Firm fined for scaffold subbie's serious injuries - falls
A housebuilding firm has been fined after a worker employed by a subcontractor was serious injured in a fall from a scaffold. Construction company Hadden Construction Ltd was fined £2,500 at Stirling Sheriff Court, having pleaded guilty to safety offences. Robert Bone, aged 25, sustained severe injuries when he fell approximately 3.3 metres from the scaffold in January 2007. He was employed by ACUR Joiners Ltd, which was providing joiners to Hadden Construction Ltd on a labour only basis. All materials and working platforms, such as scaffolding, were provided by Hadden. The week before the incident Hadden carried out the statutory weekly inspection on the scaffold and deemed that it was in good order. On the day of the incident, however, two boards were missing from the platform, and Mr Bone stepped backwards into the space. He fell over three metres and suffered severe injuries including broken bones in his back and a fractured breast bone. The HSE investigation revealed Hadden Construction Ltd had failed to ensure scaffolding on this site was maintained in a safe condition and that only competent persons carried out alterations to it. Commenting after the case, HSE inspector Isabelle Martin said: 'It is important that those responsible for managing construction sites maintain the scaffolding to ensure that there is a safe working platform at all times. Scaffolding must be regularly inspected - at least weekly - to ensure that it remains in a safe condition. However, it is entirely possible that the scaffolding may need to be inspected at other times as well, such as where alterations are made between those inspections. These alterations must be carried out in a controlled manner by competent individuals who should ensure that guardrails and boarded platforms are complete and the scaffolding is sufficiently safe at all times.'
• HSE news release.    • HSE construction falls webpage.

Steel giant is fined £3,000 for toe loss - guarding
A South Wales steel company has been fined after an incident in which a worker lost four toes. Matthew Walters trapped his foot in a machine used to move steel at the Celsa plant in Cardiff. The Spanish-owned company pleaded guilty at Cardiff Magistrates' Court to failing to prevent access to dangerous parts of the machinery. It was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £2,000 costs, in a case brought by the Health and Safety Executive. HSE said the company should have taken measures to ensure that the machinery parts were suitably guarded, after an investigation showed there was no safety guard in place. The case is one of four serious incidents at the steel plant in recent months. Celsa was prosecuted after a worker lost a finger and thumb when his hand was trapped and crushed on October 2006. John Penhalagan, 44, was crushed to death in May 2007. And a 41-year-old man died in hospital after a fall at the steelworks in December 2006. He was not supposed to be on shift and the plant was not operating at the time.

15 December 2007
Hub floors cement mill worker
A Unite member received compensation of £50,000 when he was struck on the leg by a coupling hub. The 53-year-old member, identified as Mr Earney, was employed as a mechanical craft worker for Blue Circle Industries plc at their factory premises in Westbury, Wiltshire. He was asked to move a damaged coupling hub from the gearbox on the cement mill. He used a hydraulic jack as instructed by his employer, to get to the correct pressure. Unknown to Mr Earney, the locking nut securing the hub had been undone too far. As a result, and under pressure from the hydraulic jack, the hub suddenly shot forward at great speed directly towards him. The hub, which weighed in excess of one tonne, struck him with force on his right leg. Mr Earney explained: 'I had a compound fracture which needed prolonged medical treatment. I was not able to work at all for a month and even when I returned to work I was only able to work for a couple of hours a day to start off with, carrying out light duties. In the end, I had to change my job because of my injuries.' Unite regional secretary Andy Frampton said: 'This case highlights the duties on employers to provide safe equipment at work and the need to ensure that other work colleagues are properly trained.'
• Thompsons Solicitors news release.

Vibration permanently harms man's hands
A 24-year-old crack tester from Doncaster who says he was forced out of his job after vibrating tools permanently damaged his hands has received a £30,000 compensation settlement. Unite member Dean Grice was employed by MSI Forks Ltd, a firm making forks for forklift trucks. He had worked for the firm since 1997. His job required him to grind out defects on the forks using pencil grinders and angle grinders - tools which vibrated in his hands. As a result, he developed hand arm vibration syndrome (HAVS - also known as vibration white finger) - a painful condition which causes the fingers to go white and numb - as well as carpal tunnel syndrome, which causes numbness, tingling and pain in the fingers. Mr Grice explained: 'It was my GP who told me that I had symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome and he referred me to the Doncaster Royal Infirmary. Sadly my employer refused to re-deploy me to a job where I wouldn't be exposed to vibration so I had no choice but to resign.' Unite regional secretary Davey Hall said: 'This is not the first time that an employee of MSI Forks Ltd has suffered from hand arm vibration syndrome. We hope that it will now force them to ensure that correct health and safety procedures are in place.' The two conditions are commonly associated with work with vibrating tools, and have been the subject of a series of recent industrial disease payouts (Risks 298).
• Thompsons Solicitors news release.

Dawson's driver develops diesel dermatitis - hazardous substances
A delivery driver who developed irritant contact dermatitis when diesel splashed on his hand is to receive £1,800 compensation. Dawson Holdings plc employee William Smith, 54, was filling his work van with diesel using a hand held nozzle. Diesel blew back from the tank of the van and went directly onto his hands. The fuel pump did not have a protective guard and he was not provided with gloves to protect his hands. Unite member Mr Smith said: 'I immediately felt a burning sensation in my hands. It felt like stinging nettles. Later, my symptoms got worse and my hands went red and blistered. The skin started flaking off and I had to go and see my GP. I couldn't wash up or use detergents. My GP told me that I had dermatitis and gave me some steroid cream which I am still using.' Laura Murray of Thompsons Solicitors, who represented Mr Smith, commented: 'This case highlights the need for employers to provide their workers with protective clothing. Although the risks involved in this task were assessed, protective gloves were not made readily available to employees, nor were employees aware that they were necessary or available. Since this accident, the employer has made gloves available and has erected signs at the fuel pump to advise all employees to use the gloves.'
• Thompsons Solicitors news release.

TK Maxx fined over ladder fall
Retail giant TK Maxx has been fined £50,000 after a worker fell off a ladder and was unconscious for almost a month. Christopher Polles, 51, was working at the company's distribution centre in Chesterton when he fell between 10 and 12 feet. He suffered a fractured skull and swelling on the brain as a result of the incident on 10 October 2005. He was unconscious in intensive care for three-and-a-half weeks. After intensive rehabilitation and physiotherapy, he has now returned to work at TK Maxx, but still suffers some after-effects and is no longer able to drive. Dominic Kay, prosecuting on behalf of Newcastle Borough Council, told Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court that Mr Polles was clearing a blockage from a conveyor belt near the ceiling of the warehouse. He said the belt, which is designed to transfer cardboard boxes to a compactor, was becoming blocked on an increasing number of occasions, due to the amount of boxes it had to cope with. Senior managers were aware of the problem and had set up a working group to discuss installing a new system. Mr Kay said the council had sent TK Maxx a letter in 2003 giving them advice on how to unblock the belt. 'This was an accident waiting to happen,' he added. The court heard the conveyor belt has now been lowered to prevent blockages. Judge Paul Glenn fined TK Maxx £50,000 and ordered it to pay £9,887 costs. He said the company deserved credit for its early guilty plea, full co-operation with the investigation and the steps taken since the accident to remedy the problems.
• The Sentinel.

Firm pays for ignoring falls warnings
A Liverpool construction company has been fined for failing to implement safe systems for working at height despite repeated official warnings. Maghull Construction Company Ltd was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £1,908 costs after pleading guilty at Southport Magistrates court to breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. After a tip off from a member of the public, a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector visited a Maghull construction site and found problems including inadequate edge protection and missing guardrails and toe boards. A prohibition notice required work to stop near open edges until suitable measures to prevent falls were in place. When the inspector revisited the site over three months later she discovered similar problems and a second prohibition notice was served. HSE inspector Sarah Wadham said: 'This company placed its employees at risk by not taking reasonable precautions to prevent accidents while working at height. After visiting the site I had such concerns about the dangers that I issued a prohibition notice to ensure the company met their responsibilities for the health and safety of their workers.' She added: 'Despite receiving written assurances that action had been taken to make the site safe, when I revisited it I again found serious breaches of health and safety practices and the company's own guidelines.' Failure to comply with an HSE notice can result in a jail term.
• HSE news release and falls webpages.

Drivers get slip up payouts - slips and trips
A bus driver and a lorry driver have received compensation after slipping at work. London bus driver Stephen Jacobs received £6,000 compensation after falling on a wet floor after leaving a toilet at a terminus. The Unite member hit the doorframe of the canteen door as he fell, dislocating his left little finger and suffered a soft tissue injury to his left hand. He said: 'My fingers were strapped together for 6 weeks and when the strapping came off I could barely move my fingers and had to have physiotherapy to help me to move my little finger again.' His solicitor, Deborah Smith, said: 'Cresswell Office Services Limited strenuously defended the claim and settled just two weeks before the trial was due to be heard. They claimed the floor was dry, as their cleaner had removed the signs once the floor had dried, blaming wet weather. Given the overwhelming evidence in support of my client's claim, this is a difficult argument to comprehend. I am pleased that Mr Jacobs has finally been awarded the compensation to which he was clearly entitled.' Simon Omer, an HGV driver with supermarket chain Sainsburys received £5,250 after slipping and injuring his left knee. The Unite member slipped on the steps of a works vehicle. Representing Mr Omer for the union, Marcus Weatherby, from Pattinson & Brewer solicitors, said: 'The step in question should have been covered with anti-slip material. The metal step was smooth, slippery and hazardous. Had there been a non-slip surface, this accident would have been avoided'.
• Pattinson & Brewer news releases on the Jacobs and the Omer cases.

Six figure payout for job ending injury - falls
A Merseyside man whose life has been seriously impaired as a result of a serious back injury at work has received a six-figure payout from Glen Dimplex Cooking. The 61-year-old Unite member from Prescot, worked as a facilities engineer for the firm and sustained a serious back injury when he fell down a damp sloping grass verge whilst reading meters at one of the firm's factory buildings. He was awarded £250,000 compensation in the union-backed claim. The injured man explained: 'I injured my back very badly but I still tried to continue working for four months. I was given pain killing injections which allowed me to return to work part time in but I was unable to continue any further.' He added: 'I had an operation on my back in March 2004 and was sadly retired in April 2005. The accident has ruined my life; I now live with considerable pain and I've had to give up most of my pre-accident activities.' Unite regional secretary Laurence Faircloth commented: 'This was a very serious accident that could easily have been avoided had the employer carried out his obligations to provide a safe working environment with the support of risk assessments.'
• Thompsons Solicitors news release.

Wimpey fined £300,000 over trench tragedy
George Wimpey (North East) Ltd has been fined £300,000 after an incident in which a site worker employed by a sub-contractor was crushed to death. Neil Dunstan, 41, died when a 9ft trench he was working in collapsed on him. A second worker, Karl Buck, 28, was badly hurt in the accident at a building site near Skelton on 8 March 2004. George Wimpey (North East) Ltd and sub-contractor AW Cowan (Groundworks) Ltd were sentenced at Teesside Crown Court last week for criminal health and safety offences. Judge Peter Bowers said the tragedy was 'entirely avoidable' in a situation amounting to 'gross negligence'. The judge fined Wimpey £300,000 and ordered the firm to pay £28,367 costs. Bryan Cox QC, prosecuting, said the trenches should have been supported, but these safety measures had not been put in place. He said the trenches had collapsed on an earlier date, 16 February, which should have alerted workers to the danger. AW Cowan (Groundworks), which employed both Mr Dunstan and Mr Buck, admitted failing to ensure the health and safety of its employees at the site. It was fined £20,000 with £5,000 costs. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Michael Brown said after the case: 'This fatality and the serious injury could easily have been prevented if the appropriate safety measures had been taken. Trench collapses are entirely avoidable. Without suitable support, any vertical face of an excavation will collapse; it's just a matter of when. If heavy machinery is operated on the edge of the excavation, as happened in this case, an earlier collapse is inevitable. Excavation work has to be properly planned, managed, supervised and carried out to prevent accidents.' George Wimpey's parent company, Taylor Wimpey - Britain's largest house builder - had a revenue of £2,671.9 million in the first six months of 2007. Its first half profits before tax were £140.9 million.
• HSE news release.   Taylor Wimpey Interim Results Statement 2007  Northern Echo. The Gazette.

Inspector unearths more dust disease - silica
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Andrea Robbins has unearthed a second case of a stonemason suffering a potentially fatal dust disease. Dunhouse Quarry Co Ltd of Staindrop, Darlington, was fined £3,750 and ordered to pay costs of £8,177.40 after an unannounced inspection by Ms Robbins discovered the employee had contracted silicosis and that a number of others had been exposed to levels of respirable crystalline silica (RCS) in excess of the workplace exposure limit. Silica dust levels had previously been found to be over 100 times than the current legal exposure limit. In October, Robert Thomas Charlton, trading as Border Stone Quarries, was fined £6,000 plus £7,602 costs at Tynedale Magistrates' Court, after Ms Robbins discovered another case of silicosis in a stonemason at a separate quarry (Risks 327). 'Breathing in the very fine dust of crystalline silica can lead to the development of silicosis, which in its most acute form can result in premature death,' she said. 'It is vital employers monitor dust levels to assess the risk of exposure to RCS, and that they put control measures in place to reduce the levels to which employees are exposed, and consequently reduce their risk of developing silicosis.' Commenting on the latest prosecution, she said: 'What makes this particular situation worse is that the company had previously commissioned the services of an external company to carry out atmospheric monitoring of dust levels, including RCS but did nothing to act upon the findings despite one employee being exposed to levels up to 45 times the maximum exposure limit as it was then, which was three times higher than the current workplace exposure limit. This prosecution serves to publicise the need for employers to be vigilant in identifying substances which can affect their workers' health.' Silica exposure can also cause cancer and autoimmune diseases.
• HSE news release.