Welcome to HSE prosecutions in brief. An overview of this weeks prosecutions by the HSE.
Firms fined £130,000 after worker’s electric shock
Two companies, a director and a sub-contractor have been fined a total of £130,000 for health and safety failings after a construction worker suffered serious burns following an electric shock from an overhead power cable.
Farm owner C and P Bird Brothers Ltd, admitted breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for which it was fined £20,000 and Regulation 21(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 for which it was fined £20,000. It was ordered to pay £5,500 costs.
Peter Bird, a director of C & P Bird Brothers Ltd admitted breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £5,000 with £2,500 costs.
The company which designed and manufactured the steel frame, Morspan Construction Limited of 21 Gold Tops, Newport, Gwent, was also the main contractor and admitted breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc for which it was fined £30,000; and Regulation 19(1)(c) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 for which it was fined £30,000. In addition the company was ordered to pay £5,250 costs.
Self employed steel erector and sub-contractor on the project Michael Skayman of Edenside Drive, Attleborough, Norfolk, also admitted breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc and was fined £25,000 plus £4,750 costs.
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Company fined after scaffold collapse
A Surrey-based company has been fined £7,500 after a large section of scaffolding collapsed at a site in Walton-on-Thames.
Johnson Scaffold Services Ltd, of Chaldon in Surrey, pleaded guilty of breaching Section 2(1) and Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. It was fined £7,500 and ordered to pay costs of £7,000.
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Ex-serviceman’s arm severed at Hull recycling site
A Hull man, who returned unscathed from active service with the Army in Bosnia, was maimed for life at work as a ‘civvy’ back home, a court has heard.
Ray Wright, 34, had his right forearm severed in a baling machine incident while working at the Transwaste Recycling site at Hessle Dock in April 2009.
Transwaste Recycling and Aggregates Ltd., of Melton Waste Park, Gibson Lane, Melton, East Yorkshire, was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £6,408 costs after admitting a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations.
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Family firm prosecuted after fatal roof fall
A family firm from Norfolk renting out business units has been fined £1,500 after a company director died after falling through a fragile roof at one of its properties.
Allenbrooks Developments Ltd from Allenbrooks Way, Wymondham, Norfolk pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £1,500 and ordered to pay costs of £2,320.
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Worker cheats death after being dragged through 125mm gap
A worker sustained horrific injuries but miraculously escaped with his life after being dragged through a gap no wider than a CD case on a poorly guarded processing machine in Barnsley.
Compass Engineering Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 in relation to the incident. Kaltenbach Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 6(1)(a) of the same legislation. Magistrates have remitted the case to Sheffield Crown Court for sentencing.
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Sentences after worker killed in 12 metre fall
Energy giant, RWE npower and contractor AMEC Group Ltd must pay a total of £510,000 after a maintenance worker fell to his death at a South Wales power station.
The firms were sentenced over the incident that saw agency worker Christopher Booker from St Athan, fall around 12 metres through an unprotected opening in a platform at Aberthaw Power Station in the Vale of Glamorgan on the evening of Sunday 10th June 2007.
RWE npower Plc, of Windmill Hill Business Park, Whitehill Way, Swindon, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Today at Cardiff Crown Court, they were fined £250,000 and ordered to pay £30,000 costs.
The principal contractors, AMEC Group Ltd, of Booths Park, Chelford Road, Knutsford, Cheshire, pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 11(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. They were fined £200,000 with costs of £30,000.
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Refurbishment firm fined over asbestos exposure
A refurbishment company who exposed two of its workers to dangerous asbestos-containing materials at a site in Oswestry has been fined £10,000.
John Todd Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 costs.
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