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Firm fined after site manager’s error of judgement

a.thomson — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:48:06 +0000

A manager’s instruction to a site operative to use an industrial drilling tool in a manner expressly prohibited in its instructions for use led to a 12-day hospital stay and a permanent arm injury for a workman.
The accident occurred during August 2009 on a Huddersfield building site, the worker, aged 32, was instructed to remove a 34kg one-metre high diamond core drill from its stand and use it in a hand-held fashion. Whilst doing so the rotating core of the drill snagged on blockwork and the body of the drill began to rotate, causing the man to spin round and sustain a double compound fracture to his right arm. HSE, upon investigation, instigated a prosecution, deeming that the manager had failed in his responsibilities to properly manage the construction site under his control and was in breach of r.13(2) the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.
The manager pleaded guilty at Huddersfield Magistrates’ Court and was fined £3,000 plus £2,388 in costs.
An HSE official commented: “The site manager allowed his eagerness to get a job done to take priority over the safety of a worker. He failed to pause for a short time to consider the potential risks associated with using the drill in this way. Ultimately, this has led to a serious injury. Professional site management includes responsibility for managing the building process to ensure it is carried out without risk to health and safety. We will continue to take enforcement action against those who fail to take measures to prevent those risks.”

Companies fined for unsafe excavation work

a.thomson — Wed, 18 May 2011 14:18:39 +0000

A Kent based property company and its groundwork subcontractor have been prosecuted for unsafe excavation work. Churchill Properties (Southern) Limited was prosecuted by the HSE for failing to plan, manage and monitor the excavation work being carried out on its construction site. The subcontractor, Moseley Green Services Limited was also prosecuted for failing to take all practicable steps to ensure that the excavation work did not put workers in danger from the excavation collapsing. The HSE Inspector found there was a significant risk of the excavation collapsing, or materials from the excavation walls falling and injuring workers. A Prohibition Notice was served by the Inspector to stop work on the site. An Improvement Notice was served a week later to ensure that future construction work was adequately planned, managed and monitored. After the hearing, HSE Inspector Denis Bodger said: “Principal contractors should properly manage and monitor the work that goes on at their sites. All excavation work should be planned and carried out under the directions of a competent supervisor. Workers should be given clear instructions. Churchill Properties (Southern) Ltd, Chartwell Farm, Mapleton Road, Westerham, Kent, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 22(1)(a) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. The company was fined £2,800 and ordered to pay costs of £2,917. Moseley Green Services Ltd, of Woolmer Way, Whitehill, Bordon Hampshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 31 of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. The company was fined £2,800 and ordered to pay costs of £2,917.

HSE website 13th May 2011

Shared responsibility after safety failures led to asbestos exposures

a.thomson — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 11:00:10 +0000

A failure by a retailer and a project principal contractor to follow the requirements of the law led to 45 workmen being exposed to asbestos fibres at a Topshop outlet in Liverpool. The refurbishment project work was commenced despite a survey identifying the presence of asbestos. Attempts were initially made to seal off access to the first floor of the building when sprayed asbestos on the ceiling beams was disturbed, but work was allowed to continue elsewhere in the building, resulting in a total of 45 construction workers being exposed when the asbestos spread outside the sealed area.
Vincents (Shopfitters) Ltd admitted breaching r.22(1)(a) and 23(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 having failed to properly plan, manage and monitor the project, and not addressing the asbestos risks. It was fined £10,000 plus £10,769 costs. In addition, Arcadia Group Ltd, of Berners Street, London, was fined £5,000 with costs of £10,769 having breached r.16(a) of the above Regulations. 23rd March 2011

Passing inspector issued prohibition notice

a.thomson — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:57:36 +0000

A passing HSE inspector observed employees of BRC Industrial Roofing Specialists Ltd of Long Ditton, Surrey, working atop a fragile roof without safety equipment despite being 8.5 metres off the ground. He issued a prohibition notice stopping any further work and an improvement notice to ensure a risk assessment and correct procedures were in place before recommencing work. BRC was contracted to ‘oversheet’ a roof at Independent Business Park in East Grinstead, it was fined £2,500 plus £1,000 costs. Its managing director admitted breaching r.4 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined a total of £3,500 with costs of £1,653. 14th March 2011

Severe arm injury inflicted by conveyor

a.thomson — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 12:31:52 +0000

Soleco UK Ltd, trading as Florette, of Lichfield, has been fined £10,000 with £2,587 costs in connection with an industrial accident in March last year. Soleco, supplier of prepared salad, admitted breaching r.11 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 in the circumstances of the accident which HSE described as ‘preventable’. An HSE inspector commented: “If Soleco UK had operated a more rigorous purchasing policy system for checking and commissioning new equipment, its supplier could have fitted the guards before the machine was put into use. Once Soleco UK had discovered that the conveyor was not properly guarded, nobody should have used the machine until the fault had been corrected.” 10th February 2011

Unsafe practices at landfill site

a.thomson — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 12:29:33 +0000

A 22-year old worker was discovered dead at the Biffa Waste Services Ltd landfill site at Mallusk, Northern Ireland, in August 2008. It was not possible for investigators to fully establish the events that preceded his death, but a number of unsafe practices were taking place at the time and unsafe arrangements for the separation of pedestrians and vehicles were noted.
Biffa was fined £60,000 plus £20,000 costs after it admitted permitting an unsafe system of work whereby large vehicles operated in the vicinity of pedestrians. 3rd February 2011

Firm fined over worker’s death at Glendoe

a.thomson — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 12:07:00 +0000

The Crown Office reports Hochtief Construction AG has been fined £266,000 at Inverness Sheriff Court over a contractor’s death during the construction of the Glendoe hydro-electric scheme near Fort Augustus. Ondrej Hladick, 46, died when he was crushed by part of the equipment he was using at the site on 22 September 2008.

The fine was reduced from £400,000 due to the company’s guilty plea to a breach of health and safety. The court heard that the telehandler, a forklift type vehicle, Czech Mr Hladick was driving was in extremely poor condition. It was believed the workman, from Prague, was leaning out of a large missing window and was crushed by the machine’s telescopic boom as he lowered it. Following the conviction, Elaine Taylor, head of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service health and safety division, said the company should not have had equipment in poor condition on the site. She added: “Hochtief Construction AG exposed them to a significant risk to their health and safety. “Mr Hladik’s death was entirely avoidable had Hochtief complied with health and safety legislation.”

Health and Safety Executive inspector John Shelton said the telehandler involved was the most poorly maintained construction vehicle of its type he had seen in more 30 years service. He said: “It should never have been allowed near any construction site. “All plant machinery should be properly maintained – contractors must be able to demonstrate that this is the case on their sites. “This tragic incident should have been avoided.”

Source BBC News website 22 Dec 2010

CDM and failure to plan: Wall collapses on teenager

a.thomson — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 13:08:15 +0000

A 17-year old worker sustained serious injuries when a wall collapsed on him and a colleague last year during refurbishment work on a dwellinghouse in Devizes. The collapse occurred as an opening was being created in a lime mortar gable wall.
HSE investigators deemed that this work was complex and required careful and meticulous planning with the involvement of a competent engineer. This was not done.vEmployer Simon Jones Restoration and Re-design Limited admitted breaching S.28(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 and was fined £4,000 with £3,000 costs and ordered to pay £1,000 compensation to the injured teenager. 5th October 2010

Fatal demolition accident at school

a.thomson — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 12:04:38 +0000

Moor Park Charitable Trust Ltd has been prosecuted and fined in connection with the death of a 40-year old workman and the injury of 4 others in August 2007. The deceased suffocated under the weight of a 2.4-tonne timber roof which collapsed as it was being demolished. Integral supports had been removed in the timber building, causing the collapse.
The school had arranged for a self-employed general building worker to undertake the demolition and he then engaged the help of the 4 other men to assist.
The school had not appointed a competent and experienced contractor, it was fined £25,000 plus £15,000 costs. 6th September 2010

Driver drowned after error

a.thomson — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 13:23:48 +0000

A 75-year old man died in September 2007 when he selected the wrong gear in his car while parked at an Argyll and Bute Council car park on the pier at Dunoon. The vehicle mounted the edging, and in the absence of a continuous protective barrier, it fell approximately 3 metres into the sea below.
There was no risk assessment for the car park and no action had been taken to provide adequate edge protection to prevent incidents like this.
The council was fined £20,000. 19th August 2010