Construction firm prosecuted after falling roof sheets narrowly miss karting party
A construction company has been fined after metal sheets crashed through a karting track roof – narrowly missing members of the public. The incident happened at The Raceway on the Park Lane Trading Estate, Oldbury, on 16 April 2014, where Barnsley-based KSMT Ltd had been employed to overclad the roof.
Sandwell Magistrates’ Court heard today a sub-contractor had lifted new metal roof sheets, which weighed three quarters of a tonne, on to the roof using the forks of a telehandler.
However, the sheets and one of the forks fell off and through the existing corrugated roof before crashing through a raised section of the kart track inside and coming to rest on the lower section of track.
Ten racers were using the circuit at the time, although thankfully none were in the area where the materials landed narrowly having passed through seconds earlier.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the lifting operation was poorly planned. KSMT, as the main contractor for the work, failed to assess the risks or produce a method statement or lifting plan. Metal was loaded directly on to metal, increasing the risk of slipping, and the forks of the telehandler were not wide enough to take the load.
KSMT Ltd, of Fall Bank Industrial Estate, Dodworth, Barnsley, was fined £5000 and ordered to pay a further £500 in costs with a £500 victim surcharge after pleading guilty to a single breach of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998.
- Regulation 8(1) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 states: Every employer shall ensure that every lifting operation involving lifting equipment is properly planned by a competent person; appropriately supervised; and carried out in a safe manner.
Leak of dangerous substance leads to £20,000 of fines
A leak of corrosive potassium hydroxide on a lorry was an ‘immediate risk’ to public safety – but, after noticing it, the driver continued a 12-mile journey.
Magistrates were told that some of the 170 plastic jerricans containing 45 per cent solution of the corrosive substance had not been adequately tightened, nor securely stacked on pallets, which in turn were not adequately braced on the trailer. The jerricans toppled over whilst being transported from Whitman Laboratories Ltd, in Petersfield, Hampshire, to Belgium, by a driver working for Allport Cargo Services Ltd, on 30 March 2014.
The driver noticed his load was leaking during a stop at a motorway service station on the M2 in Kent. He phoned his transport supervisor and said the substance was corrosive and that he wanted the emergency services to be called.
After consulting her line manager, the transport supervisor directed the driver to return to the company depot in Sittingbourne, some 12 miles away. On arrival, the extent of damage was realised and the emergency services were finally called –nearly two hours after the leak was originally discovered.
Six fire engines attended the scene and hosed down the contaminated area. The driver and warehouse supervisor, who had been called in to assist, were believed to have been exposed to the material. They were stripped down and hosed on site, before being taken to hospital for observation. The service station was also decontaminated.
Around 85 litres of potassium hydroxide was lost.
It transpired, during an investigation by HSE, that the jerricans had been loaded by an unsupervised contract employee, who had only started the job as a loader that week. The loader did not know how loads should be safety stowed and had not loaded a dangerous consignment previously. Whitman provided little guidance on safe stowage.
At Medway Magistrates’ Court, both companies pleaded guilty to a single offence under the Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Transportable Pressure Equipment Regulations 2009. They were each fined £20,000 with costs of £3,438 and a £120 victim surcharge.
- Allport Cargo Services Ltd, of High Street, Cowley, Uxbridge, Middlesex, admitted they failed to comply with the requirements of CDG Regulation 5 in that they carried dangerous goods, namely over 4000kg of 45% potassium hydroxide solution, where that carriage did not comply with the applicable requirements of ADR (i.e. Annexes A and B to the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road, as revised or reissued), including:
- a) carrying dangerous goods that were not adequately restrained as required by ADR 7.5.7.1;
- b) failing to immediately notify the emergency services when there was an immediate risk to public safety as required by ADR 1.4.1.2; and
- c) continuing a transport operation when the consignment did not comply with applicable regulations and without the authorization of the competent authority as per ADR 1.4.2.2.4.
- Whitman Laboratories Ltd, of Bedford Road, Petersfield, Hampshire, admitted they failed to comply with the applicable requirements of ADR for carriage of the same consignment by:
- a)not providing training to the employee who loaded the consignment about the requirements governing the carriage of dangerous goods in accordance with ADR 1.3.2 appropriate to his responsibilities and duties;
- b) allowing the employee to perform functions for which training had not been provided whilst not being under the direct supervision of a trained person as required by ADR 1.3.1;
- c) loading dangerous goods that were not adequately restrained contrary to ADR 7.5.7.1;
- d) consigning and loading dangerous goods in non-removable head jerricans with closures that were not applied so that they were secure and leak-proof under normal conditions of carriage as per ADR 6.1.4.8.5
Staffordshire plastics firm fined for failing to maintain workers insurance
Merlin Mouldings (Hednesford) Ltd has been fined for failing to have Employers Liability Insurance for its workers in place.
Despite repeated warnings and reminders from The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) the company failed to have insurance in place, despite it being a legal requirement.
The company of Rugeley Road, Hednesford were sentenced in their absence by Stafford Magistrates Court on Wednesday 13 May 2015 and fined £2,500 for breaching the Employers Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969. They were also ordered to pay costs of £3,191.80 and a victim surcharge of £120.
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