Welcome to HSE prosecutions in brief. An overview of this weeks prosecutions by the HSE.
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Roofing company fined over foreman’s fall
A Southampton-based roofing company has been prosecuted after a worker suffered serious injuries, including brain damage, when he fell from a roof.
The 57 year old, who does not want to be named, was working for Focus (Southampton) Ltd as a foreman on a project to remove an asbestos cement roof at the Kiln Acre Industrial Park on 27 April 2011 when he fell through a fragile skylight.
He suffered neurological damage and swelling to his brain, as well as numerous broken bones including both wrists and both eye sockets.
Focus (Southampton) Ltd of Norham Ave, Southampton, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 7 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The company was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £1,000 in costs.
Read full story here.
Countryside firm sentenced over strimmer death
A countryside management firm has been sentenced over the death of a father-of-four in Barrow-in-Furness, who was struck by a piece of metal that flew off a strimmer at high speed.
Tony Robinson, 37, from Ulverston, died after a link from a chain, spinning at around 300 miles an hour on a petrol strimmer, became detached and struck him on the back of the neck, causing fatal injuries at Ramsden Dock in Barrow on 8 February 2010.
ThreeShires Ltd, which specialises in ecological and forestry work, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation into Mr Robinson’s death found the work had not been planned or carried out safely.
ThreeShires Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to ensure the safety of workers. The company, of Kings Gardens in Grantham, Lincolnshire, was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 in prosecution costs on 12 March 2012.
Read full story here.
Staffordshire family exposed to carbon monoxide
A gas engineer from West Bromwich has been prosecuted after a family of five were taken to hospital following exposure to carbon monoxide.
The two adults and three children aged two, nine and 11 were taken ill on 22 January 2011, Birmingham Magistrates’ Court heard. The family housekeeper was also taken to hospital.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Graham Slater for carrying out gas safety checks at the bungalow in Squirrel Walk, Little Aston, Staffordshire, on 20 February 2009 and 1 July 2010, despite not being fully qualified.
The family all suffered from vomiting and severe headaches and two of the adults who became ill, collapsed after losing consciousness. They were given oxygen therapy by a paramedic and discharged from hospital several hours later.
Graham Slater, of Radway Road, today pleaded guilty to two breaches of Regulation 3(1) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 and was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £3,000 costs.
Read full story here.
Lancaster landlord sentenced for putting lives at risk
A landlord in Lancaster has been sentenced for putting the lives of a family at risk by failing to arrange an annual gas safety check.
Carole McMillan, 57, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after she failed to arrange for a registered engineer to visit a property on Birkdale Close in Scalehill.
Lancaster Magistrates’ Court heard Ms McMillan had been renting the house out to a couple and their two young children, aged five years and nine months old. An investigation was launched on 27 April 2010 when it was discovered that gas appliances at the house had not been checked since 6 February 2009.
Carol McMillan admitted a breach of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 for failing to arrange an annual gas safety check. Ms McMillan, of Hatlex Lane in Hest Bank, Lancaster, was fined £750 and ordered to pay £2,250 in prosecution costs on 13 March 2012.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Window and door manufacturer fined after worker killed
A firm specialising in the manufacture of wooden doors and windows has been fined for safety failings after a worker died at its Leyton premises.
Andrzej Rokita, a 55-year-old Polish national, had been with M M Contracting Ltd for only 10 days when he attempted to help his son, also an employee, to remove a large board from the middle of a pile stacked upright against a wall in the workshop on Midland Road, Leyton.
The company’s usual system for doing this was for one employee to stand in front of the stack, taking the weight of the unwanted boards on his hands, while a fellow worker pulled out the chosen one from the side. Unfortunately as Mr Rokita tried to support the weight of the leaning wooden panels they toppled over, crushing him and causing fatal head injuries.
M M Contracting Ltd, of Bedford Road, London E17 4PX, had pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 at an earlier hearing. The company was fined £26,000 and ordered to pay £9,000 in costs.
Read full story here.
Futon firm prosecuted after worker falls through fragile roof light
A Tottenham Hale futon manufacturer has been prosecuted after a worker fell through a fragile roof light during poorly-managed maintenance work.
The Futon Limited employee, who does not wish to be identified, fractured his spinal column and suffered a collapsed lung as a result of the fall at the company’s Cannon Factory, on Ashley Road, on 9 October 2009.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard today (14 March) that the employee accessed the factory roof to clear leaves from a roof valley using a man-riding cage mounted on a forklift truck.
He had only moved a couple of feet from the edge of the roof when he stepped onto a plastic roof light that gave way. He fell approximately 6.5metres to the warehouse floor after hitting fluorescent roof lighting on the way down.
Futon Limited 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 £6,000 and ordered to pay £14,635 in costs.
Read full story here.
Huddersfield firm fined for safety breach
A West Yorkshire manufacturing firm has been fined after an engineer lost part of a finger while test running an unguarded power press.
Metal Closures (Huddersfield) Ltd was prosecuted after James Hill, a development engineer, was injured while helping to run and de-bug a new production line incorporating two power presses.
Dewsbury Magistrates’ Court heard Mr Hill joined the team in mid-August 2010 to help resolve a number of teething problems. Although it was still at a development stage, the press line was already being used to produce up to 20,000 caps a day for whisky bottle tubes for a new business customer.
During the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution the court was told that on 24 August, the second press was tripping out regularly because of mis-feeds of partly formed caps being transferred from the first press. At one point the fault occurred again and the press tripped out causing it to come to rest with the clutch disengaged but with the flywheel still running.
The engineer went over to the unguarded press and pulled the crushed caps out of the machine tools with pliers and then inserted his hand into the mechanism to discover what was causing the mis-feeds.
At the same time, a technical manager had gone to the production line. He did not see the engineer crouched by the press and went over to the control panel to reset a number of buttons. The press started up again catching the Mr Hill’s right index finger in the tools and severing it just below the second knuckle.
Metal Closures (Huddersfield) Ltd, of Tandem Industrial Estate, Wakefield Road, Huddersfield, admitted breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay £1,795 in costs.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Worker’s fall leads to fine
A partner in a Leicester food company has been fined after an employee fell around two metres while unloading a shipping container attached to the back of an HGV.
Jaisukh Chandarana asked an 18-year-old worker to unload barrels, stored in layers with plywood separating each layer, from the container at Simtom Food Products factory in Merry Lees.
The teenage worker, who has asked not to be identified, was lifted on a pallet on a fork lift truck to climb onto a stack of pallets near the container doors. From there he entered the container and dragged the barrels onto the pallet held at height by the fork lift.
Leicester Magistrates’ Court was told that while stepping from one pallet to another, the man fell around two metres, resulting in severe bruising to his abdomen and sprains to his shoulder and wrist. As a result he was off work for a several weeks.
Mr Chandarana, 57, of Hastings Road, Kirby Muxloe, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £7,500 with costs of £1,380.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
