Welcome to HSE prosecutions in brief. An overview of this weeks prosecutions by the HSE.
High street retailer and two contractors found guilty of safety failings
Marks and Spencer plc and two of its contractors have been convicted for putting members of the public, staff and construction workers at risk of exposure to asbestos-containing materials during the refurbishment of two stores.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Marks and Spencer plc, Willmott Dixon Construction Ltd and PA Realisations Ltd (formerly Pectel Ltd). The work was carried out between 2006 and 2007 on shops in Reading and Bournemouth.
Marks and Spencer plc, of Waterside House, North Wharf Road, Westminster, was found guilty of breaching section 2(1), relating to their own staff, and section 3(1), relating to members of the public and other workers, of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. These charges relate to the Broad Street Reading store and date from 24 April to 13 November 2006.
Willmott Dixon Construction Ltd, of Hertfordshire, was found guilty of contravening sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 between 5 February 2007 and 28 February 2007. These breaches took place at the Marks and Spencer plc store in Commercial Road, Bournemouth.
Manchester-based company PA Realisations Ltd (formerly Pectel Ltd), of the Observatory, Chapel Walks, Manchester, was found guilty of contravening regulation 15 of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 between 5 May 2006 and 12 November 2006 at the Marks and Spencer plc store on Broad Street, Reading.
At an earlier hearing, Styles & Wood Limited, of Manchester Road, Altrincham, Cheshire, pleaded guilty to contravening sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. These charges relate to offences committed between 24 April and 13 November 2006 at the Marks and Spencer plc store on Broad Street, Reading.
The guilty companies will be sentenced on 26 September 2011.
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Cumbrian grandfather survives being engulfed by fireball
A global packaging firm has been fined £90,000 after two workers suffered life-threatening injuries when they were engulfed by a fireball at a factory in Cumbria.
Gordon Metcalf, 62 from Maryport, and another worker, who has asked not to be named, were about to clean debris from a damaged fuse box when a ball of fire shot out, setting their clothes alight.
Innovia Films Ltd, which employs 850 people at its headquarters on West Street in Wigton, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by putting workers’ lives at risk. The company was ordered to pay £26,790 towards the cost of the prosecution in addition to the fine of £90,000 on 18 July 2011.
Read full story here.
Manufacturer fined after worker’s arm is severed by industrial ‘corkscrew’
A Leicestershire manufacturing firm has been fined after an employee’s arm was torn off by a giant industrial ‘corkscrew’ as he was carrying out repairs.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted London Concrete Ltd after a manager accidentally turned on an auger – a large corkscrew-like machine which moves dry materials from one level to another – while it was being repaired at a factory in Wapseys Wood, Oxford Road, Gerrards Cross.
London Concrete Ltd, of Baron Hall, Copt Oak Road, Markfield, Leicestershire pleaded guilty on 3 May 2011 at High Wycombe Magistrates Court to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. At Aylesbury Crown Court (18 July 2011), the firm was fined £16,000 and ordered to pay costs of £9,397.
Read full story here.
Dunstable glass firm fined after worker seriously hurt
A glass manufacturer has been fined after an employee’s arm was cut to the bone when a sheet of glass shattered in his hand.
Ian Swain, 37, of Spoondell, Dunstable, worked in the glass toughening section of the Nicholls and Clarke Glass factory on the Woodside Industrial Estate, also in the Bedfordshire town.
Luton Magistrates’ Court heard today that on 20 October 2009, he picked up a large piece of glass when it cracked and shattered without warning. One of the shards lacerated his right forearm above his wrist guard, severing the artery, muscle and nerves.
Nicholls and Clarke Glass Ltd, which is registered at Freshwater Road, Romford, Essex pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and Regulation 3(2) of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 for which it was fined a total of £11,200 with £3,977.40 costs.
Read full story here.
Somerset firm fined after man falls from platform
A Somerset firm has been fined after a man broke his back, arm and ribs after falling three metres whilst working on a barn conversion.
Mark Clarke was helping to renovate his employer’s property Heathfield Barn at North Petherton, Bridgwater when the incident occurred on 11 October last year.
Taunton Magistrates Court heard he was working on a gable end wall when he fell from a trestle work platform. Although some measures had been put in place to prevent such a fall, these were described as inadequate.
UK Storage Company (SW) Limited, of Unit 3 East Quay, Wylds Road in Bridgwater, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 4(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £2,680 in costs.
Read full story here.
Somerset farm owner fined after telehandler crush
An elderly farm owner has been fined after the telehandler she was operating crushed a neighbour, causing serious injury.
Pamela Greenslade, 76, from Fernicaps Farm, Wiveliscombe, Taunton was driving the telehandler to transport silage bales from the farmyard to a shed in order to feed her cattle.
Taunton Magistrates’ Court heard Ms Greenslade had not been trained to use the telehandler and although a trained farm worker would normally have driven the machine, he was unavailable that day.
Mrs Greenslade pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £6,000.
Read full story here.
Roofer risks lives at Bolton takeaway
A Bolton roofer has been prosecuted after he put lives at risk on the roof of a fish and chip shop.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) took legal action against Alex Morrisey after he and a labourer were spotted balancing dangerously on the roof of the Kearsley Fish Bar on Manchester Road in the town.
Alex Morrisey admitted two breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 by failing to take action to stop workers being injured in a fall, and by not preventing materials falling to the ground below.
Mr Morrisey, of Trafford Street in Farnworth, was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £800 in prosecution costs.
Read full story here.
Roofer injured at Stockport school
A roofing firm has been sentenced after one of its employees was injured when he fell through the roof at a Stockport school.
Ploughcroft Building Services, admitted of breaching Regulation 9 (2) (a) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 by failing to prevent the worker falling through the skylight.
The company, of Bullford Garage in Brighouse, was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £10,937 in prosecution costs on 22 July 2011.
Read full story here.
Newcastle firm fined after worker impaled
A Newcastle-under-Lyme mineral company has been fined after an employee suffered multiple injuries when he was impaled on spikes on an industrial hopper grill.
Simon Lowe, 30, sustained serious injuries including deep puncture wounds, internal bleeding, a broken pelvis, fractured spine and lacerated tendons in his thumb when he fell onto spikes attached to the hopper grill.
Dupre Minerals Ltd pleaded guilty to contravening Regulation 3(1) 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 and was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £5,236 costs.
Read full story here.
