Welcome to HSE prosecutions in brief. An overview of this weeks prosecutions by the HSE.
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Walsall landlord prosecuted for putting tenants at risk
A Walsall landlord has been sentenced for failing to provide a gas safety certificate.
The HSE prosecuted Khalid Hussain following a complaint from a tenant and her partner, who rent a house at Raleigh Street, Walsall from him.
Walsall Magistrates’ Court heard that the boiler was only replaced in October this year despite having broken down in January 2011. Mr Hussain also did not have a landlord’s gas safety certificate for the appliances in the property until last month, despite being issued with an Improvement Notice from HSE in March requiring him to provide the certificate by 6 May 2011.
The court also heard that when the new boiler was installed last month, a gas engineer condemned the cooker in the property as dangerous and isolated it.
Mr Hussain, of Pargeter Street, Walsall, pleaded guilty yesterday to breaching Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and Regulation 36(3)(a) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 and was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £3,000 costs.
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North Yorkshire firm in court for safety breach
- A North Yorkshire company has been fined under safety laws after a supervisor suffered severe injuries to his hand.
The man had his right hand crushed with two fingers severed when he attempted to clean an air slide under a large machine used for mixing animal feed.
Northallerton Magistrates’ Court was told that the incident happened on 10 August 2010 at A.One Feed Supplements Ltd of North Hill, Dishforth Airfield, Thirsk.
The HSE, which brought the prosecution, told the court the man had been told by a production worker at the start of his shift that the air slide was not operating, a regular problem owing to a build-up of sticky feed deposits on the slide and runners.
The supervisor went to inspect the machine and decided to clean the slide. After climbing a set of moveable steps, he reached up to undertake the work and was injured as his hand came into contact with dangerous moving parts of the machine.
After the hearing HSE Inspector Paul Newton said the injured supervisor had lost two fingers of his dominant hand, suffered nerve damage to the rest of his hand and would have to live with a disability for the rest of his life. He has not returned to work.
A. One Feed Supplements Ltd, North Hill, Dishforth Airfield, Thirsk, pleaded guilty to an offence under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and was fined £15,000 with costs of £2,594.30.
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Fines issued after worker’s farm fall
A North Yorkshire building firm and a contractor were today fined after a worker was injured following a fall while working on the construction of a new farm building in Billingham.
The 36-year-old worker, from Bedale, was employed by Stephen Ramsey, trading as Up & Cover, who had been subcontracted by Waddington Buildings Limited to carry out steel erection work and cladding on the building at Brierton North Farm, Billingham.
Both Mr Ramsey and Waddington Buildings Limited were prosecuted by the HSE over the incident on 29 August 2010.
Teesside Magistrates’ Court was told the worker was standing on a pallet fitted to a fork attachment of a tractor, which was lifted to heights of around four and a half metres to allow the worker to measure and fit guttering to the building.
The court heard the tractor was being operated by Stephen Ramsey when it unexpectedly moved with the pallet in a raised position causing the worker to lose his balance and fall to the ground.
He spent 15 days in hospital after his left heel was smashed and his right ankle was fractured and treatment is still ongoing.
HSE’s investigation revealed Mr Ramsey failed to carry out the work safely and Waddington Buildings Limited had failed to establish whether work carried out on their behalf would be done safely and whether Stephen Ramsey was competent to do the work.
Stephen Ramsey, 31, of Emgate, Bedale, pleaded guilty to breaching the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £250 costs.
Waddington Buildings Limited, of Station Road, Brompton on Swale, pleaded guilty to one breach of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £3,500 and ordered to pay costs of £900.
Waddington Buildings Ltd and Stephen Ramsey were also each ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge, the proceeds of which will be spent on services for victims and witnesses.
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Companies fined after Arsenal stadium injury
Three construction companies were fined after a worker helping build Arsenal’s Ashburton Grove stadium was injured so badly, his leg had to be amputated.
A dumper truck drove over the right leg of Michael O’Donovan, 41, from Bromley, while he was kneeling to clean steel ‘shuttering’ used to form reinforced structures and pillars.
His injuries were so severe his leg required amputation above the knee. His pelvis was also fractured in the incident on 30 June 2005.
The City of London Magistrates’ Court heard the HSE investigation showed all three companies had failed to ensure vehicles and pedestrians were properly segregated on site.
It also found the cleaning of shuttering was neither properly planned nor carried out safely.
Sir Robert McAlpine Limited, of Maylands Avenue, Hemel Hempstead, admitted breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £19,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.
Sub-contractor Skanska Utilities Limited, of Denham Way, Maple Cross, Rickmansworth, admitted breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £17,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.
Maylim Limited, of Evans Avenue, Watford – sub-contracted by McNicholas Plc to undertake the work on the South Bridge area of the site – pleaded guilty to the same breach and was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.
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Employee loses three fingers at Heywood factory
A Rochdale engineering firm has been prosecuted after a 21-year-old employee had three fingers cut off by an industrial saw at its factory.
The HSE brought the case against Adelaide Engineering Company Ltd after the worker, from Bury, lost parts of three fingers on his left hand at the plant on Aspinall Street in Heywood.
Trafford Magistrates’ Court was told the blade was 64cm long but was being used to cut a piece of steel with a width of just 5cm. There was no adjustable guard in place around the part of the blade not being used, putting workers at risk.
The HSE investigation found the employee had not received any instructions or training on how to safely use the saw, which rotates the blade at high speed. He had also been left unsupervised at the time on the incident on 21 October 2010.
The company, of Taynton in Burford, Oxfordshire, admitted breaching Regulation 3(1)(a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
The charges relate to failing to adequately assess the risks workers faced, and failing to take action to ensure the safety of employees.
Adelaide Engineering Company Ltd, which produces materials for the aerospace, nuclear, oil and gas industries, was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £2,514 in prosecution costs on 25 November 2011.
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Baker fined after worker suffers crush injuries
A baker from Hampshire has been fined after a teenage worker had his fingers crushed in a machine at a bakery near Ringwood.
The HSE prosecuted Peter Ellis, 58, of Belinda’s Bakery over the incident, which happened on Tuesday 30 November 2010.
Southampton Magistrates’ Court heard that a male worker was operating a dough moulder at a Belinda’s Bakery in the village of Poulner, Hampshire. The machine has two powered running rollers which drive dough through the machine, to be moulded to the correct shape and size.
While operating the machine, the worker put his right hand in between the rollers. He suffered crush and skin injuries to his fingers and sustained cuts and bruising to the middle and index fingers.
The HSE investigation found there was no guarding in place to prevent access to the powered rollers on the machine. The court was told that immediately following the incident, Mr Ellis reinstalled guarding on the dough moulder, which had been removed some two years earlier.
Peter Ellis of Picket Hill, Ringwood, Hampshire pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1)(a) of Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. He was fined £500 and ordered to pay costs of £300.
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Firm fined after reversing lorry crushes worker
A Dartford firm has been fined after an employee was seriously injured when he was crushed by a reversing lorry at the KBC Logistics depot in Askews Farm Road, Grays in Essex.
The HSE, prosecuting, told Basildon Magistrates’ Court that in the early hours of 13 May 2011, driver Leslaw Chorazak, 54, was waiting to take his place at the wheel of the articulated 45ft heavy goods vehicle.
Mr Chorazak was guiding the returning driver as he reversed the lorry into the poorly lit yard. As he bent to pick up his torch, the driver lost sight of him and continued to reverse, crushing him between the back of the lorry and the office wall.
Mr Chorazak, who was living in Wimbledon at the time of the incident but has since returned to his native Poland, suffered severe crush injuries to his right arm, body and collar bone and spent several days in hospital.
HSE’s investigation found the yard was poorly lit, there was no means of separating pedestrians and vehicles, there was no proper supervision on site and no health and safety training for the staff working there or their managers.
KBC Logistics Ltd, registered at 117 Dartford Road, Dartford, Kent pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £12,000 with costs of £3,009.80.
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Firm prosecuted after worker is crushed by machinery
A Pontllanfraith company has been prosecuted after the fatal crushing of an employee under heavy machinery at its Newbridge Road Industrial Estate site.
Gareth Young, a 60-year-old grandfather from Beaufort in Ebbw Vale, was working at Moulded Paper Ltd on 4 August 2009, when an unsecured electrical control cabinet weighing just over half a tonne, fell on him, resulting in fatal injuries.
A HSE investigation found that Mr Young was in the process of removing sheet steel from the disused cabinet for re-use. The cabinet had been propped up against a wall and was unsecured after being left behind by machinery removal men who had visited the factory some months earlier.
Cardiff Crown Court heard that, during Mr Young’s efforts to remove the sheet steel, the cabinet slid away from the wall, crushing him underneath.
The HSE found that IMCO Limited, trading as Moulded Paper Ltd, had failed to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of its employees, including Gareth Young.
IMCO Limited of Newbridge Road Industrial Estate, Blackwood, has now gone into liquidation. In their absence, the firm was found guilty of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Judge Christopher Llewellyn-Jones QC handed down a fine of £5,000, but told the court that the fine should not reflect the seriousness with which he viewed the matter. The judge awarded costs of £36,571.
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Double-glazing firm in court over worker’s ladder fall
The owner of a Blackpool double-glazing firm has appeared in court after one of his employees was seriously injured in a fall from a ladder.
The 68-year-old from Bispham fell nearly five metres and landed on a concrete patio after climbing up a ladder to measure a bathroom window on a house in his village. The employee suffered a broken knee and ankle, four broken ribs, a punctured lung and a badly damaged right foot.
The owner of Direct Window Co, Craig Goss, was prosecuted by the HSE after an investigation found the worker had been allowed to work alone without anyone at the foot of the ladder to stop it falling.
Blackpool Magistrates’ Court heard the worker has still been unable to return to work due to the extent of his injuries following the fall at the semi-detached house on Cavendish Road on 5 April 2011.
The court was told he had been allowed to work by himself on several occasions, without anyone monitoring what he was doing.
Craig Goss pleaded guilty to a breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 by failing to ensure the work was properly planned, adequately supervised and carried out in a safe manner.
Mr Goss, of Blackpool and Fylde Industrial Estate, Arkwright Court, Blackpool, was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £2,000 in prosecution costs on 23 November 2011.
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