Health and Safety in the news this
week
Lost parrot doesn’t give a hoot about health and safety
A parrot proved she doesn't give a hoot about health and
safety after she was found flapping around a building site.
Ripley,
a red eclectus parrot, was flying around the David Lloyd gym site currently
under construction in United Way, Colchester.
The
baffled builders, clad in hi-vis jackets and hard hats, contacted the RSPCA.
Animal
collection officer Rebecca Yarrow said:
“The
builders had a bit of a shock when they were confronted by a parrot on Monday
morning. Ripley obviously doesn’t give a hoot about health and safety but,
luckily for her, the quick-thinking workers were able to confine her in an
empty room before I got there to catch her. I took her to our Essex North East branch and
Ripley is now being cared for by staff and volunteers at the RSPCA’s Danaher
Animal Home”.
Source: Colchester Daily
Gazette
HSE prosecution round up:
Refinery firm fined £400,000 after gangway fall
Valero Energy UK Limited has
been fined £400,000 following a serious accident at its Pembroke Refinery.
Judge Peter Heywood sitting at
Swansea Crown Court heard the Berth 6 access tower walkway that provided
gangway access to a stationary tanker vessel on 5 March 2012 had
dropped 3.5 metres, causing operator David Thomas to be trapped by a slack wire
rope.
He suffered fractures and
lacerations to both legs and a dislocated knee.
An investigation by the Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) found multiple failings leading up to the incident
which led it to launch the prosecution. The court heard numerous failings included:
- failed
to carry out a sufficient risk assessment of the use and operation of the
access tower, with the result that the dangers of jamming, slack cable,
and personnel accessing the walkway without engaging the scotching pin
were neither identified or addressed and the hierarchy of risk control was
not applied.
- failed
to provide adequate information, instruction and training to employees as
to the safe use and operation of the access tower.
- failed
to carry out adequate investigations into the previous and related
incidents of September 2011, February 2011 and, in particular, August 2010.
- failed
to review the check-list risk assessment in light of those incidents.
- failed
to act on the recommendations of their inspection contractor, particularly
in respect of the jamming problem and the absence of any access gate
interlock and ignored comments on one report of their that there was a “potential
fatal accident waiting to happen’’.
- failed
to install any means of detection or prevention of slack cable in the
mechanism.
- failed
to detect that the access tower was neither CE marked, nor subject to a
Declaration of Conformity, as required.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE
inspector Andrew Knowles said:
“It was particularly
disappointing to find that although the company knew there had been problems
with the operation of the access tower the company had failed to investigate
these properly and had relied on changes to instructions, rather than taking
action to modify the defective hardware, as required by the hierarchy of risk
control.
“This was even more surprising
in view of the fact that the company operates a major hazard refinery site
where you would expect such problems to be taken more seriously and effectively
investigated, with suitable corrective actions implemented.”
Worker suffers life threatening injuries after drum explodes
A Kent company who supplies
road safety products has been fined after a worker suffered life threatening injuries
when a drum he was working on exploded.
Maidstone Crown Court heard how
41 year old Andrew Foster, an employee of Highway Care Limited was using a
plasma cutter to cut up a drum that had previously contained a flammable
substance. Mr Foster suffered life threatening injuries when the drum exploded
in his face causing complex head and brain injuries. He has permanently lost
vision in his right eye and now has very limited vision in his left eye.
An investigation by the Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident which occurred on 6 August 2012
found that the company failed to ensure the health and safety of their
employees.
Highway Care Limited, of
Detling Hill, Maidstone, Kent, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the
Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £660,000 and ordered to
pay costs of £33,358.46.
HSE Inspector Caroline Fullman
said.
“Andrew Foster has been left
with devastating injuries that will impact on the rest of his and his family’s
lives. This incident could have resulted in a fatality.
“If a welding torch or plasma
cutter is used on a tank or drum that has contained or contains a flammable
substance, it can explode. It only takes a small amount of residue to create a
potentially flammable atmosphere.
“Mr Foster wants others to
learn of the risk of hot work on drums and tanks – he was previously unaware of
the risk.”
Illegal Newquay gas fitter sentenced for undertaking
unregistered gas work
An unregistered gas fitter has
been order to complete 250 hours of community service for illegally installing
a LPG gas boiler and hob at a Newquay home as well as producing fraudulent
documentation.
Dean Marshall, aged 47, of
Dukes Way, Newquay, installed the gas boiler and gas hob at a property on
Chynowen Lane, Newquay several years after his registration with Gas Safe
Register had lapsed, meaning he wasn’t permitted to carry out gas work. His
previous registration with Gas Safe Register did not cover any work on any LPG
gas appliances as he had never completed the proper training for this work.
Despite this he continued to use the Gas Safe Register logo on paperwork he
issued.
Truro Crown Court heard today,
15 September, that Mr Marshall’s illegal gas work came to light when the
homeowner, who had been repeatedly asking for the commission documentation for
the new boiler, noticed that Dean Marshall had used another name and
registration number on the commissioning certificate.
An investigation by the Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Dean Marshall had fraudulently used a Gas
Safe registered engineer’s details to deceive the homeowners.
Mr Marshall pleaded guilty to
breaching Regulation 3(3), 3(7), and 33(2) of the Gas Safety (Installation and
Use) Regulations 1998 and was sentenced to undertake 250 hours unpaid work for
each offence to run concurrently and ordered to pay £4,966.42 in costs.
HSE Inspector Simon Jones,
speaking after the hearing, said:
“Only engineers registered with
Gas Safe can legally carry out gas work.
Mr Marshall undertook gas work
which he knew he shouldn’t do. He compounded his illegal work by fraudulently
using firstly the Gas Safe Register logo on his paperwork and then the details
of a properly registered gas engineer on a commissioning certificate that he
issued in a clear attempt to deceive the homeowners.
Manufacturing company fined for safety failings
A manufacturing company based
in Somerset has been fined for safety failings.
Somerset Magistrates’ Court
heard how employees at LJH Group Limited were identified as being at increased
risk from working with vibrating tools following a fitness for work assessment.
An investigation by the Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the company failed to complete a suitable
and sufficient assessment of risk from the use of vibrating tools and the
failure to implement a suitable programme of health surveillance for their
employees identified at risk.
LJH Group Limited of Leigh
Road, Frome, Somerset, 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 £1,490 and a £250 victim surcharge.
West Midlands welding firm fined over worker injury
A Bilston engineering company
has been sentenced after a worker was injured while operating a drilling
machine.
Wolverhampton Magistrates’
Court heard that Mr Deimantas Beinoras, a 23-year-old Lithuanian national was
injured while working for KV Welding Limited, which manufactures equipment for
the material handling and logistics sector.
Mr Beinoras was operating a
pedestal drilling machine to drill holes into some box section tubing. He was
adjusting the work piece while the drill was still running when his gloved hand
became entangled with the unguarded drill bit.
His arm was pulled around the
drill and broke two bones in right forearm. His injuries resulted in skin graft
being required on the arm.
The Health and Safety Executive
(HSE) prosecuting, told the court that injuries could have been prevented if
the drill was guarded with a telescopic guard covering the rotating drill bit,
the injured person had not been wearing gloves, a suitable and sufficient risk
assessment had been completed to identify required control measures and if the
employee had received proper training.
KV Welding Limited of Perry
Street, Bradley, Bilston admitted breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and
Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £2,168.73
in costs.
Speaking after the hearing HSE
inspector Richard Littlefair said:
“It is vital that companies
understand the importance of using suitable guarding when employees are
operating drilling machines as there are significant risks involved which may
lead to serious personal injury. Other
simple measures such as not wearing gloves can be taken to eliminate the risk
of entanglement involved with operating drilling machines or any other
machinery with moving/rotating parts.”
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