Owner of a Shropshire haulage and shot blasting company prosecuted for safety failings
An employee was walking past a large shot blasting machine at Chris C Hazel Haulage’s Station Road site in Shropshire, when the leg of his overalls got caught in the drive mechanism. While he tried to free himself his hand was drawn in and his right thumb severed. He also fractured his upper arm, broke his lower arm, shattered his wrist and broke most of his fingers. He had to have plates inserted in his hand and required skin grafts.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that the employer did not have a suitable and sufficient risk assessment for the machine, which was used to shot blast cooker parts.
Breach and Penalty
Mr Hazel was fined £8000 with costs of £10,464 after pleading guilty at Shrewsbury Crown Court to breaching Regulation 3(1)(a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
Regulation 3(1)(a) requires that every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work.
Firm fined after worker struck by bus
Rebeck Communications Limited was employed to lay pipe across the full width of a road at Station Road, Northamptonshire on the 14 May 2014. Northampton Magistrates’ Court heard it failed to keep and maintain a safe place of work whilst doing this. This resulted in a worker being struck by a bus, causing him serious injuries including a dislocated knee and severe ligament and muscle damage.
To lay pipe across the road, the company decided that a temporary traffic management system would be used. This allowed one lane to be closed while still allowing traffic to pass on the other lane.
However, during the reinstatement of the road surface at the centre point of the road, an accident occurred. The court was told the 0.5m safety zone was not being maintained and no other control measures were in place and therefore this I how the accident was able to occur.
Breach and Penalty
Rebeck Communications Limited of Northampton pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 26(2) of the Construction, Design and Management Regulations 2007 and was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £1,293.
Regulation 26(2) requires that every place of work shall, so far as is reasonably practicable, be made and kept safe for, and without risks to health to, any person at work there.
National gas distributor fined after worker gets trapped in gas cloud
On 24 June 2014, National Grid Gas (Plc) were supervising repairs to a gas mains when a worker was trapped between two gas pipes after one of them burst, breaking his femur. Pressure behind the escaping gas increased and this caused the pipeline to rupture.
Sheffield Crown Court highlighted a number of failings by National Grid Gas (Plc), including not complying with its own gas escape procedures, not carrying out sufficient risk assessments, not communicating effectively with the contractors carrying out the work and not managing the handover of key personnel.
Breach and Penalty
National Grid Gas (Plc) was fined £1 million and ordered to pay costs of £26,296 for breaching Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Section 3 states that every employer and every self-employed person must conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.
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