Two construction companies have been fined a combined total of £120,000 after a groundworker suffered horrific injuries when heavy drainage pipes fell on top of him.  Anthony Pennell was rushed to Royal Stoke University Hospital having sustained several fractures to both sides of his pelvis, as well as a fractured vertebrae and bleed on the spine, following the incident at a site in Fradley Park, Lichfield on 3 September 2019.

Network Rail has been fined £6.7m after pleading guilty to criminal charges relating to a passenger train derailment near Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire in August 2020 that led to the deaths of three people.

A waste management firm has been fined a total of £3 million following the deaths of two workers in separate incidents.  Michael Atkin and Mark Wheatley died following incidents in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

Two offshore commercial divers and the director of a diving company have been sanctioned for exaggerating credentials.  Investigators from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have slammed the trio for false claims of diving experience that could have jeopardised their own and other divers’ lives in an offshore incident.

The partner of a man who got stuck and crushed under a vehicle at a motor repair company and later died has spoken of her struggles coping with her loss.  Kenneth (Kenny) McCord, 56, died following an incident on 16 July 2020 at JJ Tyres & Recovery based in Bootle, Merseyside.

A commercial printing company has been fined £100,000 after an employee’s hand was crushed by a laminating machine.  The man had been working for Celloglas Limited at the firm’s site at Cross Green Industrial Estate in Leeds.

A manufacturing company in West Yorkshire has been fined £200,000 after workers were injured by an explosion.  Three workers at Weir Minerals Europe Limited sustained burns while operating a furnace at the firm’s site on Halifax Road in Todmorden on 25 February 2020.

MD Safety comment: It is a legal requiremnent to cooperate with the HSE when they turn up at your premises.  

A Manchester-based construction company and its director have been fined after a catalogue of health and safety failings following an inspection.  On 13 January 2022, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors visited a timber-frame housing development under construction off Brookwood Drive in Meir, Stoke-on-Trent by a company called Amro Construction Ltd.  At hearing at North Staffordshire Magistrates Court on 24 August, HSE enforcement lawyer Nathan Cook said that the regulator had identified several health and safety failings, including the presence of an open flame gas stove amongst large volumes of combustible material, a lack of fire precautions, poor site security and inadequate washing facilities.

The UK lost 17 million working days to work-related stress, depression or anxiety in the year 2021 to 2022 according to the latest data from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).  An estimated 914 thousand workers suffered with mental ill-health relating to their work, accounting for half (51%) of all work-related ill-health cases (1.8 million) for the year.

Moving and handling heavy or bulky objects on construction sites is needlessly harming the health of tens of thousands of workers every year.  Working in construction is a physically demanding job and many construction workers’ health is suffering due to pain in muscles, bones, joints and nerves that affect every aspect of their lives and in many cases their ability to work and earn a living.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning construction workers that the long-term impact on their health can leave them struggling to stand, walk, or sit down.