A manufacturer of paper and paperboard has been fined after an employee was injured when they were drawn into a large paper re-winding machine.  On 19 July 2021 an employee of Amberset Limited based in Ashford, Kent, sustained injuries of three broken bones in their shoulder, bruising of the elbow and wrist and superficial damage to their head. The man then underwent surgery following the incident, where metal plates and pins were fitted in his shoulder and arm.

Two partners in a construction firm have been fined for failing to adequately control the risk to its employees from exposure to vibration when using vibrating tools.  Employees of Roywood Contractors worked at various construction sites using vibrating tools without adequate control. As a result, an employee who had been working at the company for 12 years suffered significant ill-health from hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS).

An engineering company has been fined after one of its employees fell through a roof while installing bird deterrent spikes.  A man working for Craven and Nicholas (Engineering) Ltd on St John’s Road in Boston, stepped onto a fragile roof surface and fell six metres through it – suffering serious injuries to his head and left arm on 13 May 2020.

A manufacturing company has been fined £20,000 after a worker’s hand was partially severed when it was caught in machinery.  The employee of ADA Machining Services Ltd, Ashton-under-Lyne, was operating a Richards 16ft vertical boring machine when he stepped on to the rotating table to check the internal boring cut but slipped and fell on the table on 24 March 2021.

In statistics released on 6 July 2022, HSE acknowledged for the first time that there is evidence of higher rates of the asbestos cancer, mesothelioma, in teachers, noting ‘proportional mortality ratios are somewhat higher for teachers and administrative occupations than those for nurses, sales occupations and process operatives, and this may suggest the potential for asbestos exposure during work time was somewhat higher in these jobs…’. 

Recommendations from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry will form part of the new Fire Safety (England) 2022 regulations, however, two recommendations on personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPS) will not be ratified.   The decision came from the government’s initial 2021 consultation on the event. Speaking in the House of Lords earlier this year building safety manager, Lord Stephen Greenhalgh, said that mandating PEEPs in high-rise residential buildings showed “substantial difficulties…around practicality, proportionality, and safety”. 

Prolonged exposure to airborne particles of respirable crystalline silica (RCS) can lead to life-changing respiratory conditions such as silicosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease warns Britain’s workplace regulator.   As part of the Health and Safety Executive’s role as an enabling regulator it has recently refreshed its silica guidance for brick and tile manufacturing, stonework and foundries ahead of manufacturing sector focused inspections in autumn/winter and has an ebulletin to support this industry. 

A mining company has been fined £3.6 million after two electricians suffered severe burns in separate incidents.   On 3 August 2016 a contract electrician at Boulby mine in Cleveland – the world's only mine to extract organic fertiliser known as polyhite – unknowingly placed a vacuum cleaner nozzle into a live electrical chamber. He sustained serious burns from the 11,000-volt electrical system and had to be airlifted to a specialist burns unit, where he was placed in an induced coma for 10 days.

Two companies and two people have been sentenced after an 18-year-old construction worker was fatally injured while working on a house-build construction site in Boston, Lincolnshire.  P & R Plant Hire (Lincolnshire) Limited, D. Brown (Building Contractors) Limited, Brent Woods and Darrell Tripp were all fined following the death of Josh Disdel.  In July 2018 Mr Disdel, and another worker, both employed by P & R Plant Hire (Lincolnshire) Limited, had been tasked with clearing debris from manholes at a house-build construction site at White Bridges, Boston.

A North West roofing contractor has been fined after an employee fell from a roof ladder and died at the scene.  Roof replacement work was being carried out on a domestic property in Burnley by Richard Thornton, trading as Vanguard Roofing in May 2021. On the final day on site, an employee of Mr Thornton was climbing a triple extending access ladder on the roof, to reach scaffolding at eaves level, whilst carrying a pile of slate on their shoulder. They slipped and fell to the ground, sustaining fatal injuries.