Welcome to HSE prosecutions in brief. An overview of this weeks prosecutions by the HSE.
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Leicester firm fined after death of worker
A Leicester manufacturer of quarrying plant and equipment has been fined after a worker was crushed between two nine-metre steel structures which were being lifted with an overhead travelling crane.
The structures were part of a 500 tonne concrete batching plant installation which had been manufactured for a project in the Sudan. Michael Tilley, 55, from Barrow-upon-Soar, was killed instantly when one of the 1.5 tonne structures became dislodged and fell on his head during a lifting operation.
The HSE prosecuted Parker Plant Ltd after carrying out an investigation into the 13 December 2008 incident at the company’s Canon Street site in Leicester.
Leicester Crown Court heard Mr Tilley and a colleague had been attempting to load the large parts of structural steelwork into a shipping container using an overhead crane. The parts would not fit into the container so they were being placed on the ground next to it. The pair had been directed to place one steel section on top of the other and were releasing the lifting chains from the load when the top section slid off the bottom one and trapped Mr Tilley between the two, causing fatal head injuries.
HSE told the court that neither Mr Tilley nor his colleague had received the proper training on how to plan and manage such a complex lifting operation, nor had they had any information on the size, weight or centre of gravity of the load which would have enabled them to sling the load correctly.
They had been working with an incorrect diagram that showed the two steelwork structures fitting on top of each other, which in fact was not possible. The structures were not strapped together meaning the load was unstable and liable to fall unexpectedly. The work was not properly planned or supervised and the lifting equipment provided to do the job was defective.
Parker Plant Ltd of Viaduct Works, Canon Street, Leicester, pleaded guilty on 2 September to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. They were sentenced on 27 Oct 2011 and were fined £180,000 and ordered to pay £47,500 costs.
Read full story here.
Workers exposed to deadly asbestos fibres
A building contractor has been sentenced after its workers were exposed to potentially deadly asbestos fibres during refurbishment work at premises in Swansea.
The HSE prosecuted J C Irvine Limited following an investigation which revealed that work on the refurbishment of the former Ace Electrics building in The Strand was being carried out without an asbestos survey.
Swansea Magistrates heard that, between the dates of 27 April 2010 and 12 May 2010, asbestos containing materials were disturbed by construction workers employed by the defendant, releasing asbestos fibres into the air.
The HSE was informed that employees were carrying out work in a contaminated building, and inspectors visiting the site on 12 May 2010 served an immediate Prohibition Notice.
The subsequent investigation found that J C Irvine Limited failed to ensure that the refurbishment work was planned in such a way as to reduce the risk to health and safety. It also failed to ensure that its employees were not exposed to asbestos fibres.
J C Irvine Limited of Oldway, Bishopston, Swansea pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 23(1)(a) of the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2007 and Regulation 5 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006. It was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £2,148.50.
Read full story here.
Cardiff gas fitter fined for working without registration
A gas fitter installed a boiler in a domestic property despite not being Gas Safe registered.
The court heard that Mr Goddard carried out the work at a property in the Ely area in the summer of 2010. Another registered gas engineer, called in for a different job, told the householder the work on the boiler was not done to current standards.
After further investigation, HSE inspectors discovered that Mr Goddard had signed a document implying that he was registered to do the work, however he had a false registration identification number. He had also previously signed a declaration letter, sent to him by the HSE earlier that year pledging not to carry out work on gas appliances until he was registered.
Anthony Goddard pleaded guilty to breaches of Regulation 3(3) and 3(7) of the Gas Safety Regulations 1998 and was fined £600. He was also ordered to pay costs of £2,700 and £1,480 in compensation to the property owners.
Read full story here
Animal feed firm in court over worker’s hand injury
A Lancashire firm which produces animal feed has appeared in court after a worker’s hand was trapped in machinery at a Clitheroe factory.
The 47-year-old worker from the town, who has asked not to be named, lost two fingers on his left hand in the incident. His employer, Dugdale Nutrition Ltd, was prosecuted by the HSE following the injury at the factory at Bellman Mill in Salthill on 9 June 2009.
Accrington Magistrates’ Court heard the worker had been trying to remove a blockage on the third floor of the factory when the machine was switched on by a worker in the control room on the ground floor.
The HSE investigation found the injured worker had been able to gain access to a ‘chain and flight conveyor’, used to transport animal feed through the factory, because the guard over it was not fixed in place.
He had not used the isolator switch to cut the power to the machine as the switch was three metres above the ground and was difficult to reach.
Dugdale Nutrition Ltd pleaded guilty to two breaches of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was fined £7,000 and ordered to pay £3,614 in prosecution costs on 26 October 2011.
Read full story here.
Chicken Company fined £230,000 after workers loses most of his hand
A major European food business producing raw and prepared chicken products has been fined a total of £230,000 after two incidents at its Suffolk factory, one of which led to an employee losing four fingers, part of his thumb and some of the palm of his right hand.
Night shift supervisor Shaun Alexander, 42, from Kesingland in Suffolk, was helping a member of his team to clean equipment at the 2 Sisters Food Group’s plant at Flixton, near Bungay, in December 2009 when his hand was pulled into two rotating cogs and crushed. A safety guard had been removed from the machinery.
A month later, in January 2010, fork lift driver Malcolm Raven, 54, from Lowestoft, was left in charge of a pre-slaughter area for chickens. He entered an enclosure to clear a blockage in the system and his arm was trapped and broken. The company had fitted a by-pass device to over-ride a safety control that would have prevented this happening.
2 Sisters Food Group, based at West Bromwich in the West Midlands, was prosecuted by the HSE over both incidents. The company admitted a breach of Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for each incident and was fined a total of £230,000 with costs of £24,350.
Read full story here
Stonemason ‘as seen on TV’ is prosecuted
A Cambridgeshire stonemasonry business has been fined over dangerous stone dust after the firm appeared on a BBC television programme.
Atelier 109 Limited, of Main Road, Etton, near Peterborough, featured in March 2010 in the BBC2 series, Mastercrafts, presented by Monty Don – but an eagle-eyed viewer contacted HSE to express concern over what he saw: inadequate precautions to protect workers from dust that can cause serious lung diseases.
HSE inspectors visited the company’s workshop in May 2010 and served an Improvement Notice compelling Atelier to take action immediately to cut exposure to stonemasonry dust to within the legal limit.
When a further check was made, it was clear that, although improvements had been made, the ventilation system still had not been thoroughly examined and tested, so a second Improvement Notice was served on 12 February 2011.
When HSE inspectors visited the premises for a third time on 16 June this year they found that the action recommended had not been carried out, despite earlier tests revealing that dust levels for employees were between 100% and 300% of safe levels.
Atelier Limited pleaded guilty today at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court to one charge of breaching section 33 (1) (g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,400.10.
Read full story here.
Plastic bag firm prosecuted over worker’s finger loss
A factory worker in Greater Manchester lost two fingers in a machine used to punch handles in plastic bags, a court has heard.
Karen Schoelzel’s employer, Arrow Flexible Packaging Ltd, was prosecuted by the HSE after the incident at the plant on Clarence Street in Golborne.
Trafford Magistrates’ Court in Sale heard the 53-year-old from Golborne was replacing the rubber insert under a cutting tool on 23 November 2010 when the machine started operating.
The tool came down on her left hand and, as a result, she lost her entire index finger and her middle finger to below the second knuckle. Mrs Schoelzel has been unable to return to work nearly a year on.
HSE issued six Improvement Notices and one Prohibition Notice after an inspector visited the site following the incident. The notices required safety improvements to be made to machines at the factory, and prevented a printing press from operating until suitable guards had been installed.
The HSE investigation found suitable guards were not in place to prevent workers gaining access to the cutting tool while the machine was operating, and that it was common practice for employees to change the rubber on the tool without the power to the machine being cut.
The investigation was unable to confirm what caused the machine to start operating when the rubber insert was being replaced, but it found the buttons which operated it were unsuitable and could have been pressed by accident.
Arrow Flexible Packaging Ltd pleaded guilty to a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 by failing to prevent access to dangerous machine parts. The company was fined £3,500 and was ordered to pay £1,000 in prosecution costs on 28 October 2011.
Read full story here.
Roofer fined after fatal fall from height
A roof worker has been fined after a man fell to his death in Leicester.
Landlord Trevor Hall, 65, of Willoughby Road, Countesthorpe, died after falling around 3.5 metres through a fragile roof light at premises he owned in Saffron Road, Leicester on 8 March 2010.
He had gone onto the roof to observe Kristian Varnam, a director of Roofwise (UK) Ltd, whom Mr Hall had asked to provide a quote for repairs.
An investigation found the roof was made of fragile asbestos cement sheets and clear plastic roof lights, but Mr Varnam took no reasonable or practicable steps to ensure his safety or that of others in going on to the roof. The investigation also found he had failed to inform the building’s tenants of his intention to go on to the roof.
At Leicester Magistrates’ Court today, Kristian Varnam, of Saunderson Road, Stocking Farm Estate, Leicester, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 7(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. He was fined £3,500 with £2,742 costs.
Read full story here.
Oldham roofer caught on camera putting lives at risk
An Oldham roofer has appeared in court after he and another worker were caught on camera balancing dangerously on a house roof.
Colin Howles, 53, was photographed by an inspector from the HSE as he and another man, employed by him, replaced the tiles on a mid-terrace house on Wyndale Road in Bardsley.
Trafford Magistrates’ Court in Sale heard no scaffolding had been put up at the back of the property to stop either of the men falling nearly six metres to the ground below.
The HSE inspector issued a Prohibition Notice, ordering the men to come down from the roof immediately, when he visited the site as part of routine inspections in the area on 3 November 2010.
The court was told two scaffolding towers had been erected at the front of the house but no scaffolding had been put up when the men started work on the section of roof at the back of the property.
Colin Howles pleaded guilty to a breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 after he failed to take action to prevent workers being injured in a fall. Mr Howles, of Bardsley Vale Avenue in Oldham, was fined £350 and ordered to pay £600 in prosecution costs on 28 October 2011.
Read full story here.
