An Essex manufacturing company has been fined £750,000 and ordered to pay costs of £29,511 following an incident, in September 29013, when a worker was fatally crushed after his arm was caught in a powered roller. The incident occurred because a critical guard was not in place.

A Merthyr Tydfil based manufacturer has been fined £50,000 and was ordered to pay £14,793.60 in costs after twenty-one employees were diagnosed with hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS). HSE established that from 2000, when the factory opened, until its closure in 2013 there was never a fully compliant management system for hand arm vibration.

Employees were exposed to the risk of hand arm vibration on a daily basis yet the company failed to recognise this. There was no health surveillance to identify employees who might already have some vibration damage even though they employed ex-miners and experienced fitters, or to pick up whether someone was suffering symptoms before they became serious

A Slough based drainage company has been fined £60,000 and ordered to pay a further £39,506 in costs after a worker was seriously injured when an unsafe excavation collapsed during work to lay new pipes near Canterbury.

HSE’s investigation found that found the excavation pit was missing vital shoring.