Happy New Year from everyone at RHSS!
Health and Safety in the news:
The
massive fire that engulfed a Dubai hotel could have been fuelled by flammable
panels which clad the 63-storey skyscraper, it has emerged.
The
fire is believed to have started on a covered balcony a third of a way up the
Address Downtown Hotel, possibly after a pair of curtains caught alight.
But
it is the speed at which the blaze spread across 40 floors of the outside of
the hotel which will become the focus of an investigation.
At
least 60 people were injured and one person suffered a heart attack as they
rushed to escape the tower on New Year's Eve.
The
skyscraper was overcome by flames so quickly that some guests said they fled
for their lives before any fire alarms sounded.
It
was the third high-rise fire since 2012 in Dubai and has prompted fresh questions
over the safety of other skyscrapers in the city – many of which are covered in
flammable external panels which are banned in the UK.
Experts
warned it was only a matter of time before there were major fatalities from a
fire linked to the non-fire-resistant aluminium composite panels.
They
are made from a thermoplastic core – plastic that has been heated to a high
temperature and then hardened – held between two sheets of aluminium. They are used
for insulation and for cosmetic purposes as they are long-lasting and easy to
maintain. But they burn quickly, causing fires to spread rapidly.
They
were outlawed in Dubai in 2013 following a fire but the rules do not apply to
buildings constructed before then and it has been claimed that up to 70 per
cent of Dubai's high rises may be covered with them.
It
is not known if the 200-room hotel, which also has 600 private apartments and
was completed in 2008, was clad with similar panels, but experts said the way
the fire spread quickly up one side suggested it was.
In
2013, the United Arab Emirates changed its Fire and Life Safety Code to state
fire-retardant cladding must be used on all buildings taller than 50ft. The
sheathing has not been used in the UK since the 1980s.
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
HSE prosecution round up:
Recycling firm sentenced over forklift death
A recycling company has been
fined £180,000 after a worker was killed when the forklift truck he was driving
overturned.
Ian Aliski, 29, from Ellesmere
Port, was using the forklift at Recresco Ltd’s glass recycling plant in Manisty
Wharf, North Road, Ellesmere Port, on 26 April 2010 when the vehicle
overturned, crushing him to death.
Liverpool Crown Court heard
that Mr Aliski had been hired on a temporary four-day contract and was just a
few hours into his first day when the incident happened.
Recresco Ltd was prosecuted by
the HSE after an investigation found that forklift truck drivers regularly had
to work in an area that was often covered in waste materials. This prevented
them from turning the vehicles safely.
On the day of the incident, Mr
Aliski was moving waste material from the recycling process – known as
aggregate – from the production area to a storage shed when the forklift truck
became unstable on the uneven surface and overturned.
The court was told that Mr
Aliski was not wearing a seatbelt and there was no company policy in place to
ensure seatbelts were worn.
The HSE’s investigation also
found that the forklift trucks in use at the plant were not suitable for
operation on uneven surfaces or over loose material such as that found on the
site.
Alternative vehicles, such as
four-wheel-drive, all terrain shovel loaders, could have been used and were
already in use elsewhere on the site. Since the incident, the company now uses
these vehicles to move all the waste material on the site and it is now company
policy for seatbelts to be worn at all times in all vehicles.
Recresco Ltd, of Lane End,
Urban Road, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottingham, was fined £180,000 and ordered to
pay £38,693 in prosecution costs after pleading guilty to a breach of the
Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 on 17 December 2014.
Housing firm fined for safety failings
A homes provider company for
Barnet Council has been fined for safety failings after a heating engineer
was found dead in a communal boiler house at one of their housing estates.
The body of Alan Young, 68, was
discovered in the Grahame Park estate boiler house on 9 August 2011. He had
been working alone at height when he fell, sustaining severe head injuries.
The HSE investigated and
prosecuted Barnet Homes Ltd for safety breaches.
Southwark Crown Court heard
that Mr Young had been in charge of the Grahame Park estate boiler house for 21
years with Barnet Homes Ltd and before that with Barnet Council. He had
lone worker status and had checked in with his supervisor on 8 August. He had
then gone to the communal boiler room on the estate to repair a leak.
The following day, his
supervisor realised that no message had been received from Mr Young checking
out after the previous day’s shift. When attempts to contact him by phone were
fruitless, staff at the housing estate office were alerted. They failed to find
him at home and the search then turned to the boiler room, where Mr Young’s
body was found at the foot of the scaffold.
There were no eye witnesses,
but the evidence suggested that Mr Young was using a combination of fixed and
mobile tower scaffolding plus a ladder to undertake his work. The HSE found the
mobile scaffold had not been erected properly, had missing guard rails and did
not have any wheel brakes. The ladder was not secured and Mr Young’s
immediate supervisor was unaware of the presence of the fixed scaffolding.
The HSE also identified that
the company failed to prepare a proper risk assessment bearing in mind Mr
Young’s role as a lone worker.
Barnet Homes Ltd accepted that
within the boiler house Mr Young had unrestricted access to a ladder and to a
mobile tower scaffold and that he had not received appropriate training. The
company also accepted that it did not have adequate arrangements for the
control of maintenance work, and that this breach was a cause of Mr Young’s
death.
Barnet Homes Ltd, of Barnet
House, High Road, Barnet, was fined £37,000 and ordered to pay £75,000 in full
costs after admitting a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Failure to plan on multi-storey refurbishment put over 100 lives
at risk
A Company carrying out
construction work to convert an eight storey former Ford office block into 384
flats has been prosecuted for safety failings that put many at risk.
On the 26 May 2015, the HSE was
contacted by the Essex County Fire and Rescue Service (ECFRS) to inform them of
concerns for men sleeping on the construction site at Trafford House, Station
Way, Basildon, Essex.
The HSE carried out a joint
inspection with ECFRS the same day and found numerous failings on site. The HSE
concluded that there was a significant risk to life in the event of a fire and
issued a prohibition notice preventing workers from sleeping on site.
Forty eight workers had to be
re-housed into safer sleeping accommodation. At the time of the inspection
approximately 120 men were working across the site. A second prohibition notice
closed the entire site until the appropriate steps had been taken to protect
all workers from the dangers posed by fire.
RGB (Plastering and
Construction) Limited, of Monkmoor Road Shrewsbury, pleaded guilty/not guilty
to breaching Regulation 29(a) and (c) of the Construction (Design and
Management) Regulations 2015. They were fined £8,000 and ordered to pay costs
of £6,130.
After the hearing HSE Inspector
Adam Hills said: “This case highlights the importance of ensuring those who
undertake construction work have the relevant skills, knowledge, training and
experience to do so.
“There doesn’t have to be an
injury or incident for HSE to take action. If you irresponsibly endanger the
lives of those who are simply trying to earn a living then HSE can and will
take proactive action to protect them.”
Companies sentenced over death of scaffolder
Two companies have been fined a
total of £1.3million following the death of a scaffolder.
The court was told John Altoft,
29, from Scunthorpe was killed when he fell to his death after being struck by
falling debris inside an industrial tower.
On 18 January 2012, a team from
Cape Industrial Services Ltd were installing an access scaffold to enable the
relining of the inside of a steel plated tapered cylindrical structure at the
Cemex Cement Works in Rugby.
Warwick Crown Court heard the
team was working inside the Cyclone 1 tower when concrete debris dropped on to
John Altoft causing him to fall seven metres to the bottom of the structure
causing fatal head injuries. His colleague, Ty Smart, was also seriously
injured, suffering serious wrist and arm fractures and has been unable to work
since the incident.
Inspectors from the HSE told
the court that both Cemex UK Operations Ltd and Cape Industrial Services Ltd
Scaffolding should have co-ordinated and planned this high risk work to a
higher standard.
Cemex UK Operations Limited,
Coldharbour Lane, Surrey, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 of the Health
and Safety at Work Act and was fined £700,000 and was ordered to pay £90,783.78
in costs.
Cape Industrial Services
Limited, Stockley Bridge, Uxbridge, Middlesex pleaded guilty to breaching
Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £600,000 was
ordered to pay £90,783.78 in costs.
Construction firms fined over electric shocks to workers
Two companies have been
sentenced after a construction worker suffered life changing injuries when he
received an electric shock from an overhead power line.
Ashley Coe, an agency worker,
working on site for Pascon Limited was part of a group of workers laying cables
in a trench when the incident happened on the 13th March 2013.
An excavator being used for the
task tracked underneath a 33kV overhead power line and struck the power line.
Mr Coe was helping to control a cable drum suspended from the arm of the
excavator when the incident occurred.
The HSE prosecuting, told
Exeter Crown Court that work was taking place by British Solar Renewables
Limited (BSR) to install a solar farm on site at Knockworthy Farm, Great
Torrington, Devon.
However, despite the high risk
work being undertaken, BSR failed to install goal posts and signage to warn of
the presence of overhead power lines in the area.
Subcontractor Pascon Limited
who were installing the cables in the trench had failed to assess the risks of
working under the overhead power lines, and subsequently had not appropriately
planned, managed and monitored the work in order that it could be carried out safely.
As such they were using an unsafe method of installing the cables in the trench
which ran underneath the overhead power lines.
As a result of the 33kV
electric shock Mr Coe suffered a life changing brain injury and had to be
resuscitated by attending paramedics. The court heard he has been affected in
many different ways. As a result of his injuries he suffers with short term
memory loss, has some mobility issues and now no longer feels pain. His speech
has been affected and he has lost much of his independence. He is unlikely to
ever work again. Two other workers received shocks but escaped serious
injury.
Principal Contractor British
Solar Renewables Limited of Higher Hill Farm, Butleigh Hill, Butleigh,
Glastonbury, Somerset, was charged with breaching Regulation 34(2) of the CDM
Regulations 2007 and received a £250,000 fine and was ordered to pay full costs
of £72,466.
Subcontractor Pascon Limited,
of Unit 1 Hayhead Farm, Longwood Lane, Walsall, West Midlands was fined £35,000
plus £25,000 contribution to costs after admitting a breach of Regulation 13(2)
of the CDM 2007.
Electrical explosion leaves worker scarred for life
Two construction companies have
been fined £90,000 after two workers were seriously burned, and one scarred for
life after they cut into a live 11,000v electrical cable.
Southwark Crown Court heard the
labourer and a bricklayer were working in a House of Lords site at Millbank,
London, on 1 July 2013, to lay bricks around a manhole.
One of the men, who was 22 at
the time of the incident, hit the cable with a jackhammer when removing old
brickwork and suffered serious burns to his arms, legs, hands and face. He was
in hospital for nearly a month receiving treatment to his injuries.
The other worker, a 63-year-old
man, suffered significant burns to his face and neck. He has been treated for
the longer term traumatic stress because of the incident and is unable to
continue working with drills and machines.
Clive Graham Associates Limited
(CGA) of 55 Farrington Road, London, who was the principal contractor for the
project, pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at
Work Act 1974 and was fined £45,000 with £6,612 in costs.
The employer of the two injured
workers, Bellmoor Construction Limited (Bellmoor) of Swakeleys Road, Ickenham,
Uxbridge, Middlesex, pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health
and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £45,000 with £6,612 in costs.
The HSE carried out an
investigation into the incident and the conditions found at the construction
site.
CGA had failed to identify the
risk from live electrical cables that had been dug up and exposed, failed to
provide information warning that the incident cable was live, and failed to
adequately manage the site and the contractor.
Bellmoor also failed to carry
out an adequate risk assessment before the work started, failed to provide
effective supervision during the work and failed to check competence before
allocating tasks including the operation of the jackhammer.
Company fined after worker seriously injured
A waste and recycling company
was fined £450,000 after a stack of baled waste collapsed, seriously injuring a
worker.
Leicester Crown Court heard how
a 41-year-old employee of Veolia ES (UK) Limited of London, was sweeping up
around the base of stacks of baled waste at their site in Castle Donington,
when a stack collapsed on him.
He sustained serious head and
brain injuries including a fractured eye socket, back and skull injuries.
An investigation by the HSE
into the incident, which occurred in November 2013, found that the company did
not identify the risks of inconsistent stacking and de-stacking of baled
waste, or the simple controls to manage it.
Veolia ES (UK) Limited, of
Pentonville Road, London, was fined a total of £450,000, with costs of £11,676
after pleading guilty to an offence under Regulation 10(4) of the Work at
Height Regulations 2005.
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