Welcome to HSE prosecutions in brief. An overview of this weeks prosecutions by the HSE.
 |
| [relatedPosts title=”Related Posts”] |
|
|
Construction firm fined over worker’s injuries
An engineering contractor has been fined after a worker suffered severe injuries when his excavator struck a bridge on the M1 motorway in the East Midlands.
A maintenance fitter employed by Nottinghamshire firm Van Elle Ltd was driving a wheeled excavator during widening work on the motorway between Junctions 25 and 28 when its boom hit a bridge.
The worker, who has asked not to be named, was not wearing his seatbelt and was thrown over the steering column and through the open front screen, hitting his head on the front excavator blade.
He suffered severe head injuries and was in a coma for two weeks. Rehabilitation lasted a further five months and he has since returned to the company though he has been left with reduced function in his left arm and leg for which he receives ongoing physiotherapy.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into the incident on 22 September 2009, found the driver had not received adequate training in use of the excavator. He had been assessed to carry out lifting operations at the company’s premises but on the day in question was standing in for a regular driver on the motorway construction site.
Mansfield magistrates were told he was driving through the site with the excavator boom at an unsafe height. The manufacturer’s guidance states the boom must not be more than four metres high while travelling but in this case the machine was being driven with the boom elevated to more than six metres.
Van Elle Ltd, of Kirkby Lane, Pinxton, Nottinghamshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 9(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The firm was today fined £12,750 and ordered to pay costs of £29,660.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Three companies fined after worker falls from roof
Three Dundee companies have been fined a total of £336,000 after a worker fell six and a half metres through a roof light onto a concrete floor.
Christopher Carson, who was 23 at the time, competed as a floor gymnast at national level and was also a coach in the sport. As his day job, he was working as an electrician’s labourer for Robert A.S. Crockett and Partners Ltd.
Crockett and Partners had been contracted by Electroguard Security Systems to fit a lighting system as part of a larger project at Dundee Cold Stores Ltd, Kingsway West, Dundee.
Dundee Sheriff’s Court heard that on 3 October 2008, Mr Carson was attaching cables to the wall of the building in order to install the new security system. One of the cables he needed was on the roof of the building so he decided to use a mobile platform to get to the roof level and then walk across the roof to retrieve it. Once on the roof he realised he needed some clips, and as he was returning to the platform he stood on a roof light and fell through it, hitting machinery in the building below, before landing on the concrete floor.
He suffered a number of fractures to his back as well as fractures and dislocation to his left shoulder. He also suffered a puncture wound to his lower back from a drill bit which was in his pocket when he fell.
Mr Carson required surgery to reattach three tendons to his shoulder and had to undergo physiotherapy. He still suffers from chronic pain in his back and shoulder from which he is making a slow recovery.
At Dundee Sheriff Court today, Robert A.S. Crockett and Partners Ltd of Scott Street, Dundee was fined £66,000 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Electroguard Security Systems of Strathmore Avenue, Dundee was fined £135,000, and Dundee Cold Stores of Whittle Place, Gourdie industrial Estate, Dundee fined £135,000 after they both pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Full story through the link.
Hampshire firm fined over death of delivery driver
A Hampshire lift manufacturer has been prosecuted after a lorry driver was killed while delivering goods to its factory in Romsey.
Adam Millichip, 27, from Tenbury Wells, was working for a Worcester-based haulage company and was delivering pallets of sheet steel to Wessex Lift Co Limited in Hampshire on 16 November 2007.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation revealed that Mr Millichip had parked the lorry at the side of the road, ready for the pallets to be offloaded by a forklift truck.
The forklift driver, employed by Wessex Lift Co Ltd, was using the forklift to manoeuvre one of the pallets, which weighed approximately one tonne, when it struck Mr Millichip across the chest and trapped him against the side of the lorry. He suffered major internal organ failure as a result of crush injuries across his chest. He died shortly afterwards.
HSE’s investigation also found that inadequate controls were in place at the time of the incident to protect people from moving vehicles, and insufficient consideration had been given to the risks involved in offloading.
The court heard that HSE had previously given advice to the company about effective management of workplace transport risks.
Wessex Lift Co Limited, of Budds Lane, Romsey, Hampshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 at Winchester Crown Court. Today it was fined £65,000 and ordered to pay costs of £60,000.
Comments from Mr Millichip’s family and the HSE through the link.
Tata prosecuted for endangering workers during gas leak repair
Two workers narrowly avoided being killed or seriously injured when flames up to three metres in length shot from a leaking gas pipe during poorly planned and executed repair work.
The incident at Tata Steel’s Scunthorpe Steelworks, on Brigg Road, Scunthorpe, resulted in minor facial burns for one of the repair team, although a court heard yesterday (25 January) that both workers were extremely fortunate not to have been engulfed in the blaze.
Scunthorpe Magistrates were told that coke oven gas was detected leaking from an overhead pipe feeding the central power station at the plant on 25 February 2009.
Work to repair a small hole in the pipe using a bung and resin was initially postponed until the following day, but that technique then had to be abandoned when it widened to a “fist-sized” defect measuring approximately 75mm in diameter.
An alternative repair was suggested using a fabricated metal plate that would be drilled into place and then sealed. However, as a Tata employee attempted to put the first screw in place, the live gas in the pipe ignited, sending a jet of flames shooting from the hole.
Tata Steel UK Limited, registered to Millbank, London, pleaded guilty to two separate breaches of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 in connection to the incident. The first breach, of Regulation 5(1), related to an inadequate and unsuitable risk assessment. The second, of Regulation 6(1), concerned the fact employee safety was compromised because Tata failed to eliminate the risk arising from coke oven gas.
The company was fined a total of £30,000 and ordered to pay £1,696 in costs.
Full story through the link.
Scaffolding firm fined after man’s fall through roof
A construction firm has been prosecuted after a scaffolder suffered multiple injuries when he fell seven metres through a roof in Stoke-on-Trent.
The 28-year-old employee of Fred Lewis Scaffold Company Ltd was installing scaffolding on 30 April 2010 at a factory in Plantation Road, Newstead Industrial Estate, when he fell through the fragile roof.
Fenton Magistrates’ Court heard that father-of-three Gary Hampton shattered his thigh bone, bruised his lungs, broke both wrists, broke two vertebrae and cracked another.
He was in hospital for six weeks and will never be able to carry out any manual work again as his injuries have left him with considerable pain in his left leg and extremely weak wrists, which will require further surgery.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into the incident found the company did not prepare or survey the job properly at the outset and failed to supervise or train its employees adequately.
Fred Lewis Scaffold Company Ltd, whose registered office is in Birmingham Road, West Bromwich, pleaded guilty yesterday to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £19,000 costs.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Boat builder fined after man breaks leg in four places
A Hampshire company has been fined after a worker suffered multiple fractures when he was knocked off some steps at a disused factory in Southampton.
Southampton Magistrates’ Court heard that Green Marine Ltd, a boat builder, was closing down its factory at Spitfire Quay, Southampton, and moving to new premises.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the company for a dangerous lack of planning, organisation and control of the work when closing the factory down.
On the 21 December 2010, Stephen Thompson, 59, from Southampton, was using some steps to check some work he was about to do at a height of about three metres. At the same time, a scissor lift being used nearby hit a shelf, dislodging a piece of timber which knocked the steps, and Mr Thompson, to the floor.
Mr Thompson fractured his right leg in four places and was in hospital for more than two weeks over the Christmas period. He was off work for 10 months and can no longer lead an active lifestyle because he cannot stand for long periods and is likely to have a limp for the rest of his life. He has been informed there is a strong likelihood he will suffer severe arthritis in his leg because doctors have had to remove much of the cartilage in his ankle.
The HSE investigation found the company managers did not plan the work to close the factory effectively. They did not ensure the appropriate equipment was available or adequately maintained, that staff were appropriately trained for the project, or, that work was being carried out safely so that staff were not being put at risk. This led to a situation where the factory floor was littered with different items, creating hazardous working conditions.
Green Marine Ltd, of Hythe Marine Park, Shore Road, Hythe, Hampshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 3(1) and 5(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The firm was fined £26,666 and ordered to pay costs of £6,163.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Firm fined after worker fractures pelvis
A Hertfordshire company which designs and manufactures shop fixtures and displays has been fined after a worker fell and fractured his pelvis.
On 3 November 2010, Denis Cronin, 47, a production assistant from Baldock, was dismantling racking at a temporary warehouse Benchmark Fabrication Ltd had been using in Hunting Gate, Hitchin. He was straddling one of its beams when it splayed, causing him to fall two metres onto a wooden pallet below.
Mr Cronin’s pelvis was fractured in three places, he was in hospital for a week and took a further three months to fully recover.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Mr Cronin and his colleague had been told by their manager to use the zig-zags in the uprights of the warehouse racking as a ladder and also that method was standard practice at the company.
At Hertford Magistrates’ Court, Benchmark Fabrication Ltd of Jubilee Road, Letchworth, Hertfordshire admitted breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The company was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £2,923.50 in costs.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Care home fined after resident’s fatal fall from window
The owners of a Wrexham care home have been sentenced after an elderly resident defeated the window restrictor of his first floor bedroom and fell 12ft to the ground below.
Stanley Tilston, 79, suffered from dementia and was a resident at Plas Rhosnesi Nursing Home on Cefn Road in Wrexham. On the morning of 1 June 2008, he was found lying on the ground outside with serious head injuries. He died in hospital a few days later.
Chester Crown Court heard that Plas Rhosnesni specialised in the care of elderly and mentally infirm residents. Mr Tilston had told staff and his family that he had wanted to leave and repeatedly tried to break open the window’s chain restrictor, which he succeeded in doing on two separate occasions.
A week before the incident, Mr Tilston’s son visited the home and reported that his father had broken the restrictor and was planning to leave the home. However, staff failed to move his father to a vacant ground floor room.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that the company had failed to complete a risk assessment on the risk of residents falling from windows, and failed to implement and review its window restrictor policy.
Previously known as Hallmark Healthcare (Wrexham) Ltd, Care Homes Wrexham Ltd. of Woodbank Crescent, Radford Way, Billericay pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
It was fined £66,000 and ordered to pay £43,287 in costs.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Major construction firm fined more than £100k after death
A 23-year-old Keighley man died from massive crush injuries when his head became trapped in the jaws of a grab machine being wrongly used to move a pallet of cement bags.
Steven Allen was part of a team working for Skipton-based construction company JN Bentley Ltd on a building project for Bradford Council in Manningham in March 2007. Moving the 30 or so cement bags was to be the last job before the weekend when the incident happened.
Bradford Crown Court heard this week (25-27 January) that workers used a block grab attached to an excavator to move the load. As they did, the bags fell two metres to the ground, but the pallet remained in the jaws of the block grab. The pallet pivoted and Steven Allen took hold of it to pull it free. As the pallet came away, the jaws dropped and clamped on Steven’s head, causing severe injuries. He died the following day.
After an investigation, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) mounted the prosecution against Mr Allen’s employers. The court was told the HSE’s findings revealed that the grab was being used against manufacturer’s instructions and was not suitable for the job. Block grabs are designed to lift and move rectangular loads strapped together such as packs of bricks. The company had also failed to implement a safe system for lifting and transporting the bags of cement.
J N Bentley Ltd of Keighley Road, Skipton, North Yorkshire, had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. They were fined £106,250 and ordered to pay costs of £90,000.
Read full story here.
