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Health and Safety News

Occupational health and safety news and guidance

Blog posts : "hswa"

Engineering firm sentenced following Preston worker’s death

Photo shows the overhead crane that crushed Liam ONeill

A major engineering firm has been sentenced for safety failings following the death of an electrician who was crushed by an overhead crane at a Preston factory.

Liam O’Neill had been trying to replace a control cable when the incident happened at Assystem UK Ltd. in Bamber Bridge on 12 March 2011…

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Neath Port Talbot demolition firm fined after workers injured by collapsing floor

Photo shows a section of collapsed mezzanine floor

A Neath Port Talbot based demolition firm has been fined £30,000 after two of its workers were injured when a mezzanine floor collapsed on them.

On 18 October, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Wrexham Demolition and Dismantling Ltd. following the incident which took place on 9 Se…

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Barking firm fined for saw guard failings

Photo shows the horizontal band saw that severed a workers tendons

A Barking firm has been prosecuted for safety failings after an employee severed the tendons in his hand on an unguarded saw blade.

The worker needed a five-hour operation to repair the damage following the incident at Kierbeck Thames Ltd., on River Road, on 23 February 2012. He has been left wit…

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Firm fined over bulldozer driver death

Photo shows the bulldozer bogged down in mud

A Surrey company has been sentenced for safety failings after a contractor was crushed to death at the London Gateway Port construction site in Essex.

Robert Noel Mayne, known as Noel, 59, from Tichfield in Hampshire, died as he and colleagues tried to retrieve a bulldozer that was bogged down in…

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Cheshire fertiliser firm sentenced over asbestos exposure

A fertiliser manufacturer has been sentenced after around 50 workers were exposed to potentially-deadly asbestos fibres at its plant at Ince Marshes near Ellesmere Port.

GrowHow UK Ltd. was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after asbestos was discovered during the refurbishment …

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Chemical firm fined for Burscough explosion

Photo shows the aftermath of the blaze at Burscough Industrial Estate

A chemical firm has been ordered to pay £150,000 in fines and costs over a major explosion at a waste management site in Lancashire that caused three workers to sustain serious burns.

Personnel Hygiene Services (PHS) Ltd. was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the blas…

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Glossop metals firm in court over employee's crane injuries

Photo shows the open-sided metal container which struck the worker

A Glossop-based metal manufacturer has appeared in court after an employee was injured when he was struck by a container as it swung from an overhead crane.

Firth Rixson Metals Ltd., which produces specialised metals for the aerospace, medical, oil and nuclear industries, was prosecuted on 1 Octo…

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Dorset yacht company prosecuted for ship fire

Photo shows the aftermath of the devastating fire on board the Malcolm Miller

A Dorset yacht company has been sentenced for safety failings relating to a fire that ravaged a famous tall ship and almost killed a worker.

Rolf Kitching, 45, from Portsmouth, sustained 40 percent burns to his upper torso and head and was hospitalised for four months as a result of the incident …

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Southport firm sentenced over teenage biker's death

Photo shows the area of the Hesketh Estate where the incident happened

A Southport firm has been ordered to pay more than £100,000 in fines and costs following the death of a teenager who came off his motorbike when it collided with a metal cable strung between two trees.

Seventeen-year-old Ryan Acaster from Chorley had been riding his 110cc off-road bike when it h…

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Construction firm in court over major Liverpool city centre gas scare

Photo shows the damaged gas pipe which sparked fears of an explosion in Liverpool city centre

A construction firm has appeared in court over a major gas leak which caused widespread disruption and sparked fears of an explosion in Liverpool city centre.

Hundreds of people were evacuated from the area around the former Lewis's department store on 19 January 2012 after a gas supply pipe was …

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Pirelli in court over injuries at Carlisle tyre factory

Photo shows the machine which caused the workers injuries

Tyre manufacturer Pirelli has appeared in court after an employee sustained major injuries to his left arm when it became trapped in a tyre-testing machine.

The 57-year-old from Carlisle, who has asked not to be named, broke his arm in three places, was off work for four months and still has diff…

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Faulty rope led to amputation for outdoors instructor

Photo shows the site at Carroty Wood where outdoor instructor Josh Senior fell

A Southampton firm has been prosecuted after an outdoors activity instructor was left permanently disabled when he used a defective rope for a simulated parachute landing.

Joshua Senior, 25, plunged some nine metres to the ground at the Rock (UK) adventure centre in Carroty Wood, near Tonbridge, …

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Vauxhall owner sentenced over Ellesmere Port death

Photo shows area of factory where Ian Heard received injuries that led to his death

The owner of Vauxhall has been fined £150,000 over the death of a long-serving worker who was crushed in machinery at its car factory in Ellesmere Port.

General Motors UK Ltd. was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after Ian Heard was found at the North Road plant on 22 July 201…

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Two companies prosecuted for gas mains fire in Leeds

Photo shows gas mains fire near residential buildings

Two major companies were responsible for a major blaze in Leeds that led to the evacuation of six homes, the closure of a major road and gas supplies being cut off, a court heard on 31 July 2013.

Leeds-based Northern Gas Networks Operations Ltd. and Morgan Sindall (Infrastructure) plc both neglec…

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Scaffolding firm sentenced over worker's death

Photo shows skylight Tony Causby fell 13 metres through

A scaffolding firm has been ordered to pay more than £100,000 in fines and costs following the death of an employee who plunged 13 metres through the roof of a Skelmersdale warehouse.

Married father-of-one Tony Causby, 42, from Leigh, was helping to dismantle scaffolding when he stepped onto a f…

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Three firms sentenced after man killed by rocketing gas cylinder

Photo shows cylinder with missing valve

Three South East firms have been ordered to pay a total of £685,787.31 in fines and costs for serious safety breaches after a plumber died and six other workers were seriously injured by a barrage of flying gas cylinders.

Adam Johnston, 38, from Sutton, Surrey, was struck by one of 66 heavy cyli…

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Council prosecuted after worker's near-death fall

Photo shows the overturned cherry picker

Bradford Council has admitted serious safety breaches after one of its parks' employees narrowly escaped death when he plunged eleven metres from the cradle of a cherry picker.

Bradford Magistrates heard the 23-year-old arboricultural worker from Bingley was working at a height of some 35 feet pr…

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Worker's six metre fall lands two Kent businesses in court

Photo shows the warehouse where a worker fell to his death

A Kent father and grandfather died after plunging six metres through a fragile skylight because safety measures were neglected both by his employer and a major drinks wholesaler, a court has heard.

Robert Rogers, 61, was working for Richard Parker, trading as Ovenden Engineering, which had been c…

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Farm fined for young worker's death in tractor tragedy

Kim Webb - young farm worker killed in tractor tragedy

A young Somerset farm worker was killed when the tractor she was driving overturned in a field.

Kim Webb, 26, from North Cadbury, was driving a tractor that had no seat belt, cab or roll over bar on a sloping field near North Cadbury when the incident happened on 26 June 2009.

On 18 June, Bristo…

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Rochdale bedding firm fined £50k over multiple safety failings

Photo shows one of the machines at the factory which had been wrapped with pieces of cardboard

A Rochdale bedding manufacturer has been fined £50,000 after a health and safety inspection found the majority of its machines were unsafe to use.

Inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had to return to Sartex Quilts and Textiles Ltd. for a second day after finding dozens of missi…

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20 Blog Posts