A London Zoo safety breach saw a keeper, who was cleaning out a hawk aviary, fall off a faulty step ladder that was wrongly retrieved from a skip. Angelina Lawson suffered neck injuries in the accident while removing droppings from a shelf under the birds’ perches. According to reports, the step ladder …
Barrie John Henry Birch was sentenced to 18 months’ jail, suspended for two years, and disqualified from being a company director for five years after his firm, BBS Improvements, carried out unsafe and unnecessary building work. Workers were put at risk because there was no scaffolding. The fraudulent activity was …
The sales director of a West Midlands roofing firm tried to disclaim his managerial status to stop the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) charging him with neglect after an untrained apprentice sustained severe head, facial and back injuries when he fell more than 6 m through a fragile skylight on …
Golf course manager fatally claimed competence with chainsaw. A golf club in Leicestershire has been ordered to pay a £150,000 penalty after it was found guilty of three breaches that led to a manager being killed by a falling branch. Douglas Johnstone, 56, sustained a fatal brain injury while he …
A contractor and scaffolding firm must pay almost £63,000 after a subcontracted worker plunged 5 m through poorly erected scaffolding after the roof’s edge protection gave way. Jhanade Ryan was installing solar panels on the roof of roofing and cladding sheeting manufacturer Firth Steels, when he slipped on the fragile surface …
Breaches to health and safety legislation at three Poundstretcher stores in Newbury, Newhaven and Swindon have resulted in the retail chain being hit with a £1m fine. The chain pleaded guilty to a total of 24 counts of breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 following inspections …
The UK’s largest manufacturer and supplier of fitted kitchens has been fined £1.2m over the fatal crushing of a delivery driver in Cumbria. Howdens Joinery was prosecuted at Carlisle Crown Court after it pleaded guilty to breaching ss 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. It …
A food seasoning manufacturer has been fined after an agency worker suffered serious hand injuries when his finger got caught in a machine. Northampton Magistrates’ Court heard how the man, working at Symrise Ltd in Corby, was cleaning near the screw conveyor machine, when he tripped and his finger came …
The owner of a block of flats has been handed a £200,000 fine after allowing work on an unsafe site to restart, even though enforcement notices had been served by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Westminster Magistrates’ Court was told on 30 August that a member of the public …
A supplier of food grade CO2 and CO2/nitrogen mixes to restaurants and pubs in the north of England has shortened its cylinder inspection cycle by half after an employee was injured in an explosion. J & R Gases employee Luke Hawthorn, 30, was at the company’s depot in Nelson, Lancashire, filling …
