A Kent scaffolding company has been fined and its director given a suspended prison sentence after a scaffolder suffered an 11,000-volt electric shock.  Steven Gilmore, 36, was working for contractor Canterbury City Scaffolding Ltd alongside a small team of scaffolders, to erect a temporary roof scaffold at an open-air drinks depot in Snow Hill, Crawley, West Sussex.

Back in September last year, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) announced it was carrying out inspections. Since then more than half of those checks have identified failings.  This is a highly technical, specialist field applying precision engineering – but it can also cause harm to the lungs and skin. HSE says more needs to be done to keep workers safe.

A garden landscaper has been handed a suspended prison sentence after a worker was killed when a moving circular saw kicked back into his groin.  The labourer, who had been working for Watford-based gardener Mr Fernando Araujo for just two days, was killed in the incident at a house on Harewood, Rickmansworth, on 11 August 2021.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued a safety notice for those involved in lorry loader operations with powered 'tilting' also known as ‘swing-up’ or ‘rotating’ stabilisers.  It says it is aware of three fatal incidents in Great Britain since 2019, where the operator of a lorry loader has been crushed against the bodywork of the vehicle by the retracting leg of a powered tilting stabiliser.

Right now, there’s probably at least one area of your business facing transformative change driven by technology or digital risk.  The vast majority of businesses operate in and benefit from the urban environment.

MD Safety comment:  The risks associated with confined spaces are well known and robust procedures must be established.

Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has been fined £480,000 after an employee suffered a brain injury after he was found unconscious in a manhole.  The man had been unblocking a drain at the hospital on 1 February 2022 when he was discovered by other members of staff.

A company in Leicestershire has been fined £900,000 after a father-of-two was crushed to death.  Lee Benham died on 4 November 2021 while attempting to move a scissor lift at Nationwide Platform Limited’s workshop in Liskeard, Cornwall.

A joinery firm in south east London has been fined £14,000 for health and safety failings, including putting its workers at risk of exposure to wood dust.  Sidcup-based DLD Joinery Limited was inspected by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in May 2022 as part of the workplace regulator’s Dust Kills campaign, which targets woodworking businesses due to the significant health risks associated with wood dust.

MD Safety comment:  It is essential that Contractors develop a safe system of work.  Clients must ensure that systems are in place to formally review proposed Contractor activities to ensure they are sufficiently risk assessed.

A company has been fined after shocked onlookers spotted an employee precariously working from height while standing on a pallet raised by a forklift truck at Ramsgate Harbour.  The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted European Active Projects (EAP) Limited for breaching Work at Height Regulations after one of its workers was spotted on the pallet on 8 July 2022. The workplace regulator was alerted to the activity after it was reported by a member of the public, who managed to capture the terrifying debacle on video.

MD Safety comment:  This case demonstrates why a work at height risk assessment resulting int he correct choice of access equipment is essential.

A company and its director have been sentenced after an employee fell from height and suffered serious injuries.  Andrew Smith fractured his left femur, left elbow, left arm and pelvis after falling approximately three metres off a ladder on 28 July 2021.