Welcome to HSE prosecutions in brief. A selection of the latest prosecutions by the HSE. Where possible, links are provided to relevant British Standards, guidance and publications.
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Firm fined after teenage apprentice loses four fingers on machine
A teenage apprentice lost four fingers on a poorly guarded tube-expanding machine while helping a worker who was not trained or authorised to use it, a court heard today (29 October).
The 18-year-old, who does not want to be named, had been working for only five weeks at engineering firm W P Metals Ltd in Aldridge, near Walsall, when the incident occurred on 16 February this year.
His left hand was trapped by the mechanism of a swager machine, which expands the ends of metal tubes so that other tubes can be inserted inside.
All four fingers were severed clean off. Surgeons successfully reattached two of them, but his little finger and ring finger could not be saved. As well as being left permanently disfigured, he now struggles with everyday tasks, such as dressing himself.
Walsall Magistrates’ Court heard the teenager was serving a three-month placement at W P Metals through LATA, the Logistics Apprenticeship Training Academy.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found he was lining up tubes for a permanent employee who wasn’t trained or authorised to be using the swager. Although the apprentice was aware of how to use the machine, he should have been properly supervised.
The firm also failed to ensure the machine was properly guarded to prevent access to dangerous moving parts. As such, W P Metals Ltd failed to provide a safe system of work.
The company, of Westgate, Aldridge, pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £2,740 in costs.
Firms sentenced after worker left with permanent injury
A building company and a decorating firm have been fined after a Birmingham worker suffered multiple injuries when he plummeted more than seven metres through a skylight.
The incident happened on 11 January 2012 when Philip Brown was painting the roof on an industrial unit at Torridge Close, Telford Way, Kettering. He stepped on to a fragile skylight which shattered and he fell through to the concrete floor below.
Mr Brown, 36, of Sheldon, broke several bones on the right hand side of his body, including his leg, hip, pelvis, wrist and elbow. He also sustained head injuries and lacerations to his face. The father-of-five was in hospital for three weeks where he underwent extensive reconstructive surgery. Although Mr Brown is now at home he is bed-bound while his leg is in traction.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the incident and prosecuted principal contractor JBN Builders Limited, and sub-contractors K.J. Smith & Sons Painters & Decorators Ltd, the painting and decorating firm who hired Mr Brown, for safety breaches.
Corby Magistrates were told today (31 October) that HSE found Birmingham-based K.J. Smith & Sons Painters & Decorators Ltd failed to properly assess the risks involved in doing the job. As a result it hadn’t got a safe system of work in place. No safety nets, skylight covers or safety harnesses were in use to prevent a fall.
JBN Builders Limited, of Northamptonshire, made very little effort to ensure K.J. Smith & Sons Painters & Decorators Ltd were competent and monitor the work being undertaken. Both companies dangerously underestimated the risk of the fragile skylights in this instance.
K.J. Smith & Sons Painters & Decorators Limited, of Poundley Close, Castle Bromwich, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 4(1)(a) and 9(2)(b) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £4,500 and ordered to pay £1,932 costs.
JBN Builders Limited, of Hardlands Road, Duston, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc act 1974. The firm was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £1,932 costs.
Fife man fined £20,000 after worker fall through fragile roof
A Fife man has been fined after one of his employees fell to his death through the fragile roof of a Markinch warehouse.
At Dunfermline Sheriff Court today, Boyd Lamont (DOB 13/01/1957) from Buckhaven, Fife, was fined a total of £20,000 for breaches of Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
The charges concern the death of 32 year old Thomas Sturrock on 29 September 2008.
Mr Sturrock, and a number of other men, were employed by Boyd Lamont, a self-employed contractor then trading as ‘Special Access Inspection’. The men were working at height to clean the fragile roof of the warehouse of Tullis Russell Papermaker Ltd in Markinch, Fife. Boyd Lamont failed to properly assess the risks associated with the work, and failed to provide his men with appropriate safety equipment, such as crawling boards, in order that they could work safely whilst they were on the fragile roof.
On 29 September 2008, Thomas Sturrock was walking on the roof when he fell through it, resulting in his falling approximately 14.5 metres to the concrete floor below. He died of his injuries at the scene.
Following a lengthy trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court, Boyd Lamont pled guilty to failing to ensure the health and safety of his employees, in particular failing to ensure that they were not exposed to risks of injury or death by falling from or through the roof. He also pled guilty to failing to provide his employees with equipment, information, instruction, training and supervision or a safe system of work for employees carrying out such work at height, and failing to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of his employees arising from this work.
Salad company in safety prosecution
An East Yorkshire firm has been sentenced for safety breaches after a worker fell more than four metres through a greenhouse roof.
The 44-year-old, from Preston, east of Hull, was cleaning and repainting greenhouse gutters at Hedon Salads Ltd in Burstwick when he lost his footing and fell through the glass roof. He broke his wrist and needed 20 staples across a head wound before being released from hospital after an overnight stay.
The incident, on 26 August 2010, was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which today (2 November) prosecuted the firm for failing to protect its workforce against the risk of falls.
Hull Magistrates’ Court was told the man, who does not wish to be named, was one of a team of employees tasked with working on the gutters of 20 greenhouses at the firm’s 30-acre site in Main Street, Burstwick. The greenhouses, used for cultivating tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers, have an average size of 5,000 square metres.
HSE discovered the team were told to walk heel to toe along the gutters and to use a long-handled brush to steady themselves against the glazing bars. No equipment was provided and no instruction given to protect them against a fall.
The worker had cleaned some guttering and returned to the ground to collect his brush and paint. He climbed back up and had completed a short length of paintwork when his right foot went through the glass and he fell through the fragile roof.
HSE served a Prohibition Notice on the firm preventing further work on the guttering until safety measures were in place.
Hedon Salads Ltd, of Newport, Brough, which employs more than 100 people, was fined £12,500 with £3,921 in costs after admitting a breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
Gas fitter’s shoddy work threatened lives
A Brixham gas fitter has been fined after falsely claiming to be registered gas engineer and leaving work he carried out in a dangerous condition.
In a prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) today (2 November), Torbay Magistrates heard that Sean Collins carried out work on a gas boiler in July and August 2011 at an unoccupied house undergoing renovation in Brixham.
The court was told Collins left the flue of the boiler in a dangerous condition and also removed the gas meter and failed to reinstall it, leaving open-ended gas pipes which could have poured gas into the house.
The matter came to light when the householder could not find the meter and contacted Gas Safe Register.
Further investigations revealed that Collins falsely advertised himself as a member of Gas Safe Register and used the organisation’s logo on his on-line publicity material.
Sean Collins, of Penpethy Road, Brixham, pleaded guilty to four offences under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1988 and one breach of Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. He was fined a total of £3,000 and ordered to pay £3,000 in costs.
