Welcome to HSE prosecutions in brief. A selection of the latest prosecutions by the HSE.
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Demolition firm fined for safety failings
A demolition firm and its director have been fined for endangering workers at a site in Lancing, West Sussex.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Rabbit Demolition and Excavation Ltd and its director, Colin Bell, for not providing a safe means for working on a roof during the demolition of the Ball Tree Inn, on Busticle Lane, Sompting, between the 12 and 21 September last year.
Worthing Magistrates’ Court heard today (16 July) that a member of the public sent HSE a photograph showing workers on the site, run by Rabbit Demolition, removing roof tiles from the former pub with no edge protection in place to prevent falls. One worker was also shown to be standing in the bucket of an excavator being driven by Colin Bell.
HSE investigated and found working practices were unsafe and unnecessary, and that edge protection in the form of scaffolding could have been provided.
Alternatively, the work could have been safely carried out using a mobile elevated working platform.
Rabbit Demolition and Excavation Ltd, of Unit 2, Chartwell Road, Lancing, West Sussex, pleaded guilty to breaching section 25(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. The firm was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,500.
Colin Bell, director of Rabbit Demolition and Excavation Ltd, of Edgehill Way, Portslade, Brighton, also pleaded guilty to the same breach. He was fined £500 with costs of £500.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
British Standards Related to Demolition.
Illegal gas fitter sentenced
A Barnsley plumber, who left a householder in danger after posing as a qualified gas engineer and badly fitting a new boiler at their home, has been given a suspended prison sentence.
Self-employed trader Mark Dixon of Royston, Barnsley, charged the homeowner £1,200 to carry out the work at the property on Darton Street but when independent gas experts were called to investigate, the work was classed as an ‘immediate danger’.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which brought the prosecution against Mr Dixon, told Sheffield Crown Court that his incompetence had exposed the homeowner to serious risk.
The court heard Mr Dixon carried out the installation between 9 October and 30 November 2010. The householder reported the issue to Gas Safe Register in January 2011 after the boiler failed to work properly despite several attempts to fix it by Mr Dixon.
The Gas Safe Regional Investigations officer found the boiler’s chimney had not been properly connected to the flue and Mr Dixon had pushed plastic insulation material down a separation gap to try to form a seal. This defect was deemed immediately dangerous as the material would melt when temperatures rose causing fumes to enter the roof space.
Mark Dixon of Pools Lane, Royston, Barnsley, pleaded guilty to four charges under the Gas Safety (Installation & Use) Regulations 1998. He was sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for two years, plus 180 hours’ community service. A compensation order for £1,200 to the householders involved was also made.
Photo and comments from the HSE through the link.
West Yorkshire firm prosecuted over unacceptable working conditions
A Keighley lighting supplier has been fined for subjecting its staff to ‘appalling’ working conditions and exposing them to risks from defective electrics and welding fumes.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector visited the premises of Keylighting Ltd as a result of a number of complaints about the working conditions at the site on Alincote Street.
A catalogue of health and safety failings was uncovered and specialists were called in to examine the electrical systems, a range of hygiene issues, and to assess the safety management of the welding and powder spraying process.
Bradford Magistrates’ Court was told that during an occupational hygiene inspection in December 2010 an expert found temperatures in various parts of the building ranged from just four degrees centigrade in the toilets to ten degrees in the stores and welding areas.
As a result of these findings five Improvement Notices were served on Keylighting by HSE.
Seven more Improvement Notices were served by HSE after an electrical specialist found an eight-month-old report from a separate company had revealed 70 defects on the electrical system, seven of them requiring urgent attention. Not one of the faults had been acted upon.
The various investigations also found the toilets in a dire state with blocked sinks, out of order cisterns which were still being used, no running water for hand-washing and rubbish strewn around. They were deemed to be a high disease risk to anyone using them.
In the welding area, there was no ventilation to remove fumes and the protective equipment for the workers was ineffective. In one of the spray booths, an operator was found with powder contamination around his face, neck and hands and extensive powder dust had escaped from the booth.
Keylighting Ltd, of North Brook Works, Alincote Street, Keighley, was prosecuted by HSE for breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 between 25 May 2010 and 25 January 2011. The company pleaded guilty and was fined £8,000 with £20,000 to pay in costs.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
British Standards Related to Health & Safety.
Unsafe tree work leads to fine for Lincolnshire man
A Lincolnshire landscape gardener has been fined after being spotted carrying out unsafe tree work.
John Holland and an employee were felling a tree at a house in Foxgloves, Deeping St James, on 19 August 2011. They were both using a chainsaw, despite not being qualified to do so and neither was wearing protective clothing such as protective trousers and boots.
In addition, Mr Holland was working in the crown of the tree without any kind of safety equipment that would have prevented a fall, such as a harness.
The two men were spotted by a neighbour who was trained to assess chainsaw work. He reported his concerns to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which brought today’s prosecution at Spalding Magistrates’ Court.
John Michael Holland, age 53, of Little London, Spalding, Lincolnshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, Regulations 4(1) and 4(2) of the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 and Regulation 9(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
Spalding magistrates today fined him a total of £4,000 and ordered him to pay costs of £2,000.
Photo and comments from the HSE through the link.
British Standards relating to working at heights.
British Standards relating to personal protective equipment.
Burnley employees exposed to deadly dust
A Burnley firm has appeared in court after it put four of its employees at risk of contracting a potentially-deadly lung disease.
Elite 04 Ltd, which specialises in shot blasting metal components, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after the workers were exposed to a fine airborne dust called respirable crystalline silica.
Reedley Magistrates’ Court in Burnley heard today (19 July 2012) that the dust was formed when workers used sand in shot blasting equipment to remove rust and paint from components at its plant on Lutner Street in Burnley.
The court was told it is illegal to use most common forms of sand for shot blasting as the fine dust particles, which are created when the sand is projected at high speed, can cause silicosis – a potentially fatal lung disease.
The blasting helmet worn by operatives to carry out the work was not sufficient to prevent the dust particles from being inhaled. Colleagues who assisted would also be exposed because they were only given disposable dust masks to wear. When the sand was swept up afterwards, employees did not wear masks at all.
An HSE inspector became suspicious of the substance being used for shot blasting when he visited the site on 20 October 2010 and noticed it was a very light colour. Most substances which can safely be used for shot blasting, such as crushed glass and steel grit, do not look like ordinary sand.
An investigation found that Elite 04 had been using sacks of sand bought from a builders’ merchant for shot blasting for up to three years. The company had previously used a subcontractor to carry out the blasting, but failed to assess the risks when it took on the work itself.
Elite 04 Ltd pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to ensure the health, safety and welfare of its employees. The company was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £8,868 in prosecution costs.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
British Standards relating to personal protective equipment.
Staffordshire man prosecuted for illegal gas work
A Staffordshire man has been prosecuted for pretending to be Gas Safe registered, putting tenants at risk from dangerous gas work and for breaching a legal Notice which prohibited him from carrying out gas work.
Mark David Austin, of Riceyman Road, Newcastle-under-Lyme, who trades as APS, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after issuing landlord’s gas safety records with a Gas Safe Register identification number, despite never having been on the register.
He carried out dangerous work at a house being prepared for tenancy in Kelvin Avenue, Stoke-on-Trent, where he installed a boiler and a gas hob on 30 July 2010, Cannock Magistrates’ Court heard.
The gas pipework to these appliances was too small and as a result the gas hob burners went out when the boiler was activated and the unlit gas came back on when the boiler was turned off, which could have caused an explosion.
The owner of the property alerted the Gas Safe Register after Mr Austin failed to remedy the problems.
HSE’s investigation into the incident also revealed Mr Austin had illegally issued 23 gas safety records for another landlord, including one for a house in Severn Drive, Newcastle-under-Lyme, on 18 January 2011.
Following an earlier Court hearing, HSE then learned of two further pieces of work, which included the installation of a boiler and the issuing of Landlord’s Gas Safety Records, which were carried out after a Notice prohibiting such work had been issued by HSE.
At earlier hearings, Mr Austin pleaded guilty to three breaches of Regulation 3(3), two of Regulation 3(7), one of Regulation 26(1) of the Gas Safety Installation and Use Regulations 1998, one breach of Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and one breach of Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. He was given a 12 month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, 200 hours worth of unpaid community service and ordered to pay £1,000 costs.
Read full story here.
Firm fined after worker suffers serious burns
A Nottinghamshire die-casting firm has been fined after an employee suffered severe burns when he fell into a furnace.
Keith Buckley, 59, from Mansfield, was removing equipment from the top of a magnesium furnace at Meridian Lightweight Technologies (UK) Ltd in readiness for the removal of the inner lining when the incident occurred on 16 May 2011.
A pump and tube had been removed and the hole stuffed with a soft wool material. As Mr Buckley walked across the top of the furnace his right foot went through the wool into the furnace, which was running at approximately 500 degrees.
His right foot became stuck in the magnesium melt but fortunately his shoe laces burned off, enabling him to push himself up and get his foot out of his boot and his leg out of the furnace.
Mr Buckley suffered severe burns to his lower right leg and required several skin grafts. He also burned his right hand, and still finds gripping problematic. He recently returned to work on short hours and lighter duties, but is unable to do his original job.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the company had a written safe system of work, but it had never been seen by the people involved in the incident.
Mansfield Magistrates’ Court heard today (25 July) the system of work required the hole to be covered by a metal plate. Supervisors had not picked up that this was not being done, but dangerous practices were allowed to continue.
Meridian Lightweight Technologies (UK) Ltd, of Calladine Park, Orchard Way, Sutton-in-Ashfield, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for safety failings. The company was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,472.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
British standards relating to furnace safety.
Two firms fined after South Shields worker injured
Two firms have been prosecuted after a worker suffered serious injuries when he was struck by a pipe and fell from a stepladder.
The 37-year-old from South Shields, who has asked not to be named, was working for MB Air Systems Ltd as a pipework installation engineer when the incident happened on 13 December 2010.
MB Air Systems Ltd had been commissioned to carry out work at the premises of GT Precision Products Ltd, in Peterlee where the worker was installing new pipework to a compressed air distribution system.
Peterlee Magistrates Court heard today (26 July) that existing pipework requiring alteration was around three metres above floor level. The worker used a stepladder to access it, but lost his balance.
He caught hold of a lever valve which opened and released a jet of compressed air. The open pipe then swung round, hit him on the left side of his head and knocked him off the stepladder.
He sustained 14 hairline fractures to his skull, a fractured left eye socket, bruising to his brain and internal bruising to his lower back. He has since recovered and been able to return to work.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed that a risk assessment carried out by MB Air Systems Ltd and provided to GT Precision Products Ltd, stated that a powered access platform such as a scissor lift would be used for this type of task.
However, no such platform was provided and the injured worker was left to make his own arrangements, obtaining the stepladder from GT Precision Products Ltd.
MB Air Systems Ltd, of Glasgow Road, Wishaw, Lanarkshire, was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £3,196.50 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for failing to ensure the risk assessment was correctly implemented.
GT Precision Products Ltd, of Traynor Way, Whitehouse Business Park, Peterlee, was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £3,196.50 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
British Standards relating to working at heights.
Recycling firm fined after worker breaks arm
A Birmingham metal recycling company has been prosecuted after a worker trapped and broke his arm in an unguarded conveyor belt.
The 28 year-old man, from Blackheath, employed as a recycler, was attempting to retrieve a piece of scrap metal that had got stuck in the conveyor at Hawkeswood Metal Recycling Limited, based in Nechells, on 20 April 2010.
Birmingham Crown Court heard today (26 July) that he initially used a mop and then his right hand to free the metal. However his glove got caught between the conveyor belt and a rotating roller, dragging his arm into the machinery.
As well as breaking his right arm, he also suffered soft tissue damage to his wrist. The worker, who does not want to be named, was only able to return to work nine months after the incident, due to his injuries.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found there was no guard in place to protect employees from dangerous moving parts of the conveyor belt.
Hawkeswood Metal Recycling Limited, of Trevor Street, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 for its failings. The company was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay £10,056 in costs.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
British standards relating to machine safety.
Construction company fined over near-death fall
A Surrey construction company was today (27 July) ordered to pay £160,000 in fines and costs after a worker narrowly escaped death when he was caught in a collapse of nine tonnes of steel and concrete.
Bola Akinola, 48, fell more than four metres when steelwork supporting concrete floor planks failed, causing the material to collapse, at a site in Westerham, Kent on 9 May 2009.
Mr Akinola, of Littlehampton, West Sussex, suffered life-changing injuries including multiple fractures to his pelvis, leg and arm. He was in hospital for several weeks and was unable to work for nearly a year. He has still not regained full mobility in his left arm.
The incident was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which prosecuted Esher-based Landmark Groundworks Ltd for serious safety breaches.
A nine-day trial at Maidstone Crown Court heard Mr Akinola was helping to build a large new basement alongside an empty house that was being refurbished and extended. Landmark Groundworks was contracted to oversee the project and provide supporting steelwork.
On the day of the incident, a separate sub-contractor, Mr Akinola’s employer, had laid around 50 concrete floor planks, each weighing up to two tonnes, for the ground floor. Four planks were laid on a beam that had not been fixed at one end and only held with small welds at the other. As a result the beam tilted and gave way while workers were still on the planks.
Mr Akinola, a plank installer, fell four metres into the basement with the collapsing steel and three of the floor planks. Another worker managed to jump to safety as the floor gave way.
HSE’s investigation found that Landmark Groundworks, which operates across the South East, had failed to follow construction industry established procedures designed to avoid this type of incident. Landmark had ignored design proposals by two structural engineers that would have helped ensure the project was carried out safely. In addition Landmark did not carry out checks on the installation to ensure it was ready to load out.
The company, of Wren House, Portsmouth Road, Esher, was today fined £110,000 and ordered to pay £50,000 in costs after being found guilty of breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
British standards relating to construction site safety.
Cheltenham retailer and contractor prosecuted after asbestos exposure
A Cheltenham contractor and a retailer have been prosecuted after a construction worker was exposed to asbestos during a refurbishment project.
Simon Cooper was engaged by Hutchinson HiFi and Vision Ltd in February 2010 to refurbish an empty shop unit in Cheltenham High Street, which involved replacing a suspended ceiling.
In a prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court heard today (27 July) that contractor Simon Cooper failed to ensure a proper asbestos survey was available before work began. As a result, workers on site, including Matthew Thompson 28, from Cheltenham, removed up to 85m of asbestos insulating board over two days on 16 and 17 February without the necessary controls or adequate protection.
The Court was also told that Hutchinson HiFi and Vision Ltd failed to provide any client information regarding the presence of asbestos within the building. They should have ensured a demolition and refurbishment survey was carried out and the results made available to Mr Cooper.
Hutchinson HiFi & Vision Ltd, of High Street, Cheltenham, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 10 (1) (b) of the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2007 and was fined £3,500 and ordered to pay £1,836 in costs. Simon Cooper, of Leckhampton, Cheltenham, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 5 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 and was fined £600 and ordered to pay £800 in costs.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
British standards relating to asbestos.
Welsh chemical firm fined over dangerous substances
A Deeside based chemical company has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for failing to comply with three Improvement Notices.
Euticals Ltd (formerly Archimica Ltd), which manufactures and distributes speciality chemical products in Sandycroft, Deeside, was visited repeatedly between March 2008 and October 2010. They continually failed to demonstrate they had an understanding of how to take the measures necessary to prevent major incidents and limit their consequences to employees and the wider environment.
Mold Crown Court heard that adequate measures had not been taken to eliminate or reduce the risks arising from dangerous substances in case of fires or explosions. The company was also found not to have committed the necessary resources to ensure compliance with the required standards, despite visits and advice from HSE inspectors.
Euticals Limited of Prince William Avenue, Sandycroft, Deeside, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to failing to comply with three Improvement Notices under Section 33 (1) (g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and were fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £8,344 in costs today.
Comments from the HSE through the link.
