Menu

Health and Safety News

Occupational health and safety news and guidance

Blog posts March 2012

Lift manufacturer fined after engineer crushed to death at Heathrow

Lift manufacturer Schindler Ltd. has been fined £300,000 for safety failings after an employee was crushed to death while installing a passenger lift at Heathrow Airport.

Lift engineer Kevin Dawson, 45, was helping with the construction of Terminal 5A at London Heathrow when the incident occ…

Read more

Cleaning firm fined over porter's death at Bolton hospital

A national cleaning company has been fined £175,000 after a hospital porter was killed by an industrial waste compactor in Bolton.

Peter Bonomy's neck was broken when the lid on the large metal container slammed down on him at the Royal Bolton Hospital in Farnworth in 2006.

His employer, I…

Read more

Demolition firm fined after man's arm is severed

UK Demolition Services Ltd. has been fined after a teenage worker's arm was amputated after being crushed during the demolition of old Grand Cinema in Ramsey town centre in Cambridgeshire.

Thomas Bird, from Lichfield, Staffordshire, was working as a labourer for UK Demolition Services Ltd on …

Read more

Dorset dairy company fined after worker's arm crushed

A Dorset dairy has been prosecuted after an employee was injured when his arm was pulled into a slurry separator.

Andrew James Ray, 47, was cleaning the equipment at the dairy owned by M Hooper and Sons Ltd. in Winterborne Tomson on 2 January 2009.

Weymouth Magistrates' Court heard an unsafe sys…

Read more

Basildon landlord prosecuted for putting tenants' lives at risk

A woman who owns a number of properties in Basildon which she rents to vulnerable families has been given community service for failing to keep their gas appliances well maintained and safe.

Investigations by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Onyemauche 'Fidelia' Peel, 49, of T…

Read more

Worker lost arm in unguarded farm machinery

A worker employed to clear out an industrial chicken shed lost his arm after it became trapped in unguarded machinery.

Mike Aubry, 27, of Bradninch, near Exeter, was working at Millard Poultry Ltd at Little Acre, Lower Godney, Wells, when the incident happened on 4 December, 2010.

In a prosecution…

Read more

Man loses finger at Birmingham factory

A Birmingham engineering company has been fined after a man's finger was severed in a tube bending machine.

Robert Cuzick, 53, from Birmingham was working at Hydrapower Dynamics on 24 January 2011 when he put his hand on the machine's clamping arm to restart it.

However, the unguarded metal arm su…

Read more

Health screening company failed its duty to workers

A Cornish company has been prosecuted after using unqualified staff to screen the health of workers from dozens of other organisations.

Audio Medical Services Ltd. (AMS) carried out tests inadequately for 59 companies over a period of at least four years across the UK. The company failed to provi…

Read more

Carlisle boss fined after ignoring fire warnings

The owner of a pallet manufacturing firm has appeared in court after he allowed fires to be repeatedly lit at his premises next to gas storage sites in Carlisle.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted George Ward after he ignored warnings about lighting fires at Brampton Pallets, which …

Read more

Printing company fined £112,500 over death of worker

One of the UK's leading printing groups has been fined £112,500 at Peterborough Crown Court after a maintenance engineer was crushed to death in a printing press.

Ian Ebbs, a 43-year-old father of two from Morton, near Bourne in Lincolnshire, was working the night shift at the Wyndeham Peterboro…

Read more

Widnes firm fined over employee's fall injuries

A Cheshire worker could have been killed when he fell from the top of a chemical storage tank, a court has heard.

The 44-year-old from Bala, North Wales, had been carrying out maintenance work on the tank at a plant in Widnes when the chemical vapour inside set alight, causing an explosion. The wo…

Read more

Unregistered gas fitter's work put people at risk

gas safe registerA Wrexham-based gas fitter has been sentenced after installing and illegally servicing equipment which could have resulted in harm to the tenants and landlord of a Wrexham property.

Wrexham Magistrates' Court sentenced Mr Neil Lloyd to a 12-month community order that includes 150 hours of unpaid …

Read more

Leisure park worker trapped in trench collapse

A worker at a holiday park suffered serious injuries when a trench he was working in collapsed on top of him.

Grzegorz Waluszkowski, 40, was helping to lay a drainage pipe at the park on Lady's Mile Farm, Exeter Road, Dawlish on 23 July 2010, when the wall of the two metre deep trench caved in. He…

Read more

Manufacturer fined after hydraulic press crushes Stranraer worker's arm

A machinery manufacturer has been fined after its hydraulic press crushed a Stranraer worker’s arm which was later amputated.

James McKay, 47, had been operating the machine which had been designed by Composite Integration Limited to produce fire helmets. The hydraulic press was being used at M…

Read more

Case Law page updated

The HealthSafetyNews.co.uk Case Law page has been updated with additional legal precedent.

The page now covers the following topics:

  • Duty of Care
  • 'Reasonably Practicable'
  • Due Diligence
  • Occupiers' Liability to Trespassers
  • Personal Liability of Executives
  • Stress
  • Suitability of Flooring

Read more

Mersey shipbuilding firm sentenced over welder death

A Merseyside shipbuilding firm has been fined £120,000 over the death of a welder who became trapped while driving a forklift truck.

Robert Dunroe suffered life-threatening injuries while using the truck to transport heavy welding equipment at Cammell Laird in Birkenhead on 18 August 2010. He di…

Read more

Essex school fined over student injury

A secondary school in Colchester has been prosecuted after a teenage boy was injured when a stack of timber board fell on him, causing severe injury to his ankle and foot.

On 3 March 2011, the 15 year-old student disturbed a pile of timber board which was stored in the main foyer of the school's …

Read more

Warwickshire company fined after worker loses fingers

A Warwickshire components manufacturer has been fined after a man's hand was badly crushed in a power press.

The 23-year-old agency worker lost two fingers following the incident at Studley firm Ricor Ltd. on 21 July 2011.

Leamington Spa Magistrates' Court heard how the man was removing a complet…

Read more

Fuel injection specialists fined after worker injured

A firm specialising in diesel fuel injection has been fined after a worker was set on fire at its Derbyshire premises.

The 23-year-old apprentice mechanic had been with Swadlincote Diesel Fuel Injection Services Ltd. for 18 months. On 16 March 2009, he and another employee were burning rubbish in …

Read more

Shop owners prosecuted for dangerous storage of fireworks

Two brothers who were storing fireworks next to an electric heater in their shop have received contitional sentences and ordered to pay £800 in costs.

Soutwark Council Trading Standards Inspectors found over 70kg of the explosives were not being stored safely and immediately removed them from Wa…

Read more

20 Blog Posts