28 October Wood Dust Dangers lead to fine A Northwich furniture company has been fined £16,000 after it repeatedly failed to protect its employees from exposure to wood dust. Pineland Furniture Ltd, based on Witton Street in the Cheshire town, was inspected by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on two separate occasions over a two-year period – with both identifying identical breaches. Nathan … Read More
13 June (Yet another) fatal injury arsing from a fall from height Work at height can be very dangerous. As a result, the work needs to be planned and suitable control measures put in place to avoid what can only be termed as “wholly avoidable accidents” Two contractors have been fined after a worker suffers a fatal injury following a fragile roof fall during construction work. Wolverhampton … Read More
12 June Valero Energy UK fined £5 million after four people died in an oil explosion Valero Energy UK Ltd and B&A Contracts Ltd have been fined after an explosion killed four workers and seriously injured another at an oil refinery in Pembrokeshire in 2011. Dennis Riley, 52, Robert Broome, 48, Andrew Jenkins, 33, and Julie Jones, 54, died after a storage tank exploded at the site. Andrew Philips also sustained … Read More
11 June Failure to plan (a second article) and to do the basics – lifting operation Same start as the first article: Lifting operations must be planned. Not a difficult concept. Think about what is being lifted (the load) and what can go wrong, and make suitable arrangements. The construction firm BAM Nuttall has been fined more than £800,000 after a worker was struck by a large expanded polystyrene (EPS) block. … Read More
4 April Asbestos disturbed – hoteliers fines A Devon based hoteliers was been sentenced after asbestos-containing materials (ACM) were disturbed during a major refurbishment at The Park Hotel in Barnstaple. The Magistrates’ Court in Newton Abbot heard that between October 2016 and May 2017 construction work was undertaken to refurbish the hotel on Taw Vale. Parts of the hotel were originally constructed during … Read More
22 June Asbestos failures lead (again) to substantial fines A building contractor has been fined after failing to carry out the correct procedures after asbestos was found during the refurbishment of a building at Bedford School in Bedford. Asbestos failures included the lack of a demolition/refurbishment survey and failure to manage asbestos after it was disturbed. Luton Crown Court heard how on 11 August … Read More
2 May Forged asbestos documents leads to fine and suspended jail sentence Forged documents led to prosecution: fines and suspended sentences In April 2018, an asbestos removal company and two of its managers were prosecuted after forging documents in order to obtain an asbestos licence from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Greater Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard how, between 16 March 2012 and 10 March 2016, Excavation … Read More
27 April Catalogue of failures – including using crowbars to smash an asbestos roof Quainton Logistics and Storage had let conditions on site fall well below the expected standards, said the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Workers use crowbars to smash asbestos roof Workers had not been given personal protective equipment and used crowbars to smash up asbestos cement roof sheets, which was then left on top of mobile … Read More
19 December Health and Safety Management – Active Monitoring Active Monitoring of Health and Safety is vital if an organisation is to avoid catastrophe. Good, solid, and sensible active monitoring help an organisation to avoid disaster by ensuring that the control measures that they believe are keeping them safe actually are keeping them safe. Active monitoring helps to avoid the reality gap: the chasm … Read More
24 August Use of highly flammable liquids leads to a DSEAR fine for paper company A paper coating company has been fined after a worker suffered burns following a fire on a coating machine. Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court heard how an Olympic Varnish Company Limited employee suffered burn injuries following a fire caused by the use of highly flammable liquid to clean rollers on a coating machine. An investigation by the HSE into … Read More