Contractor falsified document to show site was clear of asbestos                                  

A director of an asbestos firm has been given a suspended prison sentence for removing the hazardous substance without a license and doctoring the results of an air test.

Peter Horrey, the sole director of Absolute Asbestos Ltd, was contracted to remove asbestos insulation from a boiler room at a block of flats in Camden, London.

Between 18 and 29 July last year, Horrey removed asbestos insulation, which was covering two boilers and pipework in the room. When the work was completed he contacted an independent analyst to carry out an air test to check if the room was free of asbestos fibres.

The analyst provided a certificate, which clearly showed the site had failed the test, but Horrey then provided a doctored report for residents, indicating the room had passed the test and was safe for them to re-enter.

During the test, the analyst became concerned about some debris in the room, which he believed contained asbestos. He subsequently contacted the HSE to report his concerns.

The HSE investigated the complaint and found Horrey was not licensed to remove asbestos. He had also failed to effectively clean and decontaminate the site and had left visible asbestos fibres, which were a danger to both residents and plumbers, who were due to start work in the boiler room.

HSE inspector Dominic Elliss described Horrey as showing a reckless disregard for safety. “He clearly set out to deceive these householders but, worse than that, he was apparently content to put them and the plumbers, who had been booked shortly afterwards at risk,” said the inspector.

“Asbestos is not an historical threat. It is the single greatest cause of work-related deaths in the UK and the dangers are well-known.”

Horrey appeared at Southwark Crown Court on 13 September and pleaded guilty to breaching reg.5, reg.8(1), and reg. 17 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006. He was given a six-month prison sentence for each offence, to run concurrently and suspended for two years. He was also given an electronic curfew between 9pm and 6am and ordered to pay £11,340 in compensation to residents to cover the cost of a licensed contractor making the site safe. He was also ordered to pay £10,160 in costs.

In mitigation, Horrey said he believed he could do the work safely, having worked for licensed asbestos contractors in the past. He entered an early guilty plea and said he had no previous convictions

Fee for Intervention (FFI)

 

HSE now operates a Fee for Intervention (FFI) cost recovery scheme, which came into effect on 1 October 2012.

Under The Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations 2012, those who break health and safety laws are liable for recovery of HSE’s related costs, including inspection, investigation and taking enforcement action.

The Fee for Intervention hourly rate for 2012/13 is £124. The many businesses that comply with their legal obligations will continue to pay nothing.

HSE will review how FFI is working after the first twelve months of operation, and within three years of the regime coming into effect. The review reports will be published on this website.

This site contains all of the information a dutyholder needs to understand the new scheme

Barking garage fined for dangerous repair work

A Barking garage has been prosecuted for allowing workers to continue using unsafe electrical equipment for car repairs.

On 19 January 2011 the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) banned M &K Autos Ltd from using a two-post vehicle hoist at premises on the Barking Industrial Estate until repairs were made on exposed live cables and terminals.
However, workers were not instructed to stop using the equipment, which put them at risk of electrocution.

Westminster Magistrates' Court heard (26 September) that when a HSE inspector revisited the site in April he found the hoist was still in use and that no remedial work had been undertaken.

M&K Autos Ltd, of the Rippleside Commercial Estate, Ripple Road, Barking, pleaded guilty to breaching the requirements of a prohibition notice served under Section 22 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay £2,000 in costs.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Mohammed Tahir Mortuza said:

"Live exposed terminals on the damaged vehicle hoist were just centimetres away from hand operated controls, and it is extremely fortunate that no one was injured or even killed.

"The risks associated with electricity are well known and documented, and when equipment is prohibited for use by HSE it is for a good reason. By failing to comply, M & K Autos put their mechanics at risk of electrocution. HSE will always take action when such breaches occur."

Haulage firm fined after worker severely injured

An Aberdeenshire haulage firm has been fined after a driver was severely injured when he was knocked to the ground and run over by a tractor unit of a Heavy Goods Vehicle.

Ian Mackie, 43, from Turriff, was one of a team of drivers who worked for R & J Milne Limited operating out of its haulage yard in Norwood, Ardmiddle, Turriff.
As part of their duties, drivers were regularly required to clean company vehicles in a "wash bay" area. On 12 November 2010, Mr Mackie was one of five drivers who had cleaned a tractor unit. He was talking to a colleague near the front of the vehicle, when the driver of that tractor unit climbed into his cab, started the vehicle and began to pull out of the wash bay.

As the vehicle turned left out of the wash bay, it struck Mr Mackie, who fell into his colleague. Both men were knocked to the ground and one of the front wheels of the tractor unit drove over Mr Mackie's right foot and leg.

Another driver raised the alarm and the tractor unit was reversed off Mr Mackie. He suffered severe injuries, including the removal of the soft tissue of his leg, an open wound and broken bones in his foot, a fractured pelvis and cracked ribs.
Mr Mackie was in hospital for 13 weeks and had to have a metal plate inserted into his pelvis and a skin graft on his leg. He returned to work in April 2011 but has permanent scars along the length of his leg and to his hip and still suffers bad circulation, numbness and pain.

The second employee who was knocked over during the incident escaped physical injury.

Banff Sheriff Court heard today (13 September) that an investigation into the incident by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that there was no organised system to control vehicle movements within the yard around the wash bay area to segregate pedestrians from moving vehicles.

There was a 'Health and Safety Manual', prepared by a company of external consultants, which purported to deal with all health and safety issues and included various entries within the document that purported to be risk assessments dealing with transport issues. These largely took the form of various high-level statements which did not in any way amount to a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks involved in manoeuvring vehicles around the site.

R & J Milne Limited, of Carden Place, Aberdeen, was fined £20,000 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

After sentencing, HSE Inspector Joanne Nicholls, said:

"Ian Mackie suffered serious, life-changing injuries in an incident that could easily have been avoided.

"The risks associated with workplace transport are well known and R & J Milne Limited should have carried out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment to identify appropriate safety measures.

"A safe system of work would have ensured that if pedestrians were present, vehicles would not be allowed to enter or move in the same area. Other measures could have included specific pedestrian zones, stop boards in front of lorries and a key safe system.

"As no such measures had been identified or implemented, two men's lives were needlessly put at risk."

Care home's safety failures led to elderly woman's death

The owners of a West Yorkshire care home have been told to pay £183,000 in fines and costs after a frail 93 year-old widow died because established safety measures were neglected.

Mrs Elsie Beals asphyxiated after becoming trapped in the gap between her mattress and incorrectly-fitted bed safety rails at Aden Court Care Home in Huddersfield on 24 April 2010.

New Century Care Ltd of Sidcup, Kent, a private company with around 27 UK care homes,was prosecuted for a serious safety breach by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after it investigated the incident.

Leeds Crown Court was told today (10 September) that the company, which has some 1,700 employees, had failed to train staff at Aden Court to fit bed safety rails.

HSE found also that staff were not trained to carry out regular 'in-use' checks to make sure bed rails remained properly adjusted, or to carry out risk assessments for their use.

The court heard that Mrs Beals, formerly of Lepton, Huddersfield, who had been resident at Aden Court for two years, had been helped to bed the previous evening by two care assistants. She had been checked just before midnight and was due another care check two hours later.

When the care assistants entered the room in the early hours of 24 April, Mrs Beals could not immediately be seen in bed. As they went to the side near the window they saw she had become trapped in the gap created between the mattress and the safety rail. It was obvious to staff that she was dead.

New Century Care Ltd of River House, Maidstone Road, Sidcup, Kent, was fined £160,000 and ordered to pay £18,000 in costs for breaching Section 3(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The firm had pleaded guilty at a previous hearing.
After the case HSE Inspector Jacqueline Ferguson, who investigated the incident, said that New Century Care's safety failings came despite widespread Government medical advice on the safe use of bed rails in the health and social care sector.

She said:
"This was a terrible tragedy that could have been so easily avoided. Bed safety rails are used extensively in the health and social care sectors to protect vulnerable people from falling out of bed. The risks of their use are well documented, actively published and widely recognised in the health care industry.

"There are several causes of injury involving bed rails used incorrectly. The most serious is asphyxiation as a result of being trapped by the head or neck. This can happen because a rail is not designed for use with a particular bed, or because of poor bed rail design leading to too much space between the rails.

"Staff at Aden Court, owned and operated by New Century Care, had no instruction in how to carry out risk assessments for the safe use of bed rails and no training how to fit them correctly and keep them safely adjusted.

"If anything positive is to come out of this very sad incident, it is that other employers take note and be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take action against those who fall so far below the required standards."

In the five years to 2005 there were at least ten deaths and a number of major injury incidents in which the use of bed rails was implicated. More recently, in 2010 a NHS Foundation Trust in the South East was fined £50,000 after the death of a disabled man whose head became trapped between bed rails. The following year, a nursing home was fined £70,000 when an elderly lady died of asphyxiation when she became trapped between a mattress and a bed rail in 2008

Landlady fined for gas safety failings

A Staffordshire woman has been fined for failing to provide evidence that a gas safety check had been carried out at one of her tenanted properties.

Liane Dewsbury was originally asked by Lichfield District Council to produce Landlord's gas safety certificates for boilers at two properties she owned in Queen Street, Burntwood. When they were not forthcoming the council referred the matter to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The certificates are required to confirm that gas appliances, installation and flues at a property have been checked annually for safety by a Gas Safe registered engineer.

South Walls Magistrates' Court was told today (12 Sept) that despite numerous requests the certificates were not produced. On 4 October 2011 HSE served two Improvement Notices requiring Mrs Dewsbury to arrange for a competent gas fitter to carry out an inspection of the gas appliances in the two premises and produce a certificate for both. She was given until 11 November 2011 to comply.

The court heard she complied with one of the Notices but despite several more requests by the HSE, she failed to provide a certificate for the second property until 15 February 2012.

Liane Dewsbury, of Main Road, Milford, Stafford, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. She was fined £1,500 and ordered to pay costs of £3,209.

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Wayne Owen said:

"Liane Dewsbury chose to put the health of her tenants potentially at risk and also chose to ignore for many months the repeated requests to produce the gas safety records.

"On average 20 people each year die from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by gas appliances and flues that are faulty. Many more people suffer serious health effects from breathing in carbon monoxide. In extreme cases paralysis and brain damage can result from prolonged exposure.

"Unchecked gas appliances do become unsafe over time, exposing tenants to possible serious injuries or even fatality. It is important that landlords fulfil their legal gas safety obligations to their tenants. This means ensuring an annual gas safety check is carried out by a suitably qualified Gas Safe registered engineer. It also means being able to provide tenants with an up-to-date gas safety record."

St Helens recycling firm sentenced over worker's death

 

A recycling company has been ordered to pay £240,000 in fines and costs after a worker was killed at a St Helens factory.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted JFC Plastics Ltd, previously known as Delleve Plastics Ltd, after Steven Bennett died at the company's former premises at the Neills Road Industrial Estate in Bold.

 

The machine which caused Steven Bennett's death

 

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Mr Bennett, 31, was last seen alive by his colleagues in the early hours of the morning on 24 November 2005.
The HSE investigation concluded that the most likely cause of his death was that he fell into a machine, used to break apart bales of plastic bottles, while checking to see if it was running smoothly.

The court was told JFC Plastics failed to take steps to prevent access to the machine while it was operating, and failed to ensure power to the machine was cut before maintenance work was carried out.

The company also had an inadequate risk assessment in place and its training, supervision and monitoring of the work did not meet acceptable standards.
JFC Plastics Ltd, of Goldicote Business Park, Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to ensure the safety of employees who were operating the machine.

The company was sentenced following a Newton hearing in which the judge found that its failings were a significant cause of Mr Bennett's death.
JFC Plastics was fined £140,000 and ordered to pay £100,000 in prosecution costs on 28 September 2012.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Principal Inspector Tanya Stewart said:
"This was a tragic death that could have been prevented if JFC Plastics had put more thought into the safety of its employees and the adequacy of its working practices.

"Employees regularly entered the machine to remove entangled wire, but there were no safeguards in place to prevent them carrying out this work while the machine's parts were still moving.

"I hope this case will act as a warning to companies to think more carefully about the safety of workers who clean, maintain or repair machines or who clear blockages."