A North Yorkshire haulier has been fined £140,000 and ordered to pay £18,355.07 in costs following a fatality (in August 2018). During the transfer of a piece of machinery from one trailer to another a piece of machinery fell from the bed of the vehicle trailer, hit the employee and killed him instantly. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that when the workers were transferring the load for shipment, the machinery was in two parts and the smaller section fell free during the lifting operation. The lifting method used was not suitable for a load of that size and shape, and a lifting plan should have been prepared.

A West Midlands plastics manufacturing company been fined £50,000 following an investigation by the HSE after five members of the public became infected with Legionnaire’s disease in September 2020. One person had to be taken to intensive care and put on a ventilator after being infected. An HSE principal inspector said: “The condition of the cooling towers at this site was the worst I had ever seen. It is really important that proactive management of the risk from Legionella bacteria is taken seriously. There are well publicised and simple precautions for companies to take, and if followed, will ensure that employers manage and control the risk”.

A workwear company has been fined £400,000 after an employee had the skin ripped off the palm of her left hand whilst attempting to clean a sensor to initiate movement of a conveyor belt.  An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the company had inadequately guarded machinery, did not have a suitable and sufficient risk assessment for the machinery that caused the injury and inadequate health and safety management systems in place.

A South Yorkshire manufacturing company has been fined £200,000 following reports that two of its employees had been diagnosed with hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS). The HSE investigation found there was no hand-arm vibration risk assessment in place prior to, and at the time of the workers’ diagnoses, to identify what level of vibration the operators were exposed to. There were also no control measures in place to reduce exposure levels, with measures only being implemented following HSE’s intervention.  Health surveillance had not carried out annually and there was no initial health surveillance assessment for new operators. Additionally, referrals were not carried out in a timely manner for those employees displaying symptoms of HAVS.