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Occupational health and safety news and guidance

Blog posts : "burns"

The dangers of welding and how to protect against them

Photo shows a worker welding wearing personal protective equipmentWhether you're a skilled professional who's been using welding machinery since you were knee high to a grasshopper, or a clueless newbie picking up a welder for the first time for a spot of ambitious DIY, welding can be hazardous.

Combining heat, flame, light, dust and noise, there is a lot which…

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Eliminate burns in the workplace

Photo shows a chef in a hot kitchenBurns are often overlooked as a workplace-related injury, but occur by the thousands each year and in several occupational fields. While burn injuries are less common than slip and fall injuries or sprains and strains, according to a study conducted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administrati…

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Didcot manufacturer fined for acetone burn failings

Photo shows the open bowl used to hold the acetone that ignited

A specialist manufacturer of vessels and pipework designed to carry liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen has been fined after a welder was seriously burned during unsafe hotwork.

The 38 year-old employee, from Oxford, who does not want to be named, was in hospital for a week and needed skin grafts a…

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Littleborough firm in court after employee badly burned in factory fire

Photo shows the factory fire

A Littleborough factory has been sentenced for safety failings following a major fire which left an employee with severe burns.

Multiroof Building Products Ltd. was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the blaze on 28 May 2012, which destroyed the entire factory and sever…

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‘tis the season to be fire-ready

Photo shows the feet of a family in front of a fireAs we all know, Christmas is a time for jollities and japes, overindulging in mulled wine and of course, one too many mince pies. For me, the most important part of the holiday season is taking the time to relax and step back from the trials and tribulations of everyday life.

Although Christmas is …

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Gas fitter to carry out unpaid community work after explosion injures pensioner

Photo shows the damaged gas pipe

A gas fitter has received a suspended prison sentence and curfew, and been ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid community work, after a pensioner suffered severe burns in a gas explosion at his home in Manchester.

Peter Smith, 66, was in a coma for three months following the blast, which happ…

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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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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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Wirral chemical firm fined £120,000 after fireball engulfs employee

Waste deactivation area where an employee was engulfed by a fireball

A chemical firm has been fined £120,000 after an employee sustained severe burns when he was engulfed by a fireball at a factory in Wirral.

The 45-year-old from Kirkby was kept in an induced coma for seven weeks following a chemical explosion at SAFC Hitech Limited’s plant in Bromborough on 28 F…

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Gas fitter sentenced over Irlam explosion

Irlam Merlin Road gas explosion

A gas fitter has been sentenced following a major explosion in Irlam which injured ten adults and five children, and left a 73-year-old woman with severe burns.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Paul Kay after carrying out a large-scale investigation into the explosion on Merlin Ro…

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Property developer sentenced over Manchester gas explosion

A property development firm has been fined £100,000 following a major gas explosion that destroyed dozens of homes in South Manchester.

PJ Livesey Group Ltd. was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the blast at the Didsbury Gate development on 8 December 2009.
The aftermath of the gas explosion at the Didsbury Gate development in South Manchester

On 29 Nove…

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Tyneside firm fined after worker suffers toxic chemical burns

A Tyneside firm has been fined after a worker was soaked with a concentrated, corrosive chemical and suffered serious burns.

Michael Reid, 66, of North Shields, was employed as an electroplater at DMI (UK) Ltd. when the incident happened on 30 January 2011.

In a prosecution brought by the Health…

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Redhill company fined £167,000 over worker's death

A Redhill-based construction company has been ordered to pay £210,000 in fines and costs after an employee died following an explosion on a construction site in central London. The explosion occurred following damage to an 11,000 volt live cable within an excavation.

Ioan Boboc, 22, a constr…

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Paisley joiner ordered to do community service after unsafe gas installation caused explosion

A self-employed joiner has been sentenced to 300 hours of community service after a gas cooker he illegally installed exploded, severely injuring two householders and causing more than £580,000 worth of damage toGas Safe Register logo four properties.

Alex Irvine was hired by John and Emily Reid to cut out a kitc…

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Steel company fined £500,000 after worker died from fall into liquid waste

Global steel company Tata was fined £500,000 for serious safety breaches today after a worker died when he fell into a channel carrying slag waste at 1,500 degrees Celsius when covers had been removed for maintenance and not replaced.

Kevin Downey, 49, was working on a night shift on the Num…

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Firm fined after worker suffers serious burns

A Nottinghamshire die-casting firm has been fined after an employee suffered severe burns when he fell into a furnace.

Keith Buckley, 59, from Mansfield, was removing equipment from the top of a magnesium furnace at Meridian Lightweight Technologies (UK) Ltd. in readiness for the removal of the…

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Council-owned firm fined after worker receives electric shock

Swindon Commercial Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Swindon Borough Council, has been fined after an agency employee received an electric shock whilst securing fencing at a play area.

The worker had undertaken work for Swindon Commercial Services for a number of years and was working at…

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Firm fined after worker burned in gas pipe fire

Metal gas pipe at demolition site that ignited in workers faceA demolition firm has been fined for safety failings after an employee suffered serious burns when a gas pipe ignited in his face.

The employee, 37, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, was carrying out demolition work at a warehouse in Burton-on-Trent when he used an angle grinder to cut into a m…

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Print firm fined after flash fire injures two workers

A printing company based in Waltham Forest has been fined for safety failings after two workers were burned in a flash fire when vapours from a flammable cleaning fluid ignited in a print room.

The two printers, employed by Delta Display Ltd in Blackhorse Lane, Walthamstow, suffered burns and…

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Totton director fined after worker suffers burns

The director of a Totton company has been fined after an employee suffered burns while cutting the top off an unused propane gas tank at the director's home.

The 29 year-old worker from Winchester suffered burns over his left arm, torso and abdomen when he was asked, by Jamie Thomas Jewell, …

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20 Blog Posts