A Plymouth yacht manufacturer was fined £200,000.00 and ordered to pay costs of £7,138 after an employee was injured when his forklift truck overturned.  Two fork lift trucks were being used, in tandem, to lift a large load from a flatbed lorry. Part of the load was lifted to allow the lorry to move forward, but in doing so another part of the load struck the mast of the forklift causing it to overturn. The injured party was off work for five months. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the lifting work had not been properly planned or risk assessed. The employees were not aware of relevant procedures and there were safer alternate methods available which had not been considered.

A waste and recycling company has been fined £200,000 after HSE inspectors discovered widespread poor management of health and safety risks at their site in West London.  Following a routine visit and a subsequent specialist electrical and civil engineering inspection HSE also issued nine Prohibition Notices and seven Improvement Notices.

A Norfolk chemical company was fined £1million after a man died in an explosion. A maintenance engineer was carrying out repair work on a mixing vessel during a planned period of shutdown maintenance in 2018. It is thought that his welding torch or grinder accidentally ignited flammable Toluene vapour inside the vessel, which should not have been present when the work commenced. An HSE Inspector said “Any company handling or storing flammables should consider the potential risk of fire and explosion and ensure they have robust procedures in place to minimise and control risk at all times, including during planned maintenance work.”