Man receives community order for illegal asbestos removal
A man has been handed a community order after he admitted removing asbestos from a school when he wasn’t licenced to do so.
The man also intentionally falsified clearance paperwork after removing asbestos containing materials from Our Lady Lourdes School in Shotton Collery in March 2021. He had carried out similar work several months earlier at a domestic property in Middlesbrough.
The man failed to hold a licence to safely remove asbestos. He also failed to ensure a four-stage clearance was carried out on both jobs by a person accredited by an appropriate body.
A HSE investigation found that the man had received the relevant training on how to safely remove licenced asbestos and was therefore fully aware of the legal requirement to hold a licence.
Breach
The man pleaded guilty to six charges, including three charges at each offence location, including contravening Regulation 8(1) and Regulation 20(3) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 and breaching Section 33(1)(m) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974:
Penalty
The man was given an 18-month community order, which consists of 15 days of rehabilitation, 90 days of monitored alcohol abstinence as well as him carrying out 150 hours of unpaid work. The man was also ordered to pay costs of £1000.
Recycling company fined after worker fatality
A recycling company has received a large fine after an agency worker was killed at its site in Hartlepool.
In January 2020, the worker was returning from the site’s welfare cabins to his workstation on the picking line. To do so, he needed to walk across a traffic area at the site where mobile plant, including two loading shovels, operated. One of the loading shovels struck and ran over the worker when he was walking in the traffic area.
The worker’s death prompted investigations from HSE and Cleveland Police with Ward Recycling later being prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The company was found guilty of committing corporate manslaughter and breaching health and safety regulations.
The HSE investigation found that Ward Recycling, which went into liquidation in 2021, failed to protect pedestrians from the mobile plant operations it was carrying out at the site. There were no suitable traffic management arrangements in place, meaning pedestrians were at risk of being struck by moving vehicles, including loading shovels.
Loading shovels are particularly dangerous if adequate segregation is not in place, in part due to the limitations to the operator’s visibility around the machine. An HSE visibility assessment found that an area over 10 metres in front of the vehicle could be obscured from the driver’s view.
The HSE has produced guidance on workplace transport.
Breaches
Ward Recycling Limited was found guilty of breaching Section 1 of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, Section 2(1) and Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974:
Penalty
Ward Recycling Limited was fined £1.75m for corporate manslaughter and £400,000 for breaching health and safety regulations.
Most businesses inspected by the HSE ‘not doing enough’ to protect workers against risks posed by metalworking fluids
In September 2023, the HSE announced inspections of premises using metalworking fluids. Since then, more than half of those checks have identified failings.
Metalworking fluids can also cause harm to the lungs and skin. The HSE says that more needs to be done to keep workers safe.
To improve knowledge, HSE has created an online quiz as part of its ongoing campaign.
Exposure to metalworking fluids can cause harm to the lungs and unprotected skin. However, many of the firms inspected were not carrying out health checks. Health surveillance is a legal requirement where there is exposure to fluid or mist.
The inspections so far also found poor performance around the control of metalworking fluids in businesses that use Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines. To protect workers, employers should reduce exposure by applying controls. Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV) should be fitted on CNC machines to carry away any harmful metalworking fluid mist.
More about the ongoing campaign, and tips on how to keep workers safe, can be found here: Machinists and metalworking fluid – Work Right to keep Britain safe.
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