Welcome to HSE prosecutions in brief. An overview of this weeks prosecutions by the HSE.
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Glasgow demolition worker fatally injured
Whiteinch Demolition Limited, a Glasgow demolition contractor has been fined after a worker was killed when a weight from a face shovel machine fell on him.
On 12 May 2008 Bernard McCarroll, aged 68 years from Croy, was dismantling a hydraulic excavator at the company’s yard in Glasgow by the process known as burning, using a flame torch. The machine weighed seven tonnes (7080 kilogrammes) and had a weight at the rear to assist stability. Whilst flame cutting the bolts that held this weight to the frame of the machine, part of it fell onto Mr McCarroll who suffered serious injuries and died.
At Glasgow Sheriff Court yesterday (29 August 2011) Whiteinch Demolition Ltd, of Centurion Works, Balmuildy Road, Bishopbriggs, Glasgow pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Etc Act 1974. It was fined £15,000.
Read full story here.
County Durham firm fined after worker struck by waste vehicle
A County Durham waste and recycling company has been prosecuted for safety failings after a worker was seriously injured when a vehicle reversed into him.
The 25-year-old, from Blackhall, who has asked not be named, was working in a sorting shed at First Skips Ltd in Shotton Colliery when the incident occurred on 8 October 2009.
He was sorting recyclable material by hand from the area where dry waste was deposited. A telescopic materials handler was being operated close by. As the driver of the vehicle carried out his operations, he reversed into the area where the other employee was working. The vehicle struck the employee and knocked him to the ground.
The worker suffered a broken shoulder, two fractured toe bones and a cracked rib. He was off work for several months but has since made a full recovery.
First Skips Ltd, of Thornley Station Industrial Estate, Shotton Colliery, was fined £3,350 and ordered to pay £3,528.70 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Read full story here.
Two firms prosecuted for dangerous building site
Two construction companies have been fined for “appalling” standards at a building site in the London Borough of Merton.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted principal contractor, Kubik Homes Ltd, and the subcontractor, Bellway Developments Ltd after visiting the site in Wimbledon on several occasions.
Kubik Homes Ltd had already been served with four Prohibition Notices, one of which was actually breached while HSE Inspectors were on site.
Kubik Homes Ltd, of High Street, Wimbledon, pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety etc at Work Act 1974. The firm was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,426.50.
Bellway Developments Ltd, of Coniston Road, Bromley, Kent, also pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Act 1974. It was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,384.50.
Read full story here.
National power firm fined after employee electrocuted
A national power company supplying the East of England, London and the South East has been fined £300,000 after an employee died while working at one of its Norfolk sites.
Jonathan Crosby, 45, from Dickleburgh, Norfolk was working as an electrical overhead linesman at UK Power Networks (formerly known as EDF Energy Networks Limited) in Sawmills Road, Diss when the incident happened on 9 November 2007.
He was in a cherry-picker five metres above ground, removing an electrical transformer from the top of a pole connected to overhead power lines. As it was being removed, the transformer made contact with live power resulting in Mr Crosby receiving a fatal electrical shock.
The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) investigation found that fuses supplying the transformer had not been removed to cut the electricity supply while it was lifted by a crane and also being held by Mr Crosby.
UK Power Networks of Newington House, 237 Southwark Bridge Road, London admitted breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. In addition to the fine, it was ordered to pay costs of £219,352.09.
Read full story here.
Leamington components firm fined over worker injury
A multi-national automotive firm has been fined after part of a worker’s finger was sliced off on an unguarded machine at a Warwick factory.
Mr Ajit Kandola, 37, of Leamington Spa, was cleaning debris from the rotating drive wheel of a foam-slicing machine when the moving blade severed half the index finger of his right hand.
Grupo Antolin Leamington Ltd, of Tachbrook Park Drive, Leamington Spa, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 8(1) and 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was fined £5,500 and ordered to pay £2,858 costs.
Read full story here.
Liverpool boss in court over workers’ facial burns
A Liverpool boss has appeared in court after two of his employees suffered facial burns in a flash fire at the city’s ferry terminal.
One of the workers, from New Ferry in Wirral, received severe burns to his face and hands, needed three months off work to recover, and required treatment to remove debris from his eyes.
Liverpool Magistrates’ Court was told his company had been replacing a temporary generator for the landing stage at the ferry terminal with a supply from the mains. Two of his employees visited the site on 16 April 2009 to install a new fuse into the switchboard at the Pier Head ferry terminal.
The court heard that that the work had gone ahead while electricity was still running through the switchboard. When one of the workers tried to install the new fuse, there was a bright flash and an intense heat caused by a fire, lasting just a few seconds.
The 50-year-old’s glasses were badly charred in the flash fire and he needed four days in hospital after suffering severe burns. The other worker, 57, from Blundellsands near Crosby, also received burns to his face and required hospital treatment. Both workers have asked not to be named.
Terence Hayes admitted a breach of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 after he allowed his employees to carry out work while the electricity supply was still live. Mr Hayes, of Buttercup Close in Waterloo, Sefton, was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £4,766 in prosecution costs on 1 September 2011.
Read full story here.
