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Sensible
Safety Management |
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SEPTEMBER 2010 1 September 2010 A building company and its director have been fined after a worker fell almost thirty feet from scaffolding at a building site in Llanfairfechan, fracturing his pelvis in three places, breaking some teeth and sustaining bruising to his groin. At Llandudno Magistrates' Court, JBB Homes Ltd of Stockport, Cheshire pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. It was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,835. The director, James Burt, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £10,000. Following the hearing HSE Inspector, Debbie John, said that the worker had been extremely lucky to survive and that it was incredible that he managed to walk away with broken bones. She added that the company and its director had failed in their duty to provide a safe system of work, including a lack of suitable means to prevent falls; and that the director had also failed to properly supervise his staff. More than 4,000 workers suffered a major injury as a result of a fall from height in 2008/09. HSE's Shattered Lives campaign aims to highlight the dangers of slips, trips and falls in the workplace. AUGUST 2010 16 August 2010 An investigation has been launched following an accident in which a 47 year-old man managed to impale himself on the spike of a bailing machine. The incident occurred last Wednesday afternoon at a farm in West Acre, near King's Lynn, Norfolk while the man was moving straw bales into a barn. It was reported that he somehow fell onto a one-metre spike, which entered his groin area and came out of the other side. He was rescued by fire fighters and treated at the scene by paramedics before being airlifted to Norfolk and Norwich Hospital with the spike still attached to him. His condition was described as being serious but stable. 6 August 2010 Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering Ltd and Multibuild Ltd have been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a 44 tonne piling machine, used to drive building supports into the ground, fell over and rolled across a main road in Hull before crushing a wall opposite during the evening rush hour back in December 2007. An HSE investigation identified Multibuild Ltd, the main contractor, as being responsible for providing a stone platform for the machine to work from, but had failed to design or install it correctly. The companies pleaded guilty at Hull Crown Court to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 in connection to the incident. Balfour Beatty was fined £25,000 with costs of £17,676 and Multibuild Ltd was fined £20,000 with costs of £18,687. HSE Inspector Dave Redman said that the incident could easily have resulted in disaster, and it is nothing short of a miracle that no one was killed or seriously injured, given it occurred during the peak of the evening rush hour. He added that it is every company's responsibility to ensure that employees and members of the public are not exposed to danger from heavy construction machinery and pointed out that there is extensive guidance governing safe working in this sector. JULY 2010 29 July 2010 South Yorkshire Police have confirmed that an employee of Doncaster’s Precision Forgings in Sheffield has died following an accident yesterday. The man was taken to the City’s Northern General Hospital where he was later pronounced dead. The Police and the Health and Safety Executive are carrying out a joint investigation into the cause of the accident. David Jennings, divisional Managing Director at Doncaster Precision Forgings, said: “It is with great sadness that I can confirm that a male employee has passed away this morning following an incident at the site.” “We are devastated by the news and our thoughts are with his family and friends. “An investigation is currently underway to establish what happened and we are doing everything we can to provide support at this difficult time.” 23 July 2010 A 23 year-old worker sustained serious burns after drilling through a live electricity cable whilst carrying out refurbishment work at a restaurant in Finsbury, London, which had been damaged by fire. Witnesses reported hearing a loud bang and seeing a large plume of smoke. Some saw the man come the restaurant and described him as being blackened and covered in ash. He was taken to the Royal London Hospital, in Whitechapel, with serious burns. The Health and Safety Executive is looking into incident.17 July 2010 Whilst loading bags of rubber into a hopper on 6 July last year, a man got his right hand caught in the screw conveyor, which had been modified by replacing a fixed guard with an incorrectly fitted interlocked guard. The 49 year-old was taken to hospital where specialists had to amputate his middle finger past the first knuckle. Building Adhesives Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,000. Health and Safety Executive inspector Mhairi Duffy said: "This incident would have been prevented had the guarding on the machine been fitted properly, or if there had been adequate systems in place to detect the failed guard before the accident. This was an incident waiting to happen."9 July 2010 A number of students from Selby College, who were celebrating the end of term, were terrified when a 29 feet-tall inflatable slide became detached from its moorings and overturned. Two ambulances, a rapid-response vehicle and an emergency care practitioner were called to the scene. Three students, aged between 17 and 18, were given first aid then taken to hospital for further treatment but were later released with only minor injuries. The college is now undertaking a detailed investigation into the circumstances that led to the incident. In July 2006, two women were killed and several others were injured when a large inflatable artwork was blown into the air in Darlington. 1 July 2010 A bus driver required hospital treatment after having a laser pen shone in his eyes by a 16 year old boy. The incident occurred late in the evening on 26 June as the driver was driving his bus through North Shields. He managed to safely bring the bus to a stop but noticed that his eyesight was blurred. Consequently, he called for assistance and was treated in hospital. Police are investigating the incident and have issued a warning about the dangers of shining laser pens at people. JUNE 2010 29 June 2010 A Brighton-based construction company and two of its directors have today been fined a total of £75,000 following the death of a member of the public at one of its building sites. PIB (UK) Ltd of Woodingdean has been prosecuted for breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 following the death of a member of the public at one of its building sites. The company pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,500. Two of the company's directors also faced legal action over health and safety breaches at the site at in Brighton. One of the Director’s, who was also the client for the project, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 20(1) (a) (b) and (c) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. He was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,465. The other Director was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,500 after pleading guilty to breaching section 37(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was disqualified as a director for five years. At the time of the incident, PIB (UK) Ltd was carrying out refurbishment work on a property but failed to properly secure it. A member of the public, who had been out socialising, was able to enter the work area and tripped over an unprotected edge resulting in him falling 2.4 metres into a basement courtyard. He was found dead later in the morning. Following the hearing, HSE Inspector Denis Bodger said "Unmanned construction sites should be properly secured such that people and especially children cannot unknowingly wander into places of danger. It was both illegal and irresponsible for PIB UK Ltd and the company directors to disregard the importance of security on this site - leaving obvious hazards that in this tragic case resulted in the unnecessary loss of a young life.” Mr Bodger added; “Falls are the largest single cause of fatal accidents and serious injuries on construction sites. The HSE is calling upon building contractors and those clients having building work undertaken for them to ensure they are familiar with the law and implement the requirements of industry recognised safe practice before work starts. Only through proper understanding of the law, planning of the work and ensuring risks are properly controlled from the outset, will these tragic incidents be prevented. The directors of small companies need to understand that they can find themselves disqualified as well as fined." 15 June 2010 A company, which runs a nursing home in Wessex, has been fined after an elderly man was lowered into a bath of hot water and suffered first degree burns to his feet on 5 May 2009. Rootcroft Ltd, appeared at Southend Magistrates' Court and admitted breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,000. It was also ordered to pay the victim £500 in compensation. Investigations by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that a thermostatic mixing valve had not been fitted to the water supply to prevent the temperature exceeding 44°C. Staff had been instructed to check the water temperature with a thermometer before bathing a patient but this practice was not monitored by management to ensure it was being adhered to. Inspectors were told by one member of staff that the practice was to use a gloved hand to check the temperature of the water, which would have given a false impression of how hot the water actually was. It was also found that residents were at risk of contracting Legionnaires' disease because hot and cold water was being stored at temperatures which would have allowed bacteria to grow. HSE Inspector Sue Matthews said that the company had failed in its duties and that the injury suffered by the resident could have been much worse. She believes the incident was entirely avoidable and could have been prevented at little cost. Thermostatic mixing valves have been required for many years where vulnerable people are being bathed and health and safety advice for care homes is readily available. She also stated that it was unacceptable for residents to be at risk of contracting Legionnaires' disease, which they would have been particularly vulnerable to because of their age and medical conditions. 10 June 2010 Two directors of a Bedfordshire bakery have been fined in relation to a number health and safety breaches, which exposed staff to significant risk, including electrocution and exposure to flour dust. The company was served with prohibition notices ordering the directors to cease use of the conveyor belt until the equipment had been made safe. Also, the HSE inspectors issued four improvement notices in relation to various other health and safety matters. Under health and safety laws, the directors were were required to prevent access to dangerous parts of the bread conveyor belt, prevent access to dangerous parts of the dough mixer, arrange for electrical testing and carry out a risk assessment for exposure to flour dust. They failed to comply with the improvement notice requiring a risk assessment be carried out. The two directors admitted breaches of Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 and of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. One was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £500 costs. The other £2,500, with costs of £500. HSE Inspector Emma Rowlands said: “It is simply unacceptable to operate machinery with live wires exposed - someone could have been killed or suffered a serious injury. The danger of electrocution is well known and advice had already been given to the bakery in 2000 regarding electrical safety. The directors also failed to comply with an improvement notice, requiring them to carry out an important risk assessment. The risks associated with exposure to flour dust are widely known and advice had been given to the bakery in 2007”. MAY 2010 17 May 2010 At Southwark Crown Court, London, Holmes Place Health Clubs and ThyssenKrup were each fined £233K after pleading guilty to breaches of health and safety legislation in respect of an accident in which a 32 year-old Polish-born woman was killed as she stepped out of a lift at Broadgate Health Club in the City of London on 12 March 2003. She was dragged between a wall and the lift when it suddenly fell a few feet and stopped between two floor levels. The lift had dropped the day before the accident and had allegedly been repaired Southwark Crown Court was told. Consequently, Tim Owen QC, prosecuting, said: "This was an accident that didn't come out of the blue, without warning." The reason for the failure had not been established, but it was believed to have been either a hydraulic problem or that the lift's mechanism froze or crashed. 14 May 2010 A designer and the principal contractor have been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the collapse of part of an office block, which was being built. The HSE found that a concrete block pillar, used to support the first and second floors, had been resting on the ground floor instead of going down into the foundations. Allen Shute, the investigating HSE Inspector, said, “One of the workers' legs was badly broken after the rubble fell on him, but the consequences could have been much worse. This was a basic error, which should have been spotted by both the building's designer and the principal contractor. It is common sense that the pillar supporting the floors should have gone into the foundations, and not just rested on the floor below. It's vital companies learn lessons from this to prevent similar incidents happening in the future.” At Blackpool Magistrates, Peter Wallace of the Wallace Partnership pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £4,000 with costs of £12,318. Jack Smith (Builders) Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £3,000 with costs of £12,318. 11 May 2010 Lincoln College has been fined £1,500 after a window cleaner fell four metres sustaining broken ribs and a serious back injury. The window cleaner was employed by A Nicoll & Son Ltd, when he was contracted to clean windows at Lincoln College on 4 November 2008. He used a ladder to access the roof of the main reception building in order to clean nearby windows, when he fell. He spent a week in hospital and remained off off work for months. A t Lincoln Magistrates' Court the college pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety Regulations 1999 for failing to conduct a sufficient risk assessment. In addition to the fine, the college was also ordered to pay £9,500 costs. A Nicoll & Son Ltd, the window cleaner’s employer, was prosecuted in October 2009 by HSE after pleading guilty for its role in the incident and was fined £2,500 along with costs of almost £3,000. Every month more than a thousand people suffer serious injuries as a result of slips, trips and falls in the workplace. These shattering injuries can be avoided by sensible and proportionate assessment of the risks, but sadly that was not done in this case. Employers and organisations that hire contract staff have a joint responsibility to ensure the safety of all staff who work on site, to avoid serious incidents such as this. 10 May 2010 Magna Specialist Confectioners Ltd (MSC) has been fined a total of £75,000 and ordered to pay costs of £37,500 by Shrewsbury Crown Court after a worker's head was hit with a one tonne force. The accident occurred on 22 February 2007 when the employee was attempting to wipe up a leak of refrigerant inside the interlocked safety doors of a machine on the production line. As his head went through the doors into the machine, the powered part of the machinery moved forcefully to one side, closing the gap between it and a static part of the machine to approximately 5cm (2 inches). Fortunately, the impact to the front of his head threw him out of the machine as opposed to trapping him, which prevented him being killed. He subsequently spent two weeks in a coma and his head injuries have left him with a significant level of blindness and deafness, loss of taste and smell as well as suffering personality changes. HSE investigating inspector Guy Dale said “It's a fundamental expectation that employees should be able to work in safety. Assessing risks and implementing controls often only requires simple, cost-effective actions to be taken. An operative should not have been able to get to the dangerous parts of the machine while it was working at full production speed. When the interlocked doors were opened, the production line should have been designed to stop. The injured man is only in his early 30s and had the promise of a healthy future but now has such permanent damage that his future prospects and employment potential are severely restricted. He has a wife and a young daughter born a few months after the incident occurred.” APRIL 2010 29 April 2010 The C0-operative Group has been fined £210,000 and ordered to pay costs of more than £28,000 after pleading guilty to six breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
The court was told that breaches also occurred at other premises belonging to the Group in Southampton and Portsmouth. In 2007, the Co-operative Group was fined what was then believed to be a record £250,000 for 13 offences under the previous Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations in six stores in East Sussex. John Bonney, the Authority’s Chief Officer, highlighted the common problems that have been found since Fire Safety Order came into force. These include;
25 April 2010 Tangerine Confectionery, which has its headquarters in Blackpool, has been fined £300,000 and ordered to pay costs of almost £73,000 after a jury found it guilty of breaching S.2(1) of the HSWA 1974 and Reg.3(1)(a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The fine follows an accident at the company’s factory in Poole, Dorset, in which one of its employees was trapped in machinery whilst attempting to clear a blockage. The machine was used to make jelly sweets and so handled a significant amount of sticky and sweet material. Therefore, blockages were common. It was found that different methods of clearing the machine were used, depending on the nature of the blockage. Some were relatively simple, others required an engineer to attend. On this occasion it was a complicated blockage. An engineer was called and the line leader was also present. The employee was instructed to remove trays from the end of the machine and as he did so, a switch was triggered, which restarted the machine. Consequently, he became trapped and died at the scene from his injuries. It is understood that at the time of the accident, there was no safe system for isolating the machine and a risk assessment had not been carried out. HSE inspector Simon Jones advised that the accident highlights the need to ensure that machines are safely isolated before any maintenance takes place so they cannot unexpectedly start up. Simply pressing a stop button does not adequately isolate a machine. If the machine in this case had been properly isolated from the electrical power source before an attempt was made to clear the blockage, then this accident would never have happened. A proper risk assessment would have highlighted the dangers of entrapment. All employees need to be adequately trained in correct company procedures, whether it’s for clearing blockages, operating machines, or any other high-risk activity. 15 April 2010 Scrap metal yard owners Sims Group UK Ltd have been fined after a lorry driver died when a crushed car fell from a scrapheap. The lorry driver was delivering scrap to the site and was directed to deliver his load to the metal shredder area of the yard. He left his cab and was in the process of opening the rear doors to his trailer when a one and a half ton metal bale of scrap came loose and rolled down 20 feet straight into him. He had not received any site safety induction and was simply following instructions given to him by Sims operatives when he was killed. The company pleaded guilty at Cardiff Crown Court to a charge under Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It was fined £200,000 and ordered to pay costs of £57,500.14 April 2010 Ashtead Plant Hire Co Ltd has been fined £200,000 and ordered to pay £15,698.30 in costs at Maidstone Crown Court for health and safety failings that led to an employee falling five metres to his death. The employee, who had been with company for less than three months, worked as a fitter at a depot preparing accommodation units, site huts, welfare units and storage containers, which were hired out to construction companies. He was working in an accommodation unit that was stacked on top of another when he fell more than five metres and died. The company did have a written procedure in place for working on top of accommodation units in its depots and at customers' sites. This required staff to wear a safety harness and inertia reel line whilst they climbed a secured ladder. However, the HSE's investigation found that staff had not been issued with this equipment nor had they been trained to use it and most did not know the company had a special procedure for doing this work. The court heard that despite the depot handling up to 15 accommodation unit movements a day, management at the depot did not ensure that workers were aware of the procedure and did not ensure that the work was only done by those trained, equipped and authorised to do so.13 April 2010 Multinational steelmaker Corus has been fined £240,000 and ordered to pay £112,500 costs at Stafford Crown Court following the death of a 22 year-old lorry driver at its site in Staffordshire. The driver, who was employed by A Hingley Transport Ltd, was crushed when a three tonne bundle of steel fell from a lifting crane that was being operated by a Corus employee. A subsequent investigation by the HSE found the system of work for loading steel was not safe because not all of the tasks had been evaluated and the system allowed for misunderstanding between workers. Corus (UK) Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.13 April 2010 Leeds City Council pleaded guilty to two breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 following an incident on 19 June 2008 in which a lorry driver was put at risk when his lorry came into contact with a high voltage power cable. He lifted the tipper body of his wagon directly underneath a power line and electricity arced to the vehicle, blowing out his tyres and putting him at risk of electrocution when he left his cab to check what had happened. Warning signs and barriers had not been put in place to prevent such an incident from occurring and there was also lifting machinery in operation at the site, which could have resulted in a similar incident. In addition to the £10,500 fine, the Council was ordered to pay £2,000 costs.MARCH 2010 23 March 2010 Following an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in May 2009, a Northumberland fruit shop owner has been fined a total of £2,100 and ordered to pay £1,850.80 costs at Belington Magistrates' Court after being found guilty of four breaches of the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969. Unlike public liability insurance, which is generally voluntary, employers' liability insurance is compulsory and enables an employer to meet any costs relating to injuries or illness caused to employees whether caused on or off site. After the case, HSE Inspector Andrea Robbins, said there is no excuse for not having the insurance. Employers' Liability insurance is a legal requirement for all employers in Great Britain. In addition to being a legal requirement, it also offers important protection for employers if an employee is injured or suffers from disease as a result of their work. The failure of employers to insure is seen as a serious matter and HSE will continue to refer appropriate cases to the magistrates for their consideration. 17 March 2010 A company has been fined following an accident in which a 17-year-old apprentice joiner fell almost 9 feet to a concrete floor from the first floor of a house he was working on. He fell through an unguarded stairwell, which apart from a plywood sheet placed over the stairwell entrance, had no edge protection. As a result of the fall, he sustained injuries to his head and legs. The company pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £4,000 at Stonehaven Sheriff Court. The fine was reduced from £6,000 due to an early guilty plea. HSE Inspector Alan MacKinnon said “This incident could have been avoided. The fall protection measure in place was completely inadequate as a means of preventing anyone falling from height. Risks from working at height are entirely preventable. Employers working at height need to ensure that risks are fully assessed and that open edged areas of work are suitably guarded." 11 March 2010 The HSE has launched an investigation following an incident in which a 19 year-old refuse worker was injured by a road-sweeping vehicle. The worker was moving alongside the vehicle as it traveled along a gutter when he slipped and fell under it, suffering a broken pelvis, leg and ankle. 9 March 2010 A construction company has been fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £3,178 costs at Darlington Magistrates’ Court following an accident in November 2008 in which an employee was trapped in a collapsed trench for more than 2 hours. An excavator was being used on a slope to dig a trench for pipe work when one of the sides collapsed trapping the employee. A spokesperson for the HSE stated that the operator of the excavating machine was not properly trained in relevant industry guidance, which recommends the use of shoring or trench boxes. 5 March 2010 A chef suffered serious burns when an oil drum, which is believed to have been connected to a deep fat fryer, overheated and showered him in boiling oil in a hotel in Linlithgow. The 30-year-old is reported to have suffered 12% burns to his shoulder, the top of his back, left arm and around his ear. He was treated with gel packs at the scene until an ambulance crew arrived to transport him to St John's Hospital. His condition is described as being serious but not life-threatening. FEBRUARY 2010 25 February 2010 A Hampshire-based company has been fined £80,000 and ordered to pay £40,000 costs following the death of a boy who was crushed by electrically powered gates, which he tried to open whilst visiting his grandparents. On the inside of the gates was a button intended for use people leaving the block of flats on foot. However, the gates were constructed in such a way that there was sufficient room for him to squeeze between the edge of one of the gates and a supporting brick pillar in order to reach the button on the inside. As the gates started to open, the gap between the gate and the pillar narrowed causing his head to be crushed in the process. Bournemouth Crown Court found the company guilty of breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work (HSWA) etc. Act 1974 and issued a fine of £80,000 with costs of £40,000. HSE Inspector, Stephen Hanson-Hall, said there was no way the boy could have been expected to understand the risks created by the design of the gates. He added, had the company undertaken a suitable and sufficient risk assessment, and communicated its findings with the other companies involved in the design and installation of the gates, it is unlikely this tragedy would have happened. Where several organisations are involved in design and construction projects, they must cooperate and communicate effectively with one another to control risks to the public. This is a tragedy that should never have happened.23 February 2010 At Aylesbury Crown Court, the jury found the company to be guilty of breaching sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £130,000 and ordered to pay costs of £220,000. HSE inspector, Dennis MacWilliam, said: "This was an extremely tragic incident which has now left Mr Ives' widow to continue life without a loving husband. It could have been avoided if only a few simple measures had been in place. "Employers are legally required to make sure their equipment is regularly maintained and is fit for use by their workers. If the bin hoist on the recycling lorry had been maintained this incident would never have happened." 17 February 2010 A Yorkshire bottle manufacturer has been prosecuted by the Health and safety Executive after a worker fell two meters to a concrete floor and sustained serious injuries, which included fractures to his back and skull, and bruising to his brain and kidney. He spent 11 days in hospital and has yet to return to work. Maintenance work at the factory resulted in a 3 metre square section of a mezzanine floor being opened up so that faulty equipment could be removed and replaced using a block and tackle pulley system. The gap was left open in case there was a need to access the equipment to make further adjustments. Before long, one worker had to go to the upper level again but as he did so he lost his footing and fell through the gap to the floor below. The company pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, namely for failing to ensure the safety of workers and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £3,173 costs by Leeds Magistrates. HSE inspectors discovered there was no risk assessment for removing the section of mezzanine floor and for the subsequent hole that was created. Also, no precautions had been taken to prevent a fall from height. After the hearing inspector Paul Yeadon said “Somebody could easily have died here. This incident was completely preventable with a simple risk assessment and a bit of common sense in planning the job”. The prosecution came just three days after the HSE launched its ‘Shattered Lives’ campaign to reduce slips, trips and falls in the workplace. 5 February 2010 In September 2008, HSE inspectors visited a West Midlands company, to look at its management systems for controlling legionella. The facility was used to treat metal, and part of the process involved using two water-cooling towers. The inspectors identified that there was no management system in place for protecting against the risk of legionella and that the company had also failed to carry out regular monitoring and testing for the bacteria – despite having received warnings from two water-treatment contractors. 2 February 2010 As from 5 April, GPs will be required to issue their patients with ‘fit notes’ as opposed to ‘sick notes’. The change follows the introduction of new legislation, which is designed to support people with ill health conditions to return to work sooner. Simon Rice-Birchall, Partner at law firm Eversheds, suggests that the new system should focus employers’ attention on how they manage sickness absence. Any employer that fails to engage with the new approach might be at an increased risk of disability discrimination claims. This is because a new-style report might highlight changes that an employer could make to the employee’s duties or workplace that would help them return to work sooner.” The Government has promised to issue specific guidance on the system for individuals, employers and health-care professionals, and will be launching a communications campaign to raise awareness of the change. JANUARY 2010 28 January 2010 An airport services company pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA 1974 and was fined £90,000 and ordered to pay £18,800 costs following the death of one of its maintenance specialists. The engineer was inspecting a baggage tug vehicle, which is used to pull baggage trolleys. In order to effect repairs to an electrical fault and a hydraulic oil leak, he placed the tug on a trolley jack (without additional supports to hold it in place) so that he could work from underneath the vehicle. As he did so, the jack moved backwards causing the tug to fall down on top of him. He died at the scene as a result of serious head injuries. HSE inspector Stephen Kirton said: “This tragic death could have been avoided if axle stands were routinely carried in the company maintenance van and were used by staff. The engineer could be alive today if just £30 had been spent on a pair of axle stands.” 27 January 2010 A Bristol-based company has been fined £18,000 and ordered to pay £6,679 costs for failing to take necessary safety precautions to protect its workers against exposure to asbestos insulation board during refurbishment. The company pleaded guilty to breaches under Regulation 14 of the Construction (Design and Management) [CDM] Regulations 2007 by failing to appoint a CDM-coordinator or principal contractor for notifiable construction work and Regulation 4 (10) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations by failing to review or implement a plan to manage materials containing asbestos. Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Sue Adsett said: "The decision not to have large quantities of asbestos insulation board removed by licensed contractors before the general refurbishment work began, put the workers at risk and contaminated the site." "The work was stopped and the defendant paid to make the site safe, but this doesn't change the fact that seven construction workers were exposed to asbestos, which we know can cause fatal diseases." "Landlords and property developers need to be very wary of organising construction work themselves if they haven't got appropriate experience of managing health and safety in building projects." According to the HSE, around 500,000 buildings built before 2000 could contain asbestos. This need not pose safety concerns if the properties are properly managed and maintained in good condition. Before demolition or refurbishment work takes place, landlords need to arrange for 'Type 3' survey to be undertaken and to pass the information on to builders before asking them to start work. Some asbestos products such as asbestos insulation boards (AIB) or asbestos insulation can only be removed by specially licensed contractors. 26 January 2010 A care home has been prosecuted following the death of a disabled teenager who sustained injuries caused by scalding water after being lowered into a medical bath. A special valve on the bath, designed to protect against scalding, was not set, and so the bath was filled with excessively hot water. A carer did check the water temperature by hand but was wearing a glove and so did not realise how hot the water actually was. Apparently, an HSE investigation found that the care home’s parent company had a policy in relation to bathing, which required staff to check the water temperature by hand without wearing gloves and to check if the safety valve was set to a suitable temperature. Unfortunately, the policy had not been brought to the attention of staff at the home. The company pleaded guilty to breaching s3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Etc Act 1974 and was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £45,000 in costs. 10 January 2010 A Gateshead construction company has been fined £4,500 with costs of £2,342 after it pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 at Tynedale Magistrates' Court in Hexham. The company allowed one of its employees to operate a forklift truck telehandler, without first ensuring that he had received the necessary training. As he lifted roof trusses onto the roof of a development, the telehandler overturned and fell on to its side, causing the employee to sustain multiple fractures to his right arm. After the case, HSE Construction Inspector John McGill, said that in addition to failing to provide training, the company had also not reviewed its processes to prevent unauthorised personnel from having access to specialist machinery on site. The company had produced a risk assessment and a system of work for lifting the roof trusses, but neither were deemed sufficient and had not identified the dangers that workers would face. The incident demonstrates how important it is for employers, particularly construction companies, to effectively manage health and safety at all levels within the business. 8 January 2010 Following an accident in which a subcontractor fell 5 metres down an inadequately protected stairwell, a Preston company has been ordered to pay £21,000. The contractor was working on a construction project in Tunbridge Wells on 11 November 2008 when the accident happened, leaving him with a fractured skull and other broken bones. Another person working with him at the time escaped uninjured. The company admitted to breaches of sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act. They were ordered to pay a £16,000 fine and £5,000 costs. HSE Inspector Melvyn Stancliffe said: “I would echo the magistrates' statement that these were reckless breaches of the law. The injured man is extremely lucky - despite the severity of his injuries. This sort of fall could easily have killed him. It is all the sadder because it should have been prevented.” DECENBER 2009 18 December 2009 A major bus company has been fined following the death of an employee who was crushed at one of its garages in Uxbridge, Hillingdon. The company, which is part of the First Group, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for safety failings leading up to the incident on 18 May 2004. The company pleaded guilty of breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 on 16 December, at Southwark Crown Court. And was fined £400,000, with costs still to be determined at a separate hearing. The court heard that the employee was preparing one of the buses and as he stepped in between two parked buses, the front bus lurched backwards and crushed him against the one behind. He died at the scene. The HSE investigation showed that traffic management at the garage was poor, particularly when buses left the garage at the start of the working day. The garage had originally been designed to hold 65 buses, but at the time of the incident it was being used for 119 vehicles. The garage was not well lit and drivers carrying out checks were forced to walk between closely parked buses that were maneuvering to leave the garage. The bus that struck the employee also had a defective gear selector that may have meant it was in a different gear to that indicated in the driver's cab. Subsequent checks revealed that four other buses based at Uxbridge had similar problems. Additional checks at the company's other garages in London showed that 10 out of 60 buses were significantly faulty and a further 30 per cent suffered from more minor faults. 14 December 2009 A multinational business has been fined fined a total of £12,500 and ordered to pay £2,388 costs by West Bromwich magistrates for health and safety breaches and failing to promptly report an injury. 3 December 2009 3 December 2009 The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) is warning businesses to take proper precautions with scaffolding following the successful prosecution of a firm that ignored important advice and enforcement action by the HSE.
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