A waste management company has been fined £350,000, ordered to pay £240,000 costs and given a £9,912 confiscation order having been found guilty on two counts of breaching waste transportation laws in 2015.  Waste being shipped to China, described as paper fit for recycling, was found to contain household rubbish.  The company is to appeal.

A South-Wales steelmaker has been fined £1.8m and ordered to pay costs of £145,771 after an explosion killed two workers and seriously injured another. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the company failed to assess the risks to which its employees were exposed when draining lubrication oil from an accumulator vessel. It was “custom and practice” on the works to manually drain hydraulic lubrication oil from the accumulator, by a procedure referred as a ‘blow down’. However it was found that this “procedure” was not fully understood or consistently carried out, thereby exposing employees to the risk of explosion.

A Leicestershire based aluminium extrusion company has been fined £133,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,346 after an employee suffered serious hand and leg injuries. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that an unsafe system of work had been used. No risk assessment had been carried out of the work being carried. It was also found that employees undertaking the work were inadequately trained

A Buckinghamshire property management and development organisation has been fined £600,000 and ordered to pay costs of £13,995 after five employees developed Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS).  An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the company failed to assess or manage the risks associated with vibrating tools. It also failed to provide suitable training or health surveillance for its maintenance workers and failed to maintain and replace tools which increased vibration levels.