A Halesowen forge has been fined £750,000 after an employee sustained fatal injuries when he became entangled in a 20-metre long lathe.  Nick Hardiman was employed by Somers Forge Limited as a machinist at their forge on Prospect Road, Halesowen.  On 8 December 2023, the 54-year-old from Kidderminster was working on a lathe in the machine shop. Whilst using handheld emery cloth to finish a rotating component, Mr Hardiman became entangled in the dangerous moving parts of the lathe, sustaining catastrophic injuries.

Over a third of workers in Great Britain now work remotely or in hybrid arrangements, but not all employers realise health and safety responsibilities apply equally at home as in the workplace.   The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Britain’s national workplace regulator, is reminding employers of the need to assess the risks for all home workers.  

Two Midlands companies and a site manager have been sentenced after a largescale asbestos disturbance and illegal clearance operation was carried out at a Cannock demolition site, putting workers and members of the public at risk of exposure to the deadly carcinogen.  

A waste and recycling company has been fined after an employee suffered life-changing injuries after being crushed by a reversing telehandler at a site in Lancashire.  Jordan Campion, from Burnley, was working for Sheridan Skips Burnley Limited at its site in Smiths Yard, Clifton Street when the incident occurred on 12 March 2024.

Two companies are to be prosecuted following a uranium oxide leak in Cheshire.  It happened at the Capenhurst site, near Chester, in February 2024.

Following an investigation by the Health & Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) Tobermore Concrete Products Limited has been fined £160,000 at Londonderry Crown Court after pleading guilty to a single health and safety offence.  The investigation followed the death of Colin Thomas, a production team leader employed at the company’s main production site in Lisnamuck Road, Tobermore on 26th April 2023.

Jonathan Collins (left) and Neil Moon were working as pest-control subcontractors at Banham Poultry.  Two companies have admitted health and safety offences following the deaths of two pest controllers at a chicken factory.  The bodies of Neil Moon, 49, and Jonathan Collins, 34, were discovered at Banham Poultry in Attleborough, Norfolk, in October 2018.

Two companies have been fined following an incident which resulted in the deaths of two workers in West Yorkshire.  Lee Horton, 58, and Daron Pickstock, 43, were killed when an industrial racking system collapsed as it was being tested at Castefields Industrial Estate in Bingley on 29 October 2020.

A construction company has been fined after a worker sustained serious injuries when he fell from a ladder during renovation works in London.  On 5 August 2021, the worker was engaged on a refurbishment project in Islington for Bow Tie Construction Limited. The project involved converting an existing domestic property and a former handbag factory into a single dwelling.

A grounds maintenance company has been fined after an employee was killed while operating a ride-on lawnmower near Ripon.  Kamil Grygieniec, 23, from Northallerton, was cutting grass around a village pond in North Stainley on 8 October 2021 when the ride-on mower he was operating descended a steep incline and ended up in it.