News

Monthly roundup – December 2023

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 […]

Company fined as joiner falls and breaks nine ribs

A company in Wales has been fined £60,000 after a joiner fell from height and suffered a kidney laceration and head trauma. The man from Caernarfon had been working for Aspire Park and Leisure Homes Ltd, a manufacturer of leisure lodges and park homes, at its manufacturing facility in Porthmadog when he fell approximately 2.44 […]

Roofing firm and company business partner sentenced following HSE investigations

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 […]

Food company fined £360,000 after worker loses consciousness

A company in Fife which grows and prepares vegetables has been fined £360,000 after a worker was dragged into a machine and lost consciousness. Remigiusz Cyrek, a hygiene operative at Kettle Produce Limited, was undertaking a routine clean of a machine that makes carrot batons on 22 June 2018. The 37-year-old was trapped by a […]

Company fined as HSE inspection identifies failures

A manufacturing business in Lincolnshire has been fined for failing to protect its workers from hazardous substances. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspection of W.S. Barrett and Son Limited’s site at Riverside Industrial estate in Boston, Lincolnshire, found the company’s workers were being potentially exposed to welding fume and dusts from powder coating. Welding […]

McCain Foods fined after employee loses fingers

A frozen food company has been fined £700,000 after an employee lost two of his fingers following an incident at the firm’s premises in Lincolnshire. Tom Matthews, from Grantham, now champions health and safety in his current job at a different company, warning others to avoid his misfortune. He had been working a night shift […]

Priory Healthcare fined following patient death

The company that runs The Priory Hospital has been fined for failing to ensure the safety of patients on the hospital’s Emerald Ward following the death of 21-year-old Francesca Whyatt. Francesca, from Knutsford in Cheshire, was found unconscious at The Priory Hospital in Roehampton, London. She died three days later. Priory Healthcare has been fined […]

Claire Sullivan and Ged Nichols reappointed to HSE Board

The Minister for Social Mobility, Youth and Progression has reappointed Claire Sullivan and Ged Nichols as non-executive directors of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) board for a further three years. Claire and Ged both serve as employee (trades union) representatives on our tripartite Board (a board made up of employer, employee and other representatives). […]

Manufacturer fined after workers fall from height

A manufacturer of shopping trolleys has been fined after two men fell approximately three metres when a metal cage they were dismantling collapsed beneath them. On 12th May 2018, two employees at Wanzl Limited were taking apart a large metal cage as part of an ongoing programme of improvement works at Prologis Park in Coventry. […]

October 2023 – A roundup of HSE’s top stories

Here are some of the stories published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in October, with the workplace regulator heralding a key milestone in building safety, announcing a new inspection campaign, securing justice and urging employers to try the shout test! HSE to prosecute Falcon Tower Crane Services Limited following deaths of three men […]

Suspended prison sentence for builder over gas safety failures

A builder has avoided an immediate spell behind bars after being convicted of carrying out gas work at a property in Berkshire when he was not qualified to do so. Thomas Murray, who traded as Kerbgold Design and Construction Ltd, was given an eight-month prison sentence which was suspended for 18 months. Reading Crown Court […]

Waste company fined after woman hit by vehicle and dies

A waste company has been fined over £250,000 after a member of the public was run over by one of its vehicles and died. The woman was collecting wood from Martins of York’s yard on Osbaldwick Lane, York, when she was hit by a reversing skip wagon on 29 January 2020. She later died from […]

Printing company fined after worker’s hand crushed

A commercial printing company has been fined £100,000 after an employee’s hand was crushed by a laminating machine. The man had been working for Celloglas Limited at the firm’s site at Cross Green Industrial Estate in Leeds. He was attempting to fix a laminating machine on 25 November 2020 when his right hand was drawn […]