Prosecution

A builder has been fined after carrying out unlicensed asbestos removal work at a house in Cheadle, Manchester. Gavin Mutch, trading as G Mutch Developments, had been contracted to carry out renovations at the property including roofing work. Despite being warned by the customer that asbestos was potentially present in the fascia boards, Mr Mutch […]

A defence technology company has been fined £800,000 after an employee was shot during testing of ammunition at a Ministry of Defence (MoD) range in South Wales. The father-of-two was left paralysed below the shoulders after being shot by a 5.56mm bullet fired from a gun, 570 metres away. The incident happened on 25 March […]

Schools were closed following hydrochloric acid release   Joint investigation and prosecution by HSE and the Environment Agency  Guidance is available on maintaining equipment in large chemical plants  A chemical manufacturing company has been fined £2.5m following two incidents of uncontrolled releases of highly corrosive acids at its site in West Thurrock, Essex.   Industrial Chemicals Ltd […]

  20-foot tree toppled during Bury Market installation HSE has well-established guidance on safely working at height Bury Metropolitan Borough Council has been fined £200,000 after a man was injured while installing the town’s Christmas tree. Council employee James Lyth was using a scissor lift to straighten the 20-foot tall Christmas tree when it toppled […]

  Worker “lucky to be alive” after being hit from behind by moving shovel loader HSE guidance says pedestrians and moving vehicles must be segregated   A waste and recycling company in Oldham has been fined £250,000 after a man was run over on his first day on the job. The then 40-year-old was hand […]

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board has been fined £250,000 following failures relating to patient falls in its hospitals. Three elderly patients sustained falls in 2022 and 2023 and they all sadly died. The cause of death of two of them was identified as being as a direct result of falling. Richard Hughes, 84 and Gwilym […]

Thirteen foot fall caused brain haemorrhage and multiple fractures Barn roof also contained asbestos HSE guidance is available for working at height A self-employed builder has been told to complete 200 hours unpaid work after a man fell more than 13 feet through a barn roof in Lancashire. James Dargan-Cole, 25, of Todmorden, had failed […]

A self-employed roofing contractor has been ordered to undertake unpaid work after the uncontrolled spread of asbestos in a back garden, putting two young workers and local residents at risk. Doorbell-cam footage shows parts of an old garage roof being disposed of with a lack of control measures. The footage has been released by the […]

A company and its director have been fined a combined £18,000 after a man was injured during excavation work in West Sussex. JHE Construction and Jordan Hay-Ellis pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety laws following the incident on 23 February 2023. The company had been contracted to complete a full barn conversion, which included […]

Man fell through fragile roof in Dudley. Company, now in liquidation, does not escape criminal sanction Detailed guidance on both working on fragile surfaces and working at height is available from HSE. A company and its operations manager have both been fined after a man fell to his death through a roof at its site […]

A Scottish local authority has been fined more than £13,000 after a carbon monoxide leak at a primary school in Bishopbriggs. East Dunbartonshire Council pleaded guilty following the incident at Balmuildy Primary School in February 2020.  A number of staff and pupils attending the school on 19 February 2020 reported feeling ill, experiencing symptoms such […]

A London property developer has been fined £63,000 plus costs after Britain’s workplace regulator found multiple failures at a construction site in Dalston. Nofax Enterprises Limited was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following four visits to its site on Dalston Lane over a 13 month period between 2020 and 2021. The company […]

A hydraulics company, with locations throughout the UK, has been fined after an employee became trapped in a machine that he was working on at a customer’s premises in Plymouth. David Lawrence, a 63-year-old engineer, was undertaking fault finding on a laser cutting machine for Pearson Hydraulics Ltd, on 26 July 2023, when the cutting […]

Workers scrambled up the rungs of an unsafe scaffold to work at a block of flats in Merseyside. The company in question, A.I.M Access Solutions Ltd has been fined £30,000 for its failure to assemble safe scaffolding following an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). In May 2021, the workplace regulator identified serious […]

An East Yorkshire company has been fined more than half a million pounds after an employee’s lower arm was severed when it became entangled in a conveyor. Bartosz Gaj, a blender operative, had been attempting to clear a blockage at AB Agri Limited’s premises in Fridaythorpe, Driffield on 3 November 2021. Mr Gaj’s hand was […]

Two brothers have been sentenced for failing to protect members of the public from their cattle. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Andrew and David Turnbull failed to offer and display signs of an alternative route to a public right of way in their field in the Coalsgarth Valley, North Yorkshire. […]

A renovation company in South Wales has been sentenced after defying enforcement notices from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Inspectors say Greenlife Property Developments Ltd failed to heed their warnings about the dangers posed to workers by a two-and-a-half metre deep excavation of the entire back garden of a house in Pit Place, Cwmbach, […]

Albie Speakman, 3, died in July 2022 after being struck by a telehandler driven by his father. Neil Speakman was sentenced on Friday for failing to ensure Albie’s health and safety. Mr Speakman should have followed HSE guidance, says lead inspector. A farmer has been jailed after he failed to ensure the health and safety […]

An indoor skiing company in Tamworth has been fined £100,000 following the death of a schoolboy. Twelve-year-old Louis Watkiss had been at a tobogganing birthday party at the Snowdome in Tamworth on 24 September 2021.  He was descending the main ski slope on a toboggan when it slid into the back of a member of […]

CCTV has captured the moment a welder was crushed while working at a shipyard in Sunderland. David Vinsome sustained multiple rib fractures as well as internal injuries, including an abdominal wall burst, following the incident at Pallion Shipyard on 18 October 2022. The 37-year-old from North Shields was crushed between an excavation bucket and a […]