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 …
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 company that manufactures and repairs rigid-inflatable boats (RIBs) in Hull, Yorkshire, has been sentenced after one of its workers was overcome by solvent fumes and sustained burns when he collapsed in a pool of the substance. The employee of Humber Fabrications (Hull) was using a cloth soaked in dichloromethane …
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 …
From million-pound plus fines to prison sentences, there have been some major prosecutions in occupational health and safety in 2017 – affecting household names such as Wilko, Warburtons, JD Sports, Travis Perkins, and Iceland. The latest enforcement figures published by the Health and Safety Executive have shown a major rise in health …
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 …
The board of governors at a primary school has been fined after a pupil’s fingers became trapped in a toilet door. Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard how, on 29 September 2016, the four-year-old pupil, who had been at St Joseph’s RC Primary School for three weeks, was allowed to access the …
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 …
