Welcome to HSE prosecutions in brief. An overview of this weeks prosecutions by the HSE.
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Recycling firm fined for subjecting workers to lead poisoning
An Edmonton-based recycling company has been fined for failing to protect employees working with lead.
Metal and Waste Recycling Ltd, of Albert Works, Kenninghall Rd, Edmonton had bought and was stripping some lead-sheathed copper cabling from British Telecom (BT) after the network began to be changed from copper to fibre optic cable.
An investigation carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that between October 2008 and July 2009, more than 90 workers – most of whom were Romanian – were significantly exposed to lead as a result of this process.
HSE inspectors visited the site in April 2009 after an employee complained about insufficient protection when working with lead. During the site visit, HSE found nothing had been done to reduce lead exposure, with inadequate ventilation, face masks or respiratory equipment available.
It also found that although gloves were provided by the company, workers wore their own clothes, potentially spreading lead to other people and their own homes when they left work. Metal and Waste Recycling Ltd had not carried out blood tests or other health checks which are legally required when working with lead.
At Westminster Magistrates’ Court today, Metal and Waste Recycling Ltd pleaded guilty breaching the Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002 between 1 November 2008 and 1 October 2009. The company was fined £49,500 and ordered to pay £25,483 in costs.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Egg firm fined after worker’s fingers cut off
A Worcestershire egg company has been fined after a worker severed two fingers while cleaning a drain on a production line.
The 25 year-old employee lost part of his index and middle fingers on his right hand when it came into contact with a heavy duty blade at Bumble Hole Foods Ltd, Fockbury, Bromsgrove on 26 August 2010.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the risks of cleaning around the blade had not been adequately assessed or controlled and employees were able to reach dangerous moving parts while the blade was running.
Redditch Magistrates’ Court was told Bumble Hole Foods Ltd were aware of the risks following a similar incident in 2008. The court also heard how the training for this work was carried out by employees who were not qualified to train others.
Bumble Hole Foods Ltd, of Fockbury, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
The company was fined £13,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,303.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
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Ipswich gas engineer fined for illegal work
A self-employed gas engineer has been fined for carrying out unregistered work on commercial premises in Ipswich.
Duncan Frere, 37, of Wilkinson Drive, Ipswich was hired between May and June 2010 to carry out the installation and connection of a number of gas appliances at the Super Kebab House in Ipswich, and, to carry out safety checks at the Kishmish Indian Takeaway restaurant on 14 March 2011.
Ipswich Magistrates’ Court heard that a Health & Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that Mr Frere was not trained, registered or competent to work on gas appliances on commercial catering premises.
Mr Frere admitted breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 as well as Regulations 3(1) and 26(1) of the Gas Safety (Installation & Use) Regulations 1998 and was fined a total of £4,000 and ordered to pay £2,500 costs. He also had to pay a £15 victim surcharge.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Construction firm fined for repeatedly ignoring safety warnings
A construction company has been fined for continuing unsafe working practices at a site in Upper Norwood, Croydon, after repeatedly ignoring safety warnings.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) identified multiple failings at a project on Sylvan Hill run by Unicorn Services Limited, where the Kent-based firm was building a four-storey block of flats.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard yesterday (25 April) that on 26 September 2011 a HSE inspector served eight Prohibition Notices to stop dangerous practices at the site after identifying serious safety breaches.
The Notices covered dangerous scaffolding, people working unsafely at height, fire-related hazards and dangerous electrical equipment.
Unicorn also supplied “appallingly inadequate” documentation for risk assessments and project management.
HSE returned to the construction site in October and discovered little or no improvement had been made to many of the illegal practices.
An Improvement Notice was subsequently served requiring the site manager to arrange adequate training in order to safely manage construction operations. However, the manager in question failed to meet a compliance date of late November.
Unicorn Services Limited, of Montpellier Avenue, Bexley, was found guilty of breaching Regulation 26(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 for its poor site management and failure to adhere to enforcement action. The company was fined £20,000 and was also ordered to pay £5,940 in costs.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Church fined after worker paralysed in fall
A church council in South Kensington has been prosecuted for safety failings after a self-employed joiner was left paralysed when he fell from the balcony of St Paul’s church in Onslow Square.
The worker, who does not want to be identified, fell three metres from a poorly guarded balcony during refurbishment work at the site. Holy Trinity Brompton parish council – which has three churches under its auspices – was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after the incident on 3 March 2010.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court was told (25 April) construction work on St Paul’s balcony began early in 2009 to install an adjustable floor and hand rail so the area could be used in a stepped church seating style or a flat raised position for seminar use.
A high barrier was erected around the balcony to guard against falls from height, but was taken down after several months after claims it interfered with movement of materials around the site.
Instead a lower rail was installed which was just over a metre high when the floor was in stepped position and just 20cms above the level of the floor when adjusted to its raised position. A higher temporary barrier was to be erected whenever work was due at this raised higher level.
However, the court heard that during work to install the new handrail, the floor was raised but the temporary higher barrier had not been put in place. The self-employed joiner went to board over a hole left by a fixed rail upright close to the balcony edge. As he did so, he leaned on the rail but, without the upright support, the fixed barrier could not take his weight and he tipped over the edge and fell three metres to the floor.
The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Holy Trinity Brompton with St Paul Onslow Square (HTB) admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Following strong mitigation put forward by the defence counsel, the church council was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £4,457.60.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Farming partnership fined after two workers severely injured
A Montrose farming partnership has been fined after two agricultural workers were severely injured when a telescopic handler went out of control, fell down a steep bank and came to rest at the top of a cliff.
David Alston Junior, 19, and Ian Murray, 54, were working for Nether Dysart Farms, a limited liability partnership, when the incident occurred on 12 May 2010.
Arbroath Sheriff Court heard that Mr Alston and Mr Murray were carrying out repairs to a fence in a field between the East Coast railway line and cliffs overlooking Lunan Bay and the North Sea.
Equipment needed to carry out the fencing work was loaded into the bucket of a telehandler which Mr Alston drove, following Mr Murray as he walked along the fence inspecting it to see where repairs were needed.
Mr Murray stopped to examine a section of fence in a corner of the field that ran parallel to a steep bank leading down to the cliff edge. Mr Alston stopped the telehandler on a bank a a short distance away.
However, as he went to open the door the telehandler began to move. He shouted to Mr Murray that he was unable to stop the vehicle before attempting to restart it and steer it to safety, but he was unable to put it into neutral.
Mr Murray ran to help as the vehicle continued to move down the bank. At the same time Mr Alston jumped from the driver’s door but was caught between the back wheel of the vehicle and a fencepost. Mr Murray was also struck and knocked under the rear wheel of the vehicle, which ran over the left side of his body.
The telehandler went through the fence and rolled down the steep bank, shedding its load from the bucket, and came to a halt lying on its nearside about 29 metres from the fence, at the top of the cliff.
Mr Alston was able to use his mobile telephone to call his father, a partner at Nether Dysart Farms, for help. He suffered a cracked pelvis and was hospitalised for two days.
At Arbroath Sheriff Court today, Nether Dysart Farms, of Lunan, Montrose, was fined £8,000 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Full story through the link.
Company prosecuted after worker suffers electric shock
A coating and treatment company with premises in Swavesey, Cambridgeshire has been fined for safety failings after an employee suffered an electric shock.
Derek Offord, 45, from Sawston, was working as a machine operator at Tecvac’s plant at the Buckingway Business Park when the incident occurred on 28 July last year.
He received an electric shock whilst checking new cables on a hardening machine that had recently been maintained, sustaining open wounds to his forearm and left palm and burns to his left arm and knee. He was hospitalised for 12 days and was unable to return to work for four months as a result.
Cambridge Magistrates’ Court heard today (26 April) that an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Tecvac had failed to impose adequate safe working procedures relating to the operation, use and maintenance of an electrical system and work near an electrical system.
Tecvac Limited, registered to an address at Lodge Bank Works, Lord Street, Bury, Lancashire, admitted breaching Regulation 4(3) of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 in relation to the incident. The company was fined £3,500 and ordered to pay £5,382.70 in costs.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Fairground ride operator fined after worker injured
A fairground ride operator has been fined after a worker was thrown from a ride during the 2010 May Bank Holiday fair in Barnard Castle.
On 31 May 2010, Martin Brown, 17, from Thirsk, North Yorkshire was working for Elliot Crow, of ride owners Alan Crow Amusements, as a ride attendant on the Crazy Frog Ride.
Darlington Magistrates’ Court heard the ride was one of several set up at the Morrisons store car park in Galgate, Barnard Castle for the May Bank Holiday Fair.
Mr Brown occupied one of the cars in order to balance the ride. However, shortly after the ride started he was thrown from the ride and suffered serious injuries including a fractured skull, wrists, jaw and eye socket.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Mr Crow failed to check Mr Brown was seated in the ride properly or was adequately restrained, leading to his colleague being thrown from the car once the ride had started.
Elliot Samuel Crow, 20, of Fairfield, High Street, Northallerton was yesterday (Thursday 26 April 2012) found guilty of breaching Section 7(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £520. He was also ordered to pay £500 costs and a £15 Victim Surcharge, the proceeds of which will be spent on services for victims and witnesses.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Builder’s work on chimney put family at risk
A family was exposed to deadly carbon monoxide fumes after building work on a chimney caused a blockage in a flue.
Builder Wayne Marshall had been engaged to carry out repairs to a joint chimney by householders at a property in Dulais Road, Seven Sisters in March 2010, but left an amount of rubble blocking the flue of the neighbouring property, leading to a leak of carbon monoxide.
Neath Port Talbot Magistrates’ Court heard yesterday (26 April) that neither Mr Marshall or his subcontractors informed the neighbours, Steve Everett, his wife and daughter, that work had started so they had not turned off their boiler at the bottom of the flue.
The blockage of rubble restricted ventilation for the appliance causing incomplete combustion and the creation of carbon monoxide.
When the family returned home from work they heard their carbon monoxide alarm sounding and had to ventilate their house, leaving windows open all night.
Wayne Marshall, trading as Marshall Enterprises Home Improvements, of St Hillary Drive, Killay, Swansea pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 3 (2) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. He was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £1,500 in costs.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Veolia fined after agency worker sustained serious burns
Waste management provider Veolia Environmental Services has been fined after an agency worker was seriously burned by hot ash at an incineration depot in Deptford.
The employee, who does not want to be named, sustained 17 per cent burns to his body whilst cleaning ash from a filtration hopper at a Veolia plant on Landman Way on29 December 2009.
The ash fell onto him when he entered the hopper and started prodding it with a rod in order to clear a blockage. He was hospitalised for almost a month as a result of the burns he sustained.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident found Veolia did not follow its own policies and procedures for the management of dangerous tasks of this nature. This put a vulnerable worker at risk by failing to provide him with adequate information or supervision.
City of London Magistrates’ Court heard yesterday (27 April) that the employee, from Eastern Europe, spoke little English and had not been properly briefed in the working practices at the incineration plant.
Veolia ES SELCHP Ltd, of Pentonville Road, London, N1, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 for supervisory failings that led to dangerous working practices. The company was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £12,243.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
Shipyard fined after apprentice fell from scaffolding
An apprentice worker was badly injured after he fell off scaffolding which was not properly secured at Pendennis Shipyard Ltd in Falmouth.
In a prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) today (27 April), Truro magistrates heard that David Banks, from St Austell, who was 19 at the time, suffered knee injuries in the fall which happened on 27 April, 2011.
HSE’s investigation found that Mr Banks was working in the dry dock to clear and strip away plastic tenting which had been used to enclose a boat while it was being painted.
The teenager was working on the first level of scaffolding boards when they tipped, causing him to fall around two metres to the dock floor below. The injuries sustained to his knees in the fall resulted in Mr Banks needing physiotherapy.
The court heard that Pendennis Shipyard Ltd had already been warned about the risks associated with working at height and had been issued with four Improvement Notices and one Prohibition Notice relating to type of work by the HSE since 2009.
Pendennis Shipyard Ltd, of The Docks, Falmouth, pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £6,288 in costs.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
St Helens steel firm fined over worker’s injuries
A St Helens steel manufacturer has been sentenced after a worker suffered serious injuries to his left hand when it was pulled into machinery.
Hi Tech Steel Services Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident at its factory at Bold Industrial Estate on Neills Road on 25 June 2011.
The 43-year-old from Thatto Heath received a cut, six and a half centimetres in length, between the third and ring finger on his left hand. He also suffered crush injuries to the tips of his fingers.
St Helens Magistrates’ Court heard the worker had been able to gain access to a machine, used to produce reels of thin steel strips, while it was still operating. He was taping up the end of one of the strips to stop it flapping about in the machine when his hand was pulled in.
Hi Tech Steel Services pleaded guilty to two health and safety offences after it failed to ensure the safety of its employees, and failed to carry out a suitable assessment of the risks to workers. The company was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £1,797 in prosecution costs on Friday 27 April 2012.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
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