prosecutions
A Yorkshire concrete manufacturer was fined £285,000 and ordered to pay costs of £56,324 following two separate incidents which resulted in a fatality, June 2014 and a serious injury, April 2018. The fatality occurred when an operator was crushed and killed instantly between the frames of two mobile machines as they passed each other. An investigation by HSE found that it was the nature of production for machines to routinely pass each other on adjacent lines. The company had failed to identify the risk of crushing posed by the passing machines; failed to devise a safe system of work to control this risk and failed to provide adequate training in such a procedure to employees. The investigation by HSE into the second incident found that the machine in question was not fitted with working interlocks, meaning several of the machine doors could be opened to gain access to dangerous moving parts whilst the machine was operating.
A self-employed consultant was fined £1,400 for providing health and safety advice on technical and complex matters while not being qualified to advise his clients. He provided inadequate and flawed advice to small and medium sized enterprises on the management and control of risk in relation to hand arm vibration, work place noise and the control of substances hazardous to health. HSE investigation found that the consultant incorrectly identified risk from exposure to hand arm vibration as ‘low’ and advised to use ‘anti vibration gloves’ as an appropriate control measure. He also failed to identify that paints containing isocyanates can cause asthma.
A West Yorkshire fibre manufacture has been fined £366,850 and ordered to pay costs of £23,993 following sentencing for an incident which occurred in March 2017. An operative suffered fatal crush injuries whilst removing a “lap” of fibres which had stuck to the rollers of the machine. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the machine was not adequately guarded. It had become custom and practice for employees to reach around the inadequate guarding in place to deal with problems of this nature.