Mark Wintersgill, 25, of Broughton Astley, Leicester, was attempting to jack up the axle of a double decker HGV trailer at PPR Transport Services in Lutterworth on 25 June 2012 when the jack separated from the axle and struck him. He died at the scene of catastrophic head injuries.
Business owner Paul Anthony Roberts, also of Lutterworth, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found the operation was poorly planned and managed.
Leicester Crown Court heard that Mr Wintersgill was attempting to jack the trailer on a set of concrete ramps, which meant the trailer's landing legs were below the level of the rear axles. This may have encouraged the unit to rock forward when the jacking began.
The mechanic was using an air jack powered by a compressor and is thought to have put two wooden blocks on top of the jack to achieve a greater lifting height. Unfortunately, these may have further destabilised the equipment and separated, causing the jack to jump under the pressure of the load.
The court was told that Mr Wintersgill should not have been under a vehicle being lifted until it was fully supported by appropriate chassis or axle stands.
Mr Roberts was ultimately responsible for ensuring that work at the site was properly assessed and controlled, with suitable safety measures, training and equipment in place and available.
Paul Anthony Roberts, 51, of Lilac Drive, Lutterworth, was fined £12,000 with costs of £43,000 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety of Work etc Act 1974 for failing to protect his employees.
After the hearing HSE inspector David Lefever said:
"This was a tragic incident that could have been prevented had a few basic precautions been taken.
"Mr Roberts should have ensured that this regular work activity was carried out in a safe location on firm, level ground. He should also have ensured his employees were supplied with the correct equipment and that they were trained in how to use that equipment safely.
"He should have monitored how employees were carrying out this task and stopped the routine use of wooden blocks, which was a highly dangerous practice. He should also have ensured his employees followed a safe system of work.
"He failed to do any of that and as a result a young man paid with his life."
Mr Wintersgill's mother, Jeanine Erasmus said:
"For 25 years I had the privilege and honour of being Mark's mother before he was so senselessly and cruelly taken from me. I still have one amazing son, Craig, whom I love with all my heart, but there is emptiness inside me due to Mark's death that will haunt me every day for the rest of my life.
"Mark was one in a million. He was kind, loving, happy, sincere, loyal, genuine, caring, hardworking and would help anyone out he could. He had this presence when he walked into a room, the room would light up. He had a cheeky smile and such a deep chuckle, and a twinkle in his blue eyes.
"Nobody should have to bury their 25-year-old son. No-one should feel needless pain and suffering. Mark was an extraordinary son and human being who did not deserve this fate."
Court case for Croydon company
A Croydon company that builds truck bodies has been prosecuted after a worker’s leg was crushed by a pack of six-metre steel sheets weighing almost 4 tonnes when it slid and fell during unloading.
Self-employed lorry driver Andrew Trotter, 52, from Stoke on Trent, was working alongside employees of Thompsons (UK) Ltd at their site in New Addingham on 5 January 2012 when he was injured.
Mr Trotter had delivered the sheet metal packs in his flatbed lorry and Thompson workers were unloading them using a tandem lift by two counter-balanced forklift trucks. The packs were being re-loaded onto a separate lorry before being taken to the firm’s factory.
However, the re-loading was unbalanced and as a second pack was being placed on the first, a loose wooden baton became dislodged and the whole sheet steel pack started to slide. Mr Trotter, who was picking up straps between the two lorries, was struck by the corner of the pack before it hit the concrete floor.
He suffered a fractured leg and muscle damage and has limited knee and ankle movement. He has had to return for hospital treatment when swelling of his leg has caused skin splitting and infection.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated and prosecuted Thompsons (UK) Ltd at Westminster Magistrates’ Court (16 Oct) for two breaches of health and safety legislation.
The court heard that HSE found a lack of planning led to Mr Trotter being able to work in close proximity to the chassis lorry as the hazardous re-loading was taking place. The tandem lift was a complicated procedure that had been neither properly planned nor supervised. Had it been controlled and directed competently, the risk of any incident would have been significantly reduced.
Thompsons (UK) Ltd of Vulcan Way, New Addington, Croydon, was fined a total £14,000 and ordered to pay £11,284 in costs after admitting a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations and a separate breach of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations.
After the court case, HSE Inspector Matt Raine said:
"This incident could easily have resulted in death and was completely preventable. The injuries Mr Trotter sustained have been painful and life-changing and, although he can drive his lorry, it is not certain how long he will be able to do so.
"Thompsons (UK) Ltd failed to make sure that the lifting operation of the sheet metal was properly planned and supervised and then, of course, carried out safely. In addition they had not provided adequate training in the use of the forklift trucks to one of their employees involved in the lifting operation.
"Employers must ensure that work equipment is used in the correct way and that only trained people are allowed to operate such equipment."
Firm fined after 200 put at asbestos risk
A North East glass firm has been fined after potentially exposing nearly 200 workers and visitors to dangerous asbestos fibres at its Consett premises.
Consett-based Romag Ltd also ignored recommendations from its own safety advisors to cordon off a contaminated area and arrange for an emergency clean-up by specialists.
The Health and Safety Executive investigated the incident, which was triggered by two fire alarm installers when they started some work at the firm’s Princess Building on Leadgate Industrial Estate on 12 July 2011.
Consett Magistrates’ Court heard that the two subcontractors, who had been told the building was free from asbestos, unknowingly drilled through an asbestos insulation panel while installing fire sensors.
They then used a domestic vacuum cleaner to clean up the dust and debris and later used it in several parts of the building as they put up the sensors, spreading asbestos fibres around the premises.
The court was told the asbestos disturbance was discovered the next day but Romag Ltd failed to take any appropriate action for at least nine days, even though its own health and safety advisors had urged it to cordon off and lock down the area and arrange for an emergency clean-up and air clearance test.
HSE found the firm’s delay in taking action led to 180 workers and 16 visitors being put at risk of exposure to asbestos fibres. When the clean-up was organised, a substantial amount of contaminated material was collected.
Romag Ltd, whose registered office is Emperor Way, Sunderland pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) and Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £12,638 in costs.
After the hearing, HSE Inspector Paul Miller said:
"Romag Ltd needlessly put at risk the health of nearly 200 people because they failed to identify the presence of asbestos before any work started and then compounded the failing by not acting quickly to clean the area properly.
"Any company that intends to do work to the fabric of a property built prior to the year 2000 must ensure that they have taken all reasonable steps to check whether asbestos is present before any work starts. That information must be then shared with anyone involved in the proposed work."
Firm in court over ‘Dickensian’ conditions for Preston workers
A construction firm has been prosecuted after it allowed subcontractors to carry out refurbishment work on a Grade 2 listed building in Preston for nearly seven weeks without toilets or running water.
Altrincham-based RNT Developments and Construction Ltd brought in roofers, damp treatment experts, electricians, joiners and plasters to work on the nineteenth century Harris Institute – a former dance academy – on the outskirts of the city but it failed to provide basic facilities for workers.
The issue was spotted during an inspection initiative earlier this year when inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) made announced visits to construction sites across the region.
Preston Magistrates’ Court heard that refurbishment work had started on the Avenham Lane building on 3 January 2013, but HSE were not alerted to the absence of amenities until an inspector visited the site on 19 February.
During this time, a dry rot treatment subcontractor had filled six skips with plaster from the walls, with other contractors removing rotten timbers and floor boards in dusty conditions.
Workers had to use wet wipes and paper towels to clean themselves, and leave the site to find toilets elsewhere in the city.
Magistrates were told that the three-storey building had been empty for two years before the work started and the water supply had been turned off, which meant the existing toilets could not be used. The temperature inside the building was also bitterly cold.
RNT Developments and Construction Ltd, of Sheldrake Road in Broadheath, was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £1,000 after pleading guilty to a breach of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 on 16 October 2013.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Stuart Kitchingman said:
“It would have been easy for RNT to reinstate the existing welfare facilities in the building, but instead the firm allowed work to be carried out in grimy and dusty conditions for nearly seven weeks without access to the most basic facilities.
“It’s totally unacceptable in the twenty-first century to find Dickensian-like conditions. In fact, it’s a legal requirement that workers aren’t treated in this way.
“The working conditions were archaic – more like they would have been when the building was first erected in Victorian times – and will no longer be tolerated in the 21st Century.
“RNT should have made sure there were welfare facilities on the site before it allowed the refurbishment project to start. Instead, workers had to face needlessly unpleasant conditions over several weeks.”
The inspection of the RNT site was carried out during a month-long national initiative earlier this year in which one in five construction sites were served with enforcement notices after failing health and safety checks.
HSE inspectors made unannounced visits to 2,363 sites where refurbishment or repair work was taking place. They issued notices at 433 sites, either ordering work to stop or for improvements to be made.
Essex landlord fined for employing illegal gas fitters
A landlord has been prosecuted for safety failings relating to illegal and dangerous gas work at two properties in Essex.
Claire Sherwood employed the same illegal gas fitters to install boilers at her own house on Lexden Road, Colchester, on 31 March 2012, and a month later, on 23 April, at a property she owned on Sovereign Crescent, Colchester.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard that an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Mrs Sherwood, in her role as a landlord of the Sovereign Crescent property, had failed to check that the gas fitters she had employed were competent. She should have ensured they were registered with the Gas Safe Register – a legal requirement for anyone undertaking gas work.
Claire Sherwood, of Lexden Road, Colchester, was fined a total of £950 and ordered to pay £4,000 in costs after being found guilty of breaching Regulation 36(4) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.
The illegal fitters have been sentenced separately for safety failings.
After the hearing, HSE principal inspector Toni Drury said:
“Mrs Sherwood did not do all that was reasonable to ensure those she employed to fit a boiler at her tenanted property were competent and legally allowed to do so. She therefore put the lives of her tenants at risk.
“Every year people die from CO poisoning caused by gas appliances and flues that have not been properly installed or maintained, or that are poorly ventilated. Badly fitted and poorly serviced gas appliances can also cause fires, explosions or gas leaks.
“Unregistered gas fitters do not have the training, knowledge or experience to work on gas fittings safely. They endanger the lives of the public for financial gain, fraudulently avoiding the time and expense of becoming competent and registered.”
“HSE will not hesitate to prosecute those who put lives at risk.”
Russell Kramer, chief executive of Gas Safe Register, added:
“Every Gas Safe registered engineer carries a Gas Safe ID card, which shows who they are and the type of gas appliances they are qualified to work on. We always encourage the public to ask for and check the card and if they do have any concerns about the safety of work carried out in their home, to speak to us. Every year we investigate hundreds of reports of illegal gas work
Air conditioning firm fined after apprentice falls through ceiling
An air conditioning company has been fined after an apprentice engineer broke his arm when he fell three metres through a fragile plasterboard ceiling.
The 20-year-old from Wrexham, who does not wish to be identified, was installing an air conditioning system in the loft space above an office at Llaneurgain House in Northop when the incident happened on 14 March 2012.
Select Air Services Limited was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found the firm had failed to put adequate safety measures in place.
Mold Magistrates' Court heard the company had not provided enough crawling boards, which meant employees had to step from joist to joist to carry out the work. As a result, there was nothing to prevent the young worker from falling through the fragile plasterboard when he lost his footing.
He fell three metres to the floor below, broke his left arm and was off work for ten weeks as a result of his injuries.
Select Air Services Limited, of Sefton Business Park, Olympic Way, Aintree, was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £6,600 after pleading guilty to a breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE
Inspector Chris Wilcox said:
"The risks associated with falling
through a ceiling are something most of us would recognise from our own lofts
at home, yet Select Air Services Limited failed to implement basic safety
measures to minimise the risk of falls."The workers were installing the air conditioning system above a fragile plasterboard ceiling but their employer neglected to plan the work properly and provide simple safeguards such as crawling boards or safety decking that could have prevented a fall.
"The dangers of working at height are well known and this prosecution should serve as a reminder to all contractors to ensure work is properly planned and robust safety precautions are put in place. Employers have a legal duty to manage safety and failing to do so too often ends in tragedy."
