Cornwall health trust fined for dermatitis failings
The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust has been fined after failing to take measures to prevent or monitor at least 23 cases of dermatitis among staff between 2007 and 2012.
The Trust pleaded guilty to a breach of health and safety legislation when it appeared before Torquay Magistrates on Friday 20th February in a prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
An inspection by HSE, identified that 23 cases of dermatitis had not been reported to them by the Trust as is required by law.
Magistrates were told that health and hospital staff were at increased risk of developing skin issues like dermatitis as they needed to wash their hands often and had to wear gloves for some procedures to reduce the risk of infection. They were also encouraged to use hand gels.
Despite the known risk, there was limited information for staff about reducing it with simple but effective methods such as drying hands fully and regularly applying moisturisers.
HSE Inspectors concluded that the Trust failed to carry out regular health checks of employees to detect any symptoms of dermatitis or other skin issues. As and when symptoms were reported by members of staff, they were simply told to see their GP by the trust’s occupational health team.
As a result cases of work-related dermatitis were not picked up by the Trust and the issue was not seen as a priority. At the time, there was no link between occupational health and dermatology. This has since been rectified.
The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, of Treliske, Truro, was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £9,620 for a breach of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations.
- Regulation 5(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 states: “Every employer shall make and give effect to such arrangements as are appropriate, having regard to the nature of his activities and the size of his undertaking, for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of the preventive and protective measures.”
Steel company in court after worker pulled into rotating rollers
A Black Country steel processing company has been fined after an employee suffered a catalogue of injuries when he was pulled into a set of rotating rollers.
The Dudley Magistrates’ Court heard how the 42-year-old worker was cleaning the rollers which fed metal through a slitting line at Cooper and Jackson Limited. The rollers were still rotating and he was dragged in as far as his elbow between them. The worker called to a colleague to reverse the rollers but when he pressed the reverse button, they moved forward instead, dragging the already injured man in further.
The worker from Stourbridge, suffered severe burns to the right side of his chest caused by the friction of the rollers, and needed skin grafts. He also punctured a lung, fractured five ribs, his collarbone, shoulder blade and elbow and suffered muscle damage from his wrist to his elbow.
He was in hospital for over a month and was later readmitted following an infection from his chest injuries. He has been unable to work since and is undergoing counselling for post-traumatic stress disorder.
HSE inspectors concluded that the company had not carried out a risk assessment for the cleaning of the machine so had failed to identify the dangers it posed. There was therefore no safe system of work in place for operatives to follow.
Cooper and Jackson Limited, of Pedmore Road Industrial Estate, Brierley Hill, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £12,000 with £1,061 costs.
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Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees
Court for Essex firm
An Essex firm has been fined for neglecting chemical safety after a fire involving a brazier and a drum of thinners led to safety breaches being uncovered at its Rainham site.
CLB Refridgeration Ltd, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) at Southwark Crown Court on the 17th February 2015, following an incident in October 2012 when a 25-litre drum of thinners was involved in causing a fireball to erupt in a brazier at the company’s site in Ferry Lane.
The investigation identified that thinners were being used to clean marks off the containers that were being refurbished and that when the skips were full the employees would sometimes burn material they had removed from the refrigeration containers in the brazier.
HSE Inspectors concluded that CLB Refrigeration Ltd had not properly assessed the risks involved in using and storing paint thinners, and had fallen far below the standard of controlling the risks. CLB Refrigeration failed to ensure it had full knowledge of all the chemicals on site, how they were being used and failed to undertake an assessment of the risks involved.
CLB Refrigeration Ltd of Parkside, Woodside, Grays, Essex, pleaded guilty to two breaches of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 and was fined a total of £22,500 and ordered to pay £9243 in costs.
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Regulation 5(1) of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 states: Where a dangerous substance is or is liable to be present at the workplace, the employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to his employees which arise from that substance.
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Regulation 6(1) of the same Regulations states: Every employer shall ensure that risk is either eliminated or reduced so far as is reasonably practicable.
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