Welcome to HSE prosecutions in brief. An overview of this weeks prosecutions by the HSE.
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Workers exposed to asbestos at Redditch industrial unit
A Redditch freight firm, its managing director and a Birmingham contractor have been prosecuted for putting at least 20 people at risk of lung disease from asbestos fibres.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Avon Freight Group Ltd (AFG) and its managing director Simon Poole, together with builder Ronald McPhee, over the exposure during work to convert the unit in Hemming Road, Redditch, into a new storage centre and headquarters for AFG.
AFG’s architect commissioned a survey that identified asbestos insulation board in a number of partition walls, which the company wanted to demolish, and obtained estimates for its removal from three licensed contractors.
However, Worcester Crown Court heard Simon Poole instructed builder Ronald MacPhee, who was carrying out minor refurbishment work on the premises, to carry out the work even though he did not have a licence.
Mr MacPhee and two other workers removed almost 1.5 tonnes of asbestos insulation board from the site and disposed of it as asbestos cement, which can be removed without a licence, some time between 24 April and 16 May 2008.
Five months later, two other companies, who had been commissioned to demolish parts of the building and build an extension, discovered pieces of asbestos insulation board on the floor and still attached to retaining screws on the walls and alerted HSE.
Analysis of the area revealed that it was contaminated with asbestos fibres and required decontamination by a specialist licensed asbestos contractor.
HSE’s investigation into the incident found that at least 20 people – including contract workers on the project, employees of AFG and workers for a tenant who had been using the site for storage, could have inhaled asbestos fibres during the five months.
Avon Freight Group Ltd, of Hemming Road, Redditch, pleaded guilty today to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £26,147 costs.
Simon Poole, of Streetly Lane, Sutton Coldfield, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £26,147 costs.
Ronald MacPhee, of West Avenue, Handsworth Wood, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £500 costs.
Full story through the link.
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Fife company fined after lathe crushes worker’s leg
A Fife engineering company has been fined £10,000 after a lathe weighing more than a tonne toppled onto a worker’s leg.
Craig Stewart, 21, worked for AG Brown Ltd, a metal fabrication company which specialises in making stairs and other metal products for the oil and gas industries and general construction industry.
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard that on 26 May 2010, Mr Stewart was working with a colleague to move a 1.2 tonne lathe from a workshop on Cavendish Way, Glenrothes, to one of the company’s other workshops on Rutherford Road, Glenrothes.
Mr Stewart and his colleague decided to lift the lathe using a lifting eye and a fabric sling hooked over the forks of a fork lift truck. However, the doorway of the workshop was not high enough to move the fork lift truck through it with the forks raised. To overcome this problem, Mr Stewart and his colleague decided to use the fork lift truck to move the lathe as close as possible to the doorway. This would then allow them to lower the lathe onto three skates to move it outside before re-attaching it to the forklift truck for it to be moved to the other workshop.
As his colleague lowered the lathe onto the skates, Mr Stewart noticed that the skate at the heavier chuck end of the lathe was not aligned properly. Mr Stewart crouched down to straighten the skate, but as he did this, the unsecured lathe fell over onto Mr Stewart, crushing his right leg.
He suffered a broken leg and needed surgery to insert a pin the length of his shin. Although he expects to make a full recovery, he has been left with scarring where the pin was inserted. He also needed weekly physiotherapy sessions following the incident and had to give up playing football due to the pain it caused in his leg.
At Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, AG Brown Ltd of George Square, Castle Brae, Dunfermline, Fife, was fined £10,000 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Read full story through the link.
Gust of wind blows worker off top of shipping container
A food manufacturing firm has been fined after a worker was blown off the top of a shipping container while moving corrugated metal sheets.
Barry Walton, 64, from Taunton, was an employee of Vion Foods UK Ltd and was working at their food processing plant in Wiveliscombe when the incident happened on 10 February 2010.
Taunton Magistrates’ Court heard that Mr Walton was standing on top of the shipping container lifting the metal sheets from a forklift onto the roof when a gust of wind knocked him off the edge. He fell more than two-and-a-half metres to the ground, breaking his ribs and damaging muscles in his leg and shoulder. He was off work for seven weeks.
A Health and Safety Executive investigation into the incident found that Vion Foods UK Ltd had failed to plan the work properly. They had not carried out a risk assessment or ensured that a safe system of work was in place to prevent a fall. In addition, although the work was being supervised by another employee, he had not had adequate training for working at height.
Vion Foods UK Ltd, of Livingstone, Scotland, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Etc. Act 1974 and were fined £12,000 and £4,400 in costs.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Llanelli construction firm fined over worker’s injury
A Llanelli construction firm has been fined after a worker suffered serious injuries when he was hit by a concrete beam.
The employee, from Carmarthen, was working with a colleague for W A Bowler Ltd on the installation of a beam and block floor at Hillside Care Home in the Uplands area of Swansea on 10 March 2010.
The man, who does not want to be named, was at one end of a 174 kilogram beam, and his co-worker was at the other end. They were using lifting straps to manually hoist the beam into position when the colleague accidentally let go of one end of the beam, causing it to fall downwards and hit the concrete beneath.
The see-saw effect created caused the end of the five-metre long beam he was holding to hit him in the groin and throw him upwards. He suffered a hairline fracture to his pelvis and paralysis to the nerve endings in his left leg.
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecutors told Swansea Crown Court W A Bowler Ltd had been contracted by another firm to carry out work at the site.
The court was told that the defendant did not provide suitable equipment for the job to be done safely, which resulted in his employees undertaking potentially dangerous manual handling works.
W A Bowler Limited of Highmead House, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992. It was fined £3, 000 with costs of £4, 847.35.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
