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Welcome to HSE prosecutions in brief. An overview of this weeks prosecutions by the HSE.
Companies in court over major chemical fire in Crewe
Two companies have been ordered to pay a total of £224,530 following a major chemical fire in Crewe which sent aerosols rocketing into the air.
At its height, the fire spread to cover more than 10,000 square metres – nearly one and a half times the size of a Premiership football pitch. Surrounding roads had to be closed all day and firefighters had to stay on the site into the following morning.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Crewe-based waste recycling company, Greenway Environmental Ltd and Preston-based waste shredder manufacturer, Pakawaste Ltd following an investigation into the explosion and fire at Aztec Aerosols on the Gateway Industrial Estate on 4 June 2007.
Greenway pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to ensure the safety of workers. It was fined £37,500 and ordered to pay costs of £50,000.
Pakawaste, of Rough Hey Road, Grimsargh, Preston, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 6(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to ensure the shredding unit was designed and constructed to be safe. It was fined £50,000, with costs of £87,030.
Read full story here.
Salisbury skip hire company fined over death of employee
A skip hire company from Salisbury has been fined £150,000 after one of its employees died when a tyre he was fixing exploded.
Salisbury Crown Court heard how on 12 February 2008, Jozef Trhan, from Slovakia, who had turned 33 that day, was fixing a split rim wheel on a large industrial waste removing machine called a loading shovel when the incident happened.
C B Skip Hire, based at St Thomas Farm, London Road, Salisbury, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Etc Act 1974 and was fined £150,000 plus £55,000 in costs.
Read full story here.
Cambridgeshire school fined over loft fall
An independent school near Huntingdon has been prosecuted after a teenager was injured when she fell from a loft space to the swimming pool changing rooms below.
Pool attendant Stacey Paine, 19, and the swimming pool manager were retrieving paperwork stored in a loft above the Kimbolton School changing rooms.
Kimbolton School pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 9(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,276.40.
Read full story here.
St Helens firm sentenced after worker loses three fingers
A St Helens napkin and tablecloth manufacturer has been fined £30,000 after a worker lost three fingers when her hand was crushed between two printer rollers.
Emboss (Europe) Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for failing to ensure the safety of workers. The company, of Cornwall Street in St Helens, was ordered to pay £12,549 towards the cost of the prosecution in addition to the fine.
Read full story here.
Worker fell off unguarded stair
A labourer broke two ribs after falling off the edge of a temporary staircase after a colleague removed the guardrail.
At Edinburgh Sheriff Court today (27 July 2011) Walker Group (Scotland) Limited pleaded guilty to breaking Regulation 4 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and were fined £8,000.
Read full story here.
Companies sentenced after worker is forced through 125mm gap
A South Yorkshire engineering firm and a German machine supplier were today (27 July) sentenced for safety failings after a worker sustained horrific injuries but miraculously escaped with his life after being dragged through a gap no wider than a CD case.
Compass Engineering Ltd and Kaltenbach Ltd were jointly prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive following the incident at Whaley Road in Barugh Green, Barnsley, on 19 December 2008. Fines and costs totaling £115,000 were imposed on the two firms.
Compass Engineering Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 in relation to the incident. The company was fined £45,000 and ordered to pay £24,000 in costs.
Kaltenbach Ltd, whose UK head office is based at Brunel Road, Bedford, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 6(1)(a) of the same legislation. The supplier was fined £30,000 with costs of £16,000.
Read full story here.
Companies fined £300,000 for worker’s death on motorway
A roadworker died of his injuries after falling 12 metres while working over the M5 motorway near Clevedon, a court heard today (29 July).
Cecil Grant, 42, from Southmead, Bristol, was repairing CCTV cameras used to monitor one lane of the motorway during the night of 24 January 2006, when he fell off a wall into bushes below, suffering serious injuries. He was taken to hospital and died of his injuries ten days later.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Mr Grant’s employers Serco Ltd, of Bartley Wood Business Park, Hook, Hampshire, and principal contractor, Birse Civils Ltd of Grimstone Grane, Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, for failing to protect Mr Grant when he was working at the site near Junction 20 Northbound, between Clevedon and Gordano.
Serco Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) Work at Height Regulations 2005 and Regulation 11(i)(a) Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999. It was fined a total of £200,000 (£100,000 on each charge) and ordered to pay costs of £36,186.
Birse Civils Ltd, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(i)(a) Management of Health & Safety at Work Regs 1999. It was fined £100,000 with costs of £180,093.
Read full story here.
