Welcome to the archive section of Health & Safety News.
H&S News February 2011
| Recycling company fined after man dies from being struck. |
| Ling Metals Ltd fined a total of £200,000 and costs of £11,384.11 under HASAWA 1974 s2 and s3, and LOLER 1998. Darren Baker, 35, was helping to lay a new horse riding surface of crumbled rubber at a stables. A colleague was driving a telescopic materials handler (an FLT with an extendable arm or boom, commonly referred to as a telehandler). The vehicle was fitted with a loading bucket containing the rubber and its boom had been extended to more than 6 metres. Mr Baker walked across the path of the boom just as the telehandler reached its balance point and tipped forward as the hydraulic stabilisers fitted at the front of the machine were not being used and it was resting on its wheels. The bucket hit him on the head and forced him to the ground. Mr Baker died in hospital 2 days later from multiple injuries. The telehandler's 'Safe Load Indicator' device was not correctly calibrated and was unusable at the time. In addition, the machine's previous safety certificate (called a Certificate of Through Examination) had expired prior to the incident. Engineers had visited on two separate occasions to inspect and repair the telehandler but they were unable to complete this due to the poor condition of the machine. The operator had not been told how much the bucket weighed when it was empty or full, or how heavy a load of crumbled rubber was. Neither had he an understanding of the machine instructions, which showed how much it could lift and to what maximum distance the boom could be extended. |
HSE (National) Press Release COISE/2101 28/1/11 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| New framework for occupational health. |
| A voluntary national accreditation scheme for occup health services was launched in December 2010, to be operational in the first half of 2011. The Safe Effective Quality Occup Health Service (SEQOHS) aims to provide occup health services with a framework for quality assurance and to help inform those purchasing or commissioning services. |
Safety Management January 2011:6 Internet: www.seqohs.org Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| HSE cuts are "a false economy". |
| A group of MPs has expressed concerns over the 35% budget cuts faced by the HSE. The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Occup Safety and Health believe "that cuts in prevention are false economy and any reduction in HSE activity will lead to increased costs from sickness absence, compensation and benefit costs". |
Safety Management January 2011:8 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Reporting carbon emissions has business benefits, research shows. |
| Research has shown that businesses who voluntarily report their greenhouse gas emissions experience benefits such as cost savings, improved green credentials, and better relations with investors and customers. |
Safety Management January 2011:8 Internet: http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document=EV0437_9918_FRP.pdf Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| BP sued by US government over Gulf of Mexico. |
| The US government has filed a civil lawsuit against nine companies, including BP, with connections to the Deepwater Horizon explosion and fire earlier this year. |
Safety Management January 2011:10 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Crane driver killed in river accident. |
| Simon Wenn, 43, died after a 27-ton crane toppled into a freezing river, prompting a police and HSE investigation. He worked for the Environment Agency which said it had been carrying out de-silting work along the river. |
Safety Management January 2011:10 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Double factory death in Merseyside. |
| Thomas Elmer, 27, and James Bibby, 24, died when they were dragged into a giant silo. Emergency services were called to the Sonae factory after a report that two men had been injured, but the men were later declared at the scene. Merseyside Police and the HSE are investigating. |
Safety Management January 2011:10 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Softening the blow of government cuts. |
| Whichever way you cut it both the HSE and local authorities will, due to the government's comprehensive spending review, have a lot less resources over the period 2010/11-2014/15 to spend on their statutory functions. (Neal Stone) |
Safety Management January 2011:19 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Exposure to more than good education. |
| Asbestos in schools remains a contentious issue. The HSE is standing firm on its "managed and undisturbed" policy while critics claim this is a safety risk. Meanwhile, the number of mesothelioma cases from exposure in schools rises each year. This leaves questions about the safety of school buildings for those that work and learn in them every day. (Amy Liptrot) |
Safety Management January 2011:28-30,32 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Pet food manufacturer takes the crown. |
| As a manufacturer of specialist pet food, Crown Pet Foods faces a variety of challenges to ensure a safe and healthy business while producing top quality products - how it does this. (Joanna Gurman) |
Safety Management January 2011:34-37 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Sharing is caring for north east partnership. |
| Having witnessed a horrific and fatal accident during the early years of his career, Alan Bassett discovered he had a real passion for H&S. Now chair of NESHEP (North East Safety, Health and Environment Partnership) he talks about the work of the organisation and what it is striving to achieve. (Joanna Gurman) |
Safety Management January 2011:39-41 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Will you still need me, when I'm 64? |
| There are many things which are said to get better with age. However, with life expectancy in the UK increasing, more and more workers are choosing to work past retirement. So how does this affect our attitudes towards older workers? (Laura Milsom) |
Safety Management January 2011:42-45 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Leadership and followship: two sides of the same coin? |
| "Leadership" is the new buzz word in many organisations, particularly in the world of H&S. A Chartered H&S practitioner looks at the other side of the coin - "followship" - and how this is being overlooked. (Shaun Davis and BSC) |
Safety Management January 2011:46-49 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Stopping things going bang at work. |
| Flammable substances such as solvents and fuels are present in many workplaces, but they can cause devastating fires and explosions if handled incorrectly. This can be avoided by properly assessing the risks and adopting precautions such as safe storage. (Andrew Lawrence) |
Safety Management January 2011:51-54 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Firms sentenced after Bolton steeplejack falls to death. |
| Bailey International Steeplejack Company Ltd fined £75,000 and costs of £80,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Ken Brogden Ltd fined £10,000 and costs of £16,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. A steeplejack fell 50 metres to his death from an Edwardian chimney and a colleague was left clinging on for his life. John Alty and another worker were on top of the disused chimney when the scaffolding they were on collapsed. 40 year old Mr Alty was pronounced dead at the scene but his colleague survived by clinging to a ladder on the outside of the chimney. Mr Alty's employer, Bailey International, had been hired to carry out repairs to the brickwork on the chimney and its two employees had been taking down the scaffolding when it gave way. HSE investigation concluded that the company had not used strong enough anchor fixings to attach the scaffolding to the chimney, despite knowing that the brickwork at the top was in a poor condition. They also failed to check the scaffolding design and to test the fixings before they were used. The scaffolding had been damaged on a previous job and Ken Brogden had been hired to repair it. But instead of grinding out the joints and welding them back together, the company welded over the weakened joints. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/77baileybrodgen 28/1/11 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Worker seriously burned after exposure to 11,000 volts. |
| Powersystems UK Ltd fined £5,000 and costs of £8,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Stephen Martin Edwards, a high voltage cable jointer, was injured while working under the supervision of an electrical engineer to connect a cable between a circuit breaker on a ring main unit and a nearby transformer. He was told the cable connection box he was working on had been isolated and earthed, but had been told to open the wrong box by mistake. The 3 terminals inside the box were in fact still live at 11,000 volts. When Mr Edwards began work, the current arced between one of the live terminals and his spanner and the resulting flash ignited his clothes. He was badly burned on his hands, arms and chest and has been unable to return to work. HSE found a number of failings by Powersystems UK. Mr Edward's supervisor allowed him to start work on a part of equipment he believed to be dead, without first checking with suitable test equipment that it actually was. It was in fact a different part of the equipment, which had not been isolated. Mr Edwards should also have been wearing suitable PPE, particularly flameproof overalls. The company had also failed to carry out risk assessment for the work, to pass on detailed information about the system, and to make sure the person supervising Mr Edwards' work had adequate knowledge and understanding of how to work safely on the system. |
HSE (National) Press Release 31/1/11 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Inspections aim to improve safety on County Durham industrial estates. |
| Local industrial estates throughout Derwentside and Newton Aycliffe will be the focus of an intensive week of inspections from Monday 7 February in a bid to improve health and safety. Inspectors from HSE and Durham County Council will focus on several key topics including how businesses are managing asbestos and managing the traffic on site, especially around pedestrians and landlord related issues. It is the latest in a series of initiatives that have been organised to help raise awareness of H&S issues in workplaces across the region. |
HSE (National) Press Release NE/014/11 31/1/11 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Consultants invited to sign up to new benchmark register for health and safety. |
| Health and Safety consultants are being invited to sign up to a new independent register from today (Monday 31 January) that is intended to become a new benchmark for standards in the profession. The Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register (OSHCR) is being set up in response to recommendations in the Government commissioned report on the UK health and safety system - "Common Sense Common Safety". It aims to increase employer's confidence in accessing good quality, proportionate advice and also to address concerns that some employers - especially SMEs - can find it difficult to know how to get external H&S advice. OSHCR has been established by a number of professional bodies representing general safety and occupational health consultants across the UK, with support from the HSE. |
HSE (National) Press Release 31/1/11 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Consultation opens on RIDDOR change. |
| HSE has opened a three-month consultation on proposed changes to Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 1995. Changes to RIDDOR were recommended in the Young report on H&S published last year, which contained a proposal to increase the threshold for reporting injuries to seven days. Under current rules when an employee is absent from work for more than 3 days following an incident, employers are required to report the injury to the relevant enforcing authority - either HSE or the local council. The proposed amendment increases this 'over three day' period to over seven consecutive days. The change would align the incident reporting threshold with that for obtaining a 'fit note' from a GP for sickness absence, and would ensure that someone who has suffered a reportable injury has had a professional medical assessment. |
HSE (National) Press Release 31/1/11 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Hyde construction safety event aims to save lives. |
| Builders in Tameside are being encouraged to attend a free safety event after there were nearly 400 serious injuries to construction workers in Greater Manchester last year. HSE statistics show that there was one death and 393 serious injuries in the county's construction sector during 2009/10. Company owners and their employees are now being encouraged to attend a free H&S awareness event at Hyde Town Hall on Corporation Street at 5pm on Thursday 10 February. Employers and self-employed workers can book a place by calling 0161 952 8358. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/14ConstructionTameside 2/2/11 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Lancashire businessman in court after worker breaks back. |
| Michael Wilson t/a M Wilson Commercials fined £4.000 and costs of £2,000 under PUWER 1998. An employee had climbed up a ladder at a commercial vehicle garage to reach the release mechanism for a lorry cab. He fell to the ground when the ladder slipped, causing him to break a vertebra in his spine. He is still unable to return to work, nearly a year after the incident. HSE investigation found the ladder had missing feet at both ends, the bottom rung was damaged and it appeared to have been cut off at the top. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/78Wilson 2/2/11 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Cardiff company fined over failure to protect staff. |
| Celsa Manufacturing (UK) Ltd fined £80,000 and full costs under HASAWA 1974 s2. Henry Truszkowski, 51, an electrician was working alone when he came into contact with exposed, live electrical conductors and suffered a 33,000 volt shock. He was cleaning the conductors and circuit breaker units in a control room. Normally when carrying out maintenance, the room would be easily isolated to prevent the re-energising of the conductors. HSE found on this occasion, that had not happened and, as a result, when Mr Truszkowski touched the conductors, he received the massive electric shock. He was hospitalised for several weeks and is yet to return to work some 2? years since the incident. Celsa Manufacturing (UK) Ltd had failed to ensure the necessary precautions had been taken to prevent employees coming into contact with the electrical conductors. |
HSE (National) Press Release W1310DR 2/2/11 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| South Yorkshire glazing firm fined after scaffold fall. |
| Premier Security Glazing Ltd fined £2,500 and costs of £2,644.90 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Phillip Pears, 20, broke his wrist while replacing fascias for Premier Security Glazing Ltd at a house. HSE found that Mr Pears, another colleague, and Premier's managing director, had erected two tower scaffolds ten feet apart. Wooden boards were then spaced across the gaps to make one extended platform from which to work. There were no handrails on the scaffolds or the boards. Mr Pears climbed a ladder learning against the scaffold and stepped onto an unsecured board which had been used in erecting the tower. The board slipped and he fell 3.5 metres to the pavement below, fracturing his wrist and bruising his back. Mr Pears had not been trained in the safe use of tower scaffolds, but was regularly expected to use them. Premier Security Glazing Ltd had employed a risk adviser some months before the incident. It had even received an H&S audit on its systems of work, including recommendations for safe working at height and the correct use of tower scaffolds. However, the company had not implemented these recommendations. |
HSE (National) Press Release YH/15/11 2/2/11 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Event to reduce death and injury on Bedfordshire farms. |
| Around 250 farmers from across Bedfordshire will be attending a free event on Tuesday 8 February aimed at helping reduce the number of deaths and injuries in agriculture. The Safety and Health Awareness Day (SHAD) will be run by the HSE at Milton Park, Milton Ernest, in Bedfordshire. Qualified instructors will give practical demonstrations based on the most common accident scenarios such as those involving falls from height, transport and machinery blockages, and giving guidance on how to prevent them. Attendance at a SHAD is by invitation only. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE-e-03-11 3/2/11 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Pensioner died after being thrown from wheelchair on minibus. |
| Age Concern Westminster fined £10,000 and costs of £5,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Olive Sarti, 88, died of her injuries after being thrown from a wheelchair while in an Age Concern Westminster minibus. She was taken to hospital with a head injury and a broken neck after the incident. She died two months later. HSE investigation found the minibus driver had performed an emergency stop which resulted in Ms Sarti being hurled from her wheelchair. Age Concern Westminster employees had not secured Ms Sarti in her wheelchair and workers had not been given adequate training by the charity to ensure wheelchair users were safe while travelling. |
HSE (National) Press Release COILDN/0601 3/2/11 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Farm safety events target Moray and Highland farmers. |
| Farmers across Moray and the Highlands are being encouraged to attend one of two free half day events later this month for advice on the dangers of working in agriculture. Latest HSE figures show that the sector is still one of the most dangerous in Great Britain. Eight agricultural workers died in Scotland in 2009/10 and a further 78 major injuries were reported. With the event already fully booked on the afternoon of Thursday 17 February, HSE are encouraging farmers to book their places on one of the two remaining half day events. The first event will take place on the morning of Wednesday 16 February at Dipple Farm in Fochabers. The second event will be held on the morning of Thursday 17 February at Dingwall and Highland Auction Mart in Dingwall. The events are free, but places must be booked in advance and are on a first come, first served basis. |
HSE (National) Press Release SCO/08/11 3/2/11 Contact: nikki.jack@hse.gsi.gov.uk Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Food firm fined after worker hospitalised. |
| QV Foods fined £15,000 and costs of £4,606 under HASAWA 1974 s2. A 43 year old employee was labelling boxes in the factory yard when she was hit by a wooden crate of potatoes which fell from an FLT as it was being emptied into a skip. She fractured her right knee and suffered severe bruising to her back. She was hospitalised and was unable to work for several months but has since returned to the factory. The company failed to make sure work stations were a safe distance from moving vehicles and materials being handled that might fall. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/135/11 3/2/11 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Camden Council fined following toddler death. |
| Camden Council fined £72,000 and costs of £65,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Two year old Saurav Ghai was walking along a road in high winds with his childminder when a section of a boundary wall fell onto them. They were taken to hospital, but Saurav died shortly after. His childminder suffered injuries. Camden Council is responsible for maintaining the wall that collapsed. |
HSE (National) Press Release COILON/0402 4/2/11 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Ossian Construction Ltd |
| Fined £6,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. No adequate steps taken to ensure the structural stability of staircase during demolition process whereby staircase collapsed resulting in employees being injured, one seriously. |
HSE Prosecution 4097082 22/11/10 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Wefo Gainsborough Ltd |
| Fined £15,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. The process involved lifting a tank, which was on its side, into a horizontal position. The crane was attached to a lifting lug and the method used involved travelling and lifting the tank to rotate it. The lift went smoothly until the tank was approx 5-6 feet from the ground. At this point, the lifting lug failed and the tank fell landing on another module section, striking the IP and causing the injuries. This process of moving tanks had been successfully carried out for many years, however following the accident investigation an alternative method of lift has been chosen. |
HSE Prosecution 4151798 22/11/10 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Linden Ltd |
| Fined £7,500 under PUWER 1998. Three ceramic tillers, including the deceased, were waiting in a car on a construction site for a building plot to be unlocked. At that time a self-employed construction plant operator was undertaking routine operational checks on a telescopic materials handler. With its boom fully extended and elevated, the machine tipped sideways. The fork attachment at the extended end landed on the roof of the occupied car. As principal contractor they failed to conduct its undertaking in such a way as to ensure that safety critical matters relating to a telescopic materials handler used at the site, such as tyre pressure, were soundly maintained so as to ensure, so far as was reasonably practicable, that persons not in its employment, including the deceased and injured persons, were not exposed to risks thereby to risks to their health and safety. |
HSE Prosecution 4170107 22/11/10 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Keith Payne |
| Fined £7,000 under HASAWA 1974 s7. Three ceramic tilers including the deceased were waiting in a car on a construction site for a building plot to be unlocked. At that time a self-employed construction plant operator was undertaking routine operational checks on a telescopic materials handler. With its boom fully extended and elevated, the machine tipped sideways. The fork attachment at the extended end landed on the roof of the occupied car. The accused failed to take reasonable care for the health and safety of himself and other persons who were or may have affected by his acts or omissions, in that he operated a telescopic materials handler in a manner which led to its overturning. |
HSE Prosecution 4170339 22/11/10 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Miller Construction (UK) Limited |
| Fined £11,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Employee of sub contractor cut through cable which remained live. |
HSE Prosecution 4133899 23/11/10 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Lawrie (Demolition) Limited |
| Fined £11,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Employee of sub contractor cut through cable which remained live. |
HSE Prosecution 4148042 23/11/10 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Kevin Banks |
| Fined £2,000 under CDMR 2007. IP, a 14 year old, was paid to help with construction work. He overturned the 1 tonne dumper he was driving on a sloping site and sustained serious leg and foot injuries. |
HSE Prosecution 4223897 23/11/10 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Writtle Agricultural College Higher Education Corp |
| Fined a total of £12,000 under PUWER 1998 and HASAWA 1974 s2. A college employee who was also a student was seen by an HSE inspector using a Hesston baler without a power take off (PTO) guard. Further investigation found that the baler had previously been used numerous times without the guard and six other machines were identified as having problems with their PTO guards. There was a lack of training, monitoring and supervision to ensure that the baler and other agricultural machinery were suitably guarded. |
HSE Prosecution 4224466 23/11/10 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Waldersey Farms Ltd |
| Fined £10,000 under EWR 1989. Two employees were working with aluminium irrigation pipes, when one lifted the pipe and it came into contact with a 33kv overhead power line. One employee suffered electrical burns to their arms and feet, leading to skin grafts and amputation. There was a lack of risk assessment and safe system of work. |
HSE Prosecution 4232015 23/11/10 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Retro Future 2000 Ltd |
| Fined £7,000 under WHR 2005. Company failed to take measures to prevent workers being injured in a fall on a construction site. An inspection of the six-storey apartment blocks found several areas of the site had no barriers to stop workers falling and being seriously injured or even killed. They included an open lift shaft, a staircase landing between the 4th and 5th floors with no walls or rails, and an empty floor-to-ceiling window frame on the 6th floor with a rubbish chute attached. Four ENs had been issued following a previous visit to the site, including a PN relating to falls from height, stopping work taking place until improvements had been made. |
HSE Prosecution 4223359 25/11/10 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Benhamgoodheadprint Limited |
| Fined a total of £4,000 under PUWER 1998 and MHSWR 1999. Injured person was clearing jammed printed copies from the stacker when the machine started up due to the stop button not being activated, he had assumed that the jammed copies had tripped the machine sensor. |
HSE Prosecution 4217783 26/11/10 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Mitchells & Butlers Retail PLC |
| Fined a total of £14,001 under CAR 2006 and HASAWA 1974 s3. Uncontrolled release of asbestos fibres when electrical and mechanical operatives drilled approx 54 holes of varying size in asbestos insulating board (AIB) ceiling tiles. The company failed to ensure that an adequate assessment of the presence of asbestos had been carried out prior to major refurbishment works commencing in the old kitchen area on the first floor of a building. |
HSE Prosecution 4221039 26/11/10 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Andrew James McElvaney |
| Fined £5,000 under WHR 2005. Workers were spotted replacing broken tiles on the roof of a restaurant without the proper safety equipment. Customers and staff were also put at risk as the area below where work was being carried out had not been cordoned off. |
HSE Prosecution 4223393 26/11/10 Week ending: 04/02/11 |
| Chemical firm sentenced after worker suffers toxic burns. |
| Abacus Chemical Ltd fined £12,000 and costs of £14,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. An employee was mixing 2 chemicals together when they exploded, causing him to be drenched in a hot, toxic chemical solution at a factory site. The 58-year-old worker suffered toxic burns to his arms and chest which required skin grafts and has suffered permanent scarring. He has not returned to work since the incident in May 2009. The company did not have a permit to mix the chemicals, failed to carry out an assessment of the risks and did not provide protective clothing or adequate equipment. HSE investigations found that the chemicals reacted in an exothermic explosion, most likely caused by nearly 5 times the amount of hydrogen peroxide than was needed being mixed with the sodium cyanide pellets. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/80Abacus 7/2/11 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| HSE inspectors may charge for advice. |
| Businesses found breaching their legal duties during HSE inspections could be charged a "fee for fault" for inspectors' advice. Judith Hackitt has announced the Executive is working on a proposal to charge those who "create risks" as a way of offsetting the 35% cut in the HSE's government funding over the next five years. |
Health and Safety at Work February 2011:6 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| BT appeals ladder fall fatality conviction. |
| BT is appealing its conviction that resulted in a fine of almost £300k plus costs of nearly £200k after an engineer was fatally injured in a ladder fall. |
Health and Safety at Work February 2011:6 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| £1 million settlement for Powertrain workers. |
| A seven-year compensation battle over occup lung disease at the Powertrain engine plant has ended in a £1 million settlement. A total of 79 former workers at the then MG Rover complex at Longbridge have received the out of court settlement after bringing compensation claims over the largest known incidence of occup asthma and inflammatory lung disease. |
Health and Safety at Work February 2011:8 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Four padlocks sealed bakery emergency exit. |
| Greggs fined £50,000 plus costs of £20,326 under Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Inspectors from London Fire Brigade were auditing one of Greggs' branches in London when they discovered partially blocked corridors, one fire door bolted shut with four padlocks and a security door at the other side of that exit was also locked. This door led out on to an enclosed courtyard with locked wooden gates. |
Health and Safety at Work February 2011:10 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Fire assessor registers on the cards. |
| A standard competency framework for fire risk assessors could be set up if plans by a government supported working group are approved. |
Health and Safety at Work February 2011:10 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Legislative calendar. |
| A calendar of new and upcoming legislation - Equality Act 2010. |
Health and Safety at Work February 2011:10 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Revamped regime could make ranking of major hazard sites public. |
| The HSE is considering making a risk ranking system for major onshore hazard sites public as part of a revamped regulatory regime. Part of the COMAH remodelling programme, which went live in April 2010, includes a transparent process by ranking COMAH sites by the risk they pose. |
Health and Safety at Work February 2011:11 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Flixborough: The price of nylon. |
| In the first of a new series on how disasters have shaped industrial safety worldwide - revisiting the Nypro explosion and a reflection on its legacy. (Becky Allen) |
Health and Safety at Work February 2011:14-16 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| 2011: what's in store. |
| Leading lights in the H&S world, from the HSE's chair to the head of safety at the 2012 Olympics, forecast what the year will bring. |
Health and Safety at Work February 2011:18-20,22 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| The reps who came in from the cold. |
| The Post Office has a groundbreaking new arrangement that puts its union safety reps at the heart of its management system. (Andrea Oates) |
Health and Safety at Work February 2011:24-26 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Sitting pretty. |
| Do you know a sensible and comfortable office chair when you see one? Some pointers. (Duncan Abbott) |
Health and Safety at Work February 2011:28-29 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| REACH into COSHH. |
| Identification for NEBOSH students where the new EU chemicals authorisation regime meshes with the UK's hazardous substances control requirements. (Lawrence Bamber) |
Health and Safety at Work February 2011:31-33 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Guidance on hand. |
| Browsing a web offering that may provide a model for extending the comparison site template to PPE. (Louis Wustemann) |
Health and Safety at Work February 2011:34-35 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Myth of the month (for one last time). |
| As HSE retire the myth of the month series, they leave us with one thought - health and safety is about saving lives, not stopping them! |
HSE Health and Safety Newsletter (28) December 2010:3 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Speaking small firms' language. |
| Judith Donovan's term as an HSE Commission/Board member came to an end this autumn. Before she left, she talked about what she regards as the highlight of her time at HSE - setting up the Small Business Trade Association Forum. |
HSE Health and Safety Newsletter (28) December 2010:6 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Explosion risk warning. |
| HSE has issued a safety alert to highlight the dangers of carrying out "hot work" on used containers. |
HSE Health and Safety Newsletter (28) December 2010:15 Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/safetybulletins/hotwork.htm Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Construction - fire. |
| Recent fires have resulted in "strengthened" sections on multi-storey and high-risk buildings in revised HSE guidance on fire safety on construction sites. |
Health and Safety Bulletin (395) January/February 2011:3 "Fire safety in construction" HSG 168 Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg168.htm Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Information - InfoLine. |
| HSE has confirmed that it has scrapped the tendering process to run its InfoLine and Incident Control Centre and instead will bring both services in-house, with an emphasis on online provision. |
Health and Safety Bulletin (395) January/February 2011:3 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Leisure - activities. |
| The HSE has reminded the adventures activity sector that it is business as usual while it works out how to implement Lord Young's recommendation to abolish the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority and replace the existing statutory licensing regime with a code of practice. |
Health and Safety Bulletin (395) January/February 2011:3 Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/aala/recommendation-to-abolish-aala.htm Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| The fine gap in deterrence. |
| A belief that the courts and regulators are still failing to create a level playing field for employers that do not break the law. (Howard Fidderman) |
Health and Safety Bulletin (395) January/February 2011:4-15 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Talisman fine highlights the need to plan for safe lifting. |
| Reporting on another significant fine for the Canadian offshore operator Talisman's UK offshoot. (Howard Fidderman) |
Health and Safety Bulletin (395) January/February 2011:16-17 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Saltash industrial estates under health and safety spotlight. |
| Local industrial estates in Saltash will be the focus of an intensive week of inspections from next Monday (14 February) in a bid to improve health and safety. Inspectors from the HSE and Cornwall Council will be visiting businesses in Tamar View, Gilston Road, Parkway and Moorlands industrial estates in the town in an initiative aimed at improving safety standards. |
HSE (National) Press Release 7/2/11 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Lichfield food firm prosecuted after conveyor incident. |
| Soleco UK Ltd t/a Florette fined £10,000 and costs of £2,587 under PUWER 1998. Zubair Hussain, 29, was cleaning a conveyor which had been installed 6 months previously as part of a £1m upgrade. His forearm was broken in 4 places and his thumb and index finger were also fractured when his right arm was pulled between the running roller and conveyor belt. HSE found the conveyor was inadequately guarded. The cost of fitting a guard to the machine after the incident was just £600. |
HSE (National) Press Release WM344/11 8/2/11 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Company fined after failure to manage asbestos. |
| Berry Estates Development Limited fined £10,000 and costs of £3,391 under CAR 2006. The company failed to carry out work correctly or properly manage asbestos while demolishing an old church. HSE received a complaint from a member of the public about demolition works taking place on the corner of a road. Two HSE inspectors attended the site and discovered the majority of the building had already been demolished but debris containing asbestos was blocking the pavement on one side and had also spilled out onto the pavement on the other side. Principal contractor, Mr Berry, could not provide paperwork such as a demolition plan, method statement or risk assessments when asked. No asbestos survey had been completed prior to the demolition and site security was very poor. A PN was served preventing any further work on site. HSE investigations showed that the building was being knocked into pedestrian areas and broken up with an excavator. It showed no evidence of employee training, no personal protection or respiratory equipment and no plan of work on site. It also revealed no provision to prevent dust spreading during demolition and crushing. |
HSE (National) Press Release COISE/0802 8/2/11 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Lincolnshire builder fined for leaving building at risk of collapse. |
| Ian Behagg fined £2,000 and costs of £1,051 under CDMR 2007. He was refurbishing residential premises when HSE made an inspection visit. Mr Behagg had allowed workers to remove structural parts of the building without supporting it properly. They failed to use temporary supports, putting both themselves and members of the public in danger. Workers were also found to be working at height without suitable protective equipment to prevent them falling and injuring themselves. HSE said that Mr Behagg's blatant disregard for H&S put both workers and members of the public in danger. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE 139/11 8/2/11 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Global packaging firm fined after worker's fingers severed. |
| Linpac Packaging Ltd fined £5,000 and costs of £2,553 under PUWER 1998. A 49-year-old man lost the top of 3 fingers on his right hand while trying to clear a jam in a machine. The company, which has an annual turnover of £700 million and operates in 19 countries, failed to protect workers from dangerous machine parts. The worker had removed a discharge pipe to deal with the jam, when his hand come into contact with a 1.7 metre-long rotating screw, known as an auger. HSE found that workers were often at risk of being injured by the auger as they had to deal with blockages in the pipe once or twice a shift. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/79Linpac 9/2/11 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Worker left in a coma for two months after fall. |
| MacDonald Joinery & Construction Ltd fined £15,000 and costs of £6,228.75 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Carl Major, 31, had been stripping out fixtures and fittings from a store when he was hit on the head by a falling lighting pelmet. He was knocked off the step ladder he was using and fell around 3 metres onto a concrete floor. Mr Major suffered serious head injuries and was in a coma for 2 months. He later developed epilepsy and still requires medical treatment and he has been unable to return to work. HSE investigation revealed that prior to him beginning refurbishment work at the store, MacDonald Joinery & Construction had failed to provide Mr Major with the necessary information and instruction to enable him to carry out his work safely. Although the company had produced a risk assessment and a system of work for working at height in the store, neither were sufficient as they failed to look at how the lighting pelmet and the wall to which it was attached were constructed. As a result of this the company failed to identify the dangers its workers would face. |
HSE (National) Press Release NE/017/10 9/2/11 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Food producer prosecuted for repeated safety failings. |
| Studleigh-Royd Ltd fined £14,000 and costs of £8,387.70 under PUWER 1998. The company were fined for repeated safety failings after 2 workers suffered severe injuries in separate incidents just 3 months apart. The first incident resulted in employee James Hardcastle, 32, having his left hand amputated after it became trapped in the rotating knives of an industrial tenderiser. Weeks later a fellow worker severed the ends of 2 fingers on his right hand while feeding plastic film into a machine designed to seal food into packaging. Both incidents could and should have been avoided according to HSE. One machine was poorly guarded, with workers able to access dangerous moving parts simply by using a metal object, like a knife, to override a guard interlocked by a magnetic sensor. HSE reported that an adequate knowledge and understanding of the requirements covering work equipment, combined with a proper risk assessment, would have identified the need for improved guarding. The guarding was also deemed inadequate on the sealing machine that injured the second worker. He too was able to access a danger zone with his right hand. |
HSE (National) Press Release YH/18/11 10/2/11 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Two North East companies fined after worker suffers electric shock. |
| Lumsden & Carroll Construction Ltd fined £5,000 and costs of £3,643.07 under CDMR 2007. James Kennedy fined £2,000 and costs of £1,821.53 under CDMR 2007. John Dodsworth, 35, was employed by James Kennedy as a pump operator and was working for Lumsden & Carroll as they carried out modifications to sewers. The 12 metre long boom on the pump came into contact with overhead power lines crossing the site carrying 22,000 volts when it was being lowered after the pour was finished. This caused Mr Dodsworth to receive a serious electric shock, suffering internal and external burns including to his hands, head, chest and legs. HSE revealed that Lumsden & Carroll Construction Ltd could have either located the work compound elsewhere, so they did not have to work near the power lines at all, or used different equipment, not capable of coming into contact with power lines. |
HSE (National) Press Release NE/091/11 10/2/11 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Wimbledon carpenters fined for risking employees' safety. |
| Pentcroft Ltd fined £15,000 and costs of £3,203.80 under HASAWA 1974 s2. The firm's lack of safety precautions consistently put the H&S of its workers at risk. HSE investigations found that the company allowed their employees to use woodworking machinery without ensuring that they were adequately trained, informed of safe working practices and supervised. Simon Lear, an employee, cut off part of his right hand index finger when using a circular saw, in March 2010. One month later an HSE Inspector witnessed another employee using a spindle moulder, a potentially dangerous machine, without safety precautions in place. Pentcroft Limited failed to give Mr Lear and his co-workers safety training and information, or provide adequate supervision. It also became apparent that the company had no knowledge of the formal training that wood machinists should receive. |
HSE (National) Press Release COILDN/1401 10/2/11 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| HSE clamp down on unsafe construction sites. |
| Over the next month, construction sites across the country will be visited as part of an intensive inspection initiative aimed at reducing death and injury in one of Britain's most dangerous industries. During 2009/10, 42 workers died while working in construction nationally and nearly three quarters of these occurred during refurbishment, repair and maintenance activities. These will be the main focus of the latest inspections by the HSE. On the unannounced visits, starting on 14 February, the inspectors will ensure that sites are managing work at height safely, and that they are in good order, as well as checking that the risk of exposure to asbestos is being properly managed. |
HSE (National) Press Release 10/2/11 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Power company fined after worker is crushed to death. |
| EPR Ely Ltd fined £130,000 and costs of £30,735 under HASAWA 1974 s2 and s3. Gary Darnell was working as a driver at the company's Sutton site. He suffered fatal injuries from mechanical asphyxiation when, during an unloading operation using an overhead gantry crane, a 700kg bale of straw fell on him. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE-e-05-11 11/2/11 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust |
| Fined £50,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Patient injured after falling from bed as a result of bed rail not being on place. Patient died subsequently. Company failed to conduct its undertaking so as to ensure that a person not in its employment were not exposed to risks to their health and safety. |
HSE Prosecution 4190613 29/11/10 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Calcarb Limited |
| Fined £160,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Failure to provide safe plant and the necessary training led to accident where employee suffered severe amputation injuries. A simple and inexpensive guard could have been provided to prevent access to the rotary valve on a Dantherm dust filtration unit. |
HSE Prosecution 4176494 30/11/10 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Business Forms Express Ltd |
| Fined a total of £4,500 under PUWER 1998 and MHSWR 1999. Company was receiving delivery of paper reels to the front raised loading bay upon which was a dock leveller. Regular store man was at different site and IP, who was employed as a production assistant, was standing in for him. His task was to receive delivered materials and unload with an FLT. The dock leveller was not working as it should do which meant the front flap, which was supposed to automatically raise when the leveller was operated, did not do so. The vehicle reversed trapping the IP between the back of the trailer and the front of the dock leveller. At the time of the incident the IP was not wearing Hi Vis clothing and the company had no policy for such matters. The company had not conducted a risk assessment for the movement of vehicles on site and had not considered pedestrian segregation. The dock leveller had not worked correctly for 25 years and there was no preventative maintenance program in place for the equipment. |
HSE Prosecution 4226368 30/11/10 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Dovestone Contractors Limited |
| Fined £8,000 under PPEWR 1992. An employee was blinded in one eye by a splinter of wood whilst he was using a pick axe to lever up a wooden floor during the demolition of a mill. The company failed to ensure that he wore goggles or other eye protection. |
HSE Prosecution 4209567 1/12/10 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Messier Services Limited |
| Fined £7,200 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Injured person fell from jig on FLT when replacing nose landing gear on A340 aircraft in Virgin Atlantic Hangar. |
HSE Prosecution 4184917 2/12/10 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Universal Mouldings Ltd |
| Fined a total of £5,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2 and PUWER 1998. An employee suffered major injuries when his hand came into contact with a circular saw. Workers at the factory had been instructed to reach under the guard on the machine to remove laminate material while the blade was still rotating. A gap beneath the guard allowed workers to reach under it. The company failed to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery and put its workers at risk. |
HSE Prosecution 4221411 2/12/10 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| SCA Hygiene Products UK Ltd |
| Fined £120,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. The IP was using his back to slow down one of the two paper reels that had just been ejected from company's paper winding machine. The IP slipped and was crushed by paper reel (weight of reel 1800 - 2000kg). |
HSE Prosecution 4143687 23/11/10 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Access Fire and Security Ltd |
| Fined £1,000 under CAR 2006. AFS drilled into ACM ceiling asbestos fibres released. |
HSE Prosecution 4204583 3/12/10 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| Aston University |
| Fined a total of £4,000 under CAR 2006 and MHSWR 1999. Control of work project within University which allowed contractors AFS to drill into ACM ceiling asbestos fibres released. |
HSE Prosecution 4204594 3/12/10 Week ending: 11/02/11 |
| £266,000 fine following telehandler driver's death. |
| Hochtief Construction AG fined a total of £266,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3 and s33. Telehandler driver Ondrej Hladik died when he was crushed by the telehandler's boom when he leant through the vehicle's missing window. The vehicle was in extremely poor condition, with the most significant of the many defects being the missing window. If it had been in place, it would have prevented any part of the driver's body from being exposed to risk of being struck by the boom as it lowered under hydraulic power. |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal February 2011:4 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Better management. |
| A free online resource has been launched which aims to help managers improve their employees' health and wellbeing by improving their own management skills. |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal February 2011:4 Internet: www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2966 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Manufacturers' concerns. |
| EEF, the manufacturers' organisation, says Britain's manufacturers want the Government to work harder at building an alliance with other EU Member States to "reduce the burden of health and safety legislation" originating in Europe. |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal February 2011:4 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Green behaviour. |
| A survey which examined environmental best practice in the workplace has found that around two-thirds of employees believe their managers lack commitment to "green" behaviour and 65% believe unclear leadership strategy contributes to the lack of environmental best practice in their workplace. |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal February 2011:4 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Court report. |
| A look at the process leading to prosecution and an analysis of some of the prosecutions taken by the HSE in 2010. (Ed Hodson) |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal February 2011:10-11 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Back care. |
| Going back to basics to examine the causes of back pain. (Sarah Tullet) |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal February 2011:13-16 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Gangmaster licensing. |
| Since October 2006, labour providers and users in certain work sectors have needed a licence in order to operate legally: More about the licensing regime. (Paul Heslop) |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal February 2011:21-25 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Cold times. |
| Recent months have given us a taste of how cold cold can actually be but for some people, working in minus temperatures is the norm. A look at the effects of cold on the body and what can be done to prevent injury. (Nick Cook) |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal February 2011:29-32 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Paperwork or prevention? |
| It's time to put the RIDDOR spotlight back onto sensible, non-bureaucratic investigation and learn from accidents and incidents. (Roger Bibbing) |
RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal February 2011:38-39 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Practitioners not wild about OSHCR. |
| The new register for safety and health consultants is now live but practitioners remain sceptical about whether it will have any impact on the "climate of fear" and risk-averse behaviour lambasted by Lord Young. The HSE announced the official launch of the Occup Safety and Health Consultants Register on 31 January. |
SHP February 2010:6 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Industry fears stress-assessment plan. |
| Manufacturers have given a firm thumbs-down to proposed European rules requiring that stress and other psychosocial risks be considered as part of risk assessments for musculoskeletal disorders. Representatives from 200 companies were asked by the EEF (the manufacturers' organisation) about two EU legislation proposals: one relating to MSDs and the other to ionising radiations. |
SHP February 2010:7 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Scottish Parliament blocks assault bill. |
| The union for shop-workers says its members in Scotland have been left in the lurch by MSPs after a Bill to protect them, and other public-facing staff, from assault was voted down in December. |
SHP February 2010:8 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| New labelling rules for construction product manufacturers. |
| Construction products containing hazardous substances will have to be clearly labelled as such to protect the health of construction workers. The "Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down harmonised conditions for the marketing of construction products" aims to update, simplify and replace the Construction Products Directive. |
SHP February 2010:8 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Move to curb claims inducements. |
| A proposal to prohibit the offering of cash inducements as a reward for submitting a claim for compensation has been outlined by the Ministry of Justice. Set out in new consultation, the planned amendment to the Conduct of Authorised Persons Rules 2007 forms part of the Ministry's response to Lord Young's review, which identified the promotion of incentives to encourage consumers to make a claim as a particular problem - adding to a "real sense that we live in an increasingly litigious society". |
SHP February 2010:8 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Asbestos exposure costs Co-op. |
| The Co-operative fined £30,000 and costs of £7,368 under HASAWA 1974 s2. SF Fire Protection Services fined a total of £12,000 and costs of £7,360 under HASAWA 1974 s2 and s3. SF Fire Protection Services was contracted to install a new fire alarm in a Co-op store. The worker broke a ceiling panel to fit a cable to the alarm, unaware that the panel contained brown asbestos and the debris fell to the shop floor. Two employees cleared up the debris and left it in an open bag at the rear of the store for two weeks. Three months later, a council EHO visited the store and found traces of asbestos on top of a food cabinet and inside a freezer. He was then informed about the earlier incident. The Co-op was aware that asbestos was present as it had a record of a survey, but had not passed on this information to SF Fire. The engineer had not been given asbestos awareness training. |
SHP February 2010:14 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Act now so you don't pay later. |
| Inquests into work-related deaths should be taken seriously whenever there is a risk of enforcement action or a civil claim. (Kevin Bridges and Pauline Munro) |
SHP February 2010:17 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Early days. |
| The new register of safety consultants born out of Lord Young's review is all well and good, but much more needs to happen around and alongside it if the credibility of the health and safety profession really is to improve. (John Lacey and Bob Arnold) |
SHP February 2010:33-34 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Blurring the guidelines. |
| A year after the guidelines on the appropriate penalties for corporate manslaughter came into force, a consideration of their impact on fines imposed in health and safety cases in general, based on some monitoring of prosecutions in 2010. (Paul Verrico and Tim Hill) |
SHP February 2010:36-38 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Words to the wise. |
| Demystifying the current academic buzz words around the subject and using examples from politics and popular culture, why leadership style doesn't just influence safety culture but largely determines it. (Tim Marsh) |
SHP February 2010:41-44 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Breathing space. |
| The latest evidence in relation to occup asthma, which practitioners should be aware of if they are to have a positive influence on helping prevent future cases. (Paul Nicholson) |
SHP February 2010:46-48 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Flex appeal. |
| Companies that are prepared to take an individualised approach to flexible working could reap the benefits from sustaining a motivated workforce, in the face of an expected rocky year ahead for many sectors of the economy. (Jason Devereux) |
SHP February 2010:50-52 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Manufacturing company fined after safety breaches. |
| Hendry Hydraulics Ltd fined £20,000 and costs of £6,621 under PUWER 1998. HSE inspectors visited Hendry Eurohoist Cylinders and served 2 PNs because the locking mechanism on the doors to two CNC (computer numerically controlled) lathes, designed to prevent workers coming into contact with dangerous moving parts, had been deliberately bypassed. Two inspectors saw a machine being set up with a spare key inserted into the locking mechanism of the interlock safety device. This meant the machine was capable of operating at full speed with the doors open. This was observed just 4 months after an HSE inspector had stopped work on the same 2 lathes because safety interlocks had been defeated. Further investigations revealed the company had provided workers with a spare interlock key to bypass the safety devices. |
HSE (National) Press Release NE/024/11 14/2/11 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Safety concerns at quarter of Derbyshire waste sites. |
| Almost one in four Derbyshire skip-hire and waste transfer sites visited in spot checks were found to be potentially putting their workers at risk of injury. Five of the 21 sites visited by HSE inspectors during January were served with ENs, which forced work to stop in the most serious cases. A total of 10 notices were issued, with 4 of them at just one site. Most of the notices were issued due to serious problems with the way vehicles are used on site and the associated risk to employees. In a number of cases there was little by way of controls to keep people away from moving vehicles, particularly those reversing. At other sites visited, H&S was found to be good, although some were given safety advice where there was room for improvement, such as ensuring adequate maintenance of equipment. The waste and recycling sector has an overall accident rate around 4 times greater than the UK average and a fatal accident rate around 9 times the average for all industries. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/EM/142/10 15/2/11 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Care home in court after resident dies from drinking toilet cleaner. |
| Palms Row Healthcare Ltd fined £15,000 and costs of £14,472.02 under HASAWA 1974 s3. An elderly resident died after inadvertently drinking toilet cleaner. Retired accountant, Derek Johnson, 80, died on the same day he was found to have drunk a dangerous chemical. The liquid had been left unattended for several hours in his room. He had been living at the home for just over a month before his death. He was frail, registered blind and had symptoms of dementia. The company put vulnerable people, including Mr Johnson, at risk by failing to properly manage the use of cleaning fluids. Mr Johnson began vomiting blue liquid and was taken to hospital where he died just hours later. The liquid was later found to be toilet cleaner which had been noticed in his room earlier that day but not removed. HSE investigation found the company had an inadequate system to control such chemicals and to prevent access to areas of risk by vulnerable people. Inspectors discovered that trolleys carrying hazardous substances were often left unattended, sometimes for considerable periods, and there were no proper procedures in place for cleaners to check trolley contents were intact. Also vulnerable residents could get into areas such as the laundry and kitchen which should have had controlled areas. Following the incident, HSE served Palms Row Healthcare with 3 INs as well as bringing the prosecution. |
HSE (National) Press Release YH/25/11 15/2/11 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Company fined after man suffers horrific burns to legs. |
| O'Keefe Construction (Greenwich)Ltd fined £20,000 and costs of £6,329 under HASAWA 1974 s2. An 18 year-old man was in a shed at a site spray painting a lighting tower. The employee used thinners in the process and inadvertently spilled some on his trousers. Walking across the shed to his locker to find a change of clothes, he walked near a gas burner which was being used to heat the workshop. His clothes caught fire and he ran outside where he was helped by colleagues who hosed him down and put out the flames. The worker suffered burns to both legs, his right arm and hand, and was hospitalised for 16 days, six of which were spent in intensive care. Since then he has undergone skin grafts and has been unable to work for 6 months. HSE found the spray shed had several H&S failings. Paint containers should have had their lids on and been stored in fire-resistant boxes. The company should also have been aware that the mixing of paint and thinners in the shed would lead to a potentially explosive atmosphere, so a gas burner with an open flame should have not been used in the same place. The company had executed a risk assessment, but had not implemented the measures identified. A further management action plan, dated 3 years after the original assessment, re-iterated these measures, but they had still not been put in place at the time of the incident. |
HSE (National) Press Release COISE/1502 15/2/11 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Event helps Lothian construction companies cut deaths and injury. |
| Construction workers involved in refurbishment projects across the Lothians are being urged to pickup lifesaving advice at a free event on Tuesday 22 February. During 2009/10, 42 workers died while working in construction across Great Britain and more than two thirds (69 per cent) of these deaths occurred during refurbishment, repair and maintenance activities. The Working Well Together campaign, a partnership between HSE and the construction industry, has organised a half-day event at Oatridge College, Broxham, West Lothian. |
HSE (National) Press Release SCO/013/11 16/2/11 Internet: Contact Leah Hughes leah.hughes@hse.gsi.gov.uk or 0131 247 2126 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| North Devon farm worker injured in roof fall. |
| Mambury Farm Ltd fined £8,000 and costs of £5,000 under WHR 2005. A farm worker was injured when he fell around 12 feet through a roof he was fixing. Roger Tryner, 67, was asked to carry out work on the roof of a barn. Mr Tryner who was self-employed, was checking for loose corrugated metal sheets on the roof when a wooden roof support broke and he fell through to the floor below, breaking a collarbone. He also suffered concussion and severe cuts and bruising. |
HSE (National) Press Release WW16/2 16/2/11 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Report reveals fundamental management flaws lay behind Buncefield disaster. |
| Fundamental safety management failings were the root cause of Britain's most costly industrial disaster, a new publication reveals. The report into the explosion and 5 day fire at the Buncefield Oil Storage Depot in December 2005 tells for the first time the full story of the HSE and Environment Agency's (EA) Investigation. Drawing on previously unpublished material held back until the criminal prosecution was completed and the appeals processes exhausted, "The Buncefield explosion: Why did it happen?" identifies several failings. In July 2010, five companies were fined a total of £9.5 million for their part in the catastrophe. The 36-page report highlights a number of process safety management principles, the importance of which were underlined by the failings at Buncefield. |
HSE (National) Press Release 16/2/11 Internet: "The Buncefield explosion: Why did it happen?" www.hse.gov.uk/comah/investigation-reports.htm Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Birmingham firm fined for unsafe work at height. |
| Spanclad Construction Ltd fined £15,000 and costs of £5,271 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Three employees were replacing skylights at a height of over 5m, with no protection from falls as they walked to their place of work across a fragile roof. The workers had to walk along 60cm wide staging boards on the building roof to the skylights. The boards had no guard rails, there was nothing for the workers to hold onto and there was no safety protection underneath, such as netting, soft landing bags or a birdcage scaffold, to prevent them from falling through the fragile roof onto the concrete floor. The work had already been in progress for at least 3 days when an HSE inspector attended the site following an unrelated incident involving another company. |
HSE (National) Press Release WM354/11 17/2/11 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Firm fined for failing to manage asbestos on site. |
| Libra Demolition Ltd fined £1,500 and costs of £10,000 under CDMR 2007. The company failed to manage and monitor asbestos removal work at a site. The company was the Principal Contractor on the project to demolish buildings, a number of which contained notifiable asbestos, the removal of which should be declared to the HSE and carried out by a licensed asbestos contractor. During a joint HSE and Environment Agency (EA) prosecution the court heard the buildings were demolished but no records of the safe removal or disposal of the asbestos were found and HSE received no notifications for its removal. The discovery came to light when debris from the site was found at an unlicensed waste disposal site by the EA. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/EM/145/11 17/2/11 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Brighton man fined after worker plunges from roof. |
| Andrew Hyder fined £2,400 and costs of £2,478.60 under WHR 2005. Sole trader Mr Hyder was contracted to carry out repairs to a fragile asbestos roof at an industrial estate and casually employed Louis Mitchell, 22, to help. The men were using scaffolding boards as crawling boards when Mr Mitchell fell head first through the fragile roof, landing on a concrete floor five metres below. He fractured his neck, suffered four broken ribs, broke two vertebrae in his lower back, and punctured his lung. He also broke his collar bone and had to have ten staples in his head. Failure to ensure work at height on a fragile roof was carried out safely with suitable equipment and no precautions in place to prevent a fall. |
HSE (National) Press Release COILON/2110 17/2/11 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Brighton firm fined over meat mincer injury. |
| Malpass Direct Ltd fined a total of £5,000 and costs of £4,005.20 under HASAWA 1974 s2 and PUWER 1998. A 17 year old trainee was working alone on a mincer to make sausage meat. The machine jammed and the trainee lifted the hopper lid to remove the blockage but his left arm became trapped. Although he managed to free his arm, he suffered extensive bone damage and received significant muscle loss to his left forearm. His injuries required surgery and he has lost the movement in two fingers. As a result, he has been prevented from taking a training course. Due to staff absences, there was no-one on site to supervise properly the trainee. Investigations found that the safety interlock on the mincer lid was regularly disabled to allow sausage mix to be made as the ingredients needed to be poured in faster than was possible through the standard lid. |
HSE (National) Press Release COISE/1702 17/2/11 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Firms sentenced over worker injury. |
| Kent Commercial Finishings Ltd fined £3,000 and costs of £2,000 under PUWER 1998. LCS Interiors Ltd fined £10,000 and costs of £30,000 under PUWER 1998. Labourer Sean Forsythe, 22, was cleaning a screed pump, which is used to move concrete from a mixer to the floor of a building. The hose he was using to clean the pump got caught in the rotating blades of the mixer, pulling his hand into the machine. Mr Forsythe suffered severe cuts to his right hand, leaving him with permanent damage. The screed pump had no safety grille to stop the blades when it was lifted - a grille is a guard which, when lifted, stops the blades from rotating. A few months earlier another grille had broken off a pump but was not replaced, despite a written procedure being in place. Kent Commercial was the contractor who hired the screed pump. LCS Interiors was responsible for the weekly inspection of the plant and machinery. |
HSE (London) Press Release 14/2/11 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Schlumberger Oilfield UK Plc |
| Fined £300,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Loss of control of a high activity radioactive source resulted in the source being presented on the Ensco 101 drill floor. Investigation carried out and identified potential breaches in IRR99. |
HSE Prosecution 4142891 6/12/10 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Tony MacTaggart |
| Fined £2,500 under GSIUR 1998. Carrying out gas fitting works whilst not registered to do so, using other registered engineers to 'sign-off' install actions by means of Annual Gas Safety checks. In October or November 2009 Mr MacTaggart carried out an installation at a residential property. This came to light when the client made a complaint to Consumer Direct and Gas Safe Register. Manner of normally having work 'signed-off' and admissions demonstrated guilty knowledge. |
HSE Prosecution 4227391 6/12/10 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Forth Steel Limited |
| Fined £50,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. HSE investigation into serious accident involving an employee with the steel plate profiling company, who had been employed with them for approx 21 months. IP was writing identification information on the second of a bundle of six steel plates. The plate involved in the accident weighed in excess of 2 tonnes and measured 10 by 3 metres and 8mm thick. During the slinging and lifting activities plate fell onto IP's right arm causing injury. |
HSE Prosecution 4186450 8/12/10 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Muhammad Ashfaq |
| Fined a total of £10,000 under WHR 2005 and HASAWA 1974 s3. The casualty fell from a scaffolding tower as he was dismantling it and fell approx 5 feet. He was taken to hospital and passed away that day. The casualty felt dizzy when he was up on the scaffold. |
HSE Prosecution 4194840 9/12/10 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Chadwicks of Bury Ltd |
| Fined £22,500 under PUWER 1998. An employee who was rethreading silver paper through a Deckel Master 500 machine when the cutting tool restarted, severing 4 fingers on her right hand. The company had covered the sensors on the machine so it could be used to cut paper instead of foil lids. The company failed to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery. |
HSE Prosecution 4213376 10/12/10 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Marc Boyle |
| Fined a total of £4,500 under CDMR 2007. Following complaint re fire evacuation provision at karaoke bar. HSE inspectors visited the K2 site and found potentially flammable materials piled high to the ceiling in the basement, escape routes were not marked and in some cases were blocked entirely. Had a fire ignited at the site, the risk to life would have been extremely serious. The building's fire alarm had been switched off and the fire extinguishers found on site had not been tested for several years. |
HSE Prosecution 4213425 10/12/10 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Music Box Karaoke Limited |
| Fined a total £6,000 under CDMR 2007. Following complaint re fire evacuation provision at karaoke bar. HSE inspectors visited the K2 site and found potentially flammable materials piled high to the ceiling in the basement, escape routes were not marked and in some cases were blocked entirely. Had a fire ignited at the site, the risk to life would have been extremely serious. The building's fire alarm had been switched off and the fire extinguishers found on site had not been tested for several years. |
HSE Prosecution 4233184 10/12/10 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Michael Connolly |
| Fined a total of £400 under CDMR 2007 and HASAWA 1974 s21. Mr Connolly failed to provide suitable and sufficient washing facilities at a site where he had employed contractors to convert a house into flats and shops and to comply with an improvement notice. Three INs and two PNs were served following a visit. Despite assurances that the notices had been complied with, when inspectors revisited the site on several occasions over a 10-week period, they discovered Mr Connolly had still not provided adequate washing facilities for workers, including soap and hot running water. |
HSE Prosecution 4218938 10/12/10 Week ending: 18/02/11 |
| Company fined after fatal warehouse fall. |
| Tullis Russell Papermakers Limited fined £260,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Thomas Sturrock, 32, was working as part of a team for a contractor cleaning a Tullis warehouse roof. Co-workers heard a cracking sound before becoming aware that Mr Sturrock had fallen through the roof. He died at the scene. Tullis Russell Papermakers failed to make sure the work was properly planned and organised, and they did not control, monitor or review the way the work was taking place. No crawling boards used. |
HSE (National) Press Release SCO/017/11 22/2/11 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Roof study. |
| Key reasons for the spread of fire in roof voids are identified in new research commissioned by the Government. The study examined fire compartmentation in roof voids. The key reasons were: combustible materials spanning beneath the non-combustible roof covering, lack of or poor installation of cavity barriers along the soffits, and heat transfer through penetrations. |
Fire Risk Management February 2011:3 Internet: www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/1732082.pdf Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Alarm engineer fined after care home blaze. |
| Christopher Morris fined a total of £5,000 and costs of £6,000 under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. He is the first fire alarm engineer to be prosecuted as a responsible person under the Order. He had failed to maintain a fire alarm system at a Trafford care home to a recognised standard and failed to inform the owners of the deficiencies in the system. The prosecution was mounted after investigations following a fatal fire at the home found a number of issues with the system. |
Fire Risk Management February 2011:4 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Capital growth. |
| The demand for new housing in London means high-rise and timber-framed residential buildings in the capital. But a new report calls on the Government to address the "crisis of confidence" over fire safety in these types of buildings. (FRM) |
Fire Risk Management February 2011:7-11 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Women should be heard and not hidden. |
| As Chair of the HSE, Judith Hackitt is arguably the most high profile woman in H&S. She talks about her career and the challenge of being a female in a male-dominated industry. |
Safety Management February 2011:23 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| A man's world? |
| When you imagine an H&S manager, who springs to mind? Chances are they'll be male, but more and more women are getting involved in H&S today and challenging the fact that it's a male-dominated industry. Two women talk about their experiences in industry. (SM) |
Safety Management February 2011:24-25 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Female, famous and fearless. |
| A monster truck assault course, the demolition derby, and a car flip ? these are just some of the challenges faced by the celebrities who took part in the recent Channel 4 gameshow "Famous and Fearless". (Joanna Gurman) |
Safety Management February 2011:26 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Polish worker dies after falling from ladder. |
| Bergwerff Numansdrop BV fined a total of £60,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3 and WHR 2005. Robert Schmelter, a self employed electrician from Poland, was coming down a ladder when he slipped and fell hitting his head hard on the floor, the ladder coming down on top of him. He died later in hospital from his injuries. Failure to plan properly and supervise appropriately Mr Schmelter's work at height to ensure it was carried out in a safe manner. |
Safety Management February 2011:30 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Keeping your hearing as sound as a bell. |
| When you were young, you were told to turn it down. When you are old, you might need it turned up. But in the meantime, what is the right volume? And what happens to our health if our workplace is too noisy, or, dare I whisper, too quiet? (Laura Milsom) |
Safety Management February 2011:39-42 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| When did safety become "safety first"? |
| Safety campaigns might be commonplace today, but this hasn't always been the case. A new project at Oxford Brookes University, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and led by Dr Mike Esbester, looks at the history of safety and accident prevention in twentieth century Britain. (Mike Esbester) |
Safety Management February 2011:44-47 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Standing up for choice. |
| The top two divisions of UK football have all-seated stadia, but there are increasing calls from fans to bring back standing areas to the grounds. Crucially, they claim this can be done safely. (Amy Liptrot) |
Safety Management February 2011:49-51 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| A safer conversation. |
| A new feature from Safety Management whereby professionals from a certain industry or sector discuss the topics and issues most relevant to them in terms of health, safety and the environment. Alex Humphrey and Zerxes Ginwalla give their perspectives from within the hospitality sector. (Laura Milsom) |
Safety Management February 2011:52-53 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Vibration at work: too much shaking going on? |
| Exposure to vibration from powered hand tools can leave workers with permanent damage to the hands that make it impossible to do everyday tasks such as fastening a button, but the problem can be easily prevented. (Colin Chatten) |
Safety Management February 2011:55-57 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Telford firm fined after worker burned. |
| SMP Security fined £2,000 and costs of £6,000 under DSEAR 2002. Nigel Gibbon, 44, was operating a flocking machine to apply a soft lining to a safe. He used an adhesive to apply the nylon flock lining, and a flammable atmosphere was created inside the safe. This then ignited when he operated the flocking machine. He suffered second degree burns to his left hand and wrist and will require surgery to repair tendon damage. SMP Security failed to carry out a proper risk assessment for the work. |
HSE (National) Press Release WM356/11 21/2/11 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Farmer fined after falling bales kill friend. |
| Ian Nourish fined £20,000 and costs of £5,076.30 under HASAWA 1974 s3. David Baker was helping out his friend Ian Nourish who was moving wrapped round silage bales when three fell on Mr Baker, crushing him underneath. He suffered severe head and chest injuries and died at the scene. Mr Nourish should have ensured his friend was kept away from the stack while the bales were being moved. Although he used the right equipment, the way he removed them left the stack unstable. |
HSE (National) Press Release HSE/151/11 22/2/11 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| HSE brings Crown Censure process against defence lab. |
| HSE has completed a Crown Censure with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DST) following an investigation into an accident. DST employees were carrying out classified tests on explosive compounds when a mixture ignited. Terry Jupp suffered 85 per cent burns in the explosion and died a week later in hospital. Inadequate or poorly followed risk assessments when the possibility of explosion or ignition were clearly foreseeable. |
HSE (National) Press Release 22/2/11 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Event to help East Sussex farmers avoid death and injury. |
| Farmers across East Sussex were encouraged to attend a free half-day event earlier this month in a bid to reduce the number of deaths and injuries in Britain's most dangerous industry. Although only 1.5 per cent of the working population is employed in agriculture, it accounted for one in four work-related deaths in 2009-10. The event featured practical demonstrations focused on common causes of injury and ill health. |
HSE (South East) Press Release 22/2/11 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Scottish Power UK plc |
| Fined £130,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Case resulted from a fatality relating to the failure of fixings on a LV overhead power cable crossing a main road. |
HSE Prosecution 4099633 13/12/10 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Deeside Metal Co Ltd |
| Fined a total of £100,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2 and MHSWR 1999. DP was baling some aluminium cylinders and there was an explosion and resultant fire which severely burnt DP. |
HSE Prosecution4164381 13/12/10 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Robert Owen Roberts |
| Fined £10,000 under HASAWA 1974 s7. DP was baling some aluminium cylinders and there was an explosion and resultant fire which severely burnt DP. |
HSE Prosecution 4164411 13/12/10 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Jeyes Group Limited |
| Fined £330,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Failure to manage its hazardous waste yard allowing flammable aerosol canister containing LPG to be taken away from their site by a waste contractor. |
HSE Prosecution4166339 13/12/10 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| East Lothian Council |
| Fined £6,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. A council-owned sculpture fell on to a member of the public resulting in injury to left foot. The sculpture had not been inspected or maintained since its installation in 2000. |
HSE Prosecution 4183525 13/12/10 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Trevett Engineering Ltd |
| Fined £30,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Fatal reversing vehicle accident in the yard during the delivery of steel to the site. An individual acting as banksman was crushed between the reversing HGV vehicle and the fabric of the building. |
HSE Prosecution 4212730 13/12/10 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Komatsu UK Limited |
| Fined £6,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. IP suffered full amputation of one finger, partial amputation to another finger, and a bone was removed in his right hand when his rigger glove was drawn into a rotating pillar drill. No guard to prevent access to dangerous parts, and IP had not received information, instruction or training on the use of the drill. |
HSE Prosecution 4224521 13/12/10 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Tower Bakery |
| Fined £4,000 under HASAWA 1974. Employee suffered severe lacerations and crushed 3 fingers on the right hand whilst cleaning the rollers of a Kemplex Dough Sheet Machine. |
HSE Prosecution 4118734 14/12/10 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Andy Sutton Fencing Ltd |
| Fined a total of £3,000 under HASAWA 1974 s21. Failure to comply with Improvement Notices relating to examination of exhaust ventilation and welfare facilities. |
HSE Prosecution 4225468 14/12/10 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Windymains Timber Limited |
| Fined £20,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Serious injuries to operator having been trapped in the moving parts of Drop Sorter machinery. |
HSE Prosecution 4120832 15/12/10 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| British Telecommunications plc |
| Fined £300,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. This case did result from the investigation of a fatality. An employee fell from a stepladder. |
HSE Prosecution 4148240 15/12/10 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Ridgeons Ltd |
| Fined a total of £5,000 under HASAWA 1974 s33, s15 and EWR 1989. Electric shock to sub-contractor working on site undertaking maintenance work on an overhead gantry hoist which had not been isolated. |
HSE Prosecution 4206796 16/12/10 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Mr Paul Fromet |
| Guilty - conditional discharge under GSIUR 1998. Unregistered gas installer. |
HSE Prosecution 4224365 16/12/10 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Michael Wright |
| Guilty - conditional discharge under GSIUR 1998. Unregistered gas installer. |
HSE Prosecution 4224367 16/12/10 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
| Catalent UK Swindon Zydis Limited |
| Fined a total of £50,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2 and COSHH 2002. At least ten employees were sensitised to a potent substance and developed allergic contact dermatitis through working with Olanzapine, a known cause of allergic contact dermatitis. Failure to address the inadequacies in their systems for working with hazardous substances, and also in their systems for health surveillance and keeping health records. |
HSE Prosecution 4223174 16/12/10 Week ending: 25/02/11 |
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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.