IN THE COURTS


SOCIAL HOUSING MANAGEMENT FIRM CHARGED FOR FAILING TO PROTECT WORKERS


An East Midlands social housing provider has been fined £32,000 after multiple workers were diagnosed with vibration related ill-health conditions such as hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS).


The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched an investigation after it received more than 10 reports of vibration related ill-health in a short period of time. The workers affected had until recently been employed by Nottingham City Homes Limited, which managed social housing on behalf of Nottingham City Council between 2005 and 2023.


The HSE investigation found a large number of the company’s employees were exposed to vibration in their day-to-day work. These included bricklayers, joiners, electricians, plasterers, caretakers and others – while their work was varied, all included extensive use of power tools, ranging from drills and impact drivers to vibrating plates and road breakers, over an extended period of time. Despite this, and the dangers exposure can cause, the company had not properly assessed or controlled workers’ exposure to vibration.


The HSE investigation also found that the company had not undertaken a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks posed by vibration. Control measures, such as removing the need to use vibrating tools, using lower vibration alternatives, or limiting exposure times, had


not been properly implemented. Tool maintenance and health surveillance arrangements were inadequate, and employees had not received sufficient training on the risks that they faced.


Nottingham City Homes Limited, of Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £32,000 and ordered to pay £6,226 in costs at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on 3 November 2025.


HSE inspector Tim Nicholson said: “The company failed to properly manage this risk which led to employees suffering ill-health – the effects of exposure to vibration can be debilitating and, once damage is done, it is irreversible.


“There is extensive guidance available that is straightforward to follow and includes calculation tools to assist in deciding what is needed to protect employees.


“Employers should take this case as a reminder that HSE will not hesitate to act against companies which do not do all that they should to keep employees safe.”


The prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Neenu Bains, and paralegal officer Jorge Kemp.


HAULAGE COMPANY PROSECUTED FOLLOWING DEATH OF EMPLOYEE


A Middlesbrough road haulage company has been fined £250,000 after a man died while working inside a shipping container.


Gary Lee James, 30 was working for Ward Bros (Malton) Ltd at its yard at South Bank, in the early hours of 8 January 2019, when he suffered a fatal injury.


Mr James and a colleague had been standing up metal frames, each weighing approximately 120kg, within a shipping container, part of what is known as a ‘devanning’ activity.


As the two men lifted the sixth frame, the fifth one fell back towards them, followed by the four others. Mr James was pinned by the neck between the container wall and the fallen frames. Although he was transported to James Cook University Hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest, he was sadly pronounced dead three days later.


An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the frames had not been secured to the container wall. It found that Ward Bros (Malton) Ltd failed to ensure,


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so far is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of its employees, including Gary James, at work in connection with the devanning of containers.


Despite the company having never undertaken devanning work before, it failed to create a suitable and sufficient written risk assessment. There was no clear and properly planned safe system of work for its employees.


Instead, the company embarked upon an ad-hoc and ultimately unsafe system of work, which was not effectively communicated to the employees who were left largely unsupervised to determine their own methods of devanning the containers.


Ward Bros (Malton) Ltd, of Dormor Way, South Bank, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £250,000 with costs to be determined at a later date at Teesside Crown Court on 31 October 2025.


This HSE prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Jonathan Bambro and law clerk Rebecca Forman.


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