Health and safety update March 2019

Welcome to our March 2019 health and safety update where we look at the health and safety stories that have recently hit the headlines as well as the latest fines and sentences that have been handed down.

In the news

Shoreham air crash pilot not guilty of gross negligence manslaughter

Andrew Hill, aged 54, has been unanimously acquitted of charges of gross negligence manslaughter by an Old Bailey jury, following the deaths of 11 people in an air crash. Read more. 

Fines reduced by Court of Appeal for two companies in linked case

 NPS London Ltd (“NPS”) – assets of parent company A fine of £370,000 imposed upon NPS by Southwark Crown Court in July 2017 has been reduced to £50,000 by the Court of Appeal. Read more. 

Fines and sentences

Two companies sentenced following the death of a five-year old girl trapped in a lift

As reported previously in our September 2018 bulletin, a five-year old girl, Alexys Brown, was fatally injured when, on 15 September 2009, her head became stuck in the vision panel of a disability lift at her family home in Weymouth. Read more. 

£1million fine for Veolia after worker fatally injured by reversing vehicle

On 18 October 2013, John Head, an employee of waste company Veolia VS (UK) Limited, was walking across a yard at the Ross Depot Waste Transfer Station in Folkestone, when he was knocked over by a reversing refuse collection vehicle. Read more. 

10-month prison sentence for company director’s illegal paint stripper sale

Nicholas Corbett, the sole director of Nuneaton-based Abel (UK) Ltd, now dissolved, was found to be selling a weed killer containing sodium chlorate, which was not approved for use in weed killers. Read more. 

Balfour Beatty fined £600,000 for death of worker struck by wheeled excavator

On 13 January 2016, Ian Walker, a 58-year old construction worker, was fatally injured by a wheeled excavator whilst working on the Third Don Crossing in Aberdeen. Read more. 

Arcadia Group fined £450,000 after 10-year old suffered serious injury in a Glasgow Topshop store

On 7 February 2017, a 10-year old girl accompanying her mother during a shopping trip suffered a fractured skull, when a queue barrier when a queue barrier toppled in a Topshop store in Glasgow’s Silverburn shopping centre. Read more. 

Two companies each fined £350,000 following death of a worker crushed by machinery at a paper mill

In February 2017, 29-year old Austin Thomas, a former soldier, was working for haulage firm, CM Downton Ltd at Shotton Paper Mill, owned by UPM-Kymmene. Mr Thomas was fatally injured when he was struck from behind by a shovel loader. Read more. 

Construction company fined £300,000 after worker fatally injured from fall

On 14 November 2015, an employee of London-based Formation Construction was using a concrete breaker on a building site in Acton in order to create a stairwell opening. He suffered fatal injuries after falling from a height of 7.5 metres. Read more. 

Environmental

Two convictions quashed in pollution appeals

In Millmore & Others v Environment Agency [2019] EWHC 443 (Admin), the Court of Appeal overturned two out of five convictions for pollution offences relating to employees of Southern Water. Read more. 

Disqualified director ordered to repay illicit funds at proceeds of crime hearing

Mr Dugbo was a director of TLC Recycling. In July 2016 he was convicted of falsifying documents to facilitate illegal claims for the amount of collected household, electrical waste, so as to recover higher fees through a Government-backed scheme. Read more. 

Curfew and fine for illegal waste offender

On 10 January 2019, Tony Haywood, who was running a breaker’s yard in Awsworth, Nottingham, was sentenced at Derby Magistrates Court for offences concerning illegal waste activities and operating without an Environmental Permit. Read more. 

Round-up

HSE issue safety alert for mild steel welding fume

Those engaged in welding activities, including mild steel, in any industry have been alerted of changes to the HSE’s enforcement expectation in this area. Read more.