Risk, Health and Safety Information

Staffordshire man in court for illegal gas work

A Stoke-on-Trent man has been given a suspended prison sentence for multiple gas safety offences, including pretending to be Gas Safe registered, several breaches of legal orders banning him from carrying out gas work and falsifying a Landlord's Gas Safety Record.

Cannock Magistrates' Court was told that Christopher Andrew Morton, 61, of Ramsey Street, Fenton, was registered as a gas engineer for two periods between 2000 and 2003 but was refused re-registration in May 2003 because he failed to demonstrate sufficient competence to the-then registration body, CORGI.

When he came to the attention of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in 2008, a Prohibition Notice was served on Mr Morton, banning him from carrying out any further gas work. He failed a refresher training course the following year so was again unable to gain registered status.

The court heard that despite this, he continued to carry out gas work including installing boilers and gas fires and issuing Landlord's Gas Safety Records. On one such record he used the name of a genuinely-registered business without its knowledge.

Following information from the local council, Gas Safe and HSE visited three properties in the Stoke-on-Trent area and found faults with the work Mr Morton had carried out.

Christopher Andrew Morton pleaded guilty to 14 charges of breaching Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by breaching Prohibition Notices on different dates and locations between June 2011 and March 2013. He also admitted one breach of Section 33(1)(l) of the same Act for intentionally making a false entry on a document and 13 breaches of Regulation 3(7) of the Gas Safety Installation and Use Regulations 1998 for falsely pretending to be Gas Safe registered.

He was sentenced to 26 weeks in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work. He must also pay full legal costs of £1,625.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Janice Dale said:

"Christopher Morton put lives and property in danger by deliberately and persistently flouting the laws that are designed to protect people from sub-standard and faulty gas work carried out by unregistered gas fitters. It is fortunate his illegal work did not result in injury or death.

"Anybody who carries out work on gas pipes or appliances without being on the Gas Safe Register or in direct contravention of a Prohibition Notice is breaking the law. Christopher Morton was not qualified to carry out the work he was employed to do and was therefore putting lives at risk."

Liskeard landlord endangered lives by replacing gas boiler

A Cornish landlord risked the life of neighbours by carrying out work on a domestic gas boiler despite being unqualified to do so.

Shaun Johnson removed an old gas boiler and replaced it with a new one but used the existing flue, which caused an immediate risk of explosion or of poisonous carbon monoxide gas escaping into the house had the boiler been used.

He was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after inspections identified serious concerns with his illegal fitting.

Truro Magistrates’ Court heard this week that Mr Johnson carried out the work on a home he owned in Addington North, Liskeard, in May this year while his mother, who lives at the property, was away.

Mr Johnson asked a Gas Safe registered engineer to look at the work, but when the engineer saw the connection to the flue, they classified the work as “immediately dangerous” and contacted HSE.

HSE found that Mr Johnson was not a Gas Safe registered engineer and therefore was neither qualified nor legally entitled to work on gas.

Mr Johnson, of Old Road, Liskeard, pleaded guilty to two breaches of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. He was fined a total of £4,000 and ordered to pay costs of £288.

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

“Mr Johnson tried to save money by removing an old gas boiler and replacing it with a new one himself, but his work had the potential to endanger lives – not just of anyone in the house itself, but also in neighbouring properties had there been an explosion.

“Gas work should only be undertaken by Gas Safe registered engineers who are properly trained and accredited to carry out work safely.”

Russell Kramer, chief executive for Gas Safe Register, said:

“It can be tempting for people to DIY with gas but ultimately it’s dangerous and illegal.

Firm fined over bulldozer driver death

A Surrey company has been sentenced for safety failings after a contractor was crushed to death at the London Gateway Port construction site in Essex.

Robert Noel Mayne, known as Noel, 59, from Tichfield in Hampshire, died as he and colleagues tried to retrieve a bulldozer that was bogged down in mud at the Stanford-le-Hope development on 23 April 2011.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Dredging International (UK) Ltd, which controlled operations at the site, failed to plan and execute a safe recovery of the stricken machine.

Basildon Crown Court heard that Mr Mayne was carrying out land reclamation work in the early hours of the morning when the bulldozer he was using became bogged down in water-logged silt that was being piped ashore by a dredger. He used his mobile phone to request assistance from the driver of a nearby excavator.

Mr Mayne had left the cab of the bulldozer and was standing on a platform step while the excavator reversed towards him in order for him to hook a steel tow rope from the bulldozer onto a tooth of the excavator’s bucket.

The court was told that as the excavator driver turned the vehicle so the arm and bucket was towards the rear of the bulldozer, Mr Mayne was seemingly struck by the bucket. He was found lying partially submerged in water behind the bulldozer.

He died at the scene as a result of extensive crush injuries to his chest and upper torso.

HSE found that Dredging International (UK) Ltd had failed to draw up safe working procedures for the recovery of bogged down vehicles - despite the entirely foreseeable risk that this type of incident would occur.

Mobile phones were the sole means of communicating incidents and, in the absence of instruction and training, drivers had developed ad hoc methods of recovery. This required some drivers to leave the safety of their cabs, which brought them into contact with other heavy machinery.

Dredging International (UK) Ltd, of Baker Street, Weybridge, Surrey, was fined £120,000 and ordered to pay £26,473 in costs by 30 November 2013, after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety At Work etc Act 1974.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Paul Grover said:

“Hydraulic land reclamation operations are high risk operations by their very nature. However, despite identifying the entirely foreseeable risk of heavy machinery becoming bogged, Dredging International failed to undertake a suitable and sufficient risk assessment.

“This meant that drivers at London Gateway Port, provided by a contractor, were left without safe working procedures, instruction, and adequate command and communication systems to effectively manage obvious and frequently occurring risks.

“This absence of safe recovery procedures resulted in drivers adopting their own methods of recovery out of necessity, The method used at the time of Mr Mayne’s death resulted in him leaving the cab of his bulldozer and taking up a position in close proximity to the excavator that was coming to his assistance.

“Effective segregation of pedestrians and workplace transport, particularly heavy machinery, is a fundamental health and safety requirement, especially in the construction sector. This tragic death could have been prevented if a safe system of recovery had been put in place and adhered to.”

Director and property owners prosecuted for trench collapse death

The director of a Hertfordshire building company and the co-owners of a south London property undergoing conversion have been sentenced for safety failings after a worker was killed in a trench collapse.

Xian Hou Ye, 56, was crushed and suffocated by nearly nine tonnes of soil in the fatal incident at Waldram Park Road, Lewisham, on 30 September 2010.

Woolwich Crown Court heard  that he was one of a group of workers contracted by Croxley Green-based HMB Services Ltd and company director Vijay Patel to convert an existing three-storey property into nine flats.

The property was co-owned by brothers Mukesh Shah and Kiran Shah, also from Hertfordshire, who appointed HMB Services and Mr Patel as the principal contractor to oversee the project.

As part of the works, a large trench had been dug out that was approximately seven metres long, between one to two metres wide and almost three metres deep. This was being extended at one end at a 90-degree angle to form an L-shape.

A digger was helping to shape the extension whilst Mr Ye was working in the deeper existing section. As work progressed, the inside corner of the L-shape caved in and buried him under approximately 8.7 tonnes of earth.

He died at the scene despite frantic efforts to dig him out.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the incident and found the trench was inadequately supported with sheets of plywood and timber props. More substantial supports or using a safer method of trench construction, known as battering, should have been used.

This was a failing on behalf of both HMB Services and Mr Patel, who were responsible for the work, and clients Mukesh and Kiran Shah, who should have ensured their principal contractor was competent to carry out the project in a safe, properly planned manner.

Mukesh Shah and Kiran Shah, both of the Optima Business Park, Pindar Road, Hoddesdon, Herts, were each found guilty of two separate breaches of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. Mukesh was fined £40,000 with costs of £34,750. Kiran was fined £25,000 and was also ordered to pay £34,750 in costs.

The brothers were told they would be jailed if they failed to make the necessary payments.

Vijay Patel, of Valley Walk, Croxley Green, Herts, was ordered to undertake 270 hours of community work after pleading guilty to a single CDM Regulations breach. The court ruled he had no means to pay a fine or contribute towards costs.

HMB Services Ltd, of the same address, is now dissolved so the company avoided prosecution.

After sentencing HSE Principal Inspector Russell Adfield said:

"Mukesh and Kiran Shah were having this conversion undertaken as part of a business venture and they were therefore ‘clients’ in this project.  A client has a very major influence over how a construction project is run as they have responsibility for appointing competent advisors - principal contractors - and ensuring that arrangements are in place for carrying out the project safely.

"The clients in this case failed on all fronts. They had no advisors to help them understand what was required of them, the principal contractor they appointed was not competent to manage this work safely and there were no formal arrangements in place to ensure the safety of those workers on site.

"It appeared neither the clients nor principal contractor had any understanding of the very real risks on that site – or how to ensure those risks were controlled."

Firm fined after worker crushed to death

A ship repair and conversion company has been ordered to pay £98,500 in fines and costs after a worker was crushed to death when an anchor weighing almost three tonnes toppled onto him in a dry dock at Teesport.

Kevin Watson, 51, of Redcar, was one of three men working for A & P Tees Ltd on a sand dredger in the dry dock when the incident happened on 11 February 2009.

The incident was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which prosecuted the Hebburn-based firm for serious safety failings.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Mr Watson and his colleagues were ranging anchors on the dredger to lay out chains ready for inspection. Despite several attempts, they were unable to get the starboard anchor to lie flat on the bottom of the dock, so left it in an upright position for almost half an hour while they worked on the chains.

They then returned to the anchor, but as Mr Watson attempted to pass a chain sling under it in order to manoeuvre it into a flat position, the anchor fell towards the vessel and landed on top of him. He died as a result of multiple crush injuries.

The HSE investigation found that while Mr Watson was trained to operate a dockside portal crane, he had no formal qualifications in lifting and slinging of loads. It was also unclear how many times he had undertaken the ranging of anchors and chains before the fatal incident.

His two colleagues both had training certificates relating to carrying out lifting and slinging operations, but only one of them had carried out the task of ranging the anchors and chains before, and then only on one occasion.

HSE also established that the company did not have an effective management system in place to inform supervisors and others of employees' competence. In addition, A & P Tees Ltd had not carried out or recorded an assessment of the risks associated with the ranging of anchors and chains, and there was no safe system of work in place for this task.

The court was told that following the incident an Improvement Notice was served for the implementation of a safe system of work for the ranging of anchors and chains, as well as a system for assessing the competence of those required to carry out the task.

A & P Tees Ltd, c/o A & P Tyne Ltd, of Wagonway Road, Hebburn, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £75,000 and ordered to pay £23,500 in costs.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Victoria Wise said:

"Kevin Watson lost his life needlessly because of the failure by A & P Tees Ltd to put simple safety measures in place.

"This was a tragedy that could have very easily been prevented if the company had assessed the risks and ensured a safe system of work was in place in relation to the task of ranging the anchors and chains.

"Lifting operations can be dangerous and every year a significant number of people are injured or killed as a result. It is therefore vitally important to ensure that appropriate procedures are in place so that lifting operations are adequately planned and carried out in a safe manner."

South East London firm fined for skip move failings

A Bexley company has been fined after a forklift truck overturned during a risky and poorly planned operation to move and empty a skip.

The operator of the forklift escaped injury in the incident at Midland Steel Reinforcement Supplies (GB) Limited, on Fishers Way, Belverdere, on 13 September 2011, but he was fortunate to do so.

The firm, which supplies reinforced steel bars (rebar) to the construction industry, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation identified safety failings.

Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard that the worker was told to empty bins at the site, an instruction he understood to include small skips containing offcuts of rebar.

He used a forklift truck to lift and move one of the skips to a larger waste container and balanced it on the edge. He then retracted the forks of the forklift and used them to tip the skip and empty the contents within.

The worker then jumped from the cab and into the waste container in order to attach a sling to the empty skip and the forks of the forklift so that he could pull and lift it back out. He climbed back into the cab and attempted to do so but the forklift overturned, with the lifting column coming to rest on the edge of the container.

The fact it didn’t hit the ground created a small gap between the cab and the floor that the operator was able to crawl through.

HSE found that the system and method of work was unsuitable and posed clear risk, not least because the operator of the forklift was untrained and unsupervised.  Inspectors also found that he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt when the forklift overturned – making it all the more remarkable that he avoided harm.

Magistrates were told that a safer method was available to empty the waste steel rebars in the form of tipper skips, which were in use elsewhere at the site.

Midland Steel Reinforcement Supplies Limited, of Fishers Way, Belverdere, was fined a total of £17,500 and ordered to pay £11,000 in costs after pleading guilty to two separate breaches of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

After the hearing HSE Inspector Maria Strangward commented:

“The forklift truck should have never have been used to lift and manoeuvre the skip in this way. It was a system and method of work that posed clear risk, and the worker is extremely fortunate to avoid being seriously injured – possibly even killed had the forklift struck and crushed him as it overturned.

“The onus is on employers like Midland Steel Reinforcement Supplies to ensure operations are properly planned, managed and supervised, and that adequate training, instruction and equipment is provided to at all times to protect workers.”

Bilston firm fined for worker leg crush injury

A Bilston shotblasting firm has been fined after a heavy vehicle chassis crushed a worker's leg when it slipped from a forklift truck during a flawed lifting operation.

Jason Atwell, 42, from Dudley, broke his lower right leg in the incident at Jackson Shotblasters Ltd, on Dale Street, on 17 May 2012. He was unable to work for nearly eight months and still suffers from aches and stiffness.

Jackson Shotblasters was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation identified serious safety failings.

Wolverhampton Magistrates' Court heard that employee Mr Atwell was working with a colleague to manoeuvre a large chassis weighing around 1,700kg onto metal stands in a booth ready for shotblasting.

He was standing in the booth while his colleague operated a forklift truck to lower the chassis onto the stand. Without warning the chassis slipped from the forks of the truck and fell onto his legs, crushing them and pinning him against the booth wall.

HSE's investigation found that the forklift truck used was a standard size, with standard length forks that were approximately 1.6m long. These were not long enough to safely lift the 2.4m wide chassis.

Magistrates were told the incident was preventable had suitable lifting equipment, such as a larger fork lift truck or a crane appropriate to the size of the chassis, been used instead.

Jackson Shotblasters also failed to carry out an adequate risk assessment for the task, or properly supervise the work. Mr Atwell had not been trained on how to safely lift a chassis, or other items, in and out of a shotblasting booth.

The court heard that during the investigation a number of other safety failings that were unconnected to the incident came to light.

Several enforcement notices were served to stop unsafe activity, including:

• Spraying 2-pack aerosol paints in an open workshop. It is well known that 2-pack paints contain isocyanate, a respiratory sensitiser that can cause irreversible health problems 
• Employees working in noisy areas of the factory without appropriate hearing protection. They should have been designated as hearing protection zones.
•  A lack of suitable health surveillance

Speaking after the prosecution, HSE Inspector Judith Lloyd said:

"This incident was entirely preventable - the risks were significant and should have been obvious to the company. Jackson Shotblasters failed to make sure that there was a safe system of work for lifting the chassis and other fabrications at its premises.

"There were also a significant number of other matters of concern at the site, which resulted in several enforcement notices being served. This suggests a systemic failure on the part of Jacksons to manage a wide range of risks to the health, safety and welfare of its employees and potentially, others visiting the site."

Workers exposed to asbestos fibres at college

An asbestos expert has been fined after workers under his supervision were exposed to potentially-deadly fibres at a college in Greater Manchester.

Steven Kelly was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after three men were spotted without suitable protective clothing in an area of Trafford College in Stretford where asbestos was being removed.

Trafford Magistrates’ Court in Sale heard that Manchester-based firm Winsulate had been hired to carry out asbestos removal work during a refurbishment project at the college.

Mr Kelly, 41, from Kirkby in Merseyside, was the supervisor on the project but he ignored the company’s procedures on working with asbestos, and broke the law as a result.

The court was told HSE inspectors carried out an unannounced visit to the college, on Talbot Road, during the evening on 12 December 2012. They witnessed three workers in the area of the college where asbestos was being removed but without suitable protective clothing or masks.

The inspectors discovered Mr Kelly had sent the men into the undercroft beneath the classrooms, which had been sealed off from the rest of the building, to fix the temporary lighting. They were wearing their own clothes instead of disposable clothing under their overalls, and half masks instead of full-face respiratory masks.

The men were also wearing lace-up instead of wellington boots, which meant asbestos fibres could stick to their laces or get inside their boots.

This led to them being put at risk of breathing in asbestos fibres, and other fibres could have remained on their clothes when they went home to their families in the evening.

Mr Kelly is a fully-trained and qualified supervisor in licensed asbestos removal but, despite this, several other issues were also discovered on the site.

These included insufficient water for workers to properly sponge down boots and masks to stop fibres becoming airborne, used clothing discarded inside the enclosure, and a failure to carry out daily checks on masks.

Mr Kelly, of Burwell Close in Kirkby, was fined £790 and ordered to pay costs of £250 after pleading guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to take reasonable care of workers under his supervision.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Laura Moran said:

“Asbestos is responsible for thousands of deaths in the UK every year but it only becomes dangerous when it is broken up and fibres are released into the air.

“That’s why asbestos can only be removed by specialist contractors but, as the site supervisor, Steven Kelly put workers at risk by not following the correct safety procedures.

“He simply should never have allowed three men to go into a contaminated area while wearing their own clothes, and without the correct protective clothing and respiratory masks.

“Workers, their families and anyone else who came into contact with them would have been put at risk as a result of Mr Kelly allowing the men to wear lace-up boots and the clothes they intended to go home in.

“Thankfully, we were able to stop the work and make sure the clothes were disposed of as contaminated waste.”

Around 4,000 people die every year as a result of breathing in asbestos fibres, making it the biggest single cause of work-related deaths in the UK. Airborne fibres can become lodged in the lungs or digestive tract, and can lead to lung cancer or other diseases, but symptoms may not appear for several decades.

Blackburn builders merchant fined over roof fall injury

A builders' merchant has been sentenced after a man fell through the roof of its Blackburn warehouse.

The 44-year-old worker from Mellor, who has asked not to be named, was contracted by R&J (Builders Hardware) Ltd to carry out repairs to the roof, but the company failed to make sure that he was competent to carry out the work safely.

The firm was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after the worker fell through a roof light at their premises on the Whitebirk Industrial Estate, Croft Head Road, on 28 September 2010.

Preston Crown Court was told that he fell approximately six metres to the warehouse floor below and sustained two broken wrists, a broken back and an injury in his ankle. He had to have a metal plate inserted in his back and the injuries to his wrists are likely to affect him for the rest of his life.

The HSE investigation found the company failed to check that the contractor they employed was competent to carry out the work on their roof. The company allowed him to walk across the fragile roof without any safety measures in place to stop him falling.

R&J (Builders Hardware) Ltd was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £20,000 after pleading guilty to a breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 on 10 October 2013.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Stuart Kitchingman said:

"This incident resulted in a worker sustaining injuries to his back and wrists that will affect him for the rest of his life because R&J failed to ensure that he was competent to carry out the work safely.

"This case should act as a warning to companies that they can't just hire a contractor to do a job without checking that they are competent. Firms need to make sure their contractors are aware of fragile roofs and ensure they take adequate measures to prevent falls from or through them.

"Companies should make sure that they find out how contractors intend to carry out work on their roofs and take specialist advice if they're not sure whether the proposed method of work is safe."

 

Barking firm fined for saw guard failings

A Barking firm has been prosecuted for safety failings after an employee severed the tendons in his hand on an unguarded saw blade.

The worker, who does not want to be named, needed a five-hour operation to repair the damage following the incident at Kierbeck Thames Ltd, on River Road, on 23 February 2012. He has been left with permanent tingling and bouts of numbness.

Kierbeck, which engineers products for the construction industry, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation identified that more could and should have been done to make the saw safe.

Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard the worker was using a horizontal band saw to cut down metal bars. He had climbed onto a bench at the back of the saw to undo clips and chains that held a bundle of bars together, but as he moved away he slipped and his right hand went into the machine.

The cutting blade was unguarded at this point and it sliced into his hand.

HSE established that the system of work for cutting down the bars was unsafe because it required employees to work close to dangerous moving parts. The cutting blade could have been better guarded or other measures imposed to keep workers at a safe distance.

Magistrates were told that Kierbeck Thames Ltd was served with a Prohibition Notice by HSE just nine months before the incident, in May 2011, after another horizontal band saw was found to be inadequately guarded.

The standard of machinery guarding across the River Road site was flagged as being a cause for concern, and the company was urged to make wholesale improvements and carry out regular checks in addition to making the offending saw safe.

Despite this warning, inspectors found little sign of any real improvement when they investigated the hand injury incident. Further Improvement Notices were therefore served.

Kierbeck Thames Ltd, of Kierbeck Wharf, River Road, Barking, was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £6,033 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

After the hearing HSE Inspector Gabriella Dimitrov said:

“It is extremely disappointing that it took a worker to sustain a serious hand injury for Kierbeck Thames Ltd to finally acknowledge its guarding failings.

“The company was well aware that an incident was inevitable unless improvements were made, and yet our enforcement action and safety advice were seemingly ignored.

“Adequate safeguards must be in place to protect employees from dangerous moving parts, and the onus is on employers to instigate improvements on a proactive basis.”