• Workshop caked in dust when HSE inspected
• Guidance is available to prevent excessive exposure

A wood supplier has been fined £40,000 for failing to protect its workers from exposure to wood dust.

Fakenham-based Nat Pal Limited was visited by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in April 2023. Dust was found scattered across the floor, and the inspection identified failings in the company’s control measures to prevent exposure of their employees to wood dust and enforcement action was taken.

The HSE investigation also identified ongoing failings in the company’s control measures and found that it had failed to take appropriate precautions despite previous enforcement on the same issues dating back to 2015.

Breathing in wood dust excessively can cause asthma and nasal cancer. Guidance on working in the woodworking industry is available and an inspection-led campaign to protect workers continues.

That guidance states that employers must take effective measures to prevent exposure of their employees to wood dust. This will normally be by:

• Providing and maintaining local exhaust ventilation systems;
• Having appropriate face-fit tested respiratory protection.
• Carrying out health surveillance to monitor the respiratory health of employees.

Nat Pal Limited of Cummings Road, Tattersett Business Park, Fakenham, pleaded guilty to a charge contrary to Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act, 1974, in that it failed to ensure, so far as was reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of its employees, as it failed to manage the risks created by operating a wood-working business. The company was fined £40,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,072 at a hearing at Norwich Magistrates’ Court on 16 May 2025.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Natalie Prince said “The fine imposed on Nat Pal Limited should underline that HSE take a failure to protect the health of employees extremely seriously.

“To make matters worse, this company had been visited previously and had failed to take steps to protect its workers.

“We will not hesitate to take action against companies which fail to do all they can.”

This HSE prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Rebecca Schwartz and paralegal officer Imogen Isaac.

Further information:

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We are dedicated to protecting people and places, and helping everyone lead safer and healthier lives.
2. More information about the legislation referred to in this case is available.
3. Further details on the latest HSE news releases is available.
4. HSE guidance on working in the woodworking industryis available.
5. HSE does not pass sentences, set guidelines or collect any fines imposed. Relevant sentencing guidelines must be followed unless the court is satisfied that it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so.  The sentencing guidelines for health and safety offences can be found here.

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 fume is carcinogenic and can cause other serious illnesses such as occupational asthma. Exposure to coating powders can also cause occupational asthma and skin irritation.

The inspection on 25 March 2022 found that an on-tool extraction system on the welding tools was in a poor state of repair and that Local Exhaust Ventilation systems, provided to capture welding fume and dusts from powder coating in order to protect employees’ health, had not been thoroughly examined and tested.

A subsequent HSE investigation found W.S. Barrett and Son Limited, a specialist manufacturer for the agricultural and horticultural industries, had failed to ensure that its Local Exhaust Ventilation systems, which controlled workers’ exposure to welding fume and dusts from powder coating , had been thoroughly examined and tested.

The company had already been warned about its Local Exhaust Ventilation systems, during a previous HSE inspection  on 13 February 2018, the company was served with Improvement Notices following issues with Local Exhaust Ventilation systems. The company failed to comply and was prosecuted as a result.

HSE guidance can be found at: Welding fume: protect your workers – Overview – HSE & Surface engineering – Reducing risks associated with using coating powders – employers (hse.gov.uk)

W.S. Barrett & Son Limited, of Marsh Lane, Boston, Lincolnshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 9(1) and Regulation 9(2) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. The company was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £3,625.20 in costs at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on 22 November 2023.

HSE inspector Stacey Gamwell said: “W.S. Barrett & Son Limited could have ensured that its Local Exhaust Ventilation systems were thoroughly examined and tested to ensure that they were working as intended to protect the health of its employees.

“This case highlights the importance of regular maintenance and inspection of control measures including Local Exhaust Ventilation, to ensure equipment remains in an efficient state, in efficient working order, in good repair and in a clean condition.”

This HSE prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Jonathan Bambro.

Notes to Editors:

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We prevent work-related death, injury and ill health through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors through to targeted interventions on individual businesses. These activities are supported by globally recognised scientific expertise. hse.gov.uk
2. More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: legislation.gov.uk/
3. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk