Welcome to HSE prosecutions in brief. An overview of this weeks prosecutions by the HSE.
Pitmachie garage worker fatally injured
A Pitmachie garage has been fined after one of its workers was fatally injured when a metal oil drum he was working on exploded.
Mr Massie was using a plasma cutter to remove the lid from the drum. As the blade started to cut through the metal, it generated a shower of sparks which ignited the flammable vapours inside the drum. The drum exploded, causing the lid to strike Mr Massie on the head, knocking him unconscious.
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He was airlifted to hospital with multiple head injuries which were unsurvivable and he died the following morning.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that the cutting operation had not been properly risk assessed by Pitmachie Garage Ltd. The drum had not been completely emptied of waste engine oil, and this would have been contaminated with petrol, causing the drum to be filled with petrol vapours.
At Banff Sheriff Court today (6 September 2011) Pitmachie Garage Ltd, of Benview, Pitmachie, Old Rayne, Insch, Aberdeenshire pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Etc Act 1974 and was fined £15,000.
Read full story here.
Two Sheffield companies in court over worker’s injury
Two Sheffield firms have been fined after a worker fell through a fragile rooflight while removing asbestos at the city’s now-demolished college.
Mr Nikitas Coulson, 40, from Middlesbrough, broke his arm after falling three and a half metres from a flat roof to the ground below. He needed surgery to insert a plate into his arm following the incident at the former Sheffield College in April last year.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted both Mr Coulson’s employer, Lilquest Asbestos Management, and the principal contractor for the project, JF Finnegan Ltd, who were responsible for access to the roof.
Magistrates fined JF Finnegan, of Ecclesall Road, £15,000 with £5,179.90 costs for failing to provide suitable protection for any fragile surfaces on the roof under the Work at Height Regulations 2005. Lilquest, of Hoyland Road, were fined £3,000 with £2,000 costs for the same offence. Both companies pleaded guilty.
Read full story here.
Company fined after scaffolding collapse at wedding
A Surrey-based company has been fined after the floor of a marquee collapsed just as 150 guests sat down to enjoy a wedding breakfast.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Block Scaffolding Limited over a scaffold collapse that saw the false floor drop more than four feet at the wedding venue in Newbury.
West Berkshire Magistrates’ Court heard the bridal couple had organised for scaffolding to be erected to counteract the slope of the lawn and keep the marquee floor level, at West Woodhay House.
Block Scaffolding Limited of Myrtle Drive, Blackwater, Camberley, Surrey, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,370.
Read full story here.
Council in court over workers exposed to asbestos
Solihull Supplies Ltd, of Lodge Road, Knowle, was contracted by Birmingham City Council to refurbish the reception area at William Cowper Community Primary School, Newtown, Birmingham.
Solihull Supplies then sub-contracted another firm to remove ceiling tiles at the school without carrying out a proper risk assessment.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the tiles contained brown asbestos and the work lasted several hours, exposing both workers and the school caretaker to asbestos. Also, rather than use a cleaner with a specialised filter, an ordinary vacuum cleaner was used which would have spread fibres into the air.
HSE told the court the subcontracted firm did not have a licence to undertake work with asbestos, had no knowledge of how to deal with asbestos and had given its employees no training in dealing with this dangerous substance.
Birmingham City Council, of Victoria Square, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £1,091 costs.
Solihull Supplies Ltd, of Lodge Road, Knowle, Solihull, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(1)(a) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 and was fined £1,750 and ordered to pay £1,091 costs.
Read full story here.
Somerset employer prosecuted after teenage employee loses fingers
A Somerset man has been prosecuted after an 18-year-old employee lost four fingers while working on a milling machine.
The court heard apprentice machinist Kyle, who worked with lathes, grinding and milling machines, was changing a cutter on a milling machine when he inadvertently switched the machine on while the cutter was still in his hand.
Half an index finger, most of his middle finger, and both his ring and little finger of his left hand were severed during the incident. Surgery to re-attach the fingers was unsuccessful.
HSE told the court the system of work for changing cutters was not safe and risks from operating the milling machine and changing cutters had not been adequately assessed.
The HSE investigation also found there was insufficient guarding around the machine to protect body parts during its operation. There were no interlocks and the start buttons were not covered, which would have prevented inadvertent activation during setting up and maintenance.
Nigel Ashley of Lower Horton, Ilminister, pleaded guilty to Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,376.40
Read full story here.
Asbestos exposure leads to fine
A Grantham building contractor and a local authority have been fined after a spread of asbestos during bathroom renovation work at a flat in the town.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) brought the prosecution after workers from Belton Developments disturbed asbestos at the property in Kinoulton Court, owned by South Kesteven District Council (SKDC), on 30 March 2010 while converting a bathroom into a wet room.
The workers removed asbestos insulation board from around the bath and then carried it through the flat and communal areas of the housing complex in an open wheelbarrow before loading it into an open-topped van.
The dangerous work was spotted by an asbestos surveyor working on behalf of the council in the flat above. He was aware that many of the flats in the complex contained asbestos and stopped the men working. A licensed asbestos contractor was brought in to decontaminate the area and carry out air clearance tests.
South Kesteven District Council pleaded guilty to breaching regulations 4(1)(a) and 10(1)(b) of the Construction Design and Management Regulations 2007. They were fined a total of £16,600 and ordered to pay costs of £3,486.
Trevor Hague, of South Hycombe Road, Albourne, Lincolnshire, his son Neil Hague, of Holmfield Avenue, Arnold, Nottingham, and David Couth, of West Willoughby, Grantham, each pleaded guilty to breaching regulations 10(1)(a) and 16 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006. They were fined a total of £3,003 and ordered to pay costs of £900.
Read full story here.
Langford mushroom firm fined after worker’s arm crushed
A Langford mushroom farm worker’s arm was broken in two places when he was dragged into a net cleaning machine, a court in North Somerset has heard.
Krysztof Moskalik, 32, from Poland, was using the machine for the first time while working for Drimbawn (UK) Ltd, part of the Monaghan Mushrooms Group, when the incident occurred on 18 November 2010.
Mr Moskalik was using a specialist washing machine to clean the nets used to cover the mushroom beds at the farm. The nets were fed through the machine to be washed, but the clamping mechanism which held them in place as they went in was ineffective.
HSE discovered safety devices were deliberately removed to allow workers to hold the nets in place by hand as the machine was running, with the safety cover open. This practice had become customary at the farm.
Using the same method as his colleagues, Mr Moskalik guided the net into the machine but within moments his hand got entangled in the dangerous moving part and his arm was dragged into the rotating mechanisms. He suffered a double break to his arm and extensive soft tissue damage.
Drimbawn (UK) Ltd of Stock Lane, Langford, North Somerset, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 9 (1) and 11 (1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and was fined £32,000 with £3,624.59 in costs.
Read full story here.
West Yorkshire firm fined over worker injury
One of Huddersfield’s oldest firms has been fined for breaching safety laws after a worker’s fingers were partly severed by an unguarded block saw.
Shaw Pallet Ltd of Slaithwaite was prosecuted over the incident that saw a wood machine operator, who has asked not to be named, spend four days in hospital leading up to Christmas 2009 and needed to undergo skin grafts to heal his wounds.
the worker was on a late shift at the timber packaging company’s Bridge Street site. He noticed sawdust leaking from two holes in a chute below the block saw. When he tried to tape over them his fingers got caught by the machine and the ends of two were severed.
Shaw Pallet Ltd of Bridge Street, Slaithwaite, admitted breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to ensure that plant and systems of work were safe for employees. The firm was fined £7,500 and ordered to pay £2,410 in costs.
Read full story here.
Man fined after worker injured on Huddersfield site
A worker was left with permanent damage to his arm after being told by his site manager to use a heavy-duty core drill by hand on a construction site in Huddersfield.
The 32-year-old worker, from Rochdale, Lancashire, was instructed by site manager Matthew Saville to remove a 34 kilogram, one-metre high, diamond core drill from its stand and hand-hold it to tackle a job. The drill’s instructions specifically prohibited hand-held use.
As it was in use, the rotating core of the drill snagged on the blockwork and the body of the drill, which was being held, began to rotate and the man was spun round dangerously. He suffered a double compound fracture to his right arm and cuts to his head. He was in hospital for 12 days, had three operations on his arm and now has plates inserted permanently.
Mr Saville, who pleaded guilty to breaching the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007, was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £2,388 in costs.
Read full story here.
Liverpool dock workers injured in high voltage shock
A crane maintenance firm has been sentenced after two dock workers suffered injuries in a high voltage electric shock at the Seaforth Container Terminal in Liverpool.
One of the men was temporarily blinded and both were burned in the 6,600 volt surge after climbing up a dockside crane to check the electricity supply on 12 March 2008.
Their employer, Carrylift Materials Handling Ltd, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation revealed the workers wrongly believed that just 415 volts were running through a junction box on a crane platform six metres above the ground.
Liverpool Magistrates’ Court heard that Lee McFadden, a maintenance worker at the site, was asked to look at the crane to investigate why there had been a power failure.
The 33 year old from Aintree, Liverpool, decided he needed the assistance of an electrician to fix the fault and climbed back up on the crane platform with three electricians. All four men thought that it was a low voltage crane, similar to the one next to it, and had not been given any information or diagrams that said otherwise.
After undoing the bolts on the junction box, Mr McFadden used his low-voltage multimeter to test the electricity supply. There was an immediate flash and bang, causing him to be blinded for approximately 15 seconds.
Mr McFadden sustained severe burns to his face and hands, and was permanently scarred as a result. One of the electricians also suffered minor burns to his face.
Carrylift Materials Handling Ltd admitted three breaches of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989. The company, of Peel Road in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £14,568 in prosecution costs on 8 September 2011.
Read full story here.
Company fined after man dies in machine incident
A Manchester-based company has been fined after a night shift worker died when he was trapped in a machine at a factory in Berkshire.
Mitesh Prashar, 24, of Slough, was operating an automatic inspection machine, which quality checks rolls of rubber and cloth printing blanket before sending to customers. The blanket moves through the machine from one reel to another via a photographic unit, checking the fabric for flaws.
Though nobody witnessed the incident, at about 2am on 15 January 2008 colleagues heard Mr Prashar cry out. His body was subsequently found with his left arm, shoulder, head and torso trapped between the rubberised blanket and the roller. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The HSE investigation found the company had not assessed the hazards of using the machine and it had not been checked after modification. Inspectors also found there was no guarding to prevent access to the dangerous parts of the machine and Duco International Ltd had failed to give adequate information, instruction or training to employees using the machine.
Duco International Limited, of Varn House, Northbank Industrial Park, Irlam, Manchester, pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and regulation 3(1)(a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The firm was fined £200,000 and ordered to pay costs of £43,352.
Read full story here.
Derby firm fined for unsafe roof work
Two roofers were caught working on a Swadlincote roof without any safety equipment, a court heard.
Derby Magistrates’ Court today fined contractors Aquacoat Ltd after the men were seen risking their lives on the roof of the house in Oldfield Drive, Swadlincote on 15 June 2010.
Passing Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors noticed the men using no safety equipment to prevent falls whilst cleaning the roof of the property. This unsafe system of work risked injury to the roofers themselves and the homeowner.
Aquacoat Ltd of Pride Park, Derby, were found guilty of breaching sections 4(1) and 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. It was fined £10,000 with £4,177.65 costs.
Read full story here.
NE Lincs firm in court after roofers caught on camera
A Brigg firm has been prosecuted after two of its staff were caught working unsafely on a seven metre high roof by two passing Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors.
The two roofers were seen carrying out repairs at a building on Lancaster Approach, Immingham, as HSE inspectors were investigating an unrelated case. The inspectors were shocked by the obvious dangers and stopped to take photographs and to issue a prohibition notice to immediately stop the roof repair work.
Brigg and Humberside Roofing Services Ltd., of Westrum Lane, Brigg, North Lincolnshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. They were fined £5,000 with £1,887 in costs.
Read full story here.
