Health
and Safety in the news this week
Didcot power station: Search resumes after demolition
Search efforts for three men killed in
the Didcot power station collapse have resumed after the remainder of the
boiler house was demolished.
A remote demolition brought down the decommissioned site in a
unique operation using remote-controlled robots.
Ken Cresswell, 57, John Shaw, 61, and Chris Huxtable, 34, were trapped under rubble on 23
February. The body of Michael
Collings, 53, of Teesside, was recovered.
The building - which was due for demolition when it partially
collapsed - had been too unstable to be approached afterwards.
RWE Npower, which owns the site, said the demolition had
"gone as planned" and all of the structure was brought down.
A spokesman said:
"Now the building has been brought down, an inspection has
confirmed the area and debris pile are safe and our contractors have resumed
the recovery operation. We will continue working seven days a week, 12 hours a
day to help return these families' loved ones to them as soon as
possible."
The firm added it understood the time it was taking to recover
the bodies had been "deeply upsetting" for their families.
The charges went off and the building came down very quickly,
covering the entire site in a dust cloud.
Families of the missing men watched from within the boundary of
the power station.
The search was halted in May when contractors reached a 50m
(164ft) exclusion zone, beyond which it was considered too dangerous to
continue.
The families of the three men yet to be recovered had opposed
plans to use explosives for the demolition.
Ken Cresswell and John Shaw were both from Rotherham, while
Chris Huxtable was from Swansea.
Steve Hall, son-in-law of Mr Cresswell, previously said:
"We want the men back in one piece, not many pieces."
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
HSE prosecution round up:
Drinks manufacturer in court
over worker’s loss of hand
An Ellesmere Port based home brewing kit manufacturer has been
fined after an employee’s right hand was severed while cleaning a blending
machine.
SPL International Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety
Executive (HSE) following an incident at Poole Hall Industrial Estate,
Ellesmere Port on the 21 October 2014.
Liverpool Magistrates’ Court heard the worker’s injuries led to
his right hand below the thumb and fingers being severed. He has been unable to return to work since.
On the day of the incident the employee was asked by his
supervisor to clean the ‘Ritchie blender’, a Kek Gardner horizontal cantilever
mixer, a job which he has done before.
After turning the blender off at the mains he cleaned and dried
the inside of the blender and turned the power back on. Sometime later water was seen dripping from
the rim of the outlet hole underneath. While
attempting to dry the rim he put his right hand into the access hole and his
hand made contact with the blades. The
machine was still running and there was nothing in place within the machine to
stop his hand making contact with the blades.
SPL International Ltd, of Poole Hall Industrial Estate,
Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 2 (1) of the
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 after failing to carry out a risk
assessment in relation to the risks arising while undertaking cleaning of the
blender.
The company was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay prosecution
costs of £7004.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Jane Carroll said:
“This case is a stark
reminder of the consequences of a failure to adequately guard machinery and
implement safe systems of work for cleaning and maintenance activities.”
Company fined for safety failings
after worker injures hand on lathe
A company in Leeds, has been fined after a worker suffered
injury when his hand came into contact with a lathe.
Rotherham Magistrates’ Court heard how an employee of Rotherham
Group Realisations Limited was tasked with turning and polishing metal bars
with no specific instructions on how this should be completed.
He was holding an emery cloth in his gloved hand around the
rotating lathe when his hand came into contact with the lathe.
He sustained fractures to his right arm, wrist and hand.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into
the incident which occurred on 17 September 2014 found that the risk assessment
for using the lathe was not suitable or sufficient.
There was no written safe system of work for polishing on the
lathe.
Rotherham Group Realisations Limited (formerly known as MTL
Group Limited), of Bridgewater Place, Water Lane, Leeds, pleaded guilty to
breaching Section 2(1)of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and was
fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,316.
Engineering company fined for
safety failings
An engineering company based in High Peak has been fined after a
worker was injured.
Stockport Magistrates’ Court heard how Darren Combs, a 50 year
old fabricator/welder from Manchester was working for Thornsett Engineering
Limited.
He was manufacturing aluminium parts using a three roll bender
when the gloves he was wearing caught between two of the rollers.
Mr Combs eventually released his hand from the glove, but as a
result of his injuries he lost the ring finger on his left hand and his middle
finger was mangled.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident which occurred on 25 March 2015 found the risk assessment was not suitable and sufficient and did not identify the risk of entanglement from wearing gloves.
There was inadequate monitoring and review of risk assessments
and procedures, and no competent health and safety advice at the company.
Thornsett Engineering Limited, of Thornsett Trading Estate,
Birch Vale, High Peak, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health
and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and was fined £16,000 and ordered to pay costs
of £2,843.
Engineering worker suffers life
changing injuries
Engineering firm, Point Engineering (Hull) Ltd was sentenced
today for safety breaches after a marine hatch and frame weighting more than
500 kilograms fell forward seriously injuring an employee and narrowly missing
another person.
The injured person was preparing the marine hatch for inspection
and used a sling and overhead crane to move it to a vertical position so that
the hinge could be stamped with an approval mark by a surveyor who was with
him.
The marine door fell onto Richard Blake, 63, a welder and
fabricator at the company, trapping his pelvis and legs, the surveyor, who was
approximately one metre away from him narrowly escaped injury when the hatch
and frame grazed the toe of his safety boot.
Mr Blake, suffered a shattered pelvis and broken hip when the
accident happened in February 2014. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
prosecuted the firm over the incident.
Point Engineering (Hull) Ltd of Lee Smith Street, Hull, pleaded
guilty to breaching Regulation 3(1)(a) of the Management of Health and Safety
at Work Regulations 1999, and was fined £30,000 with £24,577 costs at Hull
Crown Court.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Sarah Lee commented:
“If the
job had been correctly planned and risk assessed then a safe way of doing the
job could have been established. Sadly
it was not, which lead to Mr Blake suffering from these terrible injuries.”
Source: www.hse.gov.uk
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