Menu

Health and Safety News

Occupational health and safety news and guidance

Blog posts February 2011

Papermaking company fined for fatal roof fall

Tullis Russell Papermaker Ltd admitted a failure to monitor a contractor who was working on a fragile roof at its factory in Fife. The company pleaded guilty to breaching s3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £260,000. No costs are awarded in Scotland.

The contractor advis…

Read more

Wimbledon carpenters fined for risking employees' safety

Pentcroft Ltd have been fined after their lack of safety precautions were found to 'consistently put the health and safety of its workers at risk'.

The company was found guilty of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay …

Read more

Birmingham firm fined for unsafe work at height

Spanclad Construction Ltd has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for putting its staff at risk when working at height. Three employees were seen replacing skylights at a height of over 5m, with no protection from falls as they walked to their place of work across a fragile roof…

Read more

North Devon farm worker injured in roof fall

A farmworker was injured when he fell around 12 feet through a roof he was fixing. Mr Tryner, who was self-employed, was checking for loose corrugated metal sheets on the roof of a barn at Mambury Farm when a wooden roof support broke and he fell through to the floor below.

Mambury Farm Ltd, of High…

Read more

Manufacturing company fined after safety breaches

Hendry Hydraulics Ltd has been prosecuted after health and safety failures at its Northumberland premises.

The company was prosecuted after Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors visited Hendry Eurohoist Cylinders in Ashington and served two Prohibition Notices.

The company pleaded guilty to t…

Read more

Worker's fingers severed - firm fined £5,000

Linpac Packaging Ltd has been sentenced after a worker's fingers were severed while trying to clear a jam in a machine on 13 March 2010.

The company pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was fined £5,000 and ordered to p…

Read more

2010-11 names and details of fatalities

Sobering reading from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Details of fatalities naming the individuals who died remind us that there is a person with family and friends behind the numbers we read in official statistics.

2010-11 names and details of fatalities

Details for previous years are also a…

Read more

Pensioner died after being thrown from wheelchair on minibus

An elderly woman died of her injuries after being thrown from a wheelchair while in an Age Concern Westminster minibus, a court heard today.

Age Concern Westminster of Praed Street, Westminster, London, were found guilty of breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It was…

Read more

Chemical firm sentenced after worker suffers toxic burns

A chemical company has been sentenced after a worker suffered toxic burns to his arms and chest at an Ellesmere Port factory.

The employee at Abacus Chemical Ltd was mixing two chemicals together on 7 May 2009 when they exploded, causing him to be drenched in a hot, toxic chemical solution.

Abacus C…

Read more

Ethanol train derailed

The derailment of train cars filled with ethanol resulted in explosions and a serious fire - 20 homes have been evacuated as a result.

No injuries were reported, but the fire was deemed too hazardous to fight and has been left to burn out.

Read this Reuters news article for further detail.

Read more

Fatal industrial accident

A 33 year old man has been killed in an accident on the Longman Industrial Estate, Inverness. The accident happened at about 10:30 on Saturday 5 February 2011.

Initial reports suggest the man was crushed by a falling load of animal feed.

Read more

Berkeley decommissioning programme reaches next stage

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reports that "Magnox, the licensee at Berkeley nuclear power station has taken a significant step towards hazard reduction at the decommissioning site, moving into the stage of ‘care and maintenance’".

For the next 60 years, the station will be left to deca…

Read more

Workplace violence and harassment on the increase in Europe

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) has reported that third party violence and harassment affect from 5% to 20% of European workers.

Its recent workplace survey shows that 40% of European managers are concerned by workplace violence and harassment, but only around 25% have im…

Read more

13 Blog Posts