H&S
News - Week ending 27th August 2010
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| Title | Comments | Publication |
|---|---|---|
| Worker left with long-term injuries after 21-metre fall. | Laing O'Rourke Construction Limited fined £50,000 and costs of £13,756 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Expanded Structures Limited fined £75,000 and costs of £14,154 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Mr Stephen McColgan, 37, was working on the construction of the adult block of a hospital when part of an unsupported working platform broke away when he stood on it, causing him to fall 21 metres to the ground. He suffered serious injuries to his head and body in the fall and his injuries continue to be life-changing. HSE investigation revealed that sections of the falsework, acting as a temporary structure supporting the working platform, were removed before work on the concrete slab was complete. (More...) | HSE (National) Press Release NE/218/10 24/8/10 |
| Buncefield judgment reveals depth of safety failures. | DIY control measures and operators' complacency contributed to biggest peacetime explosion. | Health and Safety at Work September 2010:4-5 |
| Falling boards deaths trigger HSE alert. | The HSE has issued a safety alert to warn employers of the dangers of storing boards leaning in stacks against walls after a worker died when he lost control of a stack while trying to extract a board. Over the last seven years, there have been at least three fatalities caused by falling boards, including a 4-year old child. | Health and Safety at Work September 2010:8 Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/safetybulletins/stackedboards.htm |
| HSE Annual Report. | The HSE has made good progress in delivering its business plan for 2009/10, according to its latest annual report and accounts. | Health and Safety at Work September 2010:9 Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/reports/0910/ar0910.pdf |
| Lack of goggles led to acid eye splash. | A chemicals manufacturer has paid compensation of £10,000 to a worker after acid caused long-term damage to his right eye. Philip Heeney was trying to remove a cap from a drum of acid at an Omya UK site when the acid splashed onto his face and went into his mouth and right eye. | Health and Safety at Work September 2010:12 |
| Firefighter's back payout. | Greater Manchester Fire Service has paid compensation of £80,000 to a former firefighter after he was sacked for speaking out about the health effects of new reclining chairs. The Service had replaced dormitory beds for firefighters on night shifts with recliners. Christopher Bennett complained the new chair was aggravating his back condition and requested to be able to use his own mattress. This was refused, the Service saying he either had to use the chairs or forms in the snooker room. He was dismissed for gross misconduct after he emailed other colleagues voicing his complaints and asking them if they were having back trouble because of the new chairs. | Health and Safety at Work September 2010:15 |
| Legislative calendar. | Calendar of new and upcoming legislation. | Health and Safety at Work September 2010:18 |
| First among equals. | Under the primary authority scheme, businesses regulated by local authorities can have the rules set by one council. (Lucie Ponting) | Health and Safety at Work September 2010:20-22 |
| Ransomes Jacobsen: the staff less travelled. | How a manufacturer redesigned its spares packing operation to cut the risk of musculoskeletal disorders. (Andrea Oates) | Health and Safety at Work September 2010:24-25 |
| Control order. | A reminder that engineering controls should always come before behavioural ones. (Duncan Abbott) | Health and Safety at Work September 2010:26-27 |
| SMEs: Choosing wisely. | Continuing the health and safety primer with the rules on employing competent contractors. (Paul Reeve) | Health and Safety at Work September 2010:28,30 |
| Oxford Instruments: up to standard. | The route to certification for a hi-tech manufacturer. (Louis Wustemann) | Health and Safety at Work September 2010:32-34 |
| Site specifics: the 18000 standards. | The best sources of advice the internet has to offer on the suite of health and safety standards and guides. (Bridget Leathley) | Health and Safety at Work September 2010:36-38 |
| Worker loses fingers in between metal rollers. | Formica Ltd fined £8,000 and costs of £4,741.60 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Mr Gary Burke, 45, was working on a machine which coats paper with resin and then cuts it into lengths to produce the back of a laminated product. He was using his right hand to check for any resin deposits on the feed belts, when his glove became caught in a belt and his hand was drawn between the two guide rollers. Mr Burke lost his finger and part of the other fingers on his right hand. Doctors were unable to save Mr Burke's little finger though he hopes that they will be able to re-construct two of his fingers to restore some function long term. While he has returned to work, he has not been able to do his job and is now on light duties. HSE investigation found there had been consistent production problems with the machine. | HSE (National) Press Release NE/216/10 20/8/10 |
| Offshore industry warned over 'not good enough' safety statistics. | The offshore oil and gas industry has been warned about its safety record as new statistics show increases in major injuries and unplanned hydrocarbon releases. Figures released by HSE show that there were 50 major injuries reported in 2009/10, up 20 on 2008/09 and higher than average of 42 over the previous five years. No workers were killed during activities regulated by HSE for the third year running. The combined fatal and major injury rate almost doubled to 192 per 100,000 workers in 2009/10 compared with 106 in 2008/09 and 156 in 2007/08. | HSE (National) Press Release 24/8/10 Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/statistics.htm |
| Research indicates no increased cancer risk at Greenock factory. | Workers at a Scottish semi-conductor plant are not at increased risk of developing occupational cancers, new research suggests. An independent investigation carried out by the HSE and Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) has concluded that earlier concerns about occupational cancer at the National Semiconductors UK (NSUK) factory in Greenock were unfounded. The study follows on from a report in 2001, published by HSE, which found that although the overall number of cancers in the workforce was not unusual there was a possibility that some could have been caused at work. Anyone affected by the findings can contact the research team free on 0800 592450. | HSE (National) Press Release 24/8/10 Internet: www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/nsuk/index.htm |
| Exeter landlord put lives at risk with faulty gas boiler. | Landlord Richard Elliott fined £4,000 and costs of £1,787, including £15 to the victim compensation fund under GSIUR 1998. Mr Elliott put lives of his tenants and others at risk by illegally fitting a gas boiler. HSE investigation revealed that when Mr Elliott was installing a new boiler at a flat he failed to safely isolate and cap the live gas pipe, and left the work partially completed. The tenant of the flat, a grandmother, was visited by her young grandchildren on a daily basis, before concerns about the safety of the new boiler was raised by a visiting officer from the Council. Pipework left in the flat was extremely dangerous and could have led to a major gas explosion if one of the children had simply twisted the valve to let the gas escape. | HSE (National) Press Release 900/SWW/10 25/8/10 |
| Man left brain damaged by falling panel saw. | Joda Freight Limited fined £5,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Employee Mr Nicholas Holmes, 49, was delivering panel saws, when a 290 kilogram panel saw fell off the vehicle, hitting him on the head. Mr Holmes was left with permanent brain damage by the incident. The company did not have a reliable system of communication in place to make sure their drivers were informed about the securing and stability of loads. Mr Holmes had not been told anything about how the panel saws were secured in the lorry. When he removed the straps securing the saws, the load became unstable, causing the incident. | HSE (National) Press Release SCO/176/10 25/8/10 |
| Illegal gas fitter fined £8,000. | Robert Fordham fined £8,000 and costs of £2,097.50 under GSIUR. He carried out gas work while not being registered and for pretending to be registered when he was not. Mr Fordham and a colleague replaced a gas boiler at a Climbing Centre, sent an invoice stating that he was registered with CORGI. When he did not arrive to carry out further work as planned, the centre contacted the register, who confirmed that he was not a qualified and registered gas engineer. Mr Fordham was also responsible for installing a new boiler at a house. Again, he gave the owner an invoice stating that he was a registered gas fitter and even left a registration card with a CORGI number on it. When the homeowner contacted CORGI, they confirmed that Mr Fordham was not registered. Mr Fordham knew he was operating illegally in carrying out this type of work as he'd previously tried to become registered and been refused. | HSE (National) Press Release COI/LDN/26-08 27/8/10 |
| Schoolboy killed after falling through farm roof. | John Irvine and Son fined £13,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. Austin Irvine, the 13 year old stepson of the farm's junior partner, was watching the gutter in the valley between the cattle shed and feed passage roofs being cleared. He had been raised up to roof level in a bucket attached to a tractor, and he then stepped onto the roof and proceeded to walk along it. He stepped onto a rooflight and fell four and a half metres. He sustained serious injuries and subsequently died. Investigations found that there was no proper edge protection on the roof and no measures in place to prevent falls through the sheeting that made up the roof. | HSE (National) Press Release SCO/177/10 26/8/10 |
| Worker is left paralysed after being crushed by steel beam. | Strata Homes Yorkshire Ltd fined £30,000 and costs of £16,062 under LOLER 1998. Anton Burrows, 24, was working as part of a bricklaying team sub-contracted to Strata Homes when the incident occurred. Mr Burrows was helping a driver of a telescopic FLT to lift a steel beam onto two brick pillars. Although the beam initially landed as intended, as the fork lift was withdrawing, the forks caught the beam dislodging it from the pillars. Mr Burrows walked into the area as this happened, and the steel beam weighing more than 660 pounds crushed down on top of him. He suffered extensive injuries, including spinal damage, which resulted in him being left quadriplegic. | HSE (National) Press Release YH/206/10 27/8/10 |
| Company heads prosecuted over hydraulic press injury. | Dennis Brunt (former director of Lupton Fabrications Ltd), Peter Critchard (former director of Lupton Fabrications Ltd) and Stealsafe Ltd (their new company) jointly fined £2,001 and costs of £250 under PUWER 1998. A 57 year old worker had the ends of two fingers severed in an incident at Lupton Fabrications Ltd, a metal fabricating company formerly owned by Mr Brunt and Mr Critchard. Investigations found that the photoelectric detectors used to protect workers from the closing tools of the hydraulic press, were not operational at the time of the incident and had been routinely over-ridden for a number of years. | HSE (National) Press Release YH/207/10 27/8/10 |
| Rootcroft Limited | Fined a total of £5,000 under HASAWA 1974 s3. A bath was run for the IP and staff failed to check the temperature of the water. IP was hoisted/lowered into the bath, IP began to shout that the water was too hot. His feet were immediately placed in cold water, nurse on duty attended and dialled 999 for an ambulance and the IP was taken to hospital. At present IP is still in hospital and HSE are waiting information. Reiterated to staff to check temperature of water using thermometers placed in each bath. | HSE Prosecution 4191455 14/6/10 |
| East Ayrshire Council | Fined a total of £56,000 under HASAWA 1974 s2. Failed to provide information, instruction, supervision and training to employees who were expected to use a mobile elevated work platform and as a result an employee was killed when airlift overturned while it was being used by him to carry out maintenance work at height on ceiling lights. | HSE Prosecution 4185718 17/6/10 |
| Donald Galt | Fined a total of £200 under WHR 2005. Investigation following proactive visit to construction work. Work carried out on behalf of a domestic client. Alteration of scaffolding at a refurbishment project authorised and condoned by Donald Galt as proprietor of DH Galt Property. The scaffold provided or work at roof level complied with the requirements of WHR 2005. There was evidence of this scaffold having been altered with boards removed to form work platforms at lower lifts. | HSE Prosecution 4206280 17/6/10 |
| Thomas Denzil Jones | Fined £15,000 under PUWER 1998. Failed to ensure fairground ride was in safe condition with resulted in an accident, that left IP as a tetraplegic. | HSE Prosecution 4183499 18/6/10 |
| Fairground Inspection Services Limited | Guilty, Compensation Award under HASAWA 1973 s3. Prosecution has resulted due to failure to carry out annual, thorough examinations adequately. | HSE Prosecution 4183530 18/6/10 |
| Dermot Healy | Fined a total of £500 under HASAWA 1974 s3 and GSIUR 1998. | HSE Prosecution 4200990 18/6/10 |
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