NEWSFLASH IN THE COURTS


CARPET FIRM SENTENCED AFTER WALL COLLAPSES


ON EMPLOYEE A Littleborough carpet firm has been fined after an employee suffered severe injuries when a concrete wall collapsed onto him.


Arron Ridings, 39, from Littleborough, broke his back, leg, pelvis and hip in


FINE AFTER NINE-YEAR-OLD FLUNG FROM


FAIR RIDE The owner/operator of a fairground ride has been sentenced after a nine-year-old girl was flung from her carriage as it span at excessive speeds.


Northampton Crown Court heard the youngster was thrown from the Twister ride when the safety bar


LONDON COUNCIL IN COURT AFTER DECADE OF IGNORING ASBESTOS RISKS


Waltham Forest borough council has been fined after it exposed members of staff and visiting contractors to the potentially lethal dangers of asbestos, which it knew to be present in the Town Hall basement.


The hazardous material was identified in a survey commissioned by the council in 2002, yet it failed to take adequate action to act on the findings and put effective controls in place. As a result employees and visiting contractors were allowed to carry on working in the basement regardless of the dangers for the next ten years.


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The court heard that Waltham Forest had no plan in place for managing the well-known risks of asbestos and there was an inadequate system in place for inspecting asbestos at the Town Hall.


HSE served an Improvement Notice on the council requiring them to put in place a proper management plan dealing with the presence of asbestos. Inspectors also interviewed a number


of employees and contractors who had used the basement over the years, including print-room staff who were based down there.


Waltham Forest Borough Council was fined a total of £66,000 and ordered to pay £16,862 in costs after pleading guilty to two breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and a breach of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006.


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the incident at West Pennine Carpets Ltd on 29 July 2013. He needed to use a wheelchair for eight weeks, was on crutches for seven months, and his injuries are likely to affect him for the rest of his life.


The company was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found the wall had not been designed to cope with the weight of dozens of carpet rolls, stacked up against it at the site at Python Works on Todmorden Road, Littleborough, Greater Manchester.


flew open. She was slammed into a metal safety barrier at Holowell Steam Rally and Heavy Horse Show in Guilsborough, Northamptonshire, on 3rd November 2012.


A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the ride, which was owned and operated by Patrick McGeough, was operating 50% faster than its maximum design speed of 11 rpm, which increased the ejection force on the riders. It also found the secondary locks for the safety bars, which keep riders in their cars, were not in use.


On the day of the incident, around 375 square metres of carpet rolls were delivered to the company and stored between two walls, filling a gap. Workers were helping to load empty cardboard tubes into a van later in the day when one of the walls collapsed pinning Mr Ridings to the floor.


West Pennine Carpets Ltd, of Stubley Mill Road in Littleborough, was fined £16,500 and ordered to pay £10,000 in prosecution costs after pleading guilty to breaching s2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.


A Prohibition Notice and a direction to leave undisturbed was served preventing the ride’s further use until it had been inspected and faults rectified. An Improvement Notice was also served requiring Mr McGeough to fit a means to ensure the ride could not be operated beyond its safe maximum speed. Both Notices were complied with.


Patrick McGeough, 28, of Greetham Inn Lane, Greetham, Rutland, admitted breaching Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc act 1974 and was fined £1,500 and ordered to pay costs of £1,500.


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