• Unannounced visit by Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found failures.
• The company had failed to protect workers from exposure to wood dust.
• They also failed to maintain electrical installations.

A joinery firm in Middlesbrough has been fined £10,000 after an unannounced visit by Britain’s workplace regulator found multiple health and safety breaches.

Inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)  visited Abbey Joinery and Manufacture Limited at its Worlton Road site on 25 May 2023. During their inspection they identified multiple failings relating to the company’s control of wood dust as well as its maintenance of electrical systems.  These failings meant that employees were being unnecessarily exposed to unnecessary risks.

Breathing in wood dust excessively can cause asthma and nasal cancer. HSE provides a range of guidance on working in the woodworking industry, covering the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002; exposure limits; extraction; and health surveillance.

HSE inspector Darian Dundas said: “Wood dust can cause serious health problems.

“It can cause asthma, which carpenters and joiners are four times more likely to get compared with other UK workers.

“There is clear health and safety guidance available to assist businesses in adequately controlling exposure to wood dust.

“Adequate control of wood dust is achieved when the eight principles of good control practice are applied.”

The HSE inspection also found failures in the company’s electrical installations, including both fixed and portable appliances and machinery. Exposed wiring carried the potential to put workers at risk of serious injury, or worse, from electric shock.

HSE guidance about electrical safety is also available. Darian Dundas continued: “It is vital that maintenance is carried out done to ensure the safety of electrical systems.

“The inspection and testing of equipment is also an essential part of any preventive maintenance programme.

“This investigation was supported by specialist inspectors with a deep knowledge in electrical safety.

Abbey Joinery and Manufacture Limited, of Whorlton Road in Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £10,000 with £4,428 costs by Teesside Magistrates’ Court.

This HSE prosecution was brought by enforcement lawyer Chloe Ward and paralegal officer Jason Dix.

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 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 in England and Wales can be found here and for those in Scotland here.
5. Relevant HSE guidance referred to in this press release can be found here: Control of substances hazardous to health (Sixth edition) – HSE, EH40/2005 Workplace exposure limits and The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 – HSE.

• 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 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 were raised to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), inspectors from the workplace regulator went to Billy Davidson NV Stables Limited’s premises in Wingate, Durham on 17 June 2022. As a result, notices were served on the firm requiring it to undertake an examination of the local exhaust ventilation (LEV) system fitted to a chop saw and for failing to control exposure to wood dust from the use of a circular table saw.

Proper dust extraction can include having the right machinery, and vacuuming dust instead of sweeping is often required. HSE’s easy-to-follow guidance can be found here.

Despite the action taken by HSE, when inspectors returned to the site on 12 January 2023, the circular saw was still being used, despite the company saying it had been taken out of use. Likewise, the chop saw and LEV was also still being used, and the company had not provided HSE with confirmation it had been examined and was adequately controlling wood dust exposure.

The subsequent HSE investigation found the company had shown a disregard for health and safety due to their failure to comply with the improvement notices.

A HSE campaign to protect workers from exposure to wood dust is ongoing.

Billy Davidson NV Stables Limited was found guilty of contravening two counts of Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and Regulations 9(2) and 7(1) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. The company was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £4,500 in costs at Peterlee Magistrates Court on 24 January 2024.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Clare Maltby said: “This company showed a blatant disregard to the safety of its own workers.

“Companies are responsible for controlling the exposure to wood dust, a substance which is hazardous to health and can cause long term health effects such as occupational asthma.

“Compliance could have been achieved by simply getting a LEV fitted to the circular table saw and getting a competent person to undertake a thorough examination and test of the LEV on the chop saw.

“This case demonstrates that we will not hesitate to prosecute companies who fail to comply with the law.”

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.
2. More information about the legislation referred to in this case is available.
3. Further details on the latest HSE news releases is available.

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, the director of Turners and Moore Limited, was given a four month custodial sentence, suspended for two years, at Norwich Magistrates Court. The 33-year-old’s company was also fined £40,000.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) carried out an inspection at the firm’s Hurricane Way site on November 2017, which identified significant failings in its measures to control exposure of employees to wood dust. Enforcement action was taken, however a subsequent inspection in August 2022 showed the company had failed to maintain standards and further enforcement action was taken.

Dust extraction and vacuuming instead of sweeping can be some of the measures taken to control exposure to workers. Guidance on working in the woodworking industry is available and an inspection-led campaign to protect workers continues.

Turners and Moore Limited of Hurricane Way, Norwich was fined £40,000 after pleading guilty to breaches of Sections 2 (1) and 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The company must also pay £2,000 in costs. Director John Risby was given a four month custodial sentence, suspended for two years. He will also pay costs of £1,100 for breaching section 37 of the same Act.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Natalie Prince said: “This outcome should send a strong message out to anyone with a responsibility for protecting workers.

“Exposure to wood dust can cause serious ongoing health problems and businesses must do all that they can to protect their workers.

“This outcome should underline to those in the woodworking industry that the courts, and HSE, take a failure to protect the health of employees extremely seriously and will not hesitate to take action against companies that fail to do so.”

This HSE prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Gemma Zakrzewski and paralegal officer Sarah Thomas.

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.
2. More information about the legislation referred to in this case is available.
3. Further details on the latest HSE news releases is available.