Welcome to HSE prosecutions in brief. An overview of this weeks prosecutions by the HSE.
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Worker suffers multiple fractures at international paper firm
An international supplier of paper and packaging has been fined after an employee suffered breaks to his arm and ribs in machinery at a Lincolnshire factory.
The 27-year-old man, who does not wish to be named, was being trained to use a re-winder – a rotating spool that winds corrugated cardboard packaging into a roll – at DS Smith Packaging’s plant at Windsor Road, Louth, when the incident happened on 9 June 2010.
A second member of staff was showing the employee how to attach the cardboard to the spool when his fingers became trapped. The second man, unaware of what had happened, then started the machine which threw the employee over the top.
He broke his right arm in several places and fractured his ribs. He was off work for a year and now has pins and plates in his arm. He has since returned to work for the company.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found there was no safe system of work in place and the incident could have been easily prevented.
DS Smith Packaging Ltd, of Lower Cookham Road, Maidenhead, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Today, Lincoln Crown Court fined the firm £50,000 and ordered it to pay costs of £8,244.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Failure to identify asbestos put workers at risk
A Cardiff company has been fined for putting the health of demolition workers at risk after a building survey failed to identify the presence of asbestos.
Between 15 and 25 January 2010 PHH Environmental (UK) Ltd was commissioned to produce an asbestos survey on the soon to be demolished Old Castle Cinema in Merthyr Tydfil.
Merthyr Tydfil Magistrates’ Court heard that PHH’s client relied on this survey to help its demolition company plan the work. But once demolition was underway, workers discovered asbestos and found they had disturbed it.
PHH Environmental (UK) Limited, of Titan House, Cardiff Bay Business Centre, Lewis Road, Cardiff, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was today fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,000.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Council fined after worker loses arm in wood chipper
Durham County Council has been prosecuted for safety failings after a grounds-man’s arm was severed in a wood chipper machine.
The 25-year-old council worker, from Ferryhill, who does not wish to be named, was cutting back bushes near Atherton Close, Spennymoor when the incident occurred on 4 August 2009.
The court heard, he was feeding the trimmings from the bushes into a mobile power-fed wood chipper when his glove or sleeve became caught pulling his left arm into the machine. Colleagues were able to shut off the power but his arm had been severed at the shoulder.
He was airlifted to The James Cook University Hospital but surgeons could only treat the shoulder wound and were unable to save any part of his arm. He has found life extremely difficult since the incident and continues to suffer both mentally and physically.
Victoria Wise, prosecuting on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), told Darlington Magistrates’ Court that an investigation had found that either the injured worker’s gloves or his high-visibility vest had become entangled in the trimmings he was feeding into the wood chipper.
This was a well-documented hazard but the risk assessment carried out by Durham County Council had failed to take it into consideration. It also failed to follow published guidance on the control measures required when using wood chippers.
Durham County Council, of County Hall, Durham was fined £13,000 and ordered to pay £8,212.50 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Two Leeds firms in court over worker’s crush injuries
A construction worker had both legs broken when a 22-tonne excavator reversed over him on a building site in Leeds, a court has heard.
The 58-year-old man from Barnsley, suffered severe crush injuries when the excavator backed into him as he erected boundary fencing on a Tinshill building site on 30 June 2008.
The man’s employer, Jack Lunn (Construction) Ltd of Pudsey and building contractor Fastsource Ltd of Hunslet were prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) over the incident.
Leeds Magistrates’ Court heard the worker was sent to the Bedford Garth site to carry out preparatory work such as fencing and setting up site cabins.
On the day of the incident, a Fastsource employee was operating the excavator along the site access road. The driver was aware other workers were on site and a Fastsource colleague had been told to act as banksman, the person who safely directs the movement of the excavator and any workers nearby.
As the injured worker was fixing a fencing panel, the excavator drove past him toward the site entrance. He then heard the excavator reversing back down the driveway.
As he was wearing a high-visibility vest and the excavator driver had passed him only moments before, the man believed he was in no danger. He also believed the site manager and banksman knew of his position as they were both at the site entrance and could see down the access road.
However, the court heard despite this the excavator hit the worker as it reversed, causing him to fall and the machine ran over his legs just below the knee.
Jack Lunn (Construction) Ltd of Progress House, Bradford Road, Pudsey, Leeds pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £8,000 with £6,338.50 in costs.
Fastsource Ltd of Pepper Road, Hunslet, Leeds, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the same Act and was also fined £8,000 with £6,338.50 in costs.
Full story through the link.
Contracting firm and director fined after worker receives electric shock
A Hertfordshire contracting company and its managing director have been prosecuted for safety failings after a worker received an electric shock from a live junction box during poorly planned maintenance work in London.
Polish national Krzysztof Jabczanik was hospitalised in an induced coma as a result of the incident at a storage company on St Leonards Road, North Acton, on 4 August 2010. He also received serious burns to his left hand and suffered memory loss.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard yesterday (7 March) that his employer Fras Contractors Limited, managed by Adam Fras, could and should have done more to protect the worker as he attempted to repair an external flood light.
The Health and Safety Executive presented evidence that the routine job was flawed in a number of ways.
Adam Fras pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 14 of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 in relation to the incident following the HSE investigation. He was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £1,000 in costs.
Fras Contractors Limited, of Station Road, Smallford, St Albans, pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. It was fined £1,500 with costs of £1,000.
Full story through the link.
Wells cathedral school fined after loft hatch fall
Wells Cathedral School has been fined after one of its employees fell two and half metres through a loft hatch, breaking a shoulder blade and hitting her head.
South Somerset and Mendip Magistrates’ Court heard that on 29 July 2011, the member of school staff, who asked not to be named, had gone into an attic space next to her office to help a colleague folding storage boxes.
The attic had two access points, a door on the same level in the bursary, and another via a ladder in the library leading to a ceiling hatch. On turning to leave the attic, the injured worker inadvertently stepped onto the hatch, which gave way, causing her to fall to the library below.
During the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution, the court was told the injured woman’s colleague had earlier been warned by a school facilities officer not to stand on the loft hatch as he felt it would not take a person’s weight. The court heard though the injured worker had heard him warn her colleague about the hatch, she did not take in the information, as she had not planned to go into the attic at the time.
The HSE investigation into the incident found although the school had recognised there was a risk of falling through the hatch, no risk assessment had been carried out for working in the loft and no measures were in place to prevent members of staff from stepping onto the loft hatch.
Wells Cathedral School Ltd, of The Liberty, Wells, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £7,700 and £2,172 in costs.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Poor construction site management lands firm in court
An Edgware-based construction company and its director have been fined after carrying out unsafe demolition and construction work at a house in Surrey.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Laxmi Developments Ltd and its director, Vijay Madhaparia, of Tavistock Road, Edgware, for failing to comply with a Prohibition Notice (PN), failing to provide adequate safety protection for employees and failing to carry out an asbestos survey on a property before demolition.
Redhill Magistrates’ Court heard that during a visit to a building site at Mellow Close, Banstead, on 23 June 2011, an HSE inspector was confronted with such poor standards, he consequently served a PN and three Improvement Notices on the firm.
The PN was issued as the inspector found workers knocking down the house at first floor level with no edge protection to prevent falls. Though aware of the requirement for scaffolding and edge protection, Mr Madhaparia had instructed workers to go ahead with the demolition without these measures in place.
The three Improvement Notices were served to ensure sufficient demolition planning was carried out, to improve the welfare facilities on the site and to ensure the site supervisor was competent to carry out the works.
Laxmi Developments Ltd, of Tavistock Road, Edgware, London, pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) and section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety etc at Work Act 1974 and Regulation 5 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006. The firm was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay the full costs of £11,930.
Vijay Madhaparia, of Tavistock Road, Edgware, London, pleaded guilty to breaching section 37(1) of the Health and Safety etc. at Work Act by virtue of breaching section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety etc. at Work Act 1974 and Regulation 5 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 and Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act. He was fined £1,500 and disqualified from acting as a company director for three years.
Read full story here.
Factory fall leads to prosecution for Lincolnshire company
A Lincolnshire food manufacturer has been fined after a worker fell from a breadcrumb-making machine.
The 39-year-old maintenance technician from Gainsborough had climbed onto the machine at Kerry Ingredients (UK) Ltd in Carr Lane, to install a lifting beam across the top of the large vessel in order to hoist out the motor for repair.
As he leaned over the machine to tighten screws to hold the beam in place, he slipped, falling nearly three metres between the machine and the wall.
The worker, who has asked not to be named, suffered fractured ribs and a bruised coccyx in the incident, which happened on 31 March 2010. He was off work for around three weeks.
Kerry Ingredients (UK) Ltd, trading as Kerry Ingredients and Flavours, of Great Park Road, Bradley Stoke, Bristol, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. Today, Lincoln magistrates fined the firm £4,500 and ordered it to pay costs of £5,210.
Read full story here.
Nestle fined £180,000 after safety failures led to worker’s death
A Halifax man was killed at a Nestle factory in the town because the company failed to implement basic safety measures, Bradford Crown Court was told today.
Father of three Nazar Hussain died at food giant Nestle’s Albion Mill plant in Bailey Hall Road in December 2008 after a colleague re-started a conveyor-type machine, known as a depalletiser, unaware that Mr Hussain was inside.
During the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution, the court heard that Mr Hussain, 55, of Pear Street, may have gone into the depalletiser to remove a blockage as earlier in the day some large sweet tins had jammed the machine, causing the alarm to sound.
Later that day, the machine’s alarm sounded again and Mr Hussain’s co-worker, who had been covering his break, went to investigate. Being a large machine, he walked around it to check no one was inside. Seeing no one he re-started it but immediately it shuddered, stopped and the alarm re-sounded.
Mr Hussain’s crouched body was discovered inside the machine. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Nestle UK Ltd, of St George’s House, Croydon, pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. They were fined £180,000 and ordered to pay £41,826.33 in costs.
Read full story here.
Bedding firm in court after worker’s fingers severed
A Liverpool bedding firm has been prosecuted after one of its employees had three fingers and a thumb cut off in machinery.
The 32-year-old from near Kirkdale, who has asked not to be named, was trying to stop a quilt becoming entangled in a duvet-making machine when the fingers and thumb on her right hand were struck by a blade.
Her employer, Downland Bedding Company Ltd, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found the injured worker had not been given suitable training, and had been able to access a dangerous part of the machine when it was still operating.
Downland Bedding Company Ltd, which manufactures duvets, pillows and mattress protectors, pleaded guilty to a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was fined £7,000 and ordered to pay £5,876 in prosecution costs on 9 March 2012.
Read full story here.
