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13 January CDM 2015 – Draft Guidance CDM 2015 – starting in April 2015 at a site near you!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
19 December Fork Lift Truck Overturned – Fatal Accident Fork Lift Truck Overturned at a recycling company. The Company has been fined £180,000 after a worker was killed on his first day at work when the forklift truck he was driving overturned. IA (who was aged 29) was using the forklift at Recresco Ltd’s glass recycling plant in Manisty Wharf, North Road, Ellesmere Port, on … Read More
25 November Construction Safety Plasterboard Construction Safety Plasterboard – A Glasgow-based construction company has been fined for serious safety failings after a worker was severely injured when he was crushed under nearly two tonnes of plasterboard. SM, a joiner for William Fulton Building Services Ltd, was putting up plasterboards inside an extension at a house in Duntocher when the incident happened in … Read More
24 November Work at height – two separate incidents at one site Work at height – two separate incidents at one site Two workers injured following two separate work at height injuries at a national drinks company. One of the injuries occurred when a worker fell nearly four metres off a ladder whilst clearing a blockage in a chute for a grain silo. He was found unconscious on … Read More
24 November Safety and lack of communication Safety and lack of communication – a worker was crushed to death by falling load from and overhead crane. The incident happened when two employees were using the same overhead rail lifting two individual loads, both unaware of the actions of the other. The two cranes collided and sent one of the loads, a three and … Read More
24 November Pressure vessel safety – kills one and seriously injures three others Pressure vessel safety – pressure vessel kills one and seriously injures three others. The incident happened at a horticulture company who were attempting to upgrade a pressurised tank used to heat their greenhouses. Three people were seriously injured and one died of his head injuries six days later. The court was told that two workers had … Read More