Companies warned to ensure hot and cold water systems are not a legionella risk

Leisure centres with spa pools and care homes are among the businesses being urged to do more to protect workers and members of the public from legionella risks.

The Health and Safety Executive has issued a safety notice targeting companies and organisations that use hot and cold water systems for bathing and washing or in manufacturing processes.

It follows the publication of a separate notice in July aimed at companies with cooling towers and evaporative condensers. These were identified as the most common source of significant outbreaks based on an HSE review of data going back 10 years.

The latest notice stresses the need for measures to be in place to control identified legionella risks and that these are reviewed regularly.

HSE's legionella expert Paul McDermott said:
"Companies and businesses have a legal responsibility to ensure they're doing all they can to protect workers and the public.

"While the numbers of people potentially affected by poorly maintained water systems and spa pools are likely to be smaller than poorly maintained cooling towers, there can still be fatal consequences. These can't be ignored."

"The information and guidance on managing legionella risks is well-established and readily available. Control measures should be in place and under regular review.

"The safety notice is not asking employers to do anything more than they should be doing already."

Following the HSE review of outbreaks commissioned in 2011, HSE and local authorities are developing a range of initiatives to promote better control of legionella risks.

These will include ongoing work with industry to bring about sustained improvement in standards, advice and information events. It will also include some compliance checks as a follow up to the safety notices where the impact of poorly managed legionella risks could be greatest.

Redhill company fined £167,000 over worker's death

A Redhill-based construction company has been ordered to pay £210,000 in fines and costs after an employee died following an explosion on a construction site in central London. The explosion occurred following damage to an 11,000 volt live cable within an excavation.

Ioan Boboc, 22, a construction operative from north-west London, suffered burns over 60% of his body whilst he and other workers were using breakers and a shovel within the excavation at the corner of Charing Cross Road and Tottenham Court Road on 2 December 2008.

Southwark Crown Court heard (20 Sept) that Birse Metro Ltd had not informed workers that there were live cables in the excavation and that the company had failed to put adequate measures in place prevent them from coming into contact with the cable. Mr Boboc died of his injuries on Christmas Day 2008.

Birse Metro Ltd of Station Road, Redhill, Surrey, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £167,000 and ordered to pay £43,000 in costs in the case brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

After the hearing, HSE inspector Lisa Chappell, said:
"The dangers associated with live underground cables are well-known to those carrying out groundworks in the construction industry. Clear guidance on avoiding contact with them is freely available to companies undertaking this work.

"This incident highlights the absolute necessity for such work to be properly planned and managed. Operatives should be briefed on the presence of cables and a safe system of working should be robustly enforced. Mr Boboc's family continues to grieve the loss of a son and brother following an incident that could have easily been prevented."

Leading UK snack food manufacturer in court

Walkers Snack Foods Ltd has been fined after a 400 kilogramme block of compacted snack waste fell on a worker, breaking his leg.

 

The block of compacted waste involved in the incident

 

The employee, who has asked not to be named, was working as a forklift truck driver at the company's site in Newark Road, Lincoln, when the incident happened on 17 December 2010. He was trying to put the block into a wheeled bin when the bin overturned and the compacted waste landed on him, fracturing his lower left leg.

Lincoln Magistrates' Court heard today (17 September) that waste pellets from the Quavers production line ran off a machine into a magnum bin - a large plastic box with slots underneath for the forks of a forklift truck. The pellets solidified into a large block, which could not be dug out of the magnum so the worker and a colleague used the forklift to turn the magnum over so the block fell out.

But as the block was then lifted into the wheeled bin, it became stuck at the top. When the two men attempted to move the bin, it tipped over causing the block of pellets to fall onto the employee.

He was off work for 15 weeks but has since returned to work with the company.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) told magistrates that the work had not been properly planned, supervised or carried out in a safe manner.
Walkers Snack Foods Ltd, of Theale, Reading, Berkshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and Regulation 8(1) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was fined a total of £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.

After the hearing HSE Inspector Scott Wynne said:
"The task of devising a method to dispose of the waste pellets had been given to an agency worker who did not have the experience or training required to allow him to properly plan how the task should be carried out. As a result it was carried out without supervision and, as the injuries to the employee suggest, the task was not carried out in a safe manner.

"Walkers Snack Foods Ltd also failed to properly assess the risks associated with the task, which should have formed an important part of the planning process. As such the risks were not fully appreciated by those workers involved in the task, and a man suffered serious injury."

Illegal gas fitter put lives in danger in Rochdale

A Rochdale man has been sentenced after he put lives at risk by illegally carrying out gas work at three homes in the borough.

Paul Gregory was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after he left a newly installed gas hob in a condition classified as 'immediately dangerous' at one house on Holmes Street in Rochdale.

Trafford Magistrates' Court heard today (14 September) that Mr Gregory had installed a new boiler and gas hob at the property during a four-month period last year, despite not being a registered gas fitter.

Shortly after the installation had been completed, the owner of the house contacted National Grid to get the gas meter changed from a pay-as-you-go to a conventional meter.

While at the property, a National Grid engineer spotted several problems with the gas work carried out by Mr Gregory and found the gas hob to be in a dangerous condition. He immediately capped off the supply to the hob.
The court was told Mr Gregory had also carried out gas safety checks for a landlord at properties on Garden Street in Milnrow and Hendriff Place in Rochdale on 21 March 2011.

He used a fake Gas Safe Register number when completing the formal documents on the checks, giving the impression they met strict legal requirements.
Paul Gregory, of Hollin Lane in Middleton, pleaded guilty to five breaches of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. He received a community order requiring him to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work in the next 12 months, and was ordered to pay £2,279 in prosecution costs.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Philip Strickland said:

"Paul Gregory put lives at risk at three properties in Rochdale by falsely claiming he was registered to carry out gas work.
"Landlords rely on annual gas safety checks to make sure their properties are safe, but the checks Mr Gregory completed were worthless. He also left the gas hob at one house in a dangerous condition, and it is only luck that no one was injured as a result.

"Gas work has the potential to cost lives if it is not carried out by qualified gas fitters. We will therefore continue to prosecute anyone who ignores the law."
Paul Johnston, Chief Executive of Gas Safe Register, added:
"A quarter of a million illegal gas jobs are carried out every year by people who don't have the skills or the qualifications to work safely with gas.

"It's therefore vital that people always make sure the person working on their gas appliances is on the Gas Safe Register. If they don't, they could be putting their family's lives and homes at risk from gas fires, explosions, leaks and carbon monoxide poisoning.

Company fined after worker suffers horrific head injuries

A West Midlands company has been fined after a worker suffered severe head injuries in a pneumatic metal press.

Wayne Hill, a maintenance engineer at H&E Knowles (Lye) Limited, was repairing the press when it unexpectedly started working and crushed his head. He was trapped for around ten minutes before colleagues were able to free him.
His nose and jaw were broken, his upper lip ripped off and he bit through his tongue. Mr Hill, 42, of Lye, Stourbridge, also sustained lacerations to the back of his head and neck, muscular damage to his left arm, severe neck pain and scratches and bruising to his left side.

He needed extensive reconstructive surgery and has been left with reduced sensitivity in his upper lip and nose, pain in his teeth and scarring to his shoulder. He underwent counselling after suffering nightmares and flashbacks.
Mr Hill was off work for nearly five months but has since returned to the company.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into the incident, which happened at the company's Talbots Lane site in Brierley Hill, West Midlands on 18 August 2011, found the machine had a faulty interlocking guard.

Dudley and Halesowen magistrates heard the press, which takes a sheet of metal and forms it into a wheelbarrow body, should not have been able to operate if the door was open but the fault meant the machine did not detect this.

The court was also told that the machine was designed and built by the company 25 years ago. No technical drawings or any other documentation existed and an adequate risk assessment had never been carried out. The machine regularly broke down and maintenance staff were left to fix it with no instructions.

H&E Knowles (Lye) Ltd, of Waterfall Lane, Cradley Heath, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £18,000 with £7,220 costs.

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector John Glynn said:
"Mr Hill was extremely lucky not to have lost his life in this entirely preventable incident. The company should have provided safe equipment and a safe system of work for its staff. Instead, it failed almost entirely to comply with health and safety legislation in that it designed, built and operated a dangerous piece of machinery.

"There was a grossly inefficient assessment of risk, inadequate controls and a lack of supervisory oversight that exposed staff to terrible risks and left a man with horrific injuries."

Monmouth roof refurbishment company prosecuted after worker's ladder fall

A Monmouth roof refurbishment company has been fined after an employee was injured in a six-metre fall from the roof of a house in Cirencester.

Cheltenham Magistrates' Court heard today (17 September) that 26 year-old Lee Hanson, from South Shields, was using a roof ladder as he replaced tiles when the incident happened on 28 October 2011.

He lost his footing and fell six metres breaking his fall on a bush before he hit the ground. Mr Hanson broke his right wrist and suffered cuts and bruising. He was in hospital for two nights and was unable to return to work for six weeks.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Mr Hanson's employer, Newlook Roof Coatings Ltd, failed to provide the protection necessary to safeguard workers at height.

The court heard that Newlook Roof Coatings had been served with a Prohibition Notice earlier in 2011 after a fitter was found working on a two-storey property in Newnham, Gloucestershire, without any edge protection. The notice prevented any further work anywhere in the country until sufficient safety measures had been put in place by the firm.

HSE had also given guidance and information on roof work, yet this had not been fully implemented.

Newlook Roof Coatings Ltd of Singleton Court, Wonastow Road, Monmouth, pleaded guilty to breaching sections 4(1)(a) and 4(1)(c) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined a total of £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,500.

Speaking after the prosecution, HSE Inspector Sue Adsett said:
"Mr Hanson was lucky to have had his fall broken by a bush. Falls from height, and particularly in the construction industries, have caused many deaths and major injuries over the past 12 months.

"This incident could have easily been prevented by providing scaffolding on the property for the duration of the work. It is a reminder to all companies who expect their employees to work at height of their legal duties to manage safety and provide the protection required to safeguard them from falls."

Merseyside firm in court over life-threatening fall

A Merseyside firm has been sentenced after a worker received life-threatening injuries when he fell from scaffolding at a Croxteth sports centre.

 

The scaffolding tower the worker fell from.

 

The 43-year-old man from West Derby, who has asked not to be named, suffered a brain haemorrhage, fractured skull and collapsed lung in the incident at Croxteth Sports and Wellbeing Centre on 18 January 2011. His injuries also included a broken collar bone, ribs, wrist and fingers.
The worker was in intensive care for two weeks and his brain injury has had a long-term impact on his personality. He has also been unable to return to work as a result of his injuries.

His employer, CME Ceilings Ltd, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found the scaffolding tower the company provided for the job was unsafe.

Liverpool Magistrates' Court was told today (18 September 2012) that the firm had been hired to install a suspended ceiling at the sports centre on Altcross Road in Croxteth but had made a last-minute change to its plan.
It had originally intended to use a scissor lift to reach the ceiling but did not arrange for the equipment to be delivered to the site, and so used a scaffolding tower instead.

The court heard the brakes on the wheels of the scaffolding tower had not been applied to stop it moving and there was no edge protection, including boards and rails, around the work platform to prevent employees falling off.
The man fell more than two metres to the concrete floor below when the tower started to move across the room as he was working.
The HSE investigation found the scaffolding tower had been made up of parts from several different manufacturers, all of which were in a poor or damaged condition.

CME Ceilings Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to ensure the safety of employees. The company, of Domville Road in Broad Green, was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £5,000 in costs.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Mark Baker said:
"One of CME Ceiling's employees has suffered severe physical and mental injuries that will affect him for the rest of his life.

"The scaffolding tower the company provided simply wasn't up to the job and his life was put in danger the minute he started to climb it.
"This case should act as a warning to firms not to cut corners and to make sure they use the right equipment for the job they're doing."