Health and Safety in the news this
week
Southwark pleads guilty over
Lakanal House fire
A London council has pleaded
guilty to four counts of breaking fire safety regulations over a blaze in a
14-storey tower block that killed six people.
Southwark council admitted it
failed to address fire risks at Lakanal House in Camberwell, south-east London,
in the years leading up to the UK’s worst ever tower block fire on 3 July 2009.
The fire, which an inquest
previously found had started in a television in a ninth-floor flat, spread
through the 1958-built block of 98 maisonettes with a ferocity that baffled
firefighters and terrified residents.
Those who died had been told to
stay in their homes by 999 operators, who believed fire safety measures would
be sufficient to prevent flames and smoke from reaching them.
London Fire Brigade, which is
responsible for enforcing fire safety laws, originally brought 22 charges
against Southwark, but in a hearing at Southwark Crown Court, the council
agreed instead to plead guilty to four charges on a revised indictment.
Outlining the case against Southwark,
Stephen Walsh QC, representing the fire brigade, said:
“It was a serious fire from
about four o’clock in the afternoon on that warm day. It started in a piece of
electrical equipment in a bedroom in a flat on the ninth floor.
Tragically, six people,
including three children, died on the 10th and 11th floors. But it’s of great
importance that I make the point that this prosecution is concerned with the
risks that existed prior to the fire, because that’s what the fire safety order
is concerned with.”
Dave Lewis of the Sceaux
Gardens Tenants and Residents Association, who lives in Marie Curie House, an
identical block opposite Lakanal House, said:
“It was a very tragic day back
in 2009; three children, one 20 days old, lost their lives.
I think it’s appropriate for
the London Fire Brigade to bring this case against Southwark council. I think
Southwark ... have put a lot of time, energy and money into improving fire
safety in high-rise [blocks] and beyond there.
However, I think this case is
needed because the message needs to go out to landlords, social or otherwise,
that they have responsibilities that can’t be ignored.”
Dan Daly, London Fire Brigade’s
assistant commissioner for fire safety, said their advice in the event of a
similar incident remains the same:
“If buildings are built and
maintained correctly, walls, floors and doors in flats and maisonettes give you
protection from fire – a minimum of 30 to 60 minutes – so, if there is a fire
elsewhere in the building but not inside your home you’re safer staying in your
flat unless heat or smoke is affecting you. Stay put and call 999.
If you leave your flat you
could be rushing into choking smoke, the fire itself or firefighters using
equipment to bring the fire under control in another part of the building.”
A Southwark spokeswoman said
the council accepted responsibility for the fire and had spent £62m on fire
risk assessment programmes since.
Source: Construction Manager
News
HSE prosecution round up:
Steel worker suffers life threatening injuries
A Canvey Island engineering
firm was sentenced today for health and safety breaches after a worker suffered
life-changing injuries.
Southend-on-Sea Magistrates’
Court heard that on 10 June 2015 Felix Trefas, 27, a welder for F. Brazil
Reinforcements Ltd, was making large steel reinforcing cages which were moved
by overhead travelling cranes.
When one of these cranes broke
down, a colleague asked Mr Trefas to climb more than an estimated six metres up
the crane supports to re-set the controls. While Mr Trefas was resetting the
faulty crane, his left leg was crushed when he came into contact with another
overhead crane. His leg was later amputated below the knee.
The District Judge heard the
overhead cranes were poorly maintained so that workers regularly had to work at
height to re-set them and during the night shift this often involved workers
climbing the crane support column
Summing up he said this
“horrific accident should never have happened” and that the company “should
have had systems in place” to identify that unsafe access to the cranes was
regularly occurring.
The court also heard the toilet
and washing facilities for workers were in an extremely poor and dirty
condition despite having been the subject of previous enforcement action by
HSE.
F. Brazil Reinforcements Ltd of
Romainville Way, Charfleets Industrial Estate, Canvey Island pleaded guilty to
breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and to
two separate breaches of Regulation 4 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and
Welfare) Regulations 1992.
It was fined £277,000 in
relation to the Section 3(1) charge, a single penalty of £5,000 in relation to
the two breaches of Regulation 4, and ordered to pay £11,904 costs and £120
victim surcharge.
After the hearing, HSE
Inspector Sue Matthews commented:
“It is essential that lifting
equipment is properly maintained and that safe systems of work are in place for
work at height. Employers have a duty to ensure that welfare facilities are
kept clean.
Felix is incredibly lucky that
he was not killed in this incident but he has suffered permanent life-changing
injuries. This preventable workplace accident has changed the life of a
previously fit and hard-working young man irrevocably.”
Employer prosecuted after employee falls from roof
A self-employed businessman has
been prosecuted after his employee fell from the flat roof of a building and
died from his injuries.
Manchester Crown Court heard
how, on 22 December 2013, father of two, Jason Fogarty, a casual employee of
Roy Hardaker (trading as 9 to 5 Roofing), was working on a flat roof
replacement project. He was working alongside Hardaker.
The roof replacement was
complete and the men were installing cladding and flashing around the top of
the building to seal the edges of the roof. Mr. Fogarty was holding the
cladding sheets in position from a ladder footed by his colleague, while
Hardaker secured the sheets and the flashing from the roof.
Mr. Fogarty climbed up onto the
roof and subsequently fell from the edge and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The reason for him climbing to the roof was not discovered.
A joint investigation carried
out by Greater Manchester Police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
found that the work was not properly planned in order to ensure it could be
carried out safely. As a result, there were no measures in place, such as
scaffold edge protection, to prevent falls from the edges of the roof.
HSE inspector Laura Moran said
after the hearing:
“The dangers associated with
working at height are well known.
Mr. Hardaker is an experienced
roofer, who completely failed in his duties to properly plan the roof
work and to ensure it was carried out safely. By failing to have suitable edge
protection installed around the building, Mr. Hardaker put himself and his
employees at risk, ultimately costing Mr. Fogarty his life.”
Roy Hardaker, 9 to 5 Roofing,
of Oldham, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at
Work etc. Act 1974 and was sentenced to nine months imprisonment, suspended for
two years and 200 hours of unpaid work.
London based firm fined after worker's death
Bus Company Go Ahead London has
been sentenced after worker was killed when he fell from a ladder.
Southwark Crown Court heard on
26 May 2011 the worker was using a ladder to access the top of a fuel tank when
he fell two and a half metres backwards, suffering fatal head injuries.
An investigation by the Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) found the company did not implement and keep to
their own procedures for managing contractors. As a result they failed to
manage their contractors effectively and ensure that they conduct work in a
safe manner.
Go Ahead London of 41-51 Grey
Street, Newcastle Upon Tyne have been found guilty of section 3 (1) of the
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and have been fined £600,000 and ordered to
pay costs of £78,531.
Speaking after the hearing HSE
inspector Neil Fry said:
“This is a tragic case which
could have been entirely preventable. If
the company had managed their contractors effectively then the worker would
have returned home safely from work.”
Self-employed haulage contractor killed by reversing lorry
A Swinton transport company and
a director were in court today following the death of an HGV company owner at
their Sandywood Industrial Estate.
Daniel Adams, 63, of Farnworth,
rented a unit on the industrial estate owned by Alec Sharples Farm Supplies and
Transport Limited where the fatal incident occurred on the 7 May 2014.
Manchester Crown Court heard
how Mr Adams had been working on one of his own lorries when an HGV owned by
Alec Sharples reversed into Mr Adams’s section of the yard.
The HGV driver spoke with Mr
Adams. However, when the conversation was over the HGV driver reversed his
truck, inadvertently crushing Mr Adams between the two vehicles. Daniel Adams
was taken to Salford Royal Hospital where he died of internal injuries two days
later.
The incident was investigated
by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) which prosecuted Alec Sharples Farm
Supplies and Transport Limited for serious safety failings in the organisation
and operation of the site.
The HSE investigation found the
firm had failed to implement a safe system of work for reversing HGVs and
training drivers. There was no segregation of pedestrians and HGVs or any
banksmen provided.
Alec Sharples Farm Supplies and
Transport Ltd of Roscow Road, Kearsley, Bolton pleaded guilty to a breach of
Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined
£30,000 and ordered to pay costs of £14,000.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE
Inspector Ian Betley said:
“This was a tragic and wholly
avoidable incident, caused by the failure of the host company to implement safe
systems of work, and failure to ensure that health and safety documentation was
communicated and followed.
This risk was further amplified
by the company’s failure to undertake a number of simple safety measures including
segregating vehicles and pedestrians, ensuring that vehicles were fitted with
reversing ‘bleepers’, and ensuring that reversing manoeuvres were supervised,
in accordance with their site rules.
Container terminal in court after worker injured
London Container Terminal
(Tilbury) Limited (LCT) has been fined after a worker was seriously injured
when the ‘straddle’ carrier he was driving overturned at Tilbury Docks in
November 2014.
Basildon Crown Court heard that
on 16 November 2014 a worker inadvertently drove his straddle carrier into a
large excavation at the docks. The court
was told that looking down from his cab, the driver did not see the road cones,
small flashing lights or the ticker tape around the excavation because it was
dark and the weather conditions were poor.
The straddle carrier, a vehicle
used in the port terminal for stacking and moving freight shipping containers,
toppled over. The worker suffered life changing injuries, his head wound
required 29 staples to close and he continues to suffer from post-traumatic
stress disorder.
An investigation by the Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) found the precautions taken by LCT were wholly
inadequate to prevent the vehicle from being able to enter the excavation. The
court heard that all of the straddle carrier drivers working in the vicinity of
the excavation had been exposed to the risk for several days during the course
of the excavation works.
London Container Terminal
Limited of Northfleet Hope House, Tilbury Docks, Tilbury pleaded guilty to
breaching sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and
have been fined £180,000 and ordered to pay costs of £73,296. London Container
Terminal ceased trading in December the fine will be paid by the Port of Tilbury
(London) Limited.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE
Inspector Nicola Jaynes said:
“This was a serious incident
and that could have been much worse. This was preventable if LCT had the
correct safety precautions in place. This case serves as a reminder that
suitable precautions are required to protect both pedestrians and vehicles from
entering excavations.”
Oldham building contractor in court over fall from height risk
An Oldham based building firm
has been fined for exposing its workers to dangerous work at height.
An Inspector from the Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) issued an immediate Prohibition Notice ordering
Select Quality Homes Ltd to stop work at a site at Newmarket Road, Ashton under
Lyne until workers had protection against falling from height.
Manchester City Magistrates
Court heard that an unannounced inspection took place in April 2015. During the
visit the Inspector found that edge protection on the scaffolding was absent or
inadequate in several places and as a result a prohibition notice was issued.
Upon a return visit from HSE to the site the scaffolding was still inadequate.
The court also heard that if
Select Quality Homes Ltd had carried out their duty to plan, manage, and
monitor the site properly, and subsequently followed the advice outlined by
HSE’s Inspector, the defects in the scaffolding would have been resolved
without the need for any formal enforcement action.
Select Quality Homes Ltd of
Middleton Road, Chadderton, Oldham pleaded guilty to breaches of Regulation
6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and Section 22 of the Health and
Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, and was fined £6,600 and ordered to pay costs of
£646.70.
Speaking after the hearing HSE
Inspector David Argument said:
“This could have been avoided
if Select Quality Homes Ltd had taken simple steps to prevent people from
falling, such as guard rails, mid rails and toe-boards. Prohibition
Notices are only served when an Inspector is concerned there is a risk of
serious injury. Failure to comply with these notices is a criminal
offence and HSE will take robust action when dutyholders do not take action to
control serious risk”.
