Welcome to HSE prosecutions in brief. An overview of this weeks prosecutions by the HSE.
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Demolition firm sentenced over asbestos danger
A demolition firm has been sentenced after knocking down a building in the Lake District containing hundreds of asbestos ceiling tiles, putting the lives of workers and local residents at risk.
IBT Contracting Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after carrying out the work at a former photography factory in Staveley near Kendal during August and September 2011, despite not having a licence to remove asbestos.
Kendal Magistrates’ Court heard IBT had been given a survey by the owners of the site ahead of the work taking place, which stated that the building contained 166 square metres of asbestos ceiling tiles.
But the company failed to arrange for a licensed contractor to remove the tiles safely, and instead released deadly asbestos fibres into the air during the building’s demolition.
IBT Contracting pleaded guilty to three breaches of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006, for removing asbestos without a licence, exposing workers to asbestos fibres, and allowing the fibres to spread to neighbouring areas.
The company, of Barton Lane in Barton near Preston, was fined £10,800 and ordered to pay £3,638.95 in prosecution costs on 20 March.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Company failed surveyor killed by reversing lorry
A leading engineering and construction company has been fined £250,000 for safety failings after a surveyor was killed by a reversing lorry during work to widen the M25 near Dartford.
Richard Caddock, 38, from Bexleyheath, London, was talking on a mobile phone and could not hear the approaching truck above the noise of nearby motorway traffic, when he was hit from behind on 8 April 2008.
The Health and Safety Executive today prosecuted his employer Costain Limited for failing to ensure adequate precautions were in place to separate the movements of people and vehicles.
Costain Limited, of Vanwall Business Park in Maidenhead, pleaded guilty to breaching 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 in connection to the death. In addition to the £250,000 fine, the company was ordered to pay £45,000 in costs.
Read full story here.
Firms fined over woman’s roof fall
An animal feed producer and a maintenance contractor have been fined after a woman fell five metres through a fragile warehouse roof in Staffordshire.
The 27-year-old woman, who does not want to be named, was repairing a gutter at Provimi Ltd’s site in Eastern Avenue, Lichfield, when she tripped and fell through a rooflight.
She fractured two vertebrae and suffered extensive bruising in the fall, keeping her off work for two months, Burton-on-Trent Magistrates’ Court heard.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Provimi Ltd and the woman’s employer, Alan Riley, trading as Riley & Sons, following the incident on 4 April 2011.
Provimi Ltd, of Dalton Airfield Industrial Estate, Dalton, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, 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 £1,924 costs.
Alan Riley, 62, of Salisbury Avenue, Burton-on-Trent, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £1,924 costs
Read full story here.
Fuel injection specialists fined after worker injured
A firm specialising in diesel fuel injection has been fined after a worker was set on fire at its Derbyshire premises.
The 23-year-old apprentice mechanic had been with Swadlincote Diesel Fuel Injection Services Ltd for 18 months. On 16 March 2009, he and another employee were burning rubbish in an old drum. In order to get the fire going, the second man poured waste fuel on to it, causing an explosion. The apprentice was able to get his arms up to cover his face but the overalls he was wearing caught fire and he burned his arms, hands and neck.
Swadlincote Diesel Fuel Injection Services Ltd, of Ryder Close, Cadley Hill Industrial Estate, Swadlincote, pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £4,000.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Warwickshire company fined after worker loses fingers
A Warwickshire components manufacturer has been fined after a man’s hand was badly crushed in a power press.
The 23-year-old agency worker, who does not want to be named, lost two fingers following the incident at Studley firm Ricor Ltd on 21 July 2011.
Leamington Spa Magistrates’ Court heard how the man was removing a completed part from the production line when the machine’s guards suddenly closed on his right hand, trapping him.
The moving guards activated the power press, which crushed his index and middle fingers so badly that doctors had to amputate them.
The court heard his life had changed significantly as a result of the incident. He is right-handed and is now unable to carry out everyday tasks. He also still feels pain in his fingers, especially in cold weather.
Ricor Ltd, of Birmingham Road, Studley, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 5(1) and 32(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £5,407 costs.
Read full story here.
Essex school fined over student injury
A secondary school in Colchester has been prosecuted after a teenage boy was injured when a stack of timber board fell on him, causing severe injury to his ankle and foot.
On 3 March 2011, the 15 year-old student disturbed a pile of timber board which was stored in the main foyer of the school’s technology department. This caused the stack which weighed 300 kilogrammes, to fall forward, knocking him down and trapping his foot.
The teenager from Colchester suffered a complex fracture to his left ankle and foot which may leave him with permanent damage.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuting told Colchester Magistrates’ Court today that the Gilberd School, in Brinkley Lane, Colchester, had failed to evaluate the risks associated with storing wood in the foyer of its technology department, and therefore to protect the health and safety of its students.
The Gilberd School pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £9,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,258.50.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Mersey shipbuilding firm sentenced over welder death
A Merseyside shipbuilding firm has been fined £120,000 over the death of a welder who became trapped while driving a forklift truck.
Robert Dunroe suffered life-threatening injuries while using the truck to transport heavy welding equipment at Cammell Laird in Birkenhead on 18 August 2010. He died in hospital four days later.
His employer, Cammell Laird Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders Ltd, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found he had been able to drive the forklift despite not having any training.
Liverpool Crown Court heard the 62-year-old from Wirral had become crushed between the truck and a lifting beam used on a crane at the Campeltown Road plant. Another employee ran over to the vehicle and reversed it, releasing Mr Dunroe, but he died from his injuries.
Cammell Laird Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders Ltd admitted breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to ensure the safety of its employees. The company, which has around 500 employees, was fined £120,000 and ordered to pay £12,294 in prosecution costs on 22 March 2012.
Read full story here.
Manufacturer fined after hydraulic press crushes Stranraer worker’s arm
A machinery manufacturer has been fined after its hydraulic press crushed a Stranraer worker’s arm which was later amputated.
James McKay, 47, had been operating the machine which had been designed by Composite Integration Limited to produce fire helmets. The hydraulic press was being used at Mr McKay’s workplace Helmet Integration Systems Ltd, 3 Commerce Road, Stranraer, when the incident happened.
Stranraer Sheriff Court heard that during his nightshift on the evening of 5 November 2007, Mr McKay was working alone operating the F601 hydraulic press which joins together two fibreglass halves of a fire helmet using heat. The F601 machine lowers one half of the helmet mould onto the other half, resin is injected into the closed mould and heat is then applied to set the resin and produce a completed helmet.
Just after 10pm Mr McKay placed a helmet mould into the machine and switched it to automatic mode; the upper cavity containing one half of the helmet had begun to lower when he noticed that the helmet mould on the lower base cavity had slipped out of place. In order to correct this he opened the safety gates understanding that this would stop the machine from operating; he then put both arms into the machine to fix the helmet form. Mr McKay had not noticed that the upper cavity, which operates at a temperature of 65 degrees Celsius, was lowering slowly due to gravity and his arm became trapped between the top and bottom cavities – being both crushed and severely burned.
A colleague heard Mr MacKay’s screams for help after 10 – 15 minutes and came to his assistance but when he pressed the emergency stop button it didn’t release the machine’s grip, instead the upper cavity continued to descend. Eventually the hydraulic hose was disconnected which released the pressure and allowed fire fighters to manoeuvre the machinery and release Mr McKay’s arm.
He had several operations on his arm which later became infected and in January 2008 had his arm amputated from the elbow.
At Stranraer Sheriff Court on 22 March 2012, Composite Integration Ltd of Saltash Industrial Estate, Saltash, Cornwall, was fined £25,000 after pleading guilty to breaching Sections 11, 12(1)(e) and 29(a) of the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations.
Read full story here.
Leisure park worker trapped in trench collapse
A worker at a holiday park suffered serious injuries when a trench he was working in collapsed on top of him.
Grzegorz Waluszkowski, 40, was helping to lay a drainage pipe at the park on Lady’s Mile Farm, Exeter Road, Dawlish on 23 July 2010, when the wall of the two metre deep trench caved in. He was dug out by others at the scene before the emergency services arrived but had suffered multiple fractures to his skull, jaw and cheekbones.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the park operators Main Gate Leisure after an investigation into the incident found the company had failed to adequately plan the work or put the necessary safety measures in place.
Main Gate Leisure Limited, of Lady’s Mile Farm, Exeter Road, Dawlish, today pleaded guilty to a breach of Regulation 31 (1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. They were fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £2,198 in costs.
Read full story here.
