IN THE COURTS


COACH BUILDING COMPANY FINED AFTER


APPRENTICE FALL A Warrington-based coach fabricator has appeared in court after an apprentice suffered serious injuries when he fell through a roof he was working on.


The 25-year-old worker from Orford, who asked not to be named, suffered three fractured ribs and a ruptured spleen as a result of the incident on 14th April 2016.


Liverpool Magistrates’ Court heard the worker was assisting other employees with cleaning of the valley gutters on the workshop roof in Hardwick, Warrington when he stepped back onto a fragile skylight, falling 30 feet to the floor below where his fall was broken by a table.


An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that


COMPANIES FINED AFTER WORKERS NOT PROTECTED


FROM ASBESTOS Three companies have been fined more than £1m after workers were exposed to asbestos while refurbishing a school in Waltham Forest.


Southwark Crown Court heard that on 24th July 2012 a worker removed part of a suspended ceiling in one of the ground floor refurbished rooms at St Mary’s school and identified suspect asbestos containing materials. Asbestos fibres were subsequently found in numerous areas in the school.


The court heard that the London Borough of Waltham Forest had a contract with NPS London Limited to manage development and refurbishment of its estate. At the time of the incident the Principal Contractor for the work was Mansell Construction Services (aka Balfour Beatty) and the subcontractor was Squibb Group Limited.


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Bespoke Bodies Ltd had not properly supervised this work at height activity; it was also found the company failed to identify the risks associated with working at height and working on fragile surfaces.


Bespoke Bodies Ltd of Grange Hardwick, Warrington pleaded guilty to breaches of Regulation 3 (1) (a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and has been fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,339.


Speaking after the hearing HSE Inspector Lianne Farrington said: “Falls from height remain one of the most common causes of work-related injuries and the risks with working at height are well known.


“Those in control of work have a responsibility to devise safe methods of working and to provide the necessary instruction and training to their workers.”


hse.gov.uk


A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that although an asbestos survey was completed, there were multiple caveats and disclaimers that were not appropriately checked.


Balfour Beatty Regional Construction Limited (previously Mansell Construction Services Limited) of Canary Wharf, London was fined £500,000 and ordered to pay costs of £32,364.84 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.


NPS London Limited, of Business Park Norwich, Norfolk was fined £370,000 and ordered to pay £32,364.84 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.


Squibb Group Limited, of Stanford Le Hope, Essex was fined £400,000 and ordered to pay costs of £175,000 after being found guilty after a trial of a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.


ENGINEERING FIRM FINED AFTER EXPOSING


WORKERS TO HAVS An engineering firm has been fined for failing to control the risk to employees using hand held power tools from Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS).


Manchester and Salford Magistrates heard how Newfield Fabrications Co Ltd (NFCL) failed to ensure the risks to its employees from exposure was adequately controlled.


An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that sometime towards the end of 2015, a welder who had been working at the company for a number of years had been given a job that involved a significant amount of grinding and polishing.


After a number of hours on the task, the worker began to experience numbness and tingling. He asked to swap with another worker but was told to carry on.


A few weeks later, a 20-year-old apprentice welder also began to suffer from vibration-related symptoms from using similar tools.


Newfield Fabrications Co Ltd of Sandbach, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 6(1) and 8(1) of the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005. The company has been fined £120,000 and ordered to pay £7,241 costs.


www.hse.gov.uk


Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Sarah Robinson said: “The principal contractor and contractors on site did not review the survey report in detail, and did not take into consideration the multitude of caveats.


“Therefore the work undertaken did not adopt the high standards of control expected for working where there was the potential to expose workers to asbestos.”


www.hse.gov.uk 11


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