MD Safety comment:  The HSE will always prosecute if Enforcement Notices are not complied with.

A Northwich furniture company has hit out at an 'unfair' £16,000 fine imposed for health and safety breaches.    Pineland Furniture Ltd's Witton Street branch was inspected by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in December 2019 when 'significant' breaches of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) were found.   This resulted in the business being served six improvement notices being served requiring Pineland to carry out statutory examinations of its wood dust extraction systems and undertake face fit testing for those employees required to wear tight fitting face masks.

MD Safety comment: A risk assessment is an absolute must when employing young people.

A 16-year-old boy suffered serious injuries after becoming trapped under a tractor while on paid work experience.  Tom Cutler was gaining experience of vehicle repair work at Earlcoate Construction & Plant Hire Limited, Folds Farm, in the New Forest, ahead of hopefully starting a vehicle maintenance course at Sparsholt College.

A heritage train operator has been prosecuted after a volunteer fell from the top of a carriage.  Gwili Railway Company Ltd was fined £18,000 for breaching regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations and therefore guilty of an offence contrary to section 33(1)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. The fine was reduced by a third for an early guilty plea and further reduced for other mitigating factors. The business, based in  south west Wales, was also ordered to pay ORR’s full costs of £18,557.

MD Safety comment:  A worrying, if not surprising statistic.  Training is key.

NEW RESEARCH from Direct Line business insurance reveals almost one in five (19 per cent) tradespeople have been injured as a result of breaking health and safety rules on site. The scale of health and safety breaches is concerning, with 46 per cent of tradespeople admitting they do not always take the required precautions when conducting work.

MD Safety comment: This is a disturbing statistic that hopefully will change for the better.  Employers need to understand the benefits not the perceived drawbacks.

Businesses must do more to create a culture where employees feel they can openly disclose they are neurodiverse, according to IOSH.  It comes as survey results reveal that more than two-thirds of neurodiverse workers haven’t told their current employer about their condition. Meanwhile less than a third said they would declare it on a job application.

MD Safety comment:  Using demonstrably competent support to help with fire safety management is vital to ensure safety and coompliance.

Andrea White, Fire Engineer and Managing Director of AW Fire, told delegates that the gap between building complexity and competence in fire safety was increasing at IOSH’s Fire Risk Management Conference in September.  

MD Safety comment:  Having systems in place to ensure isolation from sources of power is vital in ensuring safety when using and undertaking maintenance on machinery.

A company has been fined £20,000 after an employee’s arm was drawn into machinery and seriously injured.  The worker, Piotr Zielinski, 58, from Nottinghamshire, was working for food processing company Belwood Foods Limited.  His right arm was drawn into a machine and wrist crushed while cleaning poultry processing machinery at Belwood Food’s site at Lowmoor Business Park, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottingham, on 22 November 2019.

MD Safety comment: We still see a high disreagrd for managing woodworking dusts when we undertake inspections.  Inhalation of wood dusts can cause serious respiratory diseases including cancer and must be controlled.

A Lincolnshire-based sole trader has been fined after his employees were exposed to a hazardous substance.  The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Chris Buckley, trading as The Furniture Chest, after the workplace regulator inspected the firm’s site on Station Road, Heckington, Lincolnshire, on 7 April 2022.

A bird farm in Leeds has been fined £26,680 after a fire in a rearing shed resulted in serious injuries to one of its employees.  The incident happened at Yorkshire Game Farm, in Woodlesford, on 6th May 2020. The employee suffered second and third degree burns, and was kept in an induced coma at Pinderfields Hospital for five days, and not released from hospital until 12 days later.

MD Safety comment:  This case highlights the need to make competent appointments.

A West Midlands self-employed plumber has been jailed after carrying out further illegal and unsafe gas work.  During 2020 and 2021, Daniel Kelly Mountain, installed and worked on gas boilers and performed gas work when he was not registered as an individual with the Gas Safe Register. He also falsely advertised himself as being Gas Safe Registered. By law all gas businesses and individuals who perform gas work must be on the Gas Safe Register.