Print firm fined after flash fire injures two workers

A printing company based in Waltham Forest has been fined for safety failings after two workers were burned in a flash fire when vapours from a flammable cleaning fluid ignited in a print room.

The two printers, employed by Delta Display Ltd in Blackhorse Lane, Walthamstow, suffered burns and one suffered serious breaks to both legs as he tried to escape the fire. One of them described the explosion and fire as a ‘flamethrower’ coming from the top of the printing press.

An investigation into the incident on 20 May 2011 was carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) which brought the prosecution. HSE found the company had ignored guidance given by the press manufacturers that there was a danger of fire and explosion if any cleaning agent with a flash point below 55 degrees centigrade was used.

Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard (9 May) that the two men had been using the solvent provided to hand-clean the ‘blankets’ of a printing press, a regular task to clear the build-up of ink. The solvent, called QE3, had a flash point of minus 20 degrees centigrade.

They had completed part of the process when one of them saw a flash in front of his eyes and the fire started. He jumped from the press over a safety rail to escape, shattering his left ankle, fracturing his right heel and sustaining burns on his right calf and left arm. Fellow workers were able to extinguish the fire.

This employee was in hospital for 15 days and initially off work for four months.  He had two operations and is currently undergoing physiotherapy after the second. The other employee received burns to his arms but was back at work soon after the incident.

After the court hearing, HSE Inspector Chris Tilley said:

"These two men have suffered serious and painful injuries because Delta Display Ltd did not heed the guidance from the manufacturers of the printing press. Their workers had been at risk whenever that solvent was used to clean the printing press. It was entirely foreseeable that a fire might result.

“The risks from flammable substances are well known in industry as are the relevant preventative measures. In this case, if the company had completed a sufficient risk assessment they would have identified that using QE3 solvent as a cleaning agent with this type of press was dangerous and could have substituted it for a safer cleaning material.

“The company introduced a safer alternative days after the incident but made little effort beforehand to consider the risks and put a system of work in place that would better protect their workers.”

Delta Display Ltd of Walthamstow, E17, pleaded guilty to a breach of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 and was fined £12,000 with £5,250 costs. The company, part of the Delta Group, employs some 400 people and specialises in producing promotional marketing materials.

Director fined after worker's fatal fall through roof

The director of a building firm has been prosecuted after a self-employed contractor fell to his death through a fragile roof at an industrial building in Penryn.

Paul Gibbons, 59, who lived in Porthleven, was carrying out re-roofing work for Acryflor Ltd at the Kernick Road Industrial Estate on 22 September 2008 when he fell eight metres through a fragile part of the asbestos cement roof onto the floor below. He was taken to hospital but died of his injuries later that day.

An HSE investigation into the incident found that Onyx Europe Ltd, (formerly Acryflor Ltd) had failed to put adequate safety measures in place at the site despite the risks involved with working at height.

Truro Crown Court heard yesterday (3 May) the work had not been adequately planned and no safety nets or crash deck platforms had been provided to mitigate the effects of a fall.

HSE Inspector, Jon Harris, speaking after the hearing, said:

"Mr Gibbons’ death could have been prevented if the work had been planned properly and industry standards, such as providing netting, had been applied. The risks of working at height are well-known and falls through fragile materials are the cause of one in five deaths in the construction industry.

"Acryflor Ltd had a duty of care to Mr Gibbons not to expose him to risk as far as was reasonably practical. Mr Williams, as a director of Acryflor, shared that duty.

"The company should have employed a planning co-ordinator to develop a construction plan for this work and the project should have been overseen by someone with appropriate knowledge and experience.

"Safety nets are the industry recognised standard for this purpose and in this case were installed following the incident."

Matthew Peter Williams, of Trelan Farm, Menerdue Lane, Carnmenellis, Redruth pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay costs of £2,500 after the judge heard he was £1.5 million in debt and had an annual income of £15,000

Shropshire egg supplier fined for worker's fall

A Shropshire egg supplier has been prosecuted after a female worker suffered serious foot injuries falling through a hole in the floor of a poultry barn.

The 43-year-old Shropshire woman, who does not wish to be named, fractured two bones in her left ankle and the heel bone in her right ankle as result of the fall on 26 July 2011. The injuries have prevented her returning to work at Staveley’s Eggs Ltd, where she had been an egg packer for six years.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) today told Shrewsbury Magistrates’ Court that floorboards had been taken up for building work immediately behind a door regularly used by the worker on an upper floor. No warning signs had been posted and no one had informed her of the repair work being carried out.  

The woman opened the door outwards and fell more than two metres onto the concrete ground floor below, shattering bones in both ankles.  

The court heard she spent eight days in hospital for an operation to have two plates inserted into her left ankle in order to stabilize the joint.  She has since had a further operation on this ankle and suffers from poor mobility.

HSE prosecuted the worker’s employer, Staveley’s Eggs Ltd, based at Stoke-on-Tern, after an investigation revealed that no written risk assessments or basic instructions existed and that the flooring work was only verbally discussed. No safeguards to prevent a fall from height had been identified nor were any protection measures in place.

 HSE inspector Lyn Mizen said after the hearing:

"This worker suffered serious injuries in this incident and has been unable to return to work.  And after enduring a lengthy and painful recuperation process, she still suffers from restricted movement in her ankles, finding it difficult to walk very far.

"This incident could have easily been prevented if a suitable risk assessment had been carried out.  Fundamental and basic measures such as nailing the door shut or posting warning signs had not been taken.

"Bean bags or air bags underneath the hole would have provided appropriate and relatively inexpensive fall protection for all employees.

"Clear guidance on working at height is available from HSE and it is regrettable that the company failed to follow this."

Staveley’s Eggs Ltd of ‘The Poplars’, Warrant Road, Stoke-on-Tern,  Market Drayton, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 6(3) and 11 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was today fined £25,000 and ordered to pay £2,386 costs.

Man jailed for illegal inspections of play equipment

A Chester man has been jailed for more than 14 months after repeatedly ignoring a legal order preventing him from inspecting inflatable play equipment.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Peter McCormack (previously known as Peter Coltilda and Peter John Morrell), of Garden Lane, Chester, for carrying out inspections of inflatables and issuing test certificates for them in contravention of a Prohibition Notice from HSE, and for carrying out unsafe seam repairs to one.

Caernarfon Crown Court heard that examples of wrongdoing by Mr McCormack, aged 77, included:

• An inspection of a pool inflatable at Poynton Leisure Centre, Cheshire, on 15 July 2010 and the issuing of the certificate two days later
• An inspection of a bouncy castle in Carterton, Oxfordshire, on 23 August 2010 and the issuing of the certificate a day later
• Another bouncy castle inspection at Abbey Leisure Centre in Selby, Yorkshire, on 19 August 2010
• One at Tadcaster, Yorkshire, on 3 August 2011
• One at Selby Park, Yorkshire, on 3 August 2011

He repaired one of the bouncy castles at Selby Park poorly on 3 August 2011, so there was a risk of children's fingers and toes being trapped in the open seams.

The court also heard today that in these illegal inspections, Mr McCormack failed to spot defects, which could have caused injuries to children.

He pleaded guilty to seven breaches of Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and one of Section 3(2) of the Act and was sentenced to 62 weeks in prison. He has already served 78 days imposed at an earlier hearing for breaching bail conditions. Today the court ruled he must serve half of the remaining time before being released on licence.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE principal inspector Steve Flanagan said:

"Inflatable play equipment must be properly maintained and inspected to make sure it is safe for children to use. HSE served the initial Prohibition Notice in 2008 because Peter McCormack's work was substandard and unsafe.

"By breaching that Prohibition Notice repeatedly - and even ignoring a direct order from a judge at Shrewsbury Crown Court in 2010 - Mr McCormack has shown that he never had any intention to stop illegally inspecting inflatables.

"He has shown utter disregard for the safety of children and for the law and has cheated the companies he issued the certificates for, by taking their money when he shouldn't have done the work.

"If people who carry out illicit or poor inspections of inflatables are not stopped, it's only a matter of time before a child suffers a serious injury."

Mr McCormack has changed his name by deed poll. He was previously known as Peter Coltilda, and before that as Peter John Morrell. The court also heard that Mr McCormack is also now known by the name Paul Armstrong.

Construction firms sentenced over Liverpool crane collapse

Two construction firms have been sentenced after a crane collapsed onto a city centre apartment block in Liverpool, resulting in the crane driver being paralysed from the waist down.

The collapsed crane at the Kings Dock Mill site

The 79-metre-high tower crane was being used as part of a multi-million pound project to build a new eight-storey hotel and seven apartment blocks at Kings Dock Mill on Tabley Street when it overturned on 6 July 2009.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the site's principal contractor, Bowmer and Kirkland Ltd, and structural engineering company Bingham Davis Ltd following an investigation into the incident.

Liverpool Crown Court heard the crane fell onto a partially constructed apartment block, across a road and came to rest on the Chandlers Wharf apartments. Eight counterweights on the crane, weighing a total of 56 tonnes, broke free and crashed through the roof and six floors of the building.

Crane driver Iain Gillham, 55, from Woolton, fell from his cab onto the roof of the apartments and through the hole created by the counterweights.

He suffered multiple injuries including a brain haemorrhage, fractured skull, broken right shoulder, broken ribs, crush injuries to his left side, and major spinal injuries which resulted in his legs being paralysed.

The collapsed crane at the Kings Dock Mill site

No one inside the building was injured but residents had to be evacuated from the 64 apartments, and some were rescued from their balconies. The damage to the building was extensive and residents were unable to return to their homes for nearly two years while major reconstruction work took place.

The HSE investigation into the incident found that the crane's foundation could not cope with the forces generated by the crane.

During the construction of the foundation, both Bowmer and Kirkland Ltd and Bingham Davis Ltd agreed to cut away essential steel reinforcement bars from the four concrete foundation piles, so that the crane's feet could sit on top on them. These were replaced with  up to 5 steel rods in each pile. This action reduced the forces the foundation could withstand.

Summing up in court, Judge Gilmour said he was satisfied that it was the removal of the reinforcing steel and the inadequate replacement of the steel rods that led to the foundation being overloaded and the crane collapsing.

Both companies were found guilty of breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court by failing to ensure the safety of workers or residents.

Bowmer and Kirkland Ltd, of Church Street in Heage, Derbyshire, was fined £280,000. A decision on prosecution costs will be made separately.

Bingham Davis Ltd, formerly of Temple Street in Liverpool, has ceased trading since the crane collapse after going into voluntary liquidation. The company was fined a nominal £1,000.

Speaking after the hearing, the investigating inspector at HSE, Warren Pennington, said:

"Serious failings on the parts of both Bowmer and Kirkland Ltd and Bingham Davis Ltd were uncovered by the Health and Safety Executive during an extensive and complex investigation into the crane collapse.

"Whilst it is bad enough that Iain Gillham will be unable to walk for the rest of his life as a result of the failings of both parties, it is no exaggeration to say it was only by pure chance that this catastrophic event did not result in multiple fatalities and significantly more damage to property.

"The circumstances leading to the collapse were a mess. Bingham Davis employees had no previous experience of designing the type of crane foundation used at Kings Dock Mill. Likewise, Bowmer & Kirkland's employees at Kings Dock Mill had no experience of building one. Both parties made disastrous errors that were entirely preventable.

"The original error was made by Bingham Davis Ltd, which failed to spot a basic mistake in its calculations for the loadings imposed by the crane. This created a material risk which had the potential to have led to a crane foundation being constructed that was not strong enough to hold the crane up.

"During construction of the foundation, Bingham Davis advised Bowmer and Kirkland to cut away essential steel reinforcing bars in the foundation piles and replace such with steel rods. The removal of such reinforcing steel, resulted in the foundation being too weak to support the crane. The foundation was further weakened when Bowmer and Kirkland failed to ensure the adequate insertion of the replacing steel rods.

"Neither Company did enough to check what the result would be of cutting away this essential steel reinforcement and replacing such with steel rods."

Warren added:

"HSE hopes this case sends a clear message to the construction industry in relation to tower cranes foundations. Designers of such should be familiar with industry accepted guidance and follow it, unless they have extremely well thought-out reasons for not doing so. The role of the Principal Contractor is also crucial in managing the design process. Both Principal Contractors and Designers should ensure that robust systems for design checking are actioned at all times.

"We will continue to engage with the industry to ensure that lessons are learned."

Over the past decade, nine people have been killed and there have been 25 serious injuries as a result of incidents involving tower cranes

Shipyard fined after apprentice fell from scaffolding

An apprentice worker was badly injured after he fell off scaffolding which was not properly secured at Pendennis Shipyard Ltd in Falmouth.

In a prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) today (27 April), Truro magistrates heard that David Banks, from St Austell, who was 19 at the time, suffered knee injuries in the fall which happened on 27 April, 2011.

HSE's investigation found that Mr Banks was working in the dry dock to clear and strip away plastic tenting which had been used to enclose a boat while it was being painted.

The teenager was working on the first level of scaffolding boards when they tipped, causing him to fall around two metres to the dock floor below. The injuries sustained to his knees in the fall resulted in Mr Banks needing physiotherapy.

The court heard that Pendennis Shipyard Ltd had already been warned about the risks associated with working at height and had been issued with four Improvement Notices and one Prohibition Notice relating to type of work by the HSE since 2009.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector, Melissa Lai-Hung said:

"Mr Banks was unaware that the scaffold planks were insecure and there were no safety rails in place.

"The company provided no safe working method for its workforce, there was no risk assessment for the work and a lack of information, training, instruction and supervision at the site. This incident could easily have had much more serious consequences for Mr Banks."

Pendennis Shipyard Ltd, of The Docks, Falmouth, pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £6,288 in costs.

Firm fined after worker's fall from forklift

A North Devon farming business has been prosecuted for safety failings after a worker fractured his skull falling from the prong of a forklift truck at an animal feed mill.

Richard Robinson, 64, from Pyworthy, near Holsworthy, was attempting to crush recycled material when the fall occurred at Cross Mill, Holsworthy Beacon, on 3 August last year.

His employer, WJ Watkins and Son Ltd, today (2 May) appeared before Barnstaple Magistrates in a prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The court heard that some workers had developed their own system of working, which involved being lifted by forklifts and climbing into large bags of recycled material that were suspended in the air. They then trampled down material in the bags to make more room before coming down again on the forklifts.

The company did not provide any fixed alternative methods for the workmen to reach the bags in a safe and controlled manner.

Mr Robinson fell about one-and-a-half metres from the forklift to the concrete below.

WJ Watkins and Son Ltd, of Highfield, Holsworthy Beacon, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 for allowing dangerous working practices. The company was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,226.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector, Simon Jones, said:

"The company did not give enough thought to how employees were going to work on the bags that were suspended in the air. They were allowed to use a very unsafe method because there was no fixed alternative available to them. As a result Richard Robinson could easily have paid with his life.

"Working at height must be properly planned and supervised, and employers must ensure their staff have a safe system in place to prevent further incidents of this kind.".