Company and director sentenced for putting workers at risk
A roofing firm has been fined while its director has been handed a suspended prison sentence after putting the lives of workers at risk during a roof renovation in Surrey. Weather Master Roofing Limited and company director Jack Avanzo, also known as Jack Avenzo, were sentenced at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on Monday following a prosecution […]
Councils’ asbestos management to be assessed during inspection campaign
Hundreds of inspections at council buildings will be carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to check councils are managing the risk of asbestos properly. HSE inspectors will visit the head offices of dozens of councils across the country to ensure asbestos risks are being managed effectively to keep people safe. Each council […]
Company failed to manage legionella risk as prisoner dies
A company has been fined after it failed to manage the risk of legionella bacteria in the hot and cold water systems at HMP Lincoln. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation followed the death of an inmate. Amey Community Limited has now been fined £600,000 after pleading guilty to a health and safety offence. […]
Company and contractor sentenced as failures led to evacuation in village
A company and a contractor have been fined following the evacuation of 30 homes in a Derbyshire village. Residents in Wessington were forced to leave their properties on 21 June 2022 after Elliott Kirk struck an underground gas main with a mechanical post knocker. Mr Kirk had been installing fencing around Belper Skip Hire Limited’s […]
Plastics manufacturer fined as worker suffers multiple leg fractures
A plastics manufacturer in Kent has been fined £400,000 after an employee was seriously injured by a forklift truck. The man was struck by the vehicle while walking to collect materials at FloPlast Limited’s site at Eurolink Business Park on 4 July 2023. The driver of the forklift truck failed to see the worker, who […]
Company fined £1.6m following the death of ‘happy-go-lucky’ 24-year-old
A company has been fined £1.6m after a 24-year-old man was crushed to death. Jack Phillips lost his life on 8 August 2019 while working for Brand Energy and Infrastructure Services UK Ltd at South Cliff Tower in Eastbourne. His parents say they are “no longer complete” following the loss of their “happy-go-lucky” son. Jack […]
Company fined after an explosion seriously injured two employees
A company which produces electricity from food waste by anaerobic digestion, has been fined more than £300,000 after an explosion caused two employees to suffer life changing injuries. The metal tank the two men were working on was projected high into the air before crashing to the ground nine seconds later. Footage of the blast […]
Two companies fined after man falls through roof of Salford skate park
Two companies have been fined more than £100,000 after a man fell 30 feet through a fragile skylight as he was working on a roof. Nicolas Vilela suffered multiple injuries in the incident at Graystone Action Sports Centre, on Brunel Avenue in Salford on 23 November 2022. Now 43, Mr Vilela had been fixing a […]
HSE publishes annual work-related ill health and injury statistics for 2023/24
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has today (Wednesday 20 November) published its annual statistics on work-related ill health and workplace injuries. The statistics reveal that the number of workers reported to be suffering from work-related ill health during 2023/24 is 1.7 million – which is similar to 2022/23 (1.8 million workers). The rate of […]
Wood panelling firm fined £400,000 after injured worker loses leg
A wood panel manufacturer has been fined £400,000 after a worker suffered life-changing injuries at its factory in Chirk, near Wrexham. The incident happened at Kronospan Limited on 31 March 2021, when a pack of waste MDF sheets weighing around 350kg fell from a trailer and landed on the left leg of Mark Hughes from […]
Ginsters owner fined £1.28m after employee crushed to death by lorry
The owner of Ginsters has been fined £1.28 million after an employee was killed by a lorry that was delivering supplies to the bakery where it makes its pasties. Paul Clarke was fatally crushed on 2 December 2021 after being struck by the vehicle as it reversed into a loading bay at The Cornwall Bakery, […]
Company fined after worker killed by telehandler
A construction company has been fined £160,000 after a man was killed by a telehandler at a house build site in Glasgow. Scott Bradley had been reversing the vehicle at the Stepford Road site when it slid down an embankment and overturned on 11 May 2022. The 44-year-old, employed by Merchant Homes Partnership Limited, had […]
Fine for council after man ‘who loved life’ killed by falling tree
Cheshire East Council (the council) has been fined £500,000 after ‘the most amazing man’ was killed by a falling tree. Christopher Hall, 48, from Wilmslow, was walking his dog in The Carrs – one of the town’s parks – on 28 August 2020, when the large limb of a tree fell and struck him. He […]
Manchester engineering firm fined after apprentice loses fingers
A Manchester-based engineering company has been fined £500,000 after a young apprentice lost the use of two fingers when using a horizontal bandsaw. The apprentice, who was just 18 at the time, suffered the serious injuries to his fingers in an incident at Proline Engineering Limited in Worsely, on 7 November 2022. While one finger […]
Fine for construction company after father of three left paralysed
A father-of-three was left paralysed from the chest down after falling through a ceiling at a house renovation in Derbyshire. Chesterfield builder Andrew Clifford remained lying face down on the floor for around six hours before he was found by a delivery driver. He judged the time by hearing hourly news bulletins from his radio. […]
Stress Awareness Week: Employers have to fulfil legal duty
Britain’s workplace health and safety regulator, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), is calling on all employers during Stress Awareness Week 2024 to carry out their legal duty to prevent work-related stress and support good mental health at work. HSE figures show the average employee suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety took an average […]
School trust fined after pupil injured
A school trust in Surrey has been fined after part of a pupil’s finger was amputated. The five-year-old boy, a Year 1 pupil at Danetree Primary School in Epsom, had been leaving the toilet on 15 June 2022 when his right hand slipped and went into the hinge side of a door. There was no […]
Man spared immediate spell behind bars over unsafe gas work
A man from Blackpool has been spared an immediate spell behind bars after his unsafe gas work put people’s lives at risk. Mehmet Kalyoncu, who pleaded guilty on the first day of a proposed trial, was given a 12-month custodial sentence suspended for the same period. The 57-year-old, who was not Gas Safe Registered, installed […]
Company fined as employee fractures skull
A company has been fined £80,000 after an employee sustained a fractured skull at its site in Glasgow. In addition to a fractured skull, the worker sustained a broken clavicle, a ripped earlobe and haematomas down his right side, caused by being struck by a telehandler bucket while working at Grayshill Limited on 19 October […]
Routine inspection lands metal recycling firm with £650,000 fine
A major metal recycling firm has been hit with a £650,000 fine following a routine inspection by Britain’s workplace regulator. ASM Metal Recycling, which operates four other metal recycling sites, including at locations in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, received enforcement action from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for failing to implement effective control measures to […]