HSE: Latest Prosecution Results 13/08/2021

Lighting manufacturing company fined after fatal incident involving forklift truck

A lighting manufacturer in Blackburn has been fined after an employee was fatally injured when the forklift truck he was driving struck an overhead steel beam. Preston Magistrates’ Court heard that on 14 June 2019, the employee was operating a forklift truck to move pallets at the company premises in Witton Business Park, Blackburn, when the mast of the forklift truck hit a low overhead structural beam, which caused the truck to overturn. The employee was trapped underneath the roll cage and received fatal crush injuries.

MK Illumination (UK) Ltd of Witton Business Park, Preston Old Road, Blackburn, Lancashire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £53,360 and ordered to pay costs of £7,880.

Rotherham company fined after worker suffered chemical burns

Granville Oil & Chemical Company Ltd has been sentenced for safety breaches after a worker suffered chemical burns to both arms and one leg. Sheffield Magistrates’ Court heard that on  27 September 2016, a worker was involved in a spillage incident when tasked with making engine degreaser at plant in Rotherham. The water-based product is made by blending Ultra-Concentrate with water.

The worker used a forklift truck to lift a container carrying 1,000 litres of Ultra-Concentrate in order to decant 250 litres of concentrate into three containers on the ground, each of which contained 750 litres of water. The company had specifically manufactured a rigid metal pipe to transfer the concentrate from one container to another. As he drove the forklift truck into position, the forks of the truck suddenly dropped one or two feet. This caused the metal transfer pipe to hit the ground and break. Ultra-Concentrate began to cascade out of the container. Having exited the cab of the forklift truck, the worker put his hand over the damaged valve to try and stem the flow. A large pool of concentrate had already formed on the ground and stood in it to reach the valve. The worker suffered chemical burns to both arms and one leg which required hospital treatment.

Granville Oil & Chemical Company Ltd of Goldthorpe Industrial estate Rotherham South Yorkshire pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £9,928.60 in costs.

Engineering company fined after employee scalped

An engineering company has been fined after one of its employees suffered scalping injuries when her hair became entangled in a pillar drill. Coventry Magistrates’ Court heard how on 10 September 2019, a P&D Engineering Limited employee suffered life changing injuries when her scalp and part of her ear were torn off after her ponytail became wrapped around a rotating drill. In the months following the incident she underwent surgery nine times involving skin grafts to re-construct her scalp. Her ear was also amputated.

P&D Engineering Limited of Crondal Road, Exhall, Coventry pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. They were fined £62,334 and ordered to pay costs of £1,459.90.

Company and director sentenced after children were taken ill during diving lesson

A health and safety inspector has paid tribute to emergency responders who came to the aid of several children who were taken ill during a SCUBA diving training session. Aqua Logistics Limited and their sole director Geoffrey Gordon Shearn were today sentenced for their failings after twelve pupils from Manchester Grammar School breathed contaminated compressed air during a pool training session.

Wigan and Leigh Courthouse heard that on 26 June 2017, the school pupils became unwell during an on-site scuba diving course in the school swimming pool. Twelve pupils were taken to hospital with suspected carbon monoxide poisoning. One 14-year-old boy was put into an induced coma and another pupil was also in a serious condition.

Aqua Logistics Limited of Enterprise Centre Two, Chester Street, Stockport pleaded guilty to breaching section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. They were fined £9,300 and ordered to pay £11,000 costs. Sole director Geoffrey Gordon Shearn of Chester Road in Stockport pleaded guilty to breaching section 37 of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. He was given a 12 month community order with requirement for 100 hours unpaid work and ordered to pay £5,000 costs.

Farming partnership fined after worker suffered multiple factures

W Gibson & Son was sentenced for safety breaches after a self-employed farm worker fell approximately three metres from a 360-excavator vehicle. Leeds Magistrates’ Court heard that the 31-year-old worker had been carrying out maintenance work on the gable end of a barn on the farm. He was working from a non-integrated work platform or ‘man-cage’ attached to the boom of a 360-excavator vehicle. The man-cage fell from the boom of the excavator and he fell approximately three metres sustaining a fractured sternum, six broken ribs, a fractured bone in his back and three broken teeth.

W Gibson & Son of Mayville Farm, Cayton, Scarborough North Yorkshire pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company has been fined £18,000 and ordered to pay £787.87 in costs.

Roofer and scaffolder sentenced following fatal fall from height

A roofer and a scaffolder have been sentenced following a fatal fall from height at a two-storey terraced house on Rosevine Road, Wimbledon.

Southwark Crown Court heard that on 26 November 2018, Philip Drinkwater and Anthony Bradley were working on the roof, which was accessed using a ladder and scaffolding that had been erected by Dean Glen. Later that day, Mr Drinkwater asked his co-worker, Mr Bradley, to help him move some slates up onto the roof using an electric hoist. While he was carrying out this operation, he fell approximately six metres through a gap, which was adjacent to the hoist and landed on the ground where he died almost immediately.

Philip Drinkwater (trading as Prestige Roofing) of Meldone Sheephouse Way, New Malden pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. He was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,318. Dean Glen (trading as DDP scaffolding) of Woodroyd Avenue, Horley pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. He was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,318.

Principal contractor fined after worker suffered electrical burns

A vertical farming, glasshouses and energy company has been sentenced after a worker came into contact with an 11kV overhead power line. Beverley Magistrates’ Court heard that on 3 December 2018, a subcontractor scaffolding worker was unloading some scaffolding poles near power cables in Willerby, Hull, when one of the poles caught the overhead line. He sustained burns to his leg and foot and was hospitalised.

Cambridge Glasshouse Company Limited of Wallingfen Park, Main Road, Newport Brough, East Yorkshire pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 14 of the Electricity at Work Act 1989. The company was fined £333,333 and ordered to pay costs of £1,235.

Employer sentenced after worker falls 30 feet through skylight

A roofing contractor has received a suspended sentence after an employee fell approximately 30 feet through a glass skylight on a warehouse roof in Blackburn. Preston Crown Court heard Nizamuddin Gorji was engaged to over-clad the existing roof. He employed three operatives to carry out the work which commenced on 13 May 2020. The following day one of the employees fell through the roof sustaining severe life changing injuries to his pelvis, arm, knee and face and has undergone extensive surgery since.

Nizamuddin Gorji of Woodbine Road, Blackburn pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 9 (2) and 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. He received a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years and was ordered to pay costs of £3,000.

Waste management company sentenced after worker was reversed over by a loading shovel

A skip hire and waste management company and its managing director have been sentenced after a worker was seriously injured in a transport incident. Folkestone Magistrates’ Court heard that on 14 December 2018, an employee was crossing the yard on Old Rochester Way, Dartford, while waiting for his Artic lorry to be re-loaded with processed waste when he was hit by a 21-tonne loading shovel which was reversing around a blind bend in the yard. The employee suffered life changing injuries, from which he is still recovering, and is unable to return to work.

 Easy Load Ltd of Lee’s Yard, Old Rochester Way, Dartford pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) by virtue of Regulation 17(1) of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 and was fined £150,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,454.20. Tomas J Lee, Managing Director of Easy Load Ltd, of Chislehurst, Kent, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37 of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years,  ordered to pay £549.40.costs.

Company fined after worker’s hand severed in roller press

A manufacturer of thermal and acoustic insulation panels has been fined after a worker’s hand was severed in a roller press at their site in Burton-on-Trent. Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court heard that on 7 August 2018, a worker’s hand got drawn into a roller press used for cutting out panels, along with product he was working on at Crown Industrial Estate, Anglesey Road, Burton on Trent. The press was fitted with a guard and interlocking trips which, should have prevented this incident.

Custom Insulation Ltd of Crown Industrial Estate, Anglesey Road, Burton on Trent, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety Act 1974. The company has been fined £16,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,633.

Forging company fined after maintenance fitter suffered a fatal injury

A forging company has been fined after an employee suffered a fatal injury when he fell from height from a mobile tower scaffold. Dudley Magistrates’ Court heard that on 19 June 2019, a Stokes Group Limited employee George Clifford was fatally injured at the company site on Cochrane Road,  Dudley, West Midlands, after falling from a tower scaffold whilst dismantling a Eumuco 2000 Tonne Forging Press.

Stokes Group Limited of Cochrane Road, Holly Hall, Dudley, West Midlands pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,885.20.

Tool company fined after employee sustains fatal head injuries

Cheltenham Tool Company Limited has been fined after an employee was fatally injured while moving heavy machinery.

Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court heard how on 13 November 2019, 57-year-old Ian Challinor, a maintenance engineer at the company, was working with colleagues to move a large and heavy milling machine using a forklift and machine-moving skates. During the work at the site on Swindon Road, Cheltenham, the machine became unstable and toppled onto him causing fatal head injuries.

Cheltenham Tool Company Limited of Swindon Road, Cheltenham pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay costs of £13,033.