Prosecution

Two companies have been fined after a father-of-three was crushed to death by a machine. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the incident was entirely avoidable and Russell Hartley would still be alive had this work been planned, managed and monitored to a sufficient standard. Mr Hartley, was a self-employed engineer from Sheffield […]

It has been a busy start to the summer for HSE with many prosecutions throughout June and July. Here are TEN prosecution cases you might have missed during that time: Tata Chemicals fined following young father’s death On 5 June, Tata Chemicals Europe Limited was fined more than £1 million at Chester Crown Court. The […]

A manufacturing company based in Wolverhampton has been fined £30,000 after a welder sustained serious injuries when he was struck by a forklift truck. David Lucas was working for Fablink UK Limited at its weld shop site on Stafford Road when he was hit by the reversing forklift on 12 January 2023. The forklift driver […]

A company has been fined £160,000 after an employee lost both legs whilst working at its site near Warrington. On 20 June 2022, Andrew McAuley, from Runcorn, an employee of William Stobart & Son Limited was picking orders at the firm’s warehouse in Appleton Thorn. The 64-year-old was working in close proximity to a forklift […]

The director of a Halifax-based recycling company has been given a community order after a worker lost part of his left leg when it was crushed by machinery. Daisy Ning Bai, 43, the director of BW Recycling Limited, was told she must complete 160 hours of unpaid work after pleading guilty to health and safety […]

A recycling company has been fined after a man died and another was seriously injured while decommissioning a North Sea gas rig. Stephen Picken, 62, and Mark Kumar were working for Veolia ES (UK) Limited at an onshore facility in Great Yarmouth. Both men were working as demolition operatives also known as “Top Men”, undertaking […]

A Cheshire-based electrical transmission company has been fined £240,000 after a man was left paralysed from the chest down after a fall at work. Gavin Pugh, from Bangor in North Wales, was 35 at the time of the incident and employed as a linesman by Wood Transmission and Distribution Limited. He had been demolishing and […]

An engineering firm has been fined after an employee suffered a fractured skull, hip, jaw and pelvis, while working at a HS2 construction site in Hertfordshire. The man, employed as a mechanical engineer by EMC Elite Engineering Services Ltd, had been repairing a conveyor at the site on Chalfont Lane, West Hyde when he fell […]

A company and its director have been fined after an employee was struck by an object while manufacturing large steel cable drums for the offshore industry. The man, who is now 54, had been working for Code-A-Weld (Great Yarmouth) Ltd when the incident happened on 19 November 2022. Although the company had manufactured steel drums […]

A local authority has been sentenced after a worker lost his finger while operating a machine. Adi Soday, a technician at The Forest School in Horsham, lost his right index finger when it was sliced off by a circular bench saw on 13 June 2022. The 29-year-old, who worked in the design and technology (DT) […]

A charitable trust has been fined after a volunteer lost his life during restoration work on the Wilts and Berks Canal. Peter Konitzer was fatally crushed when a section of a wall collapsed onto him in an excavation at Pewsham locks on 24 August 2016. The 62-year-old had been inside the excavation removing temporary propping […]

Two companies have been fined after a teenage worker was exposed to asbestos. The 16-year-old had been working for P Turnbull Joinery and Building Services Ltd on an outbuilding of a domestic property after the firm had been hired by Alt Berg Holding Limited to refurbish the property in Richmond, North Yorkshire. He had been […]

A company in Berkshire has been fined £30,000 after a father-of-four was electrocuted. Levi Alleyne (known as ‘Chunky’) lost his life while delivering crushed concrete at a construction site on Swallowfield Road, Reading, on 16 November 2020. Chunky was killed after the crane arm of his lorry came into close contact with an overhead power […]

A housing company has been fined more than £300,000 after a driver was crushed to death by falling concrete blocks at a construction site in South Lanarkshire. Conor Joseph Morgan had been delivering materials to Shott Farm in High Blantrye, a construction site being operated by Avant Homes (Scotland) Limited, when the incident happened on […]

A man has been given a suspended sentence after he carried out unsafe work on an extension to his own home in Manchester. Abdul Rehman engaged operatives to help him build an extension to the property on Kings Crescent in Old Trafford – which was in addition to replacing the roof on the existing semi-detached […]

A company in Aberdeen has been sentenced after an employee sustained serious injuries. Miroslaw Pancyzk fractured both of his wrists and sustained a fractured middle finger on his right hand while working for Harper UK (Aberdeen) Ltd at the firm’s premises on 4 April 2022. He had been using a piece of emery paper to […]

A construction company has been fined following the death of a worker. Gary Webster lost his life two days after drowning in the River Aire on 30 October 2017. Mr Webster and another worker had been on a boat removing debris at the bottom of the weir gates at Knostrop Weir when their boat capsized. […]

A car wash firm in Devon has been fined £40,000 after it repeatedly failed to protect workers and members of the public from electrical safety risks. Investigators from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) carried out multiple visits to Best Car Wash Ltd in Tavistock between July 2021 and November 2022. They found employees were […]

Openreach Limited has been fined £1.34 million after an engineer died whilst trying to repair a telephone line. Alun Owen, from Bethesda, died after he slipped and fell into the River Aber in Abergwyngregyn and was swept away on 6 October 2020. The 32-year-old has been described by his family as a ‘loving and selfless […]

Tata Chemicals Europe Limited has been fined after a young father died following an incident while erecting a scaffold tower in a chemical plant in Northwich. Michael Densmore, from Halewood in Merseyside, died following complications to the wound he sustained after his right foot slipped into a trough containing a liquid chemical calcium hydroxide – […]