Occupational hygiene consultancy fined for analysis failures
A hygiene consultancy firm has been fined after its failures put workers at risk of exposure to hazardous substances.
Envirochem Analytical Laboratories Limited (Envirochem) provided an occupational hygiene consultancy service to customers across the South of England. Reports provided by Envirochem are used by customers to make decisions regarding necessary controls to protect their workforce from risks to their health from substances, including hazardous chemicals and dusts. However, Envirochem was found to have provided one customer with a deficient occupational hygiene exposure monitoring report. This report followed testing carried out by their consultants at the customer’s premises.
An HSE investigation found that the report issued was inadequate and did not provide the information necessary regarding the extent of exposure to hazardous substances. Hazardous substances subject to the report included isocyanates from paint spraying, a potent respiratory sensitiser. The report used inappropriate occupational hygiene monitoring and analysis methods and consequently under-reported the actual exposures at the customer’s premises.
Breach
Envirochem Analytical Laboratories Limited pleaded guilty of breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
- Section 3(1) requires that employers ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons they do not employ who may be affected are not exposed to risks to their health and safety.
Penalty
Envirochem Analytical Laboratories Limited was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £6,583 in costs.
Directors jailed after five men lost their lives when a wall collapsed
Two company directors have been jailed and significant fines have been issued after a wall collapsed, killing five men.
On 7 July 2016, the five agency workers killed had been working at a site occupied by Hawkeswood Metal Recycling Ltd and Shredmet Ltd (now trading as Ensco 10101 Ltd), in the Nechells area of Birmingham. The men were killed when a 45 tonne wall toppled over.
At nearly 12-feet high, the Vee block wall was built on site and made up of 30 concrete blocks – each the size of a domestic fridge-freezer and weighing the same as a large family car. The blocks are designed to slot together.
The five agency workers were among seven agency staff who had begun cleaning a bay of swarf to make way for more scrap metal. Just 15 minutes after starting work, the wall collapsed on the five men, killing them instantly. A sixth man suffered serious leg injuries, while another was fortunate enough to have just stepped outside the bay before the wall came down.
An HSE investigation found the wall had previously been taken down then reassembled. The adjoining bay held around 263 tonnes of scrap metal briquettes. The combined weight of the machine-pressed metal briquettes was the equivalent of six fully loaded HGVs.
Following the incident, the defendants appointed structural engineers who carried out an assessment, the result being a reduction in wall heights and bays being clearly marked with maximum fill lines.
Breaches
Both directors were found guilty of four charges each, failing to discharge the duty to which they were subject by virtue of Section 2(1) and Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
- Section 2(1) requires employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees.
Hawkeswood Metal Recycling Limited and Ensco 10101 Limited (known at the time as Shredmet) were also found guilty of the two identical counts. This brought the total number of convictions to 12.
Penalties
Both directors received nine-month custodial sentences.
Hawkeswood Metal Recycling was fined £1,000,000 while Ensco 10101 Limited must pay £600,000. The judge also ordered £775,000 to be paid in prosecution costs.
Security firm receives seven figure fine after the death of a custody officer
A security firm has been fined for health and safety failings after the death of a custody officer.
The custody officer was kicked twice, once in the body and once in the head in 2015 during the restraint of a prisoner in custody. She died from brain injuries caused by the second blow.
An HSE investigation found that Serco Limited had failed to properly analyse risk intelligence on prisoners and to communicate risks and safety precautions to staff. There was a failure to have sufficient procedures in place and follow them, to provide readily accessible protective equipment and to ensure further training was provided where identified as required.
Additionally, there was a continued failure to adequately staff court activities, manage working hours, assess risks of violence and aggression, communicate safety critical information, have suitable procedures in place and to work in accordance with those procedures covering a period of over three years. Time pressures, staffing levels and business priorities had led to routine violations of procedures by staff to get the job done, which had gone unchallenged. This is despite failings being brought to Serco Limited’s attention by the HM Prisons Inspectorate, Ministry of Justice, HSE Inspectors and Serco’s own staff.
Breach
Serco Limited pleaded guilty to charges under Section 2(1) and Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 contrary to Section 33(1)(a):
Penalty
Serco Limited was fined £2.25m and ordered to pay £433,596.07 in costs.
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