Welcome to HSE prosecutions in brief. A selection of this weeks prosecutions by the HSE.
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Council fined after failing to manage asbestos at Teesside site
A Suffolk haulage operator has been prosecuted after one of its workers suffered a fractured skull as he tried to recover a 17-tonne abandoned excavator.
A Teesside council has been fined for putting workers at risk of exposure to asbestos during clearance work of premises in Stockton prior to demolition.
Stockton on Tees Borough Council acquired the Music and Drama Club in Buchanan Street and decided to demolish it as part of a regeneration project. A survey was carried out in April 2010 that identified areas that contained asbestos.
Teesside Magistrates’ Court heard today (2 July) that it was usual practice to “clear and strip” buildings prior to demolition. This was carried out by one of the council’s “Care For Your Area” teams over the weekend of 29-31 May 2010.
The eight-strong team removed most of the fixtures and fittings, including doors, seating and a kitchen, and all debris and rubble was swept up, transferred to a refuse vehicle and transported to a landfill site for disposal.
However, when a contractor was appointed to carry out the asbestos removal and demolition of the building in July, it was discovered that the earlier work had disturbed the fabric of the building and some items containing asbestos had already been removed.
A further survey in August 2010 revealed that asbestos had been disturbed or removed in eight areas within the building and the issue was reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in October 2010.
An investigation by HSE found that the council had made a series of serious safety failings. It had had failed to make an assessment of the risk created by the presence of asbestos before the clearance work began. There was a chance the workers could be exposed to asbestos, but no plan of work had been agreed and measures taken to prevent potential exposure were inadequate.
Workers were not told asbestos was present and had received no asbestos awareness training. Also, the council failed to ensure that those organising the work had the necessary competence to do so.
The council also failed to prevent or reduce the spread of asbestos as employees and others working in the building wore their work uniforms and travelled home in them each day. No measures were taken to ensure the safe disposal of debris from the club; it had been put into a refuse vehicle and disposed of as municipal waste.
Stockton on Tees Borough Council, of Municipal Buildings, Church Road, Stockton, was fined a total of £20,000 (£10,000 for each offence) and ordered to pay £5,555.60 costs after it pleaded guilty to two breaches of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
British Standards relating to Asbestos.
Council-owned firm fined after worker receives electric shock
Swindon Commercial Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Swindon Borough Council, has been fined after an agency employee received an electric shock whilst securing fencing at a play area.
The worker, who doesn’t wish to be named, had undertaken work for Swindon Commercial Services for a number of years and was working at the town’s Shaw Ridge Play Park when the incident happened on 23 April 2010.
The worker, who lives in the town, was hitting metal road pins into soft ground in order to secure temporary fencing at the renovation project, when one of the pins he was holding made contact with a high voltage underground electric cable. He suffered burns to his hands and chest.
Swindon Commercial Services, of Cheney Manor Industrial Estate, today pleaded guilty at Swindon Magistrates’ Court to breaching Section 34(3) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 in a prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The company was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,403.
HSE’s investigation found that Swindon Commercial Services failed to plan the work properly. The company did not carry out an appropriate risk assessment and did not refer to plans of underground services from the appropriate utility companies. The company also failed to provide cable avoidance tools to locate and mark and underground services.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Stephan Axt-Simmonds, said:
“This was an incident that could have easily been avoided had the company undertaken the correct planning procedures and provided the right equipment to ensure that they knew the location of any underground utility services before allowing workers to penetrate the ground with metal equipment.”
British standards relating to electrical safety.
Roof fall lands East Yorkshire farm owner in court
An East Yorkshire farm owner has been fined for a serious breach of safety law after a 20-year-old worker suffered severe injuries when he fell 4.5 metres through a roof light.
Daniel Boldan Hoggard was on the roof trying to repair a leak between two adjoining farm buildings at Low Hunsley Farm in Cottingham when he tripped and smashed through one of six rooflights, landing on the concrete floor.
Daniel, now 21, of Shaftesbury Avenue, Goole, punctured a lung and kidney, cracked four vertebrae and had extensive bruising in the incident on 19 July last year. He was in hospital for a week and was unable to work for six weeks. A year on, he is still receiving physiotherapy to ease the longer-term impact of his injuries.
Beverley Magistrates’ Court was told today (3 July) that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the incident and brought a prosecution against farm owner David Adamson.
HSE found Mr Adamson had failed to consider the significant risks involved of working at height and had not put any safeguards or protective controls in place during the roof work.
Magistrates heard Mr Adamson had hired Daniel Boldan Hoggard to help out over the busy summer harvest period and to assist with building repairs and general farm work.
Both men had together made one attempt over several hours to fix the leak on the roof, which sloped from 4.1m to nearly 5m and had six roof lights along its 27m length.
After that failed, Mr Adamson asked Daniel to fit lead flashing where the leaks remained. It was while he was doing this that he tripped, lost his balance and plunged through the roof light on to the concrete below.
David Adamson, of Low Hunsley Farm, Little Weighton, Cottingham, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 9(2) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. He was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £3,893.90 in costs.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
British Standards relating to working at heights.
Council fined after pensioner killed by reversing bin lorry
Bassetlaw District Council has been fined after a member of the public was killed by a reversing bin lorry.
Derrick Baines, 76, of Mellish Road, Langold, Nottinghamshire, was returning home from the shops on his mobility scooter when he was struck by the lorry on 10 July 2008.
Today, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) told Nottingham Crown Court that the lorry, which was on a missed bin collection in Mellish Road, only had a one-man crew and the incident could have been prevented had there been a reversing assistant at the back of the vehicle.
The driver was only aware something was wrong when he noticed shopping spilling into the road behind him. He stopped the lorry and found Mr Baines trapped underneath who suffered multiple injuries and died later in hospital.
After the hearing HSE inspector David Butter said:
“If the council had staffed the refuse collection lorry appropriately then Mr Baines would probably still be alive today. Very large vehicles such as this have a number of blind spots and it was impractical to expect a lone driver to reverse safely without the aid of a colleague walking behind to check the path was clear.
“These lorries are fitted with flashing lights and a reversing warning system but the council needed to take into consideration that system was not adequate and another worker should have been present and could have prevented this needless loss of life.”
Bassetlaw District Council, of Potter Street, Worksop, pleaded guilty breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Today Nottingham Crown Court fined the council £25,000 and ordered it to pay costs of £12,987.
Worker’s injury leads to court case for firm
A North Yorkshire firm has been fined after a worker became trapped by the head and neck in a packaging machine at its factory in Whitley Bridge, near Selby.
Cromar Building Products Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for safety failings after it investigated the incident on 16 February last year.
Selby Magistrates Court heard (3 July) that Mr Glyn Addison was working on a packaging machine when a wrapping unit developed a fault that stopped it from correctly sealing polythene around rolls of roof felt on a production line.
Mr Addison squeezed past a table where the finished rolls were discharged and reached under the roll conveyor to free some packaging film from the machine. As he did, a ram pushing the rolls of felt on to the packaging machine moved forward and trapped him by the head and neck against the frame of the conveyor.
The court heard Mr Addison was quickly freed by a colleague who prised away the ram. However, he suffered nerve damage to his neck and shoulder area and has not returned to work since.
HSE discovered that the wrapping machine often blocked and operatives regularly accessed the machine by walking between gaps down either side of the discharge table.
It found that Cromar Building Products had failed to ensure that the machine could be effectively isolated so employees were unable to access dangerous moving parts. There was also no safe system of work for employees to follow.
Cromar Building Products Ltd of The Maltings Industrial Estate, Whitley Bridge, pleaded guilty to a single breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act l974. The company was fined £2,750 and ordered to pay £3,039 in costs.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
British Standards relating to machine safety.
Company sentenced for storage failings after worker is killed by stone slabs
An Essex granite manufacturer has been sentenced for safety failings after a worker was crushed to death by stone slabs weighing three tonnes.
Martin Rice, 57, was unloading a delivery of manufactured stone and placing it on storage A-frames in a warehouse when the incident occurred at The Stone Company UK Ltd, on Sandford Mill Lane, Great Baddow, near Chelmsford, on 28 April 2009.
As he lowered a bundle of 11 slabs, weighing approximately three tonnes; the bundle fell over and crushed him against the wall of the building. The father-of-four died of his injuries at the scene.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard yesterday (3 July) that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the death and found that The Stone Company had operated an unsafe system of work for handling and storing stone slabs.
The A-frames in use were poorly sited and as such were inappropriate within the confines of the warehouse.
The Stone Company UK Ltd, of Manor Farm, Sanford Mill Lane, Great Baddow, pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £40,000.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
British standards relating to risk management.
Illegal gas fitter prosecuted for endangering lives
An illegal gas fitter has been prosecuted for endangering lives by undertaking potentially lethal work at a property in Colchester.
Kevin Cook, 55, trading as Team Electric, installed a gas fire at a house in Rowhedge, Colchester, in August 2010, although he was not registered to undertake gas work and had no experience of this.
Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard today that Mr Cook had been undertaking general building work to the property. He then installed the gas fire despite not being a Gas Safe Registered engineer, but was seen by the householders. When questioned he told them a registered engineer had put the gas pipe in and he was just assembling the fire.
A few months after installation the residents noticed the pilot light wasn’t working and asked a Gas Safe Registered engineer to service the fire. He classed it immediately dangerous and disconnected the gas supply. The fire had not been installed in accordance with the manufacturers’ instructions and the flue had not been connected to the fire, risking carbon monoxide poisoning and potential fatal consequences.
Mr Cook, trading as Team Electric, now temporarily living at Waterville Mews in Colchester, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and Regulations 3(3) and 27(1) of the Gas Safety Installation and Use Regulations 1998. He was fined £7,000 and ordered to pay £1,753 in costs for the Regulation 3(3) breach. No penalties were imposed for the other charges.
In addition Mr Cook was ordered to pay compensation of £1,644 to the householders.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Bacon curing firm fined after worker’s fingers severed
A Walsall bacon curing company has been fined after an employee lost three fingers while operating machinery.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted John Cox Cold Stores and Distribution Services Ltd, trading as Midland Bacon Company, after Daniel Wilfred severed three fingers when his hand became trapped in a packaging machine.
Wolverhampton Crown Court heard today that Mr Wilfred, aged 20, from Walsall, was walking through the company’s curing department on 23 December 2009 when he saw bacon joint packs falling to the floor from the cutting unit.
In an attempt to prevent this, he stood to the side of the conveyor, leaned over and put his left hand into the cutting unit.
However, the machine was still switched on and Mr Wilfred’s hand became trapped between the machine and the cutting blades, resulting in the loss of three fingers up to the first joint.
The firm, based at Leamore Lane, Bloxwich, pleaded guilty to contravening Regulation 11 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £31,000 costs.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Eve-Marie Edwards said:
“This incident was entirely preventable. The company had failed to prevent access to dangerous parts of the machinery which led directly to Mr Wilfred’s injuries.
“Lessons need to be learned by employers, to ensure that potentially dangerous machinery is suitably guarded and that their workers are aware of the risks involved when working with these machines.”
British Standards relating to machine safety.
Warehouse workers could have been killed
Three Wirral employees could have been killed if they had fallen while carrying out work to a warehouse roof in Birkenhead, a court has heard.
The men were seen repairing the leaking roof, up to 16 metres above the ground, without harnesses or any suitable safety measures to stop them falling or to prevent them from being injured if they fell.
Their employer, Davidson Williams (Merseyside) Ltd, was prosecuted after a concerned member of the public sent photos of the unsafe work to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Wirral Magistrates’ Court was told today (5 July 2012) that HSE found there were around 400 clear plastic panels on the roof, designed to let in light, which could have broken away if they had been stepped on.
Two of the men were initially seen walking along the sloping warehouse roof at Vittoria Dock on 24 November 2011 to check it for leaks, before all three went onto the roof to carry out the repairs.
The court heard the workers wore hard hats and high-visibility jackets, but that neither of those items would have saved their lives if they had fallen through one of the fragile panels or off the edge of the roof.
Davidson Williams (Merseyside) Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 by failing to take measures to prevent workers being injured in a fall.
The company, of Corporation Road in Birkenhead, was fined £3,500 and ordered to pay £1,500 towards the cost of the prosecution.
Photo and comments from the HSE through the link.
British Standards relating to working at heights.
Cheshire manufacturer fined over severed finger
A Cheshire firm which makes large steel containers has been sentenced after one of its employees lost part of a finger at a factory in Ellesmere Port.
The 55-year-old man, who has asked not to be named, was trying to remove debris from the chains under a rotating table when his hand was pulled into the mechanism.
His employer, Greif UK Ltd, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following an investigation into the incident at the factory on Oil Sites Road on 23 September 2011.
Chester Magistrates’ Court was told today (5 July 2012) that the worker had been cleaning a rotating table, which holds the steel container lids in place while they are spray painted, when the glove on his right hand became caught. The incident resulted in him losing the tip of his index finger.
The court heard there were no guards under the rotating table to prevent access to the chains while they were moving. The company has since installed fencing and a gate around the machine, which causes it to stop operating if the gate is opened.
Greif UK Ltd admitted a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 by failing to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery. The company was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £3,699 in costs.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
British Standards relating to machine safety.
Care company fined for resident’s fatal fall at Buckfastleigh home
A nursing home failed to ensure the safety of an elderly, blind, wheelchair-bound resident who died after falling down a flight of stairs.
Patrick Foale, 75, lived at the Redmount Nursing Home in Buckfastleigh, Devon, when the incident happened on 1 November 2010.
Mr Foale, who was diabetic, fell down the stairs in his wheelchair when he accessed a staircase after a fire door had been left open. He suffered serious face and head injuries and died the next day in Torbay Hospital.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) brought the prosecution against Your Health Ltd, the Derbyshire-based owners of the home after investigating the incident. It found the company had failed in its duty to provide a safe environment for him.
The court heard that Mr Foale, a resident since February 2001 and formerly of Totnes, spent much of his time in his own room on the first floor of the nursing home in Old Totnes Road.
He was capable of moving himself in his wheelchair and was able to move freely around the home, using the passenger lift to go outside for a cigarette at regular intervals throughout the day. However, the nursing home was aware Mr Foale had deteriorating eyesight and had been suffering periods of disorientation
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector, Georgina Speake, said:
“Mr Foale was clearly a vulnerable resident. Your Health Ltd failed to carry out a suitable risk assessment for him, neglected to make provision for Mr Foale’s deteriorating eyesight, which had been identified in his care plan notes, and did not act on his apparent disorientation.
The fire door to the stairwell was regularly left open, which should not have happened at all, and the obvious risk this posed to Mr Foale should have been identified.
This tragic incident could have been prevented and shows the vital importance of properly identifying and acting on foreseeable risks for elderly and disabled residents.”
Your Health Ltd, of Holford Court, Hearthcote Road, Swadlincote, Derbyshire was found guilty of breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The company was fined £110,000 and ordered to pay £26,226 in costs.
Stockport firm in court after employee severs fingers
A Stockport engineering firm has been prosecuted after one of its employees lost four fingers on his left hand when they were crushed in machinery.
The 62-year-old from Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire, who has asked not to be named, had been using a power press to cut electrical components from a thin strip of steel when his hand became caught between the unguarded cutting tools.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the machine guards had been disconnected and tied back several days before the incident to allow easy access. This meant that operators could put their hands under the tools to remove components without the power first being cut.
The injured worker’s employer, Hayles Pressings Ltd, admitted three health and safety offences when it appeared before Trafford Magistrates’ Court following the incident at its factory on Mottram Street in Stockport on 24 November 2010.
The court was told the most likely explanation for the worker’s injuries is that he accidently leant on the foot pedal which operated the press while his hand was under the cutting tools. He lost all of the fingers on his left hand including the knuckles and, despite several operations and skin grafts, still has very little use of his hand.
Hayles Pressings Ltd pleaded guilty to three breaches of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 by not providing adequate training to employees, not checking guards were in place, and not preventing access to dangerous parts of the machine.
The company, of Market Street in Hyde, was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £2,500 towards the cost of the prosecution on 6 July 2012.
Photo and comments from the HSE through the link.
British Standards relating to machine safety.
Also see BS OHSAS 18001:2007 Occupational health and safety management systems. Requirements
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