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Health and Safety News

Occupational health and safety news and guidance

Blog posts : "hse"

Suffolk building company fined for asbestos and work at height failings

Photo shows the farm building where work took placeLJW Cladding Ltd. has been fined after removing asbestos insulation board without a licence and failing to protect its workers from falls of up to four metres at a farm building in Waltham, Essex.

Workers were potentially exposed to dangerous asbestos fibres and only provided with baby wipes …

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Suspended sentences for subcontractors after worker fatally crushed

Photo shows William Ward who was killed in the incidentTwo subcontractors have been handed eight-month prison sentences, suspended for 18 months, after a worker was killed when part of a 33-tonne metal barge he was dismantling collapsed on top of him.

William Ward, 56, from Handsworth, Sheffield, sustained catastrophic crush injuries in the incident …

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Leicester care home fined £100,000 after resident died of serious burns

Photo shows Walter Powley who died following serious burnsWalter Powley was admitted to Western Park View in Hinckley Road for emergency care in May 2012 after an occupational therapist advised his family he could no longer be safely left alone at home due to his risk of falling.

On 23 January, Leicester Crown Court heard that just four days later, Mr Pow…

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Chessington fined £150,000 for four-year-old girl's injuries

Photo shows the gap in a fence where the four-year-old girl fellChessington World of Adventures has been sentenced for safety failings that led to a four-year-old girl suffering life-changing head injuries when she fell from a raised walkway while queuing for a ride.

The youngster, from Kent, fell nearly four metres while waiting in line for the Tomb Blaster ri…

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HSE calls for New Year resolution on health and safety blame game

45% of health and safety myths were down to poor customer service - image

The Health and Safety Executive wants businesses that provide customer service to turn over a new leaf and stop blaming health and safety for poor or over-the-top decisions.

The regulator launched its 40th anniversary year with a call to stop the culture of blaming anything and everything on non-…

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Kent firm and director in court for unsafe demolition site

Photo shows unsafe working at the demolition site

A Kent construction company and its managing director have been prosecuted after both displayed a ‘shocking disregard’ for workers’ safety at a demolition site in Surrey.

Daniel Lautier admitted two breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act and his firm, ICG Construction Servic…

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Hampshire aircraft maintenance company fined after workers injured in falls

Photo shows an aircraft

ATC (Lasham) Ltd. (a Hampshire-based aircraft maintenance company) has been sentenced for safety failures after three workers were injured in separate falls at its airfield in Lasham – two in the same month.

The company was fined a total of £35,000 and ordered to pay £32,430 in costs after admi…

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Three injured in floor collapse at Trafford mansion

Photo shows the collapsed floor at the mansion

Two building firms have been ordered to pay a total of £72,000 in fines and costs after a floor collapsed during the construction of a six-bedroom mansion in Trafford, injuring three workers.

One of the men sustained major injuries when he was struck by a falling concrete beam, was in hospital f…

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Scaffolding firm in court for department store failings

Photo is an extract from the CCTV footage showing the unsafe scaffolding work

A Hertfordshire scaffolding firm has been fined for a catalogue of safety failings – including throwing and catching metal fittings over the heads of shoppers – as they erected two scaffolds outside an Oxford department store.

Darren Baker Scaffolding Limited also failed to ensure the structu…

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Chester dairy factory fined after workers badly scalded

Photo shows the 600 litre tank involved in the incident

A Chester-based dairy firm has been fined £54,000 after two employees were badly scalded when hot water escaped from the top of a 600 litre tank.

One worker suffered burns all over her body and spent a week in the specialist burns unit at Whiston Hospital following the incident at Meadow Foods L…

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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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Stalybridge firm fined after half tonne car drops on mechanic

Photo shows the car which fell on a young mechanic at North End Salvage Services in Stalybridge

A vehicle salvage firm in Stalybridge has been fined over multiple safety failings after a car weighing more than half a tonne fell from a forklift truck, crushing a young mechanic underneath.

The 22-year-old from Ashton-under-Lyne, who has asked not to be named, suffered severe injuries incl…

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Burnley bakery fined after worker loses fingertips in pasty machine

Photo shows the pasty-making machine which caused the workers injuries

A Burnley bakery has appeared in court after an employee had the tips of two fingers chopped off by a pasty-making machine.

On 20 February, Tayyabah Bakery Ltd. was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found part of a metal guard had been deliberately removed…

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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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Security company sentenced for generator death failings

Photo shows the petrol generator

A security company has been fined for safety failings after a lone working security guard was killed by carbon monoxide fumes from a petrol generator.

Arthur Ebirim, 45, from Peckham, south-east London, was overcome by the killer gas on 28 October 2011 as he kept a night-time watch over a disused…

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Firm fined for unsafe Oxfordshire scaffolds

Photo shows the scaffold in Wantage with missing ties, bracing and vehicle impact protection

A scaffolding firm has been fined for dangerous scaffold installations at sites in Wantage and Oxford.

Workers and passing members of the public alike were placed at risk because of faults with the structures, which included missing ties, bracing and vehicle impact protection.

West Hagbourne-bas…

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Sheffield Forgemasters fined over worker’s cellar death

Photo shows the incident scene

Sheffield Forgemasters has been ordered to pay £245,000 in fines and costs for safety failings that led to an employee dying of carbon dioxide poisoning after the cellar he was working in filled with the deadly gas.

Labourer Brian Wilkins, 48, was found unconscious at the South Yorkshire foundry…

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Leisure centre operator fined for child's chemical burns

Photo shows the drain cover where the injuries were sustained

The operator of an Essex leisure centre has been fined after a two and a half year-old boy suffered severe burns in the changing area of the centre’s swimming pool.

The toddler’s father, who does not wish to be named, was walking him to the pool after getting him ready for his weekly swimming l…

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Dorset firm fined after Christmas crane collapse

Photo shows the crane involved in the incident

A Dorset-based property developer has been told to pay a total of £97,681 after residents living near one of its construction sites in Essex were evacuated when a 45 metre crane jib collapsed.

The incident was one of two that happened in December 2011 at a site in South Road, Saffron Walden. Bot…

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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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20 Blog Posts