Prosecution

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

A company has been fined following an outbreak of legionella at its sheltered housing accommodation in Birkenhead, putting vulnerable residents at risk of contracting Legionnaires’ disease. The deadly bacteria was detected at Vincent Naughton Court following the sampling of its water systems in the communal areas and flats in July and August 2018. With all […]

A farmer from Hampshire has received a suspended prison sentence after a worker fell to his death. Phillip France lost his life after falling from the roof of a cow shed at Tickner Bros in Hampshire. The self-employer labourer had been dismantling the cow shed with two other workers when he fell through a rooflight, […]

A manufacturing company has been fined £15,000 after exposing its own workers to wood dust and failing to comply with two improvement notices. Wood dust can cause serious and often irreversible health problems, including sino-nasal cancer, asthma and dermatitis. Employers have a legal responsibility to prevent or adequately control exposure in the workplace. After concerns […]

The director of a Norwich woodworking company has avoided an immediate spell behind bars after he exposed his employees to harmful wood dust. Wood dust can cause serious and often irreversible health problems, including sino-nasal cancer, asthma and dermatitis. Employers have a legal responsibility to prevent or adequately control exposure in the workplace. John Risby, […]

A company in Peterborough has been fined £67,000 after a young employee lost his life. George Setchfield was found unconscious over the side of a large container while working for Electrostatic Magic Limited at the firm’s site in Peterborough. George’s mum says his passing has affected “every aspect” of her life. The 21-year-old had entered […]

Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has been fined £480,000 after an employee suffered a brain injury after he was found unconscious in a manhole. The man had been unblocking a drain at the hospital on 1 February 2022 when he was discovered by other members of staff. He was rescued from the manhole by […]

A national bus company and a commercial cleaning firm have been fined after a “much loved young man” was killed at a depot in Hemel Hempstead. Albin Trstena, from Tottenham, was working for Cordant Cleaning Limited, when he was hit by a reversing bus being driven by a colleague on 5 November 2019. The 25-year-old […]

The final month of the year has seen the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) conclude complex prosecutions against two care settings. December also saw cases relating to two frightening offshore incidents that resulted in fines totalling more than £1million. Another prosecution came about after a member of the public captured shocking footage on their mobile […]

A company and its director have been sentenced after an employee fell from height and suffered serious injuries. Andrew Smith fractured his left femur, left elbow, left arm and pelvis after falling approximately three metres off a ladder on 28 July 2021. He had been working for Profascias Ltd at Park Lane Primary School in […]

One of the largest health boards in Wales has been fined £200,000 after a patient died in its care. Llandudno Magistrates’ Court heard that 46-year-old Dawn Owen was found unconscious at the Hergest Unit – a secure mental health unit – at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor on 20 April 2021. Dawn’s family have called on […]

Company fined for failings in two separate incidents. Two workers seriously injured after falling through roofs in separate incidents. Business partner at scaffolding firm sentenced following incident in Swansea. A roofing company has been fined a total of £881,000 after two workers were seriously injured during two separate incidents. Billy Hewitt, a worker at Mitie […]

A production company has been fined after a stunt performer was injured during the filming of Fast and Furious 9: The Fast Saga. Joe Watts, from Surrey, sustained life-changing injuries after he fell approximately 25 feet at Warner Bros. studios in Leavesden, Hertfordshire on 22 July 2019. He had been filming a fight scene for […]