Is the grass greener…
“The Jury” Did you watch the TV programme “The Jury”? Did you find yourself shouting at the TV? How did it make you feel? Were you dismayed? Did it leave you with a sense of foreboding; thinking there must a better option? Well it got me thinking about what perceptions may be in light of…
Tragic and wholly avoidable – worker crushed on site
This tragic story really horrified us – our hearts immediately went out to the man’s family. Our second reaction was frustration. This should never have happened. Not only was it entirely avoidable – clearly a proper risk assessment wasn’t in place – but it had happened before. Someone, somewhere, knew the risk and did nothing about…
HGV death leads to almost half million pound fine
A truck company that buys, refurbishes and sells Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) and trailers has been sentenced after the death of 63-year-old self-employed worker William Price. On 21 February 2013 Mr Price suffered fatal head injuries when the half-ton frame of a lorry trailer, he was dismantling, fell on his head at the Marston Industrial…
Property developer and foreman jailed for manslaughter
A property developer and a foreman have been jailed for manslaughter following the death of a carpenter on a site in Brighton. Michael Holland, 69 and foreman Grant Oakes, 46, had each denied charges of gross negligence manslaughter in connection with the death. 55-year-old carpenter David Clark died on October 28, 2014, following an accident.…
Worker crushed and two firms fined
A worker suffered multiple serious injuries when a trolley carrying hydraulic rams toppled on its side and trapped him between it and a stillage. DHL and JCB have both been fined in relation to the incident, which happened on 16 October 2013. Stafford Crown Court was told how the DHL employee was auditing in-coming deliveries…
Protect your lone workers
Working alone is a known health and safety red flag area, as one company found to its cost recently. An Exeter-based water treatment firm was fined £1.8 million after a lone worker drowned at one of its plants just after Christmas. The tragedy could have been prevented and it’s likely the sizeable fine reflected the…
Buchanan House fatality results in maximum jail term
The 57-year-old manager of an access plant hire firm has been sentenced to a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment for his neglect of health and safety obligations that led to the death of one man and caused serious injury to another. After a 16 day trial at Airdrie Sheriff Court, Donald Craig was found…
HSE warn HGV drivers over coupling systems
HGV drivers are frequently putting lives at risk by not following basic safety procedures when coupling and uncoupling vehicles, the Health and Safety Executive have warned. The workplace health and safety regulator urged drivers to apply parking brakes and use (or retrofit) warning alarms to avoid a repeat of an incident in January 2015 when…
Toxic gas release… not a case of who ate all the sprouts…
A food waste disposal and recycling firm has been fined £250,000 following three employees becoming overcome by toxic gases (including hydrogen sulphide) and a reduced oxygen atmosphere whilst working in an animal waste facility. This prosecution comes 12 months after the firm was fined £660,000 following the death of an employee. The previous conviction resulted after a fatality…
Alton Towers bosses fined £5m – approximately 1% of firms turnover
Between the Alton Towers Smiler Roller coaster incident, the injury to Harrison Ford on the Star Wars set, and the former actress Brenda McFarland who was killed on a Network Rail crossing, one thing is for sure, the reality of health & safety breaches within the workplace was firmly placed in the media limelight. It…
Three years to reach minimum standards + gambling with peoples’ lives = £1.8 million
This is a mathematical equation that adds up to one serious fine, but is believed is the only way to make companies sit up and pay attention that you cannot gamble with peoples’ health and wellbeing. The latest in the firing line is G4S receiving one extremely hefty fine after failing to reduce the risk…
A Stark Warning
I know we constantly bang on about health & safety at work but it is so essential for Company Directors to take personal responsibility to train and protect the safety of their workers…..as the consequences are devastating. Company Director Kenneth Thelwall, from Enfield, has been jailed for 12 months following the death of one of…
The Million Pound Drop
Unfortunately this article is not about the Channel 4 BAFTA-winning game show hosted by Davina McCall, this is about the incident of Thames Water who earlier in the year were ordered to pay out a whopping, record breaking £1 million after polluting a canal in Hertfordshire. This is the highest ever fine for a water…
Such a boring subject…
Let’s be honest, most people do not take health & safety serious until something happens, correct? We are not accusing you of this, but like most fast paced lifestyles nobody stops to take heed until the pleeeeep hits the fan. This was one of the thoughts behind the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007…
No ‘happily ever after’ for Disney owned firm over Harrison Ford injuries
Here at Ferguson Legal, we often report on #besafe and the importance of complying with health and safety, but the latest high profile case to bring this theory into reality is that of Harrison Ford on the set on Star Wars – The Force Awakens. The unfortunate title of the film allows for many unforgiving…
Time to Clean Up Your Act?
I will do it tomorrow, It is only a little mess, they won’t do anything Sound familiar? These little messes can turn into one big nasty one as Oran Environmental Solutions found out. They got issued the highest penalty ever in Scotland for environmental offences for waste offences. The penalty was imposed on Oran Environmental…
Barrier collapses on baby’s pram leads to fine.
On 23 September 2014 Construction firm Kier Construction Ltd was fined £4,000 for safety failings after a barrier was blown on top of a pram injuring an 18-week-old baby. The Company plead guilty to breaching Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Stirling Sheriff Court heard that on 24 October…
Directors prosecuted for worker death failings.
The co- directors of a former London scaffolding firm have been prosecuted after a trainee worker fell to his death from a poorly constructed scaffold in Westminster. Sonny Holland, 20, from Orpington, sustained multiple head injuries in the six-metre fall at Whitehall Place on 24 April 2008. He died in hospital the following day. Sonny…
Corporate manslaughter conviction.
Waste management company, Sterecycle (Rotherham) Limited, was found guilty of corporate manslaughter and fined £500,000 following the death of an employee. This incident occurred at the company’s plant in South Yorkshire in January 2011. In October 2012, Sterecycle ceased operations after having been placed into administration. It is uncertain how much of the £500,000 fine will be…
Pharmaceutical company fined £100,000 after man sprayed by toxic chemical.
A North East pharmaceutical company were fined on 20 September 2014 for a serious safety breach which left a worker fighting for his life in hospital. The employee, from Tyne and Wear, was sprayed with seven litres of bromine as he removed cables from a valve connected to pipework at Aesica Pharmaceuticals on the Windmill Industrial Estate,…
£200,000 fine for corporate manslaughter.
The building and joining firm, Peter Mawson Ltd, and its owner were sentenced on 3 February 2015 at Preston Crown Court, following an incident in 2011 where a man died after falling through a fragile roof. The emergency services attended West Cumberland Farmers LTD, Lindal, Ulverston, following a report that a man had fallen through…
Health Board fined after pensioner struck by van.
Lothian Health Board was fined £40,000 following a guilty plea to section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, when a pensioner was struck dead by one of its vans. The woman crossed a clearly marked pedestrian route into Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital when she was struck by the reversing van…
Chessington fined £150k after child suffers fractured skull.
Chessington World of Adventures Operations Ltd was fined £150,000 and ordered to pay £21,614 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The charges were brought after a girl suffered a fractured skull, bleeding to the brain and broken ribs when she fell from the raised walkway…
Safety failings led to death of employee.
The sawmill company, A. Diamond and Son, has been fined a total of £75,000 and ordered to pay £15,832 in costs for safety failings that led to the death of employee, Peter Lennon in September 2012. The sentence followed a guilty plea to the charge of corporate manslaughter in December 2014. A joint investigation by…
Offshore services co fined following death.
Offshore services company, Bilfinger Salamis UK Limited, has been fined £100,000 for serious safety failings following an incident in which a worker died after plunging 23 metres from a North Sea platform into the sea. Mr Lee Bertram on 16 June 2011 was using ropes to: access below the deck; and carry out a sweep…
Care home managers charged with manslaughter
In England, 3 care home managers have been charged with manslaughter following the death of an 86-year-old woman who died two weeks after the property was shut down by inspectors. Ivy Atkin died in November 2012, a fortnight after she was moved from Autumn Grange Care Home in Sherwood Rise, Nottingham, into another care home. Inspectors from…
Lack of guarding leads to serious consequences.
An Ayrshire waste recycling firm has been fined £118,000 on 6 October 2014 for serious safety failings after an agency worker severed his left arm at the shoulder while clearing a conveyor belt blockage. Steven Dawson, then aged 28, was working as a line supervisor for Lowmac Alloys Ltd at its premises on the Oldhall…
Alton Towers owner guilty over roller coaster crash.
When you hear the words health and safety what do you think? Yawn? Boring? Will look at it later? Well this story is sure to make you sit up and listen. The owner of Alton Towers Merlin Attractions Operations Ltd (“Merlin”) is facing a multimillion-pound fine after admitting breaking health and safety laws over the…
The Importance of Traffic Management.
On average, 7 workers are killed every year as a result of collisions with vehicles or mobile plant on construction sites. Approximately a further 90-100 are seriously injured. Workplace transport incidents are the second most common cause of serious and fatal incidents in the construction industry, yet they could easily be avoided by having proper plans…