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”] |
|
|
Firm prosecuted after worker loses leg at nuclear site
A building maintenance firm has been sentenced after one of its employees lost a leg when he was run over by a cherry picker at a nuclear site in Cumbria.
Ken Brown was escorting the vehicle on foot when it struck him at the Windscale site in Seascale on 5 May 2011.
His employer, Johnson Controls Ltd, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found there had not been a safe system of work for the task, and relevant training had not been provided.
Carlisle Crown Court heard the 62-year-old from Distington had been standing close to the front of the cherry picker to direct it along a one-way road at the site when it ran over his left leg.
Mr Brown was taken to hospital where doctors had to amputate his leg above the knee.
The HSE investigation found that Mr Brown and other staff at Johnson Controls had escorted cherry pickers on foot several times a month, for at least 14 months, prior to him being injured.
The only advice the company gave to its employees when directing cherry pickers was to wear a high visibility waistcoat. No specific training was provided for the task.
Johnson Controls Ltd, part of a global organisation which employs more than 160,000 people, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to ensure the safety of employees.
The company, of Waterberry Drive, Waterlooville, Hampshire, was fined £65,000 and ordered to pay £8,162 in prosecution costs on 8 October 2012.
Contractors failed to alert workers to presence of asbestos
A Wokingham business has been fined for safety failings after two subcontractors were unwittingly exposed to asbestos fibres at Reading University.
Gardner Mechanical Services Ltd had been contracted to undertake a mechanical services upgrade in a room at the university. They subcontracted the project to a Newbury-based company, who in turn subcontracted two self-employed men, Andrew Lloyd and Steve Taylor, to do the work.
Reading Magistrates court heard today (8 October) that on 2 September 2009 the two men drilled through a sprayed asbestos ceiling coating. They had not been made aware that asbestos was in the room and thought all asbestos material had been removed by specialist contractors prior to their work starting.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that as the principal contractor Gardner Mechanical Services was aware that some asbestos-containing materials were to be left on the site. However, they failed to relay this information to the subcontractors in a reliable way.
Gardner Mechanical Services Ltd, of Grovelands Avenue Workshops, Winnersh, Wokingham, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 and Regulation 23(1)(a) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. The firm was fined a total of £28,000 and ordered to pay £22,631 in costs.
Walsall health trust fined over patient death
Walsall Hospital NHS Trust has been ordered to pay almost £107,000 in fines and costs after a pensioner died following a fall from a first floor window at Walsall Manor Hospital.
Harry Riley, 71, from Walsall, sustained multiple injuries in the incident on 18 January 2009, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard today (9 October).
Mr Riley, who had been admitted to the hospital’s initial assessment unit suffering from a mini-stroke, disconnected himself from his drip during the night and climbed onto a stool and then a table to open a window.
He fell out of the window and died the following morning from his injuries, which included collapsed lungs, a fractured pelvis and rib fractures.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Walsall Hospital NHS Trust after an investigation found the hospital had failed to install a restrictor on the window to limit the opening of the upper sash to ten centimetres.
HSE found the trust had failed to carry out a proper risk assessment, despite a safety alert from the Department of Health to all hospitals in 2007 following a number of incidents involving patients falling from upper floor windows.
This alert recommended reviewing all window restrictors and assessing the potential risks of unrestricted windows. It also reminded hospitals that patients were vulnerable people and NHS organisations had a duty of care to protect them.
Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust, of Cavell Close, Town Wharf, Walsall, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 3(1)(b) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 in relation to the incident. The trust was fined £80,000 and ordered to pay £26,917 in costs.
Health & Safety Manual & CD Rom From £59.49
Firm fined after granite slabs topple onto workers
A Bournemouth company has been fined after two workers were crushed by granite slabs they were trying to move.
Chris Thurston, 34, from Poole, cut his neck, broke his leg and damaged veins in the incident at Modular Granite Ltd, on Durrant Road, on 12 April last year. Gary Avery, 24, also from Poole, suffered bruising on his leg and compact nerve syndrome in his foot.
Bournemouth Magistrates Court heard today that they were part of a four-strong team moving granite slabs stacked on an A-frame. Mr Thurston, an agency worker, and Mr Avery, an employee, took the weight of approximately four slabs while the other workers tried to remove the slab they needed.
At this point the slabs came crashing down on the pair causing the injuries. Mr Thurston has been unable to return to physical work since the incident and has undergone a number of operations.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Modular Granite failed to provide proper training to the workers on safe ways of removing the slabs or ensuring they could not topple over.
The company, of Durrant Road, Bournemouth, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Magistrates imposed a fine £3,000 and ordered the company to pay £6,898 in costs.
Recycling company fined after injury on Croydon site
A recycling company has been ordered to pay a £20,000 fine by the end of the week for safety failings on a waste transfer site in Croydon after an overseas student on shift work fell four metres through a chute.
Mr Priyank Malik, 22, from India, a Business Studies student at Westminster Academy who was living in Uxbridge, was working part-time on the waste site to support himself through a post-graduate diploma.
He was injured when he fell through a chute into a waste-storage bay at the Country Waste Management site on Beddington Lane, Croydon on 15 April 2011.
Although Mr Malik suffered only minor injuries, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which investigated, said that Country Waste Management failed to put measures in place to protect their employees and others working at height.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard today (10 Oct) that One51 Recycling ES UK (South) Limited, trading as Country Waste Management, had received advice in 2010 from HSE about its responsibility to control the risks of working at height.
After Mr Malik’s incident, HSE inspectors served an Improvement Notice on the company requiring it to take sufficient measures to safeguard workers from falls from height.
Inspectors say that if the company had applied a risk-based approach, identifying hazards, assessing risks and implementing robust controls to protect employees and others at the site, Mr Malik’s accident could have been avoided and others at the site would not have been exposed to the risk of injury from falls.
One51 Recycling ES UK (South) Limited, of the Future Industrial Services Limited, Image Park, Acornfield Road, Kirby, Merseyside, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The firm was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £6,485 in costs by the end of the week.
Accident Reporting Books from £3.50
Suffolk firm fined after worker’s arm severed by conveyor
A Suffolk-based animal feed manufacturer has been fined after a worker lost his arm when it became entangled in a conveyor.
Christopher Brennan, 35, from Norwich, was attempting to clear a blockage on a conveyor at the Burston Mill site of BOCM Pauls Ltd, when his right arm became entangled and was severed just below the elbow. Since the incident on 20 September 2011 he has been unable to work.
Norwich Magistrates’ Court heard today (11 October) that BOCM Pauls Ltd had failed to provide a safe system of work for production staff to clear blockages on conveyors and there were no guards to prevent access to the unblocking hatch.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the company after its investigation found that blockages happened regularly but there were inadequate methods for clearing them. In addition isolators for the conveyors’ power supply were located out of reach with no safe means to access them.
BOCM Pauls Ltd, of 3-5 Alton Business Centre, Valley Lane, Wherstead, Ipswich, Suffolk, was fined a total of £20,000 and £9,716 costs after pleading guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was also ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge.
Health & Safety DVDs Available from The Health & Safety Group
From £56.99
Safety failings by steel firm led to worker’s death
A South Yorkshire firm has been ordered to pay £142,000 in fines and costs for serious safety breaches after a worker died when he was crushed by a one and a half tonne steel girder.
Steelworker John Mott, 47, who had worked in the steel industry since leaving school, received fatal injuries in the incident at the Bespoke Precast plant in Whaley Road, Barnsley, on 30 March 2009.
Sheffield Crown Court heard Mr Mott was moving an overhead travelling crane from an area of the factory where it had been supporting the eight and a half metre long girder.
The court was told that as he did this, a clamp attached to the crane hook snagged on the girder causing it to topple and fall, crushing Mr Mott against the floor.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation showed the overhead travelling crane used to support steel girders during fabrication work was frequently needed elsewhere in the factory to carry out heavy lifting operations. It was common practice, therefore, for workers to move the crane to other areas.
Bespoke Precast Ltd, registered at Bardon Hall, Copt Oak Road, Markfield, Leicestershire, was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £42,471 costs after pleading guilty breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The firm no longer operates from the Whaley Road site in Barnsley.
Photo & comments from the HSE.
Leigh cardboard company in court over crush injuries
A Leigh cardboard box manufacturer has appeared in court after one of its employees almost lost his right arm when it became trapped in a machine.
The 26-year-old from Leigh, who has asked not to be named, was trying to retrieve a piece of card to clear a blockage when his arm was dragged under a roller, causing severe crush injuries.
His employer, Leighton Packaging Ltd, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident at the factory, at Leigh Commerce Park on Greenfold Way, on 7 October last year.
Trafford Magistrates’ Court was told today (12 October) that doctors feared the employee could have lost his arm due to the extent of his injuries. He still has difficulty using his arm, and the injury is likely to affect him for the rest of his life.
A HSE investigation found the guards on the machine were inadequate and that employees regularly removed blockages without power first being cut.
The company failed to have a suitable system of work in place for the removal of blockages, and there was little supervision of how workers dealt with jams.
Leighton Packaging admitted breaching the Management of Health and Safety Regulations 1999 and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. It was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £2,717 in prosecution costs.
Worker fined after unstable lorry topples over and injures worker
A worker unloading scaffold materials from a flatbed lorry was thrown from the vehicle and hit by its load of boards and tubes when it overturned a court was told today (12 October).
Martin Sapec, 54, of Edwardsville, Treharris suffered a broken pelvis and ankle in the incident at Bryntirion, Mountain Ash, on 15 August 2011.
Pontypridd Magistrates heard that Mr Sapec was helping delivery driver Wayne Ford to unload the scaffolding material while standing on the back of the lorry. The vehicle was fitted with a crane operated by Mr Ford, who failed to extend a stabilising outrigger from the vehicle designed to provide balance while the crane is in operation.
Because the crane was used without the extended outrigger, the lorry became unstable and tipped over, throwing Mr Sapec off. As he landed, some of the scaffold boards and tubes from the lorry fell on top of him.
Mr Sapec has been unable to work since the incident because of his injuries.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Wayne Ford was responsible for the lorry, and was at fault for not using the crane and extending outrigger in the correct, safe manner.
Mr Ford, of Shingrig Road, Nelson, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 7(a) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. He was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £1,000 in costs.
Photo & comments from the HSE.
Somerset firm fined after worker crushed under bales
A worker had his lower body crushed when a stack of bales, each weighting a quarter of a tonne, collapsed on him as he sorted waste in a processing shed in Somerset.
Aleksandras Fomenkouas, 40, who lived in Bridgwater at the time, suffered serious injuries in the incident on 8 September 2011 while working at the recycling and processing yard of Cannington Enterprises Ltd.
Taunton Magistrates heard today (12 October) that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated and brought a prosecution against Cannington Enterprises Ltd for its failure to ensure his safety.
The court was told that Mr Fomenkouas was sorting plastic waste in the yard for use in the company’s anaerobic digester, while another employee nearby was moving plastic carton bales with a forklift truck. Shortly after a bale was removed, the stack became unstable and collapsed on top of Mr Fomenkouas, knocking him to the ground and crushing the lower half of his body.
Cannington Enterprises Ltd of Swang Farm, Cannington, Bridgwater pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £7,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,614.
Photo & comments from the HSE.
