In the news.......
Brick-maker fined £280,000 for crush death!
A worker who had only been on site for two weeks, died after his head was crushed while he was clearing a conveyor.
Peter Clarke, 47, was working for brick manufacturing company Hanson Building Products Ltd, when the incident occurred at the firm’s distribution plant in Coleshill, Warwickshire, on 26 April 2008.
Mr Clark was employed as a ‘brickman’ and was stationed next to a conveyor that transferred concrete blocks from a kiln to a packaging area. He was responsible for clearing waste bricks from the production line, and collecting samples of the blocks for quality-control testing.
Sections of blocks were formed into larger groups for packaging by switching the conveyor’s direction of travel backwards and forwards. Mr Clarke was standing next to a low bridge over the conveyor when he leaned forward to remove some blocks from the machine. As he did so, another worker changed the direction of the conveyor, which caused Mr Clarke’s head to be crushed between the stack of blocks and the metal platform. The operator of the 30-metre conveyor could not see Mr Clarke because his view was obscured.
HSE inspectors visited the site on the same day and immediately issued a Prohibition Notice, preventing against the machine from being used until the safety risks were properly eliminated. HSE inspector Peter Snelgrove said: “This tragic incident could have been prevented if Hanson Building Products had carried out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment to identify all the hazards for workers operating in this area.
“There were no safe systems of work for removing the blocks and the company failed to supervise Mr Clarke adequately. The area where he was working was well known as a danger zone by other workers, but he had been on site for less than two weeks and nobody had told him about the risks.”
On 23 June, Hanson Building Products appeared at Warwick Crown Court and pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA. It was fined £280,000 and ordered to pay £29,204 in costs.
In mitigation, the firm said it regretted the incident and had fully complied with the investigation and the terms of the Prohibition Notice. It has removed the low bridge and installed a light guard, which isolates the machine if a worker leans over the conveyor. It has also provided staff with fresh training on what constitutes a safe method of work, and the defined work area.
During sentencing the judge recognised that the company had previously been prosecuted for breaching the same regulation in September 2003. It was fined £95,000 after a worker suffered serious spinal injuries after falling from a tower that was attached to a conveyor.
Speaking after the case, Mr Clarke’s widow Barbara said: “Pete’s death has devastated our family and for him to have lost his life due to a work-related incident is beyond belief. He was a much-loved husband, father and grandpa and our lives will never be the same without him.”
Lucky Escape for naturists after chemical fire!
A group of naturists in Throckley, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, alerted fire and rescue authorities after they noticed several burning barrels of illegally dumped chemical waste near their clubhouse.
A total of 16 containers, which were individually filled with acetyline, oxygen, propane and butane, had been deposited near a motorway about 400 metres from the Tando naturist club.
Club secretary Micheal Daly told info4fire: "It was irresponsible to the point of criminal but luckily we were never in danger." Members of the club were assured they did not need to evacuate after fire crews established the chemicals were non-explosive.
All of the barrels had been damaged and some were set on fire with a few puncture holes visible, “possibly [made] by a bullet,” Charlie Hall, group manager of Tyne and Wear Fire Service, said.
Firefighters were called around 3.30pm on Monday, where they used a hose reel to dampen out the flames and cool the fire. Around 50 firefighters attended throughout the afternoon and evening. It was out by 8pm.
Guest forced to flee hotel blaze without evacuation process…
A hotel company and its manager have been ordered to pay out more than £40,000 after guests and staff took up to 20 mins to evacuate the building when a fire broke out.
Businessman pays out six figure sum for fire safety breaches…..
The owner of a timber yard has been ordered to pay a total of £130,300 after pleading guilty to several breaches of fire legislation. Despite being visited on several occasions by fire officers, he failed to provide a suitable fire alarm and proper means of escape. He also failed to implement a ’suitable and sufficient’ risk assessment.
Valve manufacturer failed to assess risk of ’missiling’ during tests….
A 21 year old man was killed while testing a high pressure valve, in an accident that lead to his employer being fined £150,000. The employee was carrying out a quality control test on a valve to ensure that it didn’t leak. It is thought that during the test, the vent valve became detached from the pressure-testing machine and hit the employee at high speed in the chest. HSE investigated and found that the company had failed to carry out a sufficient risk assessment, had it done so it would have been alerted to the fact that the machine contained both air and water said the inspector. The vent valve had not been installed properly and there wasn’t a valve guard at the back of the machine, which would have prevented the vent value injuring the employee.
Sign workers ’lucky to be alive’ after scaffold collapsed
Sohail Hussain trading as Harris Signs had been contracted to repair a sign above the entrance of the Metro Inn Hotel, Stockton on Tees, Durham, Hussain erected a 4.5m tall scaffolding platform, but this was not high enough to reach the damaged sign, which was 8.5m above the ground. To cover the full distance, he placed an extension ladder on top of the platform, so he could reach the sign. Hussain climbed the ladder and began tightening the fixings while his colleague stood on top of the platform holding the ladder in place. But the platform, which was unstable and had no edge protection, overturned due to high winds, causing both men to fall to the ground . Hussain sustained injuries to his knees and his colleague suffered a fractured wrist and dislocated his right elbow. Mr Hussain was fined £1000 and ordered to pay the same amount in costs.
Taken from www.shponline.co.uk
|
