Risk, Health and Safety Information

HSE - Myth Buster
 

Issue

The enquirer was looking for work experience for her daughter and asked at a local fabric store. She was told they could not employ work experience students "due to health and safety as there are scissors around". Their insurers will not cover them.

Panel decision

There is no reason at all why a young person could not take up a work experience placement in an environment simply because scissors are present. Insurers have confirmed that Employers’ liability insurance policies already cover work placements without the need for any additional cover. HSEs guidance explains how to ensure that work experience can take place and that any checks are proportionate to the environment: http://www.hse.gov.uk/youngpeople/workexperience/placeprovide.htm
It is unclear whether the local fabric warehouse are misinformed or were simply using health and safety as an easy excuse for not offering a placement.

 

Firms fined for child’s death in electric sliding gate

 

A Swansea installation firm and a Cardiff maintenance company have been sentenced for serious safety failings after a five-year-old girl was crushed to death by an electric gate.

Karolina Golabek was killed when she became trapped between the closing edge of the gate and the gate post outside flats near her home in Bridgend on 3 July 2010.

The incident was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which prosecuted John Glen (Installation Services) Ltd and Tremorfa Ltd after finding the gate was inherently unsafe and posed a clear risk.

Cardiff Crown Court heard that Karolina was playing around the gates in Brook Court when they automatically closed after a car passed through. Her body was found in the gap between the post and gate a short time later by a resident. .She was rushed to hospital, but died as a result of her injuries.

HSE found that the closing force of the gate did not meet European and British safety standards.  It was in excess of 2,000N, the equivalent to the force created by a weight of 440lbs (220kgs).

There were also dangers with the gate structure, which left space for people to get trapped, and there were insufficient safety devices to detect a person in the area that would automatically prevent it closing.  These safety features were incorrectly set.

The court was told that John Glen (Installation Services) Ltd had fitted a new electric motor to the gate when a previous motor had broken.  The gate was put back into use despite the fact that there were obvious trapping points.  The firm also failed to properly test that the gate stopped when it met an obstruction, or test the force that the gate closed with.

Tremorfa Limited was contracted to maintain the gate. Despite carrying out two maintenance visits, the last one just six weeks before Karolina’s death, the company did not carry out vital safety checks, including closing force measurements.

John Glen (Installation Services) Ltd of Phoenix Way, Garngoch Industrial Estate, Swansea, was fined £60,000 and ordered to pay £40,000 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Tremorfa Ltd, of Pascal Close, St Mellons, Cardiff, was fined £50,000 with costs of £40,000 also pleaded guilty to the same charge.

HSE Inspector Stuart Charles, speaking after the hearing, said:

“Karolina’s death has left her family devastated, and yet it could so easily have been avoided.

“Both companies walked away from the gate leaving it in an unsafe condition. Both could have prevented this tragedy.

“Automated gates are becoming more common and it’s sometimes difficult to appreciate that even small gates can close with significant force. Badly installed and maintained gates are a threat to all pedestrians, but young children are particularly vulnerable because they are often completely unaware of the dangers.

“No-one should install or work on automated gates without knowing the relevant safety standards or without having the right equipment to check that the gate is safe after they have worked on it .

“If you own or are responsible for managing properties with automatic gates you should ensure they are properly maintained. You should also ensure that those carrying out the maintenance are competent to do so.”

 

Firm sentenced after worker paralysed in fall

 

A Glasgow-based company has been fined for safety failings after a worker was left paralysed from the neck down when he fell around three metres from the top of a gritter.

Colin Shields, 34, of Cumbernauld, was standing on top of a gritter at Inex Works Ltd’s premises in a bid to help his colleagues dislodge compacted grit salt from inside the machine when the incident happened on 28 December 2010.

Airdrie Sheriff Court heard that Mr Shields, a father of two and company secretary at the firm at the date of the incident, suffered irreversible damage to his spine as a result of the fall. He is now paralysed from the neck down, and requires help and assistance with his day to day care.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed a number of significant failures in the company’s management of health and safety.

At the time of the incident the company operated from a yard in Garrell Road, Burnside Industrial Estate, Kilsyth.  When Mr Shields returned to the yard following a gritting job in Blackford, Perthshire, he saw three of his colleagues clearing grit salt from the chute, spreader and gritter box on the gritter vehicle and offered to assist.

Mr Shields climbed the ladder at the back of the vehicle to gain access to the top of the gritter body. As he moved towards the rear of the vehicle to get a pole to help him dislodge the salt, his foot slipped and he fell head first onto the ground.

His fellow workers raised the alarm and he was rushed to hospital but was found to have sustained several fractures of his spine, leaving him paralysed. He remained in hospital until July 2011 and later had surgery to his right arm that has provided him with some limited movement.

A married man with two young daughters, one of whom was born four weeks after the incident, he had been a fit and active individual who enjoyed playing a number of sports and also played guitar in a band.

HSE Inspectors found that Inex Works Ltd had failed to take sufficient measures to prevent falls where work was being carried out at height. The method used by its employees was unsafe as the gritter was not designed with a working platform, walkway or hand rails and Mr Shields was not wearing a harness or restraint to prevent him from falling.

The incident could have been prevented by taking suitable precautions or using alternative means of access such as erecting tower scaffolding to work from.

Inex Works Ltd, of St Vincent Street, Glasgow, was fined £13,500 after pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.   Following the case, HSE Inspector Hazel Dobb, said:

“Mr Shields could have easily been killed. As it is, he has been left with irreversible injuries and he and his family have obviously been devastated.

“Inex Works Ltd failed to make sure employees were able to work in safety. This incident could have easily been avoided as there were several other ways this work could have been carried out, such as using alternative means of access or use of a harness.

“Tragically, that is a lesson for the company learned too late for Mr Shields.”

 

Construction firm fined after worker fell from staircase

 

A Wolverhampton firm has been fined after a worker was seriously injured when he fell from a staircase during the construction of a new cinema.

The 52-year-old man from Leigh, Greater Manchester, who has asked not to be named, suffered a broken collarbone in the incident at New Square in West Bromwich on 31 May 2013.

He was working for Ereconomic Construction Limited, which was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for failing to ensure sufficient measures were in place to prevent or mitigate the fall.

Sandwell Magistrates’ Court heard that Ereconomic Construction Limited had been contracted by Odeon Cinemas to fit out the new complex. The injured man was a sub-contractor employed by Ereconomic Construction Limited to install the balustrades on a staircase within the cinema’s lobby.

There was some delay in the installation of the balustrades, which meant that the temporary edge protection at the side of the staircase at level one was still in place when a floor system was being installed.

To allow the installation of the floor, the temporary edge protection was removed. However, there was nothing implemented in the interim to prevent falls over the side of the staircase.

While attempting to retrieve some tools from the first floor landing, the worker fell one metre over the side of the staircase. He was unable to work for three months as a result of the injuries he sustained.

Ereconomic Construction Limited of Salisbury Street, Wolverhampton, pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £1,033 in costs.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Amy Kalay said:  “Ereconomic Construction Limited failed in its duty of care to the sub-contractor, who sustained a serious injury in a wholly preventable incident.

“Falls are the single biggest cause of work-related deaths in the UK, and it is imperative that all work at height activity is subject to a high degree of management and control.

“This is one fall that could have been avoided had the edge protection been left in place, or had alternative safety measures been provided.”

 

Company back in court for safety failings

 

A Tyneside company has appeared in court for safety breaches for the second time in less than a year after a forklift truck overturned at its factory in Burnopfield.

The driver, a 51-year-old agency worker employed by Radford HMY Group Ltd, was fortunately not injured in the incident on 27 June 2012 and returned to work to finish his shift.

However, Peterlee Magistrates’ Court heard the incident was reported as a dangerous occurrence and investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which prosecuted the company.

HSE found the forklift truck had been driven, during a night shift, on a totally unsuitable outside path. The path was only 40cm wider than the truck, and was raised above the adjacent ground in places along its length of some 150 metres.

The driver was not assessed or authorised to operate the truck and had not been made familiar with the controls. It was also found that the agency worker had been taken on as a cleaner with no requirement for him to operate a forklift truck.

Radford HMY Group Ltd was served with an Improvement Notice to make modifications to the path to make it safer to use.  As a result, a number of improvements were made, including widening the path to 2.2 metres, levelling it off, clearer marking of pedestrian routes and improved warning signs. The path was also designated one-way and restricted to day shift only.

The court was also told that magistrates had fined the company £2,000 in October last year after it admitted breaching Section 2(1) of Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 following an incident in February 2012, when a worker’s hand was badly crushed in a machine on which a safety guard had been deliberately disabled.

Radford HMY Group Ltd, Hobson Industrial Estate, Burnopfield, Newcastle, was fined a total of £5,000 (£2,500 for each offence) and ordered to pay £3,824.45 costs after pleading guilty to two offences of breaching Section 2(1) and Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.  

After the case, HSE Inspector Cain Mitchell said:  

“This incident was entirely preventable and it is extremely fortunate that the driver was not seriously injured.  “Radford HMY Group Ltd had failed to adequately assess the risks to employees using this path and the operator in this instance had received no training at all in the use of a forklift truck.

“The case is all the more serious as it is the second time in less than a year that Radford HMY Group Ltd has been prosecuted for safety failings