10 February Corporate Manslaughter prosecution, fine, suspended sentence and publicity order Corporate Manslaughter prosecution following a fall through a fragile roof. Following the fatal fall through a fragile roof in 2011, a building firm was sentenced by Preston Crown Court in February after it pleaded guilty to corporate manslaughter. Following their investigation, the HSE said that the company did nothing to make sure that the worker (Jason Pennington) was … Read More
2 February Corporate Manslaughter case – Northern Ireland Corporate Manslaughter case – Northern Ireland sawmill has been fined £75,000 after pleading guilty to corporate manslaughter. PL, an experienced fitter and maintenance engineer, was crushed to death by a large automated saw at A Diamond and Son (Timber)’s Coleraine site in September 2012. The company has about 50 employees and has been operating for 75 years. … Read More
2 February Gross Negligence Manslaughter sentence Gross Negligence Manslaughter sentence for builder – two years imprisonment after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of an inexperienced labourer who was crushed while dismantling a chimney at a house in Yorkshire. Mr Nigel Parker had employed 23 year old Danny Hough because he was short of workers on the project to extend the home … Read More
2 February Suspended Sentence for Manslaughter Gross Negligence Manslaughter is a personal offence and can be punished by imprisonment and/or by fine. This is different from Corporate Killing (Corporate Manslaughter), which is a Corporate Offence and is punishable by a fine. In this recent case, the director of a London metalworks firm has been convicted of gross negligence manslaughter after a … Read More
27 January CDM 2015 Rules and Regulations The CDM 2015 Regulations come into force on 6 April 2015 and will apply to all building and construction projects, regardless of the size, duration and nature of the work. With these new regulations good quality, professional health and safety advice will be needed more than ever. A summary of some of the key changes are … Read More
26 January Work at Height Health and Safety – Workers Fined for lack of Safety Work at height safety – failure to provide a safe work platform is a dangerous way to work at height. In this case, the lack of a suitable and safe work platform for work at height safety led to two managers being prosecuted. In this case, two industrial estate managers were each fined £8000 after … Read More
22 January Prosecution of a businessman – Asbestos Health and Safety Asbestos prosecution – A businessman allowed the spread of asbestos in an industrial building by failing to employ licensed contractors to remove the potentially deadly material, a court has heard. In this case, Peter Rees, the owner of a business unit in Eagle Farm Road on the Mochdre Business Park, was selling the building to another … Read More
13 January CDM 2015 – Draft Guidance CDM 2015 – starting in April 2015 at a site near you! Principal designer The replacement of the CDM co-ordinator role (under CDM 2007) by principal designer. This means that the responsibility for coordination of the pre-construction phase – which is crucial to the management of any successful construction project – will rest with an … Read More
9 January Radon Health Hazards and Controls The radioactive gas radon is a hazard in many homes and workplaces. Breathing in radon is the second largest cause of lung cancer in the UK resulting in up to 2000 fatal cancers per year. However radon hazards are simple and cheap to measure and relatively easy to address if levels are high. It is important … Read More
19 December Unsafe roof work – work at height Unsafe roof work – work at height: a West Midlands building firm has been fined after being spotted twice carrying out unsafe roof work just a few days apart. An employee of CB(WM) Ltd was seen working on the roof of a house in Quinton in 2014, having used a poorly-built tower scaffold to access the roof. A … Read More