Welcome to HSE prosecutions in brief. An overview of this weeks prosecutions by the HSE.
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Company fined after worker’s finger amputated
A modular building company has been fined after a worker was left with permanent injuries when a lifting operation went wrong.
Banksman John Hughes, of Newark, was working in an outdoor yard of Caledonian Building Systems Ltd at Carlton-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, on 20 February 2009.
He was helping a fork lift truck driver to raise an 11-tonne modular building unit off some blocks and a wheeled axle, on to a lorry, but the unstable load started to rock. Mr Hughes put his right hand on to the wooden block, to move it out of the way, but one end of the unit came down on his fingers.
His index finger was crushed and had to be amputated at the knuckle, however eighteen months later after continuing problems it was completely removed. His middle finger was also damaged. Mr Hughes was off work for twelve weeks in total before returning to work.
A HSE investigation found the lifting operation was disorganised and the employees involved were not provided with clear information or instructions. It was unclear who was supposed to participate in the operation, what their role was, which equipment would be used and whether the unit would be moved elsewhere or simply vertically lifted.
Caledonian Building Systems Ltd, of Glendale Gryfe Road, Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 8(1)(c) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 and Regulation 3(1)(a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Nottingham Magistrates fined the firm £15,000 and ordered it to pay costs of £7,328.
Read full story here.
Scottish salmon farming company fined after worker drowns
A salmon farming company has been fined £70,000 after a worker drowned in Loch Heather, on the Isle of Lewis.
Peter Kenneth Duce, aged 61 years, drowned on 26 February 2008, when the boat he and four colleagues were using to inspect fish cages filled with water and capsized.
An investigation by the HSE found that risk assessments prepared by West Minch Salmon Ltd for workers travelling to and from the fish cages were not suitable or sufficient and that the company had failed to provide operating instructions for safe use of the boat used for the task.
The court heard that the boat had been overloaded on a regular basis as the manufacturer’s recommendation was that it should carry a maximum of three people.
HSE’s investigation also revealed that although a range of buoyancy equipment had been provided by the company they had failed to issue clear advice and instructions on how to use it causing confusion amongst staff.
At Stornoway Sheriff Court on Wednesday 09 November 2011, West Minch Salmon Limited was fined £70,000 after it pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Read full story here.
Worker’s injuries lead to fine for Nottinghamshire firm
A Nottinghamshire manufacturing company has been fined after a worker suffered severe hand and arm injuries.
A 52-year-old production operative from Heanor, Derbyshire, suffered fractures in two fingers, a twisted knuckle and burns to his forearms after his hands became trapped in a pre-preg machine, a large piece of equipment containing heated rollers.
The incident happened at Amber Composite’s Langley Mill factory on 28 May 2010 when the worker was cleaning the machine as it was still running. One of the rubber gloves he was wearing to carry out the cleaning became caught in the rollers which were heated to around 40 degrees Celsius. His hand was dragged in to the machine and when he tried to free himself, his other hand also became trapped.
He spent a week in hospital having skin grafts and stitches to both forearms and then underwent physiotherapy and twice-weekly hospital visits due to the loss of grip in his hands. He was off work for five months.
A HSE investigation found there was no guarding to prevent access to the moving rollers and the company had failed to carry out a risk assessment for the cleaning of the machine. There was also evidence that the cleaning regularly took place with the rollers still running.
Amber Composites Ltd, of Station Road, Langley Mill, Nottinghamshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 3(1)(a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and Regulation 11 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court fined the company £14,000 and ordered it to pay costs of £3,603.
Read full story here.
Birmingham tradesman fined over asbestos release
A Birmingham handyman has been prosecuted after releasing asbestos fibres while refurbishing a kitchen at a flat in Solihull.
Inspectors from the HSE, found William Rogers, a carpenter and general handyman, had removed partition walls containing asbestos insulating board at the premises in Masons Way, Olton, on 27 January 2011.
Solihull Magistrates’ Court heard Mr Rogers had wrongly assumed he was dealing with asbestos cement, which does not require specialist contractors to remove it, and went ahead with the job. As a result, both he and the tenant, were potentially exposed to asbestos dust.
Mr Rogers spread asbestos debris in the kitchen and on the communal stairs and loaded the removed pieces of asbestos insulating board into his car. By law it should have been disposed of by an approved carrier of asbestos waste.
The incident was discovered when a licensed asbestos removal contractor, who was working elsewhere in the building, spotted pieces of asbestos outside and alerted HSE. The court heard the area and Mr Rogers’ car had to be decontaminated.
William Rogers, of Rowlands Way, Yardley, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 5 and Regulation 11(1)(a) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006. He was fined £600 and ordered to pay £1,799 costs.
Read full story here.
Worker’s injuries lead to suspended sentences for roofers
Two roofers have received suspended sentences after a Derbyshire office worker was injured when a roll of roofing felt crashed through the ceiling of her office.
Kathleen Philipson of Allestree, Derby, was sitting at her desk at offices in Nottingham Road, Ripley, when the metre-long, 37kg roll fell through a roof light and came through the ceiling, hitting her on the shoulder.
She was taken to hospital with injuries to her head, shoulder and left arm and was off work for two weeks following the incident on 22 September 2010.
A HSE investigation found contractor Jason Lunt allowed re-felting work to start on the flat roof before adequate protection had been installed. It meant that as Gregory Wright, a self-employed roofer contracted by Mr Lunt, moved one of around six rolls of roof felt that were stood up on the roof, another one toppled over and fell through an unguarded roof light.
Jason Lunt, 41, of Valley Road, Bloxwich, in the West Midlands, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and Gregory Wright, also 41, of Tewkesbury Road, Bloxwich, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(2) of the same act.
They both received sentences of 18 weeks, suspended for 12 months on the condition that they complete 280 hours of community service. In addition they were both ordered to pay £2,114 costs each by Derby magistrates on the 7th November 2011.
Read full story here.
Shropshire poultry farm prosecuted for worker’s fall
A Shropshire poultry farm has been fined after a worker fractured his pelvis falling nearly three metres from an unguarded platform.
The HSE prosecuted Llynclys Farm Ltd following the incident outside a poultry house at the company’s site at Stoke Heath Farm, Market Drayton, on 20 July 2009.
Shrewsbury Magistrates’ Court heard how the 36-year-old agency worker, was walking on a temporary platform made from stacks of cages to move hens from the poultry house, when he tripped.
He fell nearly three metres from the unprotected platform edge, fracturing his pelvis in two places and also suffering a collapsed lung.
HSE’s investigation into the incident found Llynclys Farm had identified the risk of workers falling from the platform but did not fit any edge protection to it or take any other measures to reduce the risk of falls.
Llynclys Farm Ltd, of The Mill, Morton, Oswestry, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £6,276 costs.
Read full story here.
Firm fined after roofer fall
A roofing firm has been sentenced after one of its employees was injured when he fell from a garage roof in Broughton.
Hawarden Roofing Supplies & Contractors Limited was prosecuted by the HSE following the incident at a domestic property on Madeley Close in Broughton on 13 October 2009.
Mold Magistrates’ Court heard that 23-year-old Mark Cain, from Broughton, was working on the removal and replacement of a garage roof when he fell more than two metres to the ground below.
He suffered whiplash and two broken bones in his lower back, and has been unable to return to work due to persistent back pain.
The court heard the company failed to notify the HSE of the incident and therefore an inspector did not visit the site to ensure work was being carried out in a safe manner.
HSE was eventually made aware of the incident and a subsequent investigation was launched. It found the company had failed to properly plan and supervise work at height activities, and ensure that appropriate measures were in place to control the associated risks.
Hawarden Roofing Supplies & Contractors Limited of 33 Chester Road, Queensferry, Deeside, Flintshire pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. It was fined £3,000. It also pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 3(1)(b) of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 and it was fined £1,000. The defendant was also ordered to pay full costs of £2,500.95
Read full story here.
Chicken company fined after worker fractures back
A Norfolk chicken processing firm has been fined after one of its employees fell from a ladder and broke his back.
Factory worker Peter Sherwood, 61, from Corton near Lowestoft, was carrying cladding boards up an unsecured ladder at Crown Chicken Ltd’s factory in Weybread, Diss, when it slipped from under him and he fell about 2.5 metres to the concrete floor. He suffered broken vertebrae in his lower spine which meant he had to wear a back brace and was off work for six months. He has since returned to work but is only able to carry out light duties.
An investigation by the HSE found that on 24 July 2010, a supervisor at the Crown Chicken factory had allowed Mr Sherwood to help another employee in carrying out a maintenance task, but the work was not adequately planned and the company had not provided information to its staff on how to use ladders safely.
Crown Chicken Ltd admitted breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 at Lowestoft Magistrates’ Court today and was fined £3,500 and ordered to pay costs of £3,000.
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Leading health firm sentenced after worker loses finger
A company making health products has been fined after a worker’s finger was severed in a blending machine at its factory in East Yorkshire.
The employee had been using a ribbon blender to mix product ingredients unaware that a fixed guard underneath the machine had been removed along with a valve that needed a new part.
Bee Health Ltd, which manufactures health and nutrition products and owns several high profile brands, was prosecuted by the HSE after its investigation into the incident at Carnaby Industrial Estate, Bridlington, in March 2010.
Bridlington Magistrates heard another worker had taken the valve off the blender to clean, but found it needed a new part so did not reattach it. While the part was on order the blender continued to be operated but with a plastic bag to collect the product.
Several days later, a third employee was using the blender but was unaware of the missing guard and as he attempted to make a hole in a plastic bag, his fingers were caught in rotating blades. The index finger of his right hand was amputated and he suffered severe cuts and nerve damage to the middle finger.
Bee Health, registered at George Street, Wakefield, pleaded guilty to two safety breaches brought by HSE. They were fined a total of £7,000 and ordered to pay HSE costs of £4,887.65.
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