Welcome to HSE prosecutions in brief. A selection of the latest prosecutions by the HSE. Where possible, links are provided to relevant British Standards, guidance and publications.
 |
| [relatedPosts title=”Related Posts”] |
|
|
Morecambe landlord in court over gas safety risk
A property landlord has appeared in court after he failed to arrange for annual gas safety checks to be carried out at three flats in Morecambe.
Sean Powell was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for offences at properties on Balmoral Road and Clarendon Road between September 2009 and October 2010.
Lancaster Magistrates’ Court was told on Friday (28 September) that it is a legal requirement for landlords to arrange annual gas safety checks to reduce the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning or gas leaks.
However, London-based Mr Powell, 44, failed to make sure checks were carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer at three flats, putting the lives of his tenants at risk.
Mr Powell pleaded guilty to three breaches of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 by failing to arrange annual gas safety checks.
Mr Powell, of Cleveland Gardens in Bayswater, London, was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £1,424 in prosecution costs.
Wiltshire man jailed for fraud and illegal gas work
A Salisbury man has been jailed for two-and-a-half years for falsely claiming to be qualified to carry out work on gas appliances at a string of properties in Wiltshire.
Plumber Simon Dale was jointly prosecuted by The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Wiltshire Council’s trading standards after his deception came to light.
Salisbury Crown Court heard on Friday (28 September) that Mr Dale, aged 39, was registered as a plumber under the CORGI scheme, now the Gas Safe Register, but not as a gas engineer.
A HSE investigation found that working under the company name Cathedral Plumbing Services, he carried out work on combination gas central heating and water boilers at six properties across the county between November 2007 and October 2009. He was not registered to do that work.
During Wiltshire Council Trading Standards’ investigations, Mr Dale, who also traded under the company name Wiltshire Plumbing & Heating Ltd, was found to have misled customers on 13 occasions between October 2007 and December 2010 regarding his professional accreditation.
Whilst quoting for boiler installations he committed fraud by making verbal statements to customers claiming to be CORGI registered or qualified to do gas work. He used official logos on paperwork and his work van giving the impression that he was approved by CORGI and the Oil Firing Technical Association (OFTEC).
On one occasion he claimed to be Part P qualified to undertake and self-certify electrical work. On all of these occasions he was not appropriately qualified or registered to undertake the work and never had been.
Mr Dale, of Walworth Road, Andover, Hampshire (latest Court listing), pleaded guilty to six offences under section 33(1)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for breaching Regulation 3(1) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.
He also pleaded guilty to 10 offences of fraud by misrepresentation, breaching Section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006, and a further three breaches of Regulation 12 and Schedule 1 Paragraph 4 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, for engaging in unfair commercial practice.
He was sentenced to serve eighteen months in prison for eight of the fraud offences and a further twelve months for the gas safety and unfair trading offences, to run concurrently. For the two additional fraud offences, that he committed whilst on bail for the other offences, he was sentenced to a further twelve months to run consecutively. This comes to 30 months in total. No prosecution costs were awarded.
Comments from the HSE and Council.
Brewer fined for ignoring safety warning
A microbrewery has been sentenced for failing to take sufficient action to prevent unsafe work at height and improve manual handling at its Marsh Gibbon production plant.
Oxfordshire Ales Limited was warned in May 2010 that it needed to improve after the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) served an Improvement Notice requiring action to protect workers transferring materials from racking to processing machinery.
A visiting HSE inspector raised concerns about manual handling operations, principally the filling of hoppers with malt and barley, which involved employees lifting heavy sacks weighing up to 25kg in awkward circumstances. The notice required the company to carry out a thorough assessment of the handling risks and to take appropriate action.
Aylesbury Magistrates’ Court heard today (1 October) that HSE revisited the brewery on 8 November 2010 and again on 3 February 2011, but on both occasions little had changed.
Further concerns were also identified with a mezzanine floor that was accessible via inadequate steps. A second Improvement Notice was served in March 2011 to trigger action on this failing before improvements were belatedly made.
Oxfordshire Ales Limited, of Peartree Industrial Units, Bichester Road, Marsh Gibbon, was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £8,623 in costs for breaching Section 21 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The company pleaded guilty to the offences at an earlier hearing.
British standard relating to working at heights.
Firm fined after incorrect machine set up caused injury to worker
An Essex packaging company has been fined for safety failings after a worker suffered a badly bruised hand because the machine he was working on had been incorrectly set up.
The 20-year old worker, who does not wish to be named, suffered serious bruising to his right hand and was off work for 8 days after it was pulled into a machine for making cardboard tubes.
Curran Packaging Company Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for failing to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of its employees following the incident at its East Tilbury factory in June 2011.
Basildon Magistrates’ Court heard today (1 October) that had the machine been set up with a trip switch in the correct position it would have stopped before the operator’s hand was drawn into a danger area.
They also heard that this failure to ensure machinery was adequately guarded wasn’t an isolated incident.
Magistrates were told that there had been another incident four months previously involving another employee who suffered similar injuries. HSE’s investigation found the company had failed to update the risk assessments for its other machines.
Curran Packaging Company Ltd, of Thames Industrial Estate, Princess Margaret Road, East Tilbury, was fined a total of £15,000 after pleading guilty of breaching section 2(1) Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was also ordered to pay £ 4,069 in costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
British standards relating to machine safety.
Cornish firm fined following excavation plunge
A member of the public sustained spinal injuries and a fractured skull after he plunged 15 feet into an open excavation that had been left unprotected by workmen.
The 31-year-old male, who does not want to be named, was visiting the home of a friend in The Terrace, Port Isaac, when the fall occurred on 6 October last year. In addition to injuring his spine and skull, he also burst his eardrum.
The large excavation was in a neighbouring garden and had been dug out as part of a major domestic refurbishment project.
Bodmin Magistrates’ Court heard today (3 October) that HML Builders Ltd, of Wadebridge, was responsible for the work.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the company had not installed any edge protection to stop people falling into the pit, despite the edge of the excavation running along a path directly to the front of a chalet on the neighbouring property.
HML Builders Ltd, of Bess Park Road, Wadebridge, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 31 (2) of the Construction (Design and Mangement) Regulations 2007. The company was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £3,793 in costs.
Builder paralysed after fall from roof
A Lincolnshire farming business has been fined after a building contractor was left paralysed when he fell through a barn roof.
Paul Blanchard was contracted by Loates Bros Limited to replace damaged roof panels and skylights on barns at Northorpe Grange and Southorpe Farm in Blyton.
He carried out the work at Northorpe Grange without any problems, but the following day, 18 July 2010, he fell more than four metres through a fragile skylight at Southorpe Farm shortly after climbing onto the barn roof.
Mr Blanchard, 56, of Gainsborough, broke his back, 18 ribs and suffered severe head injuries and a punctured lung. He was in an induced coma for three months and in hospital for six months. He now needs a wheelchair after being left paralysed from the chest down.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into the incident found that Loates Bros Limited failed to assess Mr Blanchard’s suitability for the job and allowed work to be carried out in an unsafe manner.
Work was allowed to go ahead without the contractor providing a risk assessment or method statement; there was no safe means of roof access and no protective measures were in place to prevent or mitigate the effects of a fall at either location.
Lincoln Magistrates’ Court was told today (3 October) that the work at Northorpe Grange was assisted by one of the company directors lifting the panels up to the roof on a telescopic handler. Mr Blanchard and another man then slid them down and into place.
At Southorpe Farm, Mr Blanchard accessed the roof by using a staircase and climbing through a window in an adjacent building. The director again helped him lift equipment using the same telescopic handler before leaving Mr Blanchard to get on with the work.
Loates Bros Limited pleaded guilty to two breaches of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act, was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £14,995.
Comments from Mr Blanchard and the HSE.
British standard relating to working at heights.
Health & Safety DVDs Available on theEHP
Food supplier fined after neglecting worker safety
A national fruit and vegetable wholesaler has been sentenced for safety failings after a worker lost the tip of her finger at a processing plant in Hayes.
TCK Fresh Produce Ltd, of Amersham, Buckinghamshire, was today (3 October) prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as a result of the incident at its premises on Printing House Lane on 30 October 2010.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard that a 46 year-old worker from Hounslow, who does not want to be named, was using a vegetable slicing machine when it became blocked.
She pressed a stop button and opened a side panel to gain access to a conveyor that took vegetables to the cutting head. As she reached in to clear the blockage, the still-rotating cutting blade caught her right index finger and sliced off the tip to the base of her nail.
The worker’s finger is permanently disfigured, although she has since returned to work.
The court was told HSE served an immediate prohibition notice on the firm preventing use of the slicer until effective guarding was installed.
Magistrates heard that HSE had served numerous notices on TCK Fresh Produce along with several written advice letters and verbal guidance. Five prohibition notices for poor machine guarding were served in 2003, 2006 and 2007. The notice served after the 2010 incident was the sixth.
TCK Fresh Produce Ltd of Anglo House, Bell Lane Office Village, Amersham, was fined a total of £6,000 and ordered to pay £7,500 in costs after pleading guilty to two breaches of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
British standards relating to machine safety.
Essex truck firm in court over life-changing injuries
An Essex firm has been prosecuted after one of its employees suffered life-changing injuries when he fell from a stepladder while spray-painting a lorry.
The 51-year-old man from Latchingdon, who has asked not to be named, shattered his left shoulder and collar bone, broke several ribs and received a deep cut to his head in the fall at Chelmer Truck Bodies Ltd in Boreham near Chelmsford.
The company was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found that the same employee had fallen off a stepladder just one month before the incident, but no action had been taken to improve safety at the site on Boreham Industrial Estate.
Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court head today (3 October) that the worker had been painting the lorry on 27 January 2012 when one of the feet on the stepladder slipped down a grill in the concrete floor.
He fell approximately two metres and suffered serious injuries. He is still unable to return to work nearly six months on from the incident, and suffers considerable pain due to the injury to his shoulder.
The court was told the company should have provided employees with a safe working platform rather than stepladders to carry out the work, as they were working at height for several hours at a time.
Chelmer Truck Bodies Ltd was found guilty of a breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 by failing to make sure that work at height was carried out safely.
The company, which went into voluntary liquidation in April 2012, was fined £7,500 and ordered to pay costs of £4,923 as well as a £15 victim surcharge.
Photo and comments from the HSE.
Excavator driver sentenced after worker severely injured on first day
A Nottinghamshire demolition company and one of its employees have appeared in court after a worker suffered severe injuries when he was hit by a falling excavator bucket on his first day on site.
Labourer James Wilson, of Misterton, was working for Bloom Plant Ltd on a demolition site on Kilton Road, Worksop, on 10 January 2011.
Excavator driver Paul Batty, who was also employed by Bloom Plant Ltd, was re-attaching the four tonne excavator bucket to the boom of his machine when it fell and slid down a pile of rubble, landing on Mr Wilson and leaving him with major crush injuries.
Mr Wilson, who was 46 when the incident happened lost his left eye and part of his scalp. He also broke his eye socket, cheekbone, jaw, nose, left collarbone, several ribs and his left leg He also punctured a lung and severed the nerves on his bottom lip.
Mr Wilson was in a coma for two weeks and had to have a tracheotomy to help him breathe. He also needed extensive reconstructive surgery. He is still undergoing surgery, has not been able to return to work and is unlikely to for the foreseeable future.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Bloom Plant Ltd had no safe systems of work in place and had not given Mr Wilson adequate information, instruction, training or supervision including adequate warnings of the hazards involved when working around plant.
Mansfield Magistrates’ Court was told today (3 October) that employees should have been excluded from the area while the bucket was being re-attached and a safety pin used to secure it in place. During its investigation HSE found Mr Batty failed to take either of these preventative measures.
Paul Nathan Batty, of Grange Road, Ordsall, Retford, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 7(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to take reasonable care of the health and safety of others. He was sentenced to 250 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay a £200 contribution towards costs.
Bloom Plant Ltd, of Askham Road, East Markham, Newark, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc act 1974 by failing to provide and maintain safe systems of work and to provide adequate information, instruction, training or supervision. The case was committed to Crown Court for sentencing at a later date.
Firm fined after worker run over by digger
A construction company has been fined after a worker suffered multiple injuries when he was run over by a seven tonne digger in Mansfield.
Michael Tomlinson, from Birmingham, suffered multiple injuries including a ruptured bladder, and fractured wrist, in the incident at a construction site on Jubilee Way South, on 8 November 2010.
Mansfield Magistrates’ Court heard today (3 October) that he was working as a groundworker for Birmingham-based Parkstone Construction Ltd to prepare the foundations for a supermarket.
A reversing digger struck Mr Tomlinson after the driver failed to notice him behind the vehicle. He took the full impact of the tracks as they knocked him to the ground and crushed him underneath.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Parkstone Construction Ltd had failed to ensure that workers were safely segregated from moving vehicles while work was being carried out.
The company, of Stonebridge Road, Coleshill, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £15,000 with costs of £6,447.
Solvent company prosecuted for decanting failures
A Doncaster solvent company has been fined after an unsafe decanting operation caused a huge fire that engulfed its Harworth base.
Employees were transferring highly flammable toluene from a bulk container into a smaller drum ahead of the incident at Solvents With Safety Ltd at Plumtree Farm Industrial Estate on 16 June 2010.
They were attempting to fill the drum using a pipe from the container, however the pipe they used was too short. It meant dropping the liquid from the pipe into the drum, a process called ‘splash filling’ that is known to generate static electricity – a potential ignition source.
Doncaster Magistrates’ Court heard (3 October) that the flash point of toluene is just 4 degrees. So on a “hot” June evening when the process took place, the toluene would have a flammable vapour over its surface.
The build up of static electricity in the drum is thought to have ignited the vapour and sparked a fire that quickly took hold and spread to other containers of flammable and dangerous solvent mixtures at the site, some of which exploded.
Seven workers were present at the time, but all managed to escape unharmed after a quick-thinking supervisor ordered them to evacuate the site and called the emergency services. The initial blaze was described as escalating to a raging inferno within minutes.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the ‘splash fill’ method was wholly inappropriate and posed a clear risk that wasn’t properly assessed.
Worker safety was further compromised by the fact that the pipe used to fill the container wasn’t earthed, and because the personal protective equipment worn by the workers wasn’t anti-static and was therefore unsuitable.
The court also heard that HSE had twice written to Solvents With Safety, in May 2006 and December 2007, to warn of the dangers of splash filling containers.
The company pleaded guilty to breaching Reg 6(1) of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 and was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £6,860 in costs.
Photos and comments from the HSE.
Demolition contractor fined for unsafe work at height
A self-employed demolition contractor has been fined after members of the public reported workers operating unsafely at roof height during the demolition of a Derbyshire pub.
Colin Rogers, 59, of Andrews Drive, Langley Mill, trading as Central Demolition & Salvage Specialists, was the principal contractor at the former Jolly Colliers pub on Jessop Street, Ripley, in May 2011.
Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court was told that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) received complaints from three different members of the public, one of whom took photographs of some of the unsafe work taking place at the site. They showed workers on the roof of the two-storey building without any measures to prevent them from falling.
As a result, HSE gave Mr Rogers advice on safe working at height. However, during a follow-up visit to the site on 19 May, Inspectors saw unsafe practices still taking place, including one worker throwing timber from the edge of the building at roof level with no safety measures to stop a fall.
Two Prohibition Notices were served by HSE preventing any further work until a suitable demolition plan was adopted and adequate fall prevention measures introduced.
The court fined Mr Rogers £2,500 and ordered him to pay costs of £2,500 after he admitted breaching Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Photo and comments from the HSE.
Building contractor to pay £548,000 following death of worker
A building contractor was today ordered to pay a total of £548,000 after a worker fell through a roof while working on the construction of the Menai Centre in Bangor, Wales.
Thomas Whitmarsh, 21, of Batley in West Yorkshire, was employed by a roofing contractor working for principal contractor, Watkin Jones & Son Ltd, on the roof of the shopping centre on 29 May 2007. He fell nearly six metres through an unguarded opening in the roof to the floor below, sustaining serious head injuries.
He spent several months in hospital and was making a gradual recovery. However, the brain injury Mr Whitmarsh suffered exposed him to a much higher degree of infection. He contracted acute meningitis and died on 17 December 2009.
Evidence presented to Mold Crown Court included a pathologist’s findings which suggested that there was more than an 80 per cent chance that the injuries from the fall contributed to his death.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Watkin Jones & Son Ltd for failing to ensure Mr Whitmarsh’s safety while at work.
The court was told today (4 Oct) that edge protection around the opening in the roof had been removed prior to the incident, and the company had failed to provide an alternative means to protect against falls.
The company, which is based at Llandygai Industrial Estate in Bangor, was found guilty of breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It was fined £450,000 and ordered to pay £98,000 in costs.
Builder faces jail over toddler’s death
A Welsh builder has been sentenced to two years in prison after being convicted of gross negligence manslaughter in the case of a three-year-old girl who was killed when a substandard wall collapsed on top of her.
Builder George Collier was found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter today at Mold Crown Court in a case brought by the Crown Prosecution Service. His company, Parcol Developments Ltd, pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 at an earlier hearing.
The court heard that Collier was doing construction work outside a house in Ffordd Penrhwylfa, Meliden in Prestatyn on 26 July 2008 when three-year-old Meg Burgess and her mother, Lindsay Burgess, were walking in front of it on a public footpath.
An investigation by North Wales Police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the wall had recently been built and had been backfilled by Collier shortly before it collapsed, killing Meg, who was walking behind her mother.
The wall was acting as a retaining wall but had not been designed or constructed for this purpose and fell under the weight of the earth stacked up against it.
George Collier, 49, of Llys Glan yr Afon, Kinmel Bay pleaded not guilty to charges of gross negligence manslaughter December 2011. His company, Parcol Developments – of the same address – pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 at the same time. No additional penalty was given to the company.
