assessment, had no licence to remove asbestos, had given staff no instruction or training in removing it and had left workers exposed with no attempts to limit the spread of asbestos or exposure to it. |
HSE (Yorkshire and the Humber) Press Release 12/01/11 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Litter picker injured falling into well. |
| Mansfield District Council fined £5,000 and costs of £5,700 under WHR 2005. Three workers were asked to clear litter that had collected between a metal grid and a mesh cover over a well. Two workers removed the grid, while the third stood on the mesh, believing it to be solid underneath, and fell 6 metres down the dry well. He dislocated his elbow, cut his head, arms and leg and was off work for six months. The council had failed to ensure that the work was properly planned or carried out safely. |
HSE (East Midlands) Press Release 13/01/11 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Egg packing business fined for exposing workers to danger. |
| James Gammie of Gawnmoss Farm fined £3,000 under PUWER 1998. Workers employed by the partnership known as James Gammie had to use a specific machine, called a screw conveyor, to clear away chicken manure from each of the company's three sheds at its premises. An inspector from the HSE inspected the sheds and noted that the guarding on each of the screw conveyors did not adequately prevent access to the moving parts of the machinery. As the screw conveyor was used two or three times a week, this placed employees at significant risk of serious injury, had they become entangled in the machinery. |
HSE (Scotland) Press Release 13/01/11 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Spot checks of waste sites to start across Derbyshire. |
| Skip-hire and waste transfer sites across Derbyshire will be the target of spot checks between 24-28 January in a bid to reduce the high rate of death and injury in the waste recycling industry. The waste and recycling sector has an overall accident rate around four times greater than the UK average and a fatal accident rate around nine times the average for all industries. Inspectors from the HSE aim to raise the level of awareness of the serious hazards and risks associated with waste transfer sites including workplace transport, the operation of large, powerful machinery and the hand-sorting of waste which often takes place in close proximity to large vehicles. |
HSE (East Midlands) Press Release 14/01/11 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Goodyear Dunlop Tyres UK Limited |
| Fined £18,250 under HASAWA 1974 s2. IP was working with two mechanical maintenance engineers on a reactive breakdown call out for a tyre press. As the machine was being worked on, the internal bladder re-energised resulting in it bursting. This resulted in the lid of the press coming off with great force. Due to the extreme loud noise generated, the IP moved very quickly out of the way and struck his head on the adjacent tyre spreading machine. There was no safe system in place to ensure that the services to this machine were isolated prior to the maintenance work commencing and insufficient training was provided to the maintenance team to ensure a satisfactory diagnostic was carried out. As a result of striking his head on the adjacent machine the IP suffered a fractured skull. |
HSE Prosecution 4211773 1/11/10 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Callender (Lancashire) Aeropart Ltd |
| Fined £8,000 under PUWER 1998. Accident to an employee who was badly injured when his hand came into contact with a rotating blade in a milling machine. He reached across the machine to retrieve the metal part he had just cut, but the blade was still moving. The cutting tool on the machine was not fitted with a guard, despite the issue being raised in a risk assessment carried out by the company 16 months earlier. The company failed to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery. |
HSE Prosecution 4212629 3/11/10 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Neil Brown t/a High View Services |
| Fined £360 under CAR 2006. Employer failed to take the measures necessary to reduce the exposure of his employees to asbestos to the lowest level reasonably practicable by measures other than the use of respiratory protective equipment. Also failed to ensure that the number of his employees who were exposed to asbestos at any one time was as low as is reasonably practicable. |
HSE Prosecution 4198338 5/11/10 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Overton Recycling Limited |
| Fined a total of £13,000 under MHSWR 1999 and CSR 1997. IP entered a covered chute on a fridge recycling machine to clear a blockage and was rendered unconscious. Rescued by fellow employee. Chute is essentially a confined space and machine uses a nitrogen gas inerting system. |
HSE Prosecution 4206168 5/11/10 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Recticel Ltd |
| Fined £6,237 under HASAWA 1974 s3. An accident where 7m stack of insulation boards toppled over, causing injury. No controls in place to govern or monitor condition or safe height of the stacks. |
HSE Prosecution 4220676 5/11/10 Week ending: 14/01/11 |
| Care home company fined after pensioner dies. |
| BUPA Care Homes (BNH) Ltd fined £150,000 and costs of £150,000 under HASAWA 1973 s3. Brigid O'Callaghan, known as Vera, died after being strangled by a lap belt when she was left strapped in a wheelchair overnight. Staff at the company's Amberley Court Nursing Home, Edgbaston, did not properly check on Mrs O'Callaghan leaving her in a wheelchair in her room rather than helping her to bed. She was discovered dead the next morning by a member of staff having slipped from the seat of the wheelchair to the floor, with the lap strap around her neck. HSE investigation into safety standards at the home following Mrs O'Callaghan's death found more than 15 failings in her treatment. The home failed to carry out a proper risk assessment and care plan for Mrs O'Callaghan's stay, did not communicate her needs to staff, failed to ensure she could call for help and did not monitor whether night time checks were carried out. HSE inspectors also identified more than 10 further potential hazards that put residents at risk, ranging from a cluttered corridor to dirty conditions, insufficient monitoring of the management of the home and lack of staff training. |
HSE (National) Press Release WM329/11 19/01/11 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| On year on: update on new strategy. |
| The HSE has produced a report called "One year on: being part of the solution". It highlights some of the many examples of new activities and initiatives that are underway. |
HSE Health and Safety Newsletter (28) November 2010:7 Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/strategy/one-year-on.htm Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Safe work on machinery. |
| Each year there are many unnecessary injuries and deaths because machinery was not made safe before work was done on it. Two case studies. |
HSE Health and Safety Newsletter (28) November 2010:8-9 Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/risk Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Sign up for safety alerts. |
| Keep in touch with the latest health and safety bulletins from HSE. |
HSE Health and Safety Newsletter (28) November 2010:10-11 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Fire safety in construction. |
| If activities involving fire risk within the construction industry are inadequately controlled, construction site workers and the public are at significant risk of injury or death. Second edition of guidance. |
HSE Health and Safety Newsletter (28) November 2010:14 "Fire safety in ? " HSG168 ISBN 978 07176 6345 3 £10.95 Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg168.htm Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Clean safety record for London Olympics. |
| The Olympic Park construction project has not had a reportable accident since the ODA gained possession of the site in the summer of 2007 - 15 sets of a million working hours. |
Safety Management December 2010:10 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Health and safety bills before Parliament. |
| Following the Government review of health and safety, "Common Sense, Common Safety", seven private members bills have been presented to Parliament by Christopher Chope, Conservative MP for Christchurch in Dorset. |
Safety Management December 2010:11 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Rise in asbestos illness in women. |
| The number of mesothelioma deaths in 2008 totalled 2,249, up from 2,156 for the previous year, HSE statistics have shown. There has also been an increase in cases of mesothelioma among women. |
Safety Management December 2010:12 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Teacher awarded payment over voice loss. |
| Joyce Walters, a 50 year old English teacher, has been awarded £156,000 after suffering permanent damage to her vocal chords through being forced to raise her voice to be heard in class over noise outside her classroom in Hillingdon, north London. She now has difficulty maintaining a conversation for any length of time. |
Safety Management December 2010:13 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Accidents down in manufacturing. |
| According to figures from the HSE, fewer people in manufacturing are dying or being injured by their work. |
Safety Management December 2010:14 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| More safety stats needed for accurate picture. |
| The recent publication by the HSE of key H&S statistics for 2009/10 did not capture the media's attention in the same way as Lord Young's quick and unexpected exit did. (Neal Stone) |
Safety Management December 2010:21 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| A health workplace is good for business. |
| Increased pressures associated with the current recession can have an impact on the health and well-being of staff. This means it's more important than ever to look after the health and well-being of your employees, particularly at this time of year. (Joanna Gurman) |
Safety Management December 2010:30-33 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Not just following the crowd at new year. |
| As thoughts turn towards seeing in 2011, you might consider going to one of the large city celebrations that have sprung up in recent years. But what is the planning that goes into making these events safe for the public and workers alike? (Amy Liptrot) |
Safety Management December 2010:35-38 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Survival training for an off-shore oil rig. |
| In the wake of the disaster on BP's oil rig Deepwater Horizon earlier this year - where 11 people died - and some recent HSE stats about unwanted hydrocarbon releases in the North Sea, the safety standards of the offshore oil and gas industry are once again a hot topic, for all the wrong reasons. A three day training course that all workers have to take before going offshore. (Amy Liptrot) |
Safety Management December 2010:40-44 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Driving success in driver safety. |
| Every day in the UK over 150 vehicles being driven on company business crash. Each week there are around 200 road deaths and serious injuries involving someone at work. The vast majority are preventable. (BSC with DHL) |
Safety Management December 2010:46-49 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Stopping bad hand days for hairdressers. |
| In many people's minds, work-related skin damage is associated with handling chemicals in industrial settings, but hairdressers are in fact those most at risk of suffering dermatitis. However, simple steps such as providing gloves and adequate staff training can help prevent the problem from occurring. (Chris Packham) |
Safety Management December 2010:51-52, 54-57 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Gloucestershire quarry fined after stone crushes worker's leg. |
| Ian Stanley Bond, owner of Stanley's Quarry, fined £5,000 and costs of £8,790 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Nicholas Enston, 47, was injured while removing scants, pieces of stone pre-cut into a block. He was manually removing each piece, using an FLT to transport them. However, the stones were not properly stabilised and as he was working on the block, a number of scants broke free and fell onto his lower body, breaking his left leg in two places. Mr Enston was working alone and was unable to call for help. He had to use a nearby hammer to move a lever on the FLT and use the forks to lift the scants off his body. He then managed to lift himself up to the cab of the truck and sound the horn. HSE investigation found the stones had not been secured properly and that Mr Enston should not have been working alone when carrying out this type of work. His line manager had not received any appropriate H&S training and had failed to carry out a risk assessment or put a system in place for working with scants, including a system for securing them properly. |
HSE (National) Press Release 14/01/11 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Window manufacturer fined for neglecting workers' welfare. |
| TLC Glazing Ltd fined £5,000 and costs of £1,968 under HASAWA 1974 s33. The London window manufacturer was prosecuted for ignoring two INs requiring them to bring employee welfare facilities up to a clean and hygienic standard. During a routine inspection of the factory, the HSE found the toilets in a poor state of repair. They were very dirty, with no supply of hot water, no soap for hand-washing and no means of hand-drying. The area where employees were supposed to take rest breaks and eat lunch was not properly equipped, and was covered in dust and debris from the adjacent workshop. Two INs were served, giving the company a month to bring the employees' welfare facilities up to a decent standard. On the inspector's return a month later TLC Glazing Ltd had taken no action to comply with the notices, and the toilets facilities and rest area were in the same poor state. |
HSE (National) Press Release COI/LDN/1401 14/01/11 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Chorlton construction safety event aims to save lives. |
| Builders in Manchester are being encouraged to attend a free safety event in Chorlton after there were nearly 400 serious injuries to construction workers in Greater Manchester last year. Company owners and their employees are being encouraged to attend a free H&S awareness event at Chorlton High School on Thursday 27 January. The event will look at falling from height, to life-threatening health problems caused through inhaling asbestos or silica dust. Meanwhile, HSE inspectors are visiting sites across Greater Manchester to offer support and advice to workers and contractors. The initiative is focusing on projects which are being carried out on domestic properties, where health and safety may not ordinarily be a top priority. The free safety event will take place at Chorlton High School on Nell Lane at 5pm on Thursday 27 January. Employees and self-employed workers can book a place by calling 0161 952 8358. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/14ConstructionManchester 14/01/11 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Free safety advice for Cumbrian farmers. |
| Farmers were being encouraged to attend a farm safety event in Carlisle (Thursday 20 January) for free advice that could save their lives. The HSE included practical demonstrations on handling livestock, workplace transport, quad bikes, roof work, manual handling and machinery. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/22Carlisle 17/01/11 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Liverpool nursing home fined £18k after 81-year-old woman falls from sling. |
| The Catholic Blind Institute, which runs the Christopher Grange nursing home, fined £18,000 and costs of £13,876 under LOLER 1998. Frances Shannon, 81, fell three feet and suffered a broken shoulder as well as injuries to her back and elbow. The wife, mother and grandmother died in hospital the following day. The company failed to carry out regular checks of the lifting sling being used. Mrs Shannon was being moved from her bed to a wheelchair when the sling failed. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/35CatholicBlindInstitute 17/01/11 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Property company ignored order to keep workers safe. |
| Merlin Homes (Wales) Ltd fined £10,000 and costs of £7,700 under HASAWA 1974 s33. The company was summoned to court after putting workers at risk and then ignoring an order to improve safety. HSE served a PN to stop work behind their development as there was a risk that the bank behind the properties could collapse. The company failed to take steps to prevent materials falling from the slope endangering employees working below it. However, despite the PN the HSE had found the company at work behind the site failing to act upon the enforcement notice. |
HSE (National) Press Release W0211JG 17/01/11 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Worker killed by swinging crane hook. |
| Celsa Manufacturing (UK) Ltd fined £200,000 and costs of £36,294.38 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Employee John Penhalagan, 44, was struck by a crane hook weighing 3.7 tonnes used to convey ladles of molten steel in the firm's new 'melt shop'. He suffered fatal head injuries and died later in hospital. HSE investigations found that, while there was no mechanical defect with the crane, the hooks were able to move at head height near to operators on the ground without adequate safeguards. The company did not have a safe system of work in place. |
HSE (Wales) Press Release 17/01/11 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Walsall firm prosecuted after worker seriously injured on first day. |
| JKL Industries Services Ltd fined £5,000 and costs of £2,534 under PUWER 1998. A 19-year-old on his very first day working at the plant, had only started work three hours earlier when his hand became trapped in a power press. The injured man was feeding strips of steel through a power press, punching 10cm shapes from the metal when his hand became trapped in an unguarded part of the machine. As a result of his injuries, his middle and ring fingers had to be amputated at the first joint. HSE inspector said that "JKL Services did not provide adequate guarding for the power press, failed to maintain the machine properly and failed also to ensure it was thoroughly examined by a competent person. Furthermore, the company had not given the worker sufficient information, instruction, training or supervision to operate the power press safely". |
HSE (National) Press Release WM327/11 18/01/11 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| £9,400 fine over asbestos at hospital. |
| Northamptonshire NHS Teaching Primary Care Trust fined a total of £4,000 and costs of £1,755 under CAR 2006 and MHSWR 1999. NUTEC Security Systems Ltd fined £4,200 and costs of £1,755 under CAR 2006. Company Director Paul Beeby fined £1,200 and costs of £1,755 under CAR 2006. The Trust employed NUTEC to upgrade security at a hospital. During the work, engineers ran cables through false ceilings and partition walls in public areas of the hospital. The work resulted in asbestos fibres being released into the hospital, which had remained open to the public and staff alike. HSE's investigation found the Trust did not ensure that the contractor had received information on asbestos in the building or planned the project management of the work correctly. Also that NUTEC had assumed areas of the hospital did not contain asbestos and that Mr Beeby had not ensured his surveys were sufficient to identify the presence of asbestos. As a director of the company and the person undertaking the survey, Mr Beeby should have ensured he had accessed all areas where his employees were going to be working and as such had not informed engineers adequately of the potential risks they faced. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/EM/127/10 19/01/11 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Steel firm fined after cherry picker plunge. |
| BHC Ltd fined £20,000 under WHR 2005. Steel erector Alexander Struthers, 36, was using a scissor lift, often called a cherry picker, to drill holes in the roof at a paint workshop of the company. There was an overhead crane installed in the workshop to move steel around and Mr Struthers was working with his back towards it at the time of the incident. He did not hear the crane moving towards him as it hit the scissor lift basket he was in, knocking it five and half metres to the ground. As a result, Mr Struthers broke his hip, pelvis, thigh bone, knee, ankle and nose. He spent 6 days in hospital and endured a 9 hour operation to repair various bones. A subsequent operation has left him with an 18 inch pin in his thigh bone as well as various pins, metal plates and screws in his hip, pelvis and ankle. He is in constant pain, still attends physiotherapy and walks with the aid of sticks. BHC Ltd admitted failing to ensure the work at height was properly planned, appropriately supervised and carried out in a reasonably practicable safe manner. |
HSE (National) Press Release SCO/xx/11 19/01/11 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Window company based in Welshpool exposed workers to asbestos. |
| Philip Leslie Davies, t/a Meadow View Windows and Conservatories, fined £3,000 and costs of £1,615 under CAR 2006. The owner of the company failed to protect its workers from exposure to asbestos. Four employees were exposed while removing soffits on a property. HSE found that Mr Davies had failed to take effective measures to prevent or reduce his employees being exposed to the potentially deadly substance. Mr Davies admitted exposing employees to asbestos, failing to carry out a suitable and sufficient assessment, and failing to ensure adequate information, instruction and training was provided to employees. |
HSE (Wales) Press Release 19/01/11 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Grimsby firm fined after worker's fall. |
| H Cope & Sons Ltd fined £12,000 and costs of £3,570.80 under HASAWA 1974 s2. A demolition worker had his career halted after suffering severe injuries in a fall through a garage roof. The man shattered his leg and broke his wrist after falling seven feet through a fragile asbestos cement roof when helping to demolish a block of single-storey garages. The demolition company was working on sites throughout NE Lincolnshire where garages were being demolished. The employee had only started with the company 4 months earlier. He and another worker were at a site and he was on the roof of one of the garages when it gave way. The man had to have several operations to insert pins and plates into his limbs and needed to use crutches for more than a year. Also unable to work since the incident and, despite bouts of reconstructive surgery, is in constant pain. He is unlikely to ever work in the construction industry again. HSE found the firm's planning was inadequate and failed to take into account how the garages were constructed. Supervision was so poor the firm was unaware employees had to go onto the roofs to dismantle them and break asbestos cement flashings. Although the firm had identified equipment that should have been provided, such as a tower scaffold and dust suppression spray, plus basic facilities like toilets, it failed to provide them. |
HSE (National) Press Release YH/09/11 20/01/11 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Kent Road Construction Limited |
| Fined £6,000 under LOLER 1998. They accepted their engagement as a Principal Contractor without being competent to do so, site management arrangements were inadequate due to lack of training and their Director and employees did not have knowledge of legislation relevant to the safe operation of lifting operations on the construction site. |
HSE Prosecution 4197706 8/11/10 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| S K Sharma |
| Fined £4,000 under CDMR 2007. S K Sharma failed to appoint a co-ordinator on a notifiable construction project. |
HSE Prosecution 4210600 8/11/10 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| BS Interiors (South) Ltd |
| Fined £1,500 under MHOR 1992. Manual handling injury on construction site. A secure wall for a computer room was being built within an existing building at BAE Systems site. The specifications and spatial constraints meant that the wall could not be built in its final position but was assembled in layers flat on the floor by BS Interiors (South) Ltd. Once completed, an abortive attempt to lift the wall manually was made by 7 persons. An employee of Emcor Facilities Services Ltd sustained serious leg injuries when he was trapped under the prefabricated wall, which weighed 1130 kilograms, as it was put back on the floor. Following the accident, the wall was dismantled and a different method of construction devised. BS Interiors (South) failed to avoid, as far as reasonably practicable, manual handling operations which involved a risk of injury in that they caused their employees, and others affected by their undertaking, including the injured person, to lift a prefabricated wall from floor to an upright position thereby causing injury to the injured person. |
HSE Prosecution 4211778 8/11/10 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| BAE Systems Plc |
| Fined £8,000 under CDMR 2007. Manual handling injury to a contractor on its construction site. A secure wall for a computer room was being built within an existing building at BAE Systems site. The specifications and spatial constraints meant that the wall could not be built in its final position but was assembled in layers flat on the floor. Once completed, an abortive attempt to lift the wall manually was made by 7 persons. A contractor sustained serious leg injuries when he was trapped under the prefabricated wall, which weighed 1130 kilograms, as it was put back on the floor. Following the accident, the wall was dismantled and a different method of construction devised. BAE Systems, as the client, failed to appoint a CDM Co-ordinator at the design stage of the project |
HSE Prosecution 4211933 8/11/10 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Coast & Country Housing Limited |
| Fined a total of £8,000 under MHSWR 1999 and EWR 1989. A worker hand-digging a hole struck an 11000v electricity cable resulting in a non-fatal injury. The company failed to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to employees and those not in its employment, and failed to use a safe system of work when carrying out work near to a buried electrical cable. |
HSE Prosecution 4222859 8/11/10 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| The Norfolk Ranger Ltd |
| Fined £700 under ELCIA 1969. Prosecution for no ELCIA following accident. |
HSE Prosecution 4221956 9/11/10 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Indorama Polymers Workington Ltd |
| Fined £20,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Release of explosive/flammable dust causing fire ball engulfed welding contractor causing extensive burns. |
HSE Prosecution 4173213 11/11/10 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| The Magna Heating Co Ltd |
| Fined £1 under CDMR 2007. The IP was using an electric breaker to break a concrete pad. While he was doing this he hit an electric cable below the pad which caused him to receive burns. No proper planning of the job was the cause of the incident. |
HSE Prosecution 4211535 11/11/10 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| Mark Mason |
| Community under HASAWA 1974 s22, s21 and s2. Non compliance with IN and PN. |
HSE Prosecution 4183641 12/11/10 Week ending: 21/01/11 |
| West Lothian council fined after pensioner's fatal fall. |
| West Lothian Council fined £80,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. An elderly lady died when she fell through an access hole in her hallway floor which had been left uncovered by council employees working on her property. Mrs Catherine Walker, 90, walked into the hallway of her house to go to her bathroom. She fell into an unguarded access hole and suffered major injuries from which she later died. West Lothian Council employees were carrying out gas repairs works as part of a programme to upgrade the central heating systems in all of the council's domestic properties. |
HSE (National) Press Release SCO/005/11 25/01/11 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| School guidance. |
| A new guide on fire risk management in schools has been launched by ADT. The "Guide to fire safety in educational premises" is aimed at employers, head-teachers, governors, and occupier/owners. |
Fire Risk Management December 2010:4 Internet: www.adt.co.uk/combatarson Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Company pays out £127,000 in fines and costs for "substantial risks" at hotel. |
| Hallmark Hotel Group fined £25,000 for each of three offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 plus costs of £52,585. Following a routine visit by Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service to the Belfry House Hotel to obtain information needed to fight a fire on the premises, should one occur, a further visit by specialist fire safety inspector was carried out. Numerous failings were found at the hotel which was undergoing major renovations, including the fire alarm not working, breaches in fire-resisting walls, an inadequate fire risk assessment, poor staff training and conflicting safety signage. The initial visit had been carried out under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004. The judge ruled that guests had been put at "substantial risk". |
Fire Risk Management December 2010:4 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Social security. |
| A recent seminar explored some of the key concerns in high-rise social housing - from unusual fire spread to different floors, to the risks posed by unclean extract ventilation. (FRM) |
Fire Risk Management December 2010:17-20 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Life of luxury. |
| Growing demand for luxury apartments has highlighted the need for more flexible fire safety designs. The issues - from restrictive design to the maintenance of safety systems. (Stewart Dabin) |
Fire Risk Management December 2010:21-23 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Height restrictions. |
| The correct specification of fire doors in high-rise residential buildings is key to preventing flame spread. (Tim Fairley) |
Fire Risk Management December 2010:24-25 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Ready to retire. |
| Bishop's Court in southwest England is not just a prime example of a modern retirement scheme, but also shows the benefits of adopting a risk-based approach from design through to occupation. (Paul Coyle) |
Fire Risk Management December 2010:30-32 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Complex solutions. |
| Some tips on the special factors that need to be considered when carrying out a fire risk assessment in a complex fire engineered building. (Niall Rowan) |
Fire Risk Management December 2010:41-45 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Fault lines. |
| Outlining the hidden fire safety defects that can arise during construction and renovation. An argument that the fire engineers should have greater involvement in a project, from concept to completion. (David Lange and Katrina Speirs) |
Fire Risk Management December 2010:46-48 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Compartment checks. |
| Many fire risk assessments are failing to ensure that fire compartmentation is up to standard. (Alan Oliver) |
Fire Risk Management December 2010:49 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Down time. |
| A new report says that lifts can be a viable and safe method of building evacuation. (FRM) |
Fire Risk Management December 2010:50-51 "Lifts (elevators) - Study of the use of lifts ? emergency" ISO/TR 25743 Internet: www.iso.org Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Hear and Now. |
| The British Tinnitus Association highlights the risks of exposure to loud noise and offers some advice on how to avoid damaged hearing in the workplace. |
RoSPA Safety Express January/February 2011:5 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Preparing the ground. |
| In the second of a two-part exploration of the creation of the first H&S legislation in the UK, the role that morality played in the development of laws to protect workers in the mining industry. (Nick Cook) |
RoSPA Safety Express January/February 2011:10-11 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Bad company. |
| The attempted use of "bad character" evidence by prosecutors in H&S cases is on the increase but while it can be applied relatively easily to individuals, what happens when a large company is in the dock? (Michael Appleby) |
SHP January 2011:17 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Damage limitation. |
| Personal-injury lawyers are one of the main targets of Lord Young's H&S review, but the expected "compensation-culture" crackdown doesn't mean that employers can ignore the procedures for dealing with a claim. (Stephen Thomas and Basil Long) |
SHP January 2011:30-32 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Age concern. |
| The Government is currently evaluating the responses to its consultation on phasing out the default retirement age. This would mean many more people remaining in their jobs past the age of 65 - a situation which presents new challenges for employers and practitioners. (Chris Ide) |
SHP January 2011:34-36 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Now or never. |
| For many H&S practitioners, employee well-being has been a natural continuation from stress and mental-health management, with the focus expanded to include health-risk management, provision of onsite health services, and general health promotion. But, as we move into a culture of "doing more with less", is this enough? (Kim Shutler-Jones and Gary Tideswell) |
SHP January 2011:39-40 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Power cuts. |
| In hard times, most businesses trim budgets, but risks could build to a dangerous level if cut-backs cause delays in essential electrical safety work. The scale of the risk and some advice on how to achieve compliance under financial restrictions. (Paul Caddick) |
SHP January 2011:42-44 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Signs of life. |
| The need for strategic planning to keep building occupants safe in an emergency such as fire or explosion, looking in particular at the role of signage in supporting an evacuation, or "invacuation" plan. (Philip Ball) |
SHP January 2011:46-47 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Council prosecuted after worker loses movement in hands. |
| Cheshire East Council fined £5,300 and costs of £5,860 under CVWR 2005. A 56-year-old maintenance employee developed a severe form of hand arm vibration syndrome. The worker joined Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council as a mechanic in 1984 (became part of Cheshire East council in April 2009) and regularly used heavy-duty vibrating equipment, including pneumatic drills and hand-held grinders. The early stages of the condition were first identified in July 2005. The worker was recommended for annual assessments but, despite being reassessed in 2006, he was not seen again until 2009. He now has difficulty picking up small objects, such as coins and his hands become very painful in cold weather. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/73CheshireEast 21/01/11 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Kebab company put employees at risk through negligence. |
| Ozgul Balciner fined a total of £4,000 and costs of £10,000 under PUWER 1998 and HASAWA 1974 s37. Oz Kebab Ltd fined £5,000 under PUWER 1998. Workers at KC's Doner Ltd, formerly known as Oz Kebab Ltd, were exposed to the risk of serious injury after the company failed to prevent access to dangerous moving parts of machinery at its factory. HSE served 6 PNs between March 2009 and May 2010, ordering the company to stop using a skinning machine, a meat pre-breaker/reducer and a bowl mixer until the appropriate protective devices and guards were fitted and maintained in working order. However, Mr Balciner failed to ensure this work was carried out and it took significant and ongoing intervention by the HSE to prevent the unsafe machines from being used. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE-E-02-11 21/01/11 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Wigan firm sentenced after worker's finger severed. |
| B&B Group Ltd fined £12,500 and costs of £1,703 under PUWER 1998. A 49-year-old employee was drilling through an iron bar when his right hand got caught in the drill. His index finger was severed below the first joint, his middle finger was badly cut, and his ring finger was dislocated. HSE found the company failed to provide a machine guard around the drill bit to protect employees working on the equipment. The drill took 30 seconds to stop after being switched off. It was still rotating as the worker reached to turn it on again after moving the iron bar to drill another hole. The glove on his right hand got caught in the rotating mechanism and pulled his hand into the machine. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/74B&BGroup 21/01/11 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| North Devon farm worker fractured skull in roof fall. |
| LD Heywood Ltd fined £5,000 and costs of £2,500 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Leslie Haywood, Director of company, fined £5,000 and costs of £2,500 under HASAWA 1974 s37. Employee Andrew Jeffrey, a farm worker, suffered two fractures to his skull after falling through a barn roof while carrying out repair work. He had been instructed by Mr Heywood to cut ventilation holes in the roof of a cattle barn and was working alone when he fell approx 4 metres through a roofing sheet onto the concrete floor, hitting his head. |
HSE (National) Press Release WW2/1/11 21/01/11 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Construction boss fined after sub-contractor suffers appalling leg injuries. |
| John Handley (a partner in J&C Handley) fined £5,000 and costs of £4,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. A sub-contractor suffered permanent leg injuries when falling under a telehandler. When a consignment of breeze blocks were delivered to site, they were not packaged in such a way that a telehandler with forks could pick them up. The breeze blocks needed to be transported from one part of the site to another. Mr Handley used a telehandler with an hydraulic grabber attachment but this meant the blocks were swaying as they were being transported. He then asked sub-contractor David Cotterill to walk alongside the vehicle and steady the load with his hands. Unfortunately Mr Cotterill, 31, slipped and fell under the front wheel of the telehandler. He broke his right foot, ankle and leg and has been off work ever since. Due to the nature of his injuries he will not be able to work in construction again and is now retraining for an alternative career. His injuries have also forced him to move from his three-storey house to one with less stairs. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/130/11 24/01/11 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Contractor fined after labourer has leg amputated. |
| Howper 291 Ltd (formally known as Urang Ltd) fined £10,000 and costs of £4,172 under HASAWA 1974 s3. The company were refurbishing a domestic mews property. Lukasz Taborek, 23, was working on the first floor when it collapsed. He fell more than 3 metres to the floor below and falling materials then pinned him to the floor. His right foot was completely crushed and veins and his calf muscles had to be surgically removed. His lower right leg was eventually amputated. HSE found Urang Ltd were contracted to manage the refurbishment and assigned a project manager with no H&S training. The project manager visited the site for 2 hours every other day. She did not give the project the adequate supervision required and by her own admission was not trained in construction, nor was her manager experienced in construction. The first floor was incorrectly built by sub-contractors, who had left the site a month prior to the incident. Concerns regarding the general safety and tidiness on site had also been raised on more than one occasion by the architect. |
HSE (National) Press Release COI/LDN/2401 24/01/11 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Findings released on Shrewsbury gas explosion. |
| HSE has released a report of its investigation into the explosion in Shrewsbury town centre on 3 January 2010. HSE has revealed no evidence of any breach of safety regulation and consequently HSE will not be taking any enforcement action in this case. The explosion at 1-5 Bridge Street resulted in six people suffering major injuries while a number of properties in the area sustained significant damage. A number of people also suffered minor injuries. |
HSE (National) Press Release WW2/1/11 25/01/11 Internet: http://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/supply/shrewsbury-explosion-report.pdf Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Man severs fingers at bagel factory. |
| Ixxy's Bagels Ltd fined £2,250 and costs of £9,719 under PUWER 1998. Mr Raakesh Patel, 26, was attempting to clear a dough blockage, when a moving blade severed the middle and ring fingers on his right hand down to the knuckle. The company was aware the equipment was faulty at the time of the incident. The rotating blade in the bagel dividing machine continued even when the rear doors were opened. Despite being aware of the fault HSE found Ixxy's failed to take adequate steps to prevent Mr Patel from using the machine. |
HSE (National) Press Release COILDN/2501 25/01/11 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Farm building firms prosecuted after roof fall. |
| Clive Pearce, t/a CW Pearce, fined £12,000 and costs of £500 under HASAWA 1974 s3. DB Gibbons (Construction) Ltd fined £14,000 and costs of £3,500 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Richard Cooke, a construction worker, who was 26 at the time of the incident, was dismantling the roof of a cow shed and suffered life-changing injuries after falling 6 metres through the roof of the farm building. Self-employed Mr Cooke was sub-contracting for Clive Pearce, t/a CW Pearce, who was sub-contracted to DB Gibbons (Construction) Ltd. Mr Cooke suffered severe spine and head injuries when he landed on a concrete floor after the roof sheeting he was standing on collapsed under his weight. Mr Cooke is now an incomplete paraplegic and requires the use of a wheelchair to move about. HSE investigation found there were no safeguards to prevent Mr Cooke or his fellow worker falling through the roof, or from the edge of the building. HSE also revealed the work could have been arranged without the need to go on the roof. |
HSE (National) Press Release WW26/1 26/01/11 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Vital safety advice for Herefordshire farmers. |
| Farmers across Herefordshire are being encouraged to attend a free event next month to gain vital advice on staying safe in the country's most dangerous industry. HSE is holding an agricultural Safety and Health Awareness Day on Tuesday 22 February at Herefordshire College of Technology's Holme Lacy campus. Figures reveal that 45 people, including 4 children, died as a result of accidents in the agricultural sector in Britain last year. HSE is running two half-day sessions which will consist of practical safety demonstrations, delivered by qualified trainers from agricultural skills council Lantra. |
HSE (National) Press Release WM331/11 27/01/11 Tel: Belinda Hall (HSE Worcester) 01905 743600 or email Belinda.hall@hse.gov.uk Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Pacestone Construction Limited |
| Fined £13,000 under CDMR 2007. Company failed to avoid danger from underground services, leading to IP striking an 11kv cable in a pavement with a pneumatic drill. IP received burns from the flash and will be scarred. |
HSE Prosecution 4222762 15/11/10 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Pinguinlutosa Foods UK Limited |
| Fined a total of £4,700 under PUWER 1998. Prosecution brought after agency employee injured by a dangerous part of rotating machinery inside a freezer. The risk of injury from the dangerous part, a stirrer, had also not been assessed. An assessment should have been conducted which, if suitable and sufficient, would have identified that a lockable isolator switch or other robust form of isolation was required. |
HSE Prosecution 4201669 16/11/10 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Celsa Manufacturing (UK) Limited |
| Fined £200,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3 and MHSWR 1999. The deceased person was undertaking fettling work at the back of a ladle whilst the crane hook was being disconnected from the ladle. In doing so the hook was moved backwards trapping the deceased person's head between the back of the hook and the fettling ladle car. Cases for failing to provide a safe place and system of work and no risk assessment. |
HSE Prosecution 4164786 17/11/10 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| ARK Brothers Limited |
| Fined a total of £1,500 under PUWER 1998 and HASAWA 1974 s2. Fatal accident to an employee who was crushed to death when a crane's jig and load, weighing around 1.3 tonnes, fell directly onto him. |
HSE Prosecution 4174507 17/11/10 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Recticel Limited |
| Fined a total of £13,000 under WHR 2005. Employee injured having fallen through roof light. Company failed to avoid approach to fragile surface, did not adequately plan work at height or carry out suitable and sufficient risk assessment. |
HSE Prosecution 4210685 17/11/10 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| McGrath Bros (Waste Control) Limited |
| Fined £14,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. |
HSE Prosecution 4221841 17/11/10 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Southern Gas Networks plc |
| Fined £20,000 under CDMR 2007. Failure to protect members of the public while replacing a gas main on a public highway. Elderly woman injured when her car overturned after hitting a steel road plate. The plate was being moved using an excavator. |
HSE Prosecution 4190077 19/11/10 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Brian Hulme |
| Fined £400 under COSHH 2002. Brian Hulme was prosecuted in his capacity as a partner in B & J Hulme Fencing for failing to ensure a dust extraction system, installed to remove dust created from cutting wooden fencing, was serviced. Mr Hulme should have ensured that the unit was examined by a specialist at least every 14 months. However, when an HSE inspector visited the site on 22 Sept 2009, he found the system had not been checked for more than 2 years. B&J Hulme Fencing had also received a formal warning about the issue on 27 Feb 2007. |
HSE Prosecution 4201650 19/11/10 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Jack Hulme |
| Fined £400 under COSHH 2002. Jack Hulme was prosecuted in his capacity as a partner in B & J Hulme Fencing for failing to ensure a dust extraction system, installed to remove dust created from cutting wooden fencing, was serviced. Mr Hulme should have ensured that the unit was examined by a specialist at least every 14 months. However, when an HSE inspector visited the site on 22 Sept 2009, he found the system had not been checked for more than 2 years. B&J Hulme Fencing had also received a formal warning about the issue on 27 Feb 2007. |
HSE Prosecution 4201658 19/11/10 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
| Philip Leslie Davies t/a Meadow View Windows & Conservatories |
| Fined a total of £3,000 under CAR 2006. Employees of window installer exposed to asbestos when removing soffits on a domestic property. Employer failed to undertake a suitable and sufficient risk assessment to determine the presence of asbestos. The method of work for removal of the soffit failed to prevent or reduce employees' exposure to asbestos. The employees had not received adequate training. |
HSE Prosecution 4219853 19/11/10 Week ending: 28/01/11 |
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HASTAM cannot accept any liability for any events arising from the use of this information. We strongly recommend that, if any information from any H&S News entry is to be used for any specific purpose, the original source is checked to confirm accuracy and to enable the user to take account of the full information. This is particularly important in the case of HSE Prosecutions where the HSE may have withdrawn a specific entry subsequent to its publication in H&S News. Entries can be checked using the search facility on www.hse-databases.co.uk/prosecutions
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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.