H&S
News - Week ending 20th August 2010
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| Title | Comments | Publication |
|---|---|---|
| Crane firm fined after four tonne weight crashed to ground near college students. | London Tower Crane Hire & Sales Limited fined a total of £18,000 and costs of £15,837.45 under HASAWA 1974 s3, CDMR 2007 and LOLER 1998. A hook broke off a tower crane and its 4 tonne load crashed 36 metres to the ground, narrowly missing a footpath. The load, which was part of a building under construction, came down heavily beside part of the campus regularly used by students. The impact also demolished the site boundary fence and damaged a college building. (More...) | HSE (National) Press Release HSE-E-23 16/8/10 |
| Motor vehicle repair body shop workers still at risk of asthma. | Body shop workers are being encouraged to do more to protect themselves when paint spraying, as new research suggests that some are still putting themselves at risk of developing asthma. An HSE report into the use of two-pack paints containing isocyanates had identified that, while practices have improved greatly in recent years, there are still a number of areas of concern. HSE estimates that vehicle spray painters are 80 times more likely to develop occupational asthma than the average worker in the UK because they fail to take the correct precautions. Visits to 30 motor vehicle repair body shops and telephone surveys with 500 body shops found some sprayers and managers remain unaware of the link between breathing in isocyanates contained within the invisible spray mist, and developing occupational asthma. | HSE (National) Press Release 17/8/10 Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr802.pdf |
| Five exposed to asbestos at Manchester's Arndale Centre. | Eastern Regional Shopfitters Ltd fined a total of £4,000 and costs of £3,215 under CAR 2006 and HASAWA 1974 s3. Two workers spent 5 days ripping out old shop fittings before they discovered that asbestos had been used in some of the ceiling panels. Another three management staff at the Arndale Centre were also potentially exposed to the fibres during routine checks on the work. Eastern Regional Shopfitters Ltd knew asbestos was present in the shop but it didn't inform workers and it didn't ensure it was dealt with safely. | HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW/45ERS 19/8/10 |
| Online notices. | The safety regulator for GB's railways (the Office of Rail Regulation) is asking for views on changes to its current policy for publishing enforcement notices on their website. At the moment, notices are not published online until the dutyholder concerned has had the opportunity to challenge an issue raised. | RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal August 2010:4 |
| Hazardous waste. | Sinoway UK Ltd fined £2,000 after pleading guilty to illegally exporting hazardous electrical waste and electronic equipment to Hong Kong. Cumbria Recycling Ltd, who loaded the waste into the container concerned, received a formal caution from the Environment Agency and also paid for the hazardous waste to be processed at a suitable facility in the UK. | RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal August 2010:4 |
| Vehicle inspectors to get more stop powers. | VOSA will be given more flexibility to stop commercial vehicles suspected of being overloaded or breaking driving hours rules under proposals from the Dept for Transport. | RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal August 2010:4 Internet: www.dft.gov.uk |
| Retailer's fire safety appeal dismissed. | High Street retailer New Look has lost its appeal against a £400,000 fine it received for serious breaches of fire safety legislation. | RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal August 2010:5 |
| Body matters. | It was the Elizabethan poet and priest, John Donne, who coined the phrase "no man is an island" but when it comes to health matters at work people can be strangely reluctant to share their ails and woes with their fellow workers, even when those conversations may help to alleviate the cause of said woes and ailments. Step forward body mapping. (Neil Jones) | RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal August 2010:13-16 |
| Changing times. | It has now been a year since the 48-hour working week was introduced for doctors in training in the UK. But just how effective has it been in protecting the health of junior doctors and indeed patients? (Nick Cook) | RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal August 2010:21-25 |
| Head protection. | The answers to some frequently asked questions about buying and wearing head protection. (Benedict Ward) | RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal August 2010:29-31 |
| Keeping an open mind. | In June the Rt Hon Lord Young of Graffham was asked by the new coalition government to carry out a review into health and safety law and practice. An open letter to Lord Young. (Roger Bibbings) | RoSPA Occup Safety & Health Journal August 2010:38-39 |
| Worker suffers life-changing injuries after roof fall. | Delme L James Ltd fined £8,000 and costs of £2,189.40 under WHR 2005. Mr Gwyndaf Davies, 21 at the time of the incident, was helping to re-roof a building. He fell through the roof to the concrete floor below suffering multiple facial fractures, a traumatic brain injury and multiple spine fractures. Mr Davies spent 9 months as an in-patient at hospital and has undergone significant facial reconstructive surgery and eye surgery. He has been left with the lasting effects of a traumatic brain injury, is blind in one eye and partially sighted in the other, has limited speech and cannot walk without aid. Gwyndaf continues to receive treatment and it is likely he will require care for the rest of his life. Delme L James Ltd failed to take steps to prevent workers falling from height. They also did not plan, supervise or carry out the work safely. There was only limited edge protection to prevent workers falling from the roof and no measures to prevent them falling into the building. | HSE (National) Press Release AP828W10 16/8/10 |
| Steeplejack firm fined after worker falls. | Rafferty Chimneys Engineering Ltd fined £8,000 and costs of £5,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. The company had been contracted to inspect four 20-metre tall steel chimneys. A tower scaffold was used to access the eves of the roof. HSE revealed that the tower's guard rail was too low, it did not use the right boards and no toe boards were in place. Two workers walked across a fragile asbestos sheet roof using boards just 45cm wide with no safety measures in place. They carried equipment back and forth throughout the day despite the potential for falling nearly 4 metres into the workshop below. Mr Ford fell when he was dismantling the tower scaffold at the end of the job. He had lowered a board from the upper level when he slipped and fell, suffering a serious fracture to the heel of his left foot. | HSE (National) Press Release WM209/10 16/8/10 |
| Antony Brian Sweet | Fined £200 under WHR 2005. Roofing steel framed shed. No nets or edge protection provided. | HSE Prosecution 4202546 7/6/10 |
| Christopher Ernest Cole | Fined £200 under WHR 2005. Roofing steel framed shed. No nets or edge protection provided. | HSE Prosecution 4202548 9/6/10 |
| Walkers Logs | Fined £4,500 under WHR 2005. Employee fell approx 4m through fibre cement sheet barn roof while scraping off moss. He was standing on scaffold boards laid across the roof support bars. No provision made for work at height including no suitable means of access, edge protection, fall prevention or training. Employee had been lifted onto barn roof by another employee in a pallet on the forks of a telehandler. PN issued to prohibit the driving of lift trucks by anyone without suitable training. | HSE Prosecution 4201099 7/6/10 |
| Federal Mogul Bradford Ltd | Fined a total of £10,000 under PUWER 1998. IP was attempting to release a piston pin that had become jammed in a step feeder with his fingers. When the pin was freed it allowed the step feeder to move up and caught the middle finger (left hand) of IP, on the next step of the feeder resulting in his finger being crushed and badly cut. | HSE Prosecution 4188798 7/6/10 |
| Worker impaled at Workington factory. | ACP (Concrete) Ltd fined £15,000 and costs of £6,638 under HASAWA 1974 s2. A steel cable shot through 25 year old Jamie Graham's leg, leaving him with a hole through his shin. He was in a hip to toe full leg cast for 6 weeks and on crutches for another 4 months. Steel cables were threaded through concrete moulds and stretched to 2000 lbs tension. A grip holding one of the tensioned cables failed, releasing a 200 feet long cable. When Mr Graham went to re-thread that cable, another grip failed, releasing a second 200 feet long steel cable, the end of which passed straight through his lower right leg, leaving him impaled on the 9mm steel cable. HSE found the company did not have any system in place for inspection and maintaining the grips, and that an average of 8 grips failed each week at the premises. HSE also concluded that ACP did not have a safe system of work in place for re-threading the steel cables and fixing new grips when they failed on tensioned cables. This meant that workers could be crouching directly in line with the ends of tensioned cables whilst making repairs. | HSE (National) Press Release HSE/NW50/ACP Concrete Ltd 19/8/10 |
| Building firm fined after asbestos disturbed at primary school. | Greswolde Construction Ltd fined £1,000 and costs of £2,268 under CAR 2006. The firm was contracted to carry out building work on an extension at a primary school. Three employees were carrying out the work when they disturbed an area containing asbestos. Despite being in possession of a Type 3 Asbestos Survey detailing where it was, and the fact that children were occupying adjacent classrooms, the company had given the go ahead for the workers to begin to strip out the area. None of the workers had been informed of the presence of asbestos on the site and had not received asbestos awareness training or protection. HSE commented that for the managers of Greswolde Construction not to inform their employees of the presence of asbestos, showed a complete disregard for their safety and wellbeing. Even worse was that the work was being carried out in a primary school where young children were in the next room. | HSE (West Midlands) Press Release 20/8/10 |
| Ship breakers fined for potential asbestos exposure. | Acetech Construction Limited fined £3,400 and costs of £5,000 under CAR 2006. The company put its workers and others at risk of exposure to asbestos containing materials. They purchased a former Polish fishing vessel for dismantling and selling on as scrap. The ship, built in the 1970s, had been lying unused for around 3 years. HSE found Acetech had failed to carry out an adequate survey that would have highlighted the presence of asbestos containing materials before employees began work on the boat. Over a period of 3 months, work took place to strip down the boat, resulting in several employees potentially exposed to asbestos containing materials. | HSE (National) Press Release YH/202/10 19/8/10 |
| Onion firm fined after serious ladder injury. | Moulton Bulb Company Ltd fined £6,000 and costs of £2,188 under WHR 2005. Employee Richard Webster was covering onion boxes with plastic sheeting when he fell around 3 metres. HSE investigation found Mr Webster fell from a ladder as he was wrapping a five and a half metre stack of boxes in polythene. Mr Webster broke his shoulder which kept him off work for a month. The company has now changed its procedures to eliminate the need to work at height by applying polythene sheeting at floor level and then lifting the boxes up. | HSE (National) Press Release HSE/61/10 18/8/10 |
| Elderly man trapped and drowned in fatal pier fall. | Argyll and Bute Council fined £20,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Duncan MacGillivray, 75, drowned when it is believed that he accidentally put his car into forward gear rather than reverse to exit a parking bay situated on a pier. The vehicle mounted the edging, and as there was no protective barrier, the car fell approximately 3 metres into the sea below and Mr MacGillivray was trapped. HSE found that while there were some barriers in place at the pier, there were none in the area where Mr MacGillivray had parked. Prior to the pier being utilised as a council-operated car park, nor at any time after it was bought into such use, was there assessment of risk to those using the park. Nor had any action been taken to provide adequate edge protection to prevent incidents like this. | HSE (National) Press Release SCO/161/10 18/8/10 |
| Andrew Baillie | Fined £2,500 under HASAWA 1974 s37. Director, Mr Baillie, lifted a steel plate using unsecured extension on fork of FLT. The extension and plate slipped off the fork, striking leg of trainee who was assisting with lifting operation. | HSE Prosecution 4196411 9/6/10 |
| Mr Gennaro Saiano | Fined a total of £3,000 under HASAWA 1974 s21 and EWR 1989. Routine unannounced inspection of DG Bakeries on October 2008 and January 2009 identified several health and safety failings, including failure to maintain electrical systems and failure to assess the risks from flour dust. | HSE Prosecution 4185096 10/6/10 |
| Mr Dejan Durkin | Fined a total of £2,500 under HASAWA 1974 s21 and EWR 1989. Routine unannounced inspection of DG Bakeries on October 2008 and January 2009 identified several health and safety failings, including failure to maintain electrical systems and failure to assess the risks from flour dust. An IN was issued requiring the company to carry out a COSHH Risk Assessment. IN not complied with. | HSE Prosecution 4185118 10/6/10 |
| Mr Chris P Bradshaw | Fined a total of £38,000 under GSIUR 1998 and HASAWA 1974 s22. Complaint. Gas fitter working outside competency. ACS held for NG but working on LPG boiler and hob in domestic home. HSL expert opinion that faults gave rise to risk of personal injury. PN served but further investigation into work which occurred when he was suspended by CORGI and when he was removed from register and PN still in place. | HSE Prosecution 4185118 11/6/10 |
| Romtech Limited | Fined £12,000 under PUWER 1998. Employee became entangled in machine injuring right arm. | HSE Prosecution 4167580 11/6/10 |
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