Case History - Health & Safety
Detailed below are some of the cases in which we have been instructed
Multiple fatality fire Investigation at Atherstone Warwickshire.
Advising in relation to the ongoing Police and HSE Investigation following the tragic loss of 4 fire fighters at a warehouse in Atherstone on 2nd November 2007.
Gerrard’s Cross Tunnel Collapse.
Advising on an investigation by the HSE following the collapse of a tunnel over a railway line at Gerrard’s Cross on 30th June 2005.
HSE prosecution of HP Bulmer Ltd and Nalco Ltd.
Hereford Crown Court on 1st July 2008.
This prosecution followed the outbreak of legionnaires disease in Hereford from which 2 people died. Both Companies were fined £300,000 and ordered to pay £50,722.36 in costs as a result of their breaches of the Health and Safety legislation.
HSE prosecution of Easco (Midlands) Limited
for a fatality at their scrap yard at Ironbridge Works, on an industrial estate alongside the M6 near Coventry. Easco pleaded guilty to one offence under section 2 HSWA 1974 and were sentenced on 5 February 2008 at Coventry Crown Court.
They were fined £200,000 and ordered to pay costs of £55, 000
HSE v FJ Chalcroft Construction Limited.
Court of Appeal 12th March 2008 – Appeal against Sentence.
Chalcroft appealed against a total fine of £260,000 and costs in the sum of £80,000 following the death of a worker who fell from a mezzanine floor on a construction site. There was a Newton Hearing in the Crown Court. In the Court of Appeal, the fine was upheld and the appeal dismissed.
HSE prosecution of two companies within the JCB Group (Excavators Limited and Earthmovers Ltd).
Stafford Crown Court – 14th March 2008.
Each Company was sentenced separately but on the same day for the deaths of 2 employees following breaches of the health and safety legislation. JCB Earthmovers Ltd were fined £200,000 and ordered to pay £31,366.64 in costs. JCB Excavators Limited were fined £266,000 and ordered to pay £31,701.81 in costs.
HSE prosecution of Shell UK Limited and Amec Group Limited for an offshore fatality.
The Companies pleaded guilty to one offence under section 3 HSWA 1974 and one offence under section 2 HSWA 1974 respectively and were sentenced on 26th November 2008 at Norwich Crown Court following a fatality on the Shell Clipper Offshore Platform. Each was fined £150,000 and ordered to pay costs of £41,500.
Tulip Limited Appeal Against Sentence
Court of Appeal – 20th Nov 2008.
Tulip Limited appealed against a total fine of £265,000 for three offences; two contrary to section 2 HSWA 1974 and one contrary to the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, imposed in the Norwich Magistrates Court by HHJ Jacobs following prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive. Despite the company having two previous convictions and numerous previous notices the Court reduced the fine to £180,000 on the basis that Judge has taken insufficient account of the company’s efforts in drawing the breaches to the attention of the HSE and that the injury to the operative was not “highly foreseeable”.
HSE v Coventry City Council.
Coventry Crown Court on 11th February 2008.
This Local Authority of fined a total of £165,000 following the tragic death of an 11 year old girl when she was reversed over by a refuse vehicle in Coventry in April 2006.
HSE v Madhu Bhajanehatti (no 2)
See below for case 1. In case 1 the Magistrates ordered Mr Bhajanehatti (pursuant to s. 42, Health and Safety at Work Act) to supply Landlord’s Gas Safety Records. He failed to do so. He appeared at Gt. Yarmouth Magistrates Court for sentence on 6th February 2009, having pleaded guilty on an earlier occasion. The magistrates sentenced him to imprisonment for 12 weeks.
HSE v Waveney Fork Trucks Limited & Lift Truck Rentals Limited
Two companies pleaded guilty to a breach of s. 2(1) HSWA following a fatal accident to an employee of Waveney. Both companies sell, hire and service fork lift trucks in discrete areas of East Anglia. The deceased was a mobile service engineer employed by Waveney but carrying out work in Lift Truck Rentals’ area because of a staff shortage. He needed to work under a truck to repair a water leak. Neither company had carried out an adequate risk assessment for this task, and those risk assessments which had been carried out could not be shown to have been distributed to all service engineers; training was inadequate and supervision was, at best, informal and inadequate; blocks and chocks for supporting the vehicles after jacking were inadequate. A combination of these failures led to the fatality when the fork lift truck fell onto the deceased while he was working underneath. Each company was fined £16,000 (plus £15 victim surcharge) and ordered to pay £9,000 costs. The judge commented that the fine for Waveney had been greatly reduced because of their financial situation; the prosecution had been right to instruct a forensic accountant to consider the accounts of both companies.
HSE v Madhu Bhajanehatti.
Gt. Yarmouth MC – 6th October 2008.
Landlord of 2 properties each divided into 6 flats pleaded guilty to 12 offences of failure to comply with Improvement Notices (one for each flat) relating to his failure to supply a landlord’s gas safety record for each flat.
On each offence he was fined £2070, a total of £24,840, plus £15 surcharge. He was also ordered to pay the full prosecution costs claimed of £13,481.02. The court also made an order under s. 42, HSWA for Mr Bhajanehatti to undertake the LGSR inspections and provide the records to the tenants and to HSE.
HSE v Hussein Jajhbay.
On 23rd May 2008, Mr Jajhbay was sentenced to a total financial penalty of £55,000 at Blackfriars Crown Court. He was the landlord of a property in London and he failed to maintain and ensure that the gas flue appliances in his rented property were working safely and being checked properly. This resulted in the tragic death of a 6 year old girl in her own home from carbon monoxide poisoning.
HSE v Ashley John Harrington
2 day trial at Peterborough MC – 7th & 9th Feb 2007 – before DJ Sheraton.
Breach of s. 2(1), HSWA – a plant grower failed to have a safe system of work for winding poly-tunnels on to a roller. A worker (with serious hearing impairment) trapped his finger in a rope as it was being wound by a tractor’s PTO. Defendant convicted after trial and fined £5000. Also ordered to pay £19,000 towards prosecution costs.
HSE v Nalco Limited & Birds Eye
Lowestoft MC – 27th June 2007 – before DJ Cooper
Nalco – breach of s. 2(1), HSWA – guilty plea – an employee was exposed to chlorine dioxide as part of water treatment system. There was a failure to manage systems resulting in IP not being aware that chlorine dosing system was operating automatically while working in a confined space. Fined £17,500 + £17,287.80 costs.
Birds Eye (formerly Unilever Ice Cream & Frozen Foods Ltd.) – guilty plea -breach of s. 3(1), HSWA. Failure to manage confined space work. Fined £7500 + £7000 costs.
HSE v 2 Sisters Food Group Ltd.
Ipswich CC before HHJ Devaux on 16th May 2008.
Breaches of (1) s. 2(1) HSWA; (2) reg 3. Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations; (3) reg. 11, Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regs. Schnitzel machine not risk assessed and no safe system of work. Machine used regularly while unguarded. Employee got hand trapped in unguarded conveyor. Guilty plea in Magistrates’ Court – committed for sentence. Fined (1) £75,000, (2) £10,000, (3) £10,000; pay £12,242.60 costs and £2250 compensation.
HSE v Brian Chambers
– King’s Lynn MC – 15th October 2008
Sole trader shed maker pleaded guilty to breach of s. 2(1) HSWA. Used unguarded circular and cross cut saws in workshop. Young man doing work experience had 2 fingers amputated when using a circular saw without a guard. Fined £4500. Compensation: £5000. Costs: £3000. Surcharge: £15
HSE v Ateliers de Claire Fontaine s.a. and Andrew West
Bury St. Edmunds MC – 9th January 2009.
Ateliers de Claire Fontaine s.a. pleaded guilty to breaches of s. 6(1)(a) and s. 6(1)(c) HSWA. They manufactured a chive harvester and incorporated chive cutters from another company. The cutters were protected by interlocked guards, but the electrics and hydraulics could be switched off by a control in the cab, thus removing the effect of the guarding. The guards could be opened with the blades slowing to a halt. (For consequences see below). Fined £10,000 on s. 6(1)(a) and £5,000 on s. 6(1)(c) plus £10,000 prosecution costs.
Andrew West pleaded guilty in his capacity as a partner in C A West & Son, farmers to a s. 2(1) HSWA offence. The guards were opened by a Polish worker whose training was inadequate and the risks had not been properly assessed. Two fingers were completely severed and to left hanging by skin only when his fingers came into contact with the revolving blade. Mr West was fined £7,000 and ordered to pay £5,235.33 costs
HSE v Clays Limited
Lowestoft MC – 30th June 2008
Clays Limited (book printers) pleaded guilty to 3 x s. 2(1), 1 x s. 3(1) HSWA and breaches of Managements Regs 3 and 5.
1 x s. 2 and 1 x s. 3. These related to work at height on a flat roof when an employee (working with a contractor) fell through a skylight. There were no adequate systems of work or training and supervision for this issue. Fined £7,500 on each offence.
2 x s. 2 related to work at height on racking where there had been no adequate risk assessments, the second offence being committed after an HSE Inspector had warned Clays to stop and find a safer way of doing the work. There were no adequate systems of work or training and supervision for this issue. Fined £7,500 on each offence.
Management Reg 3 & 5 breaches related to a failure generally to make risk assessments and provide safe systems of work for work at height (there were other instances of failure) and the use of ladders, and for the possession and use of interlock keys for machines. Fined £1,000 on each offence.
There was also an order to pay prosecution costs of £12,159.45
HSE v Michael Price & Caroline Price
Lowestoft MC – 5th March 2008
Mr & Mrs Price pleaded guilty to one breach each of s. 3(1) HSWA relating to their operation of a children’s fairground ride in Lowestoft. The ride had no fencing to protect persons from encroaching on to the track, and the ride was, at one point, close to a wall. An adequate risk assessment had not been carried out. A small child ran alongside the ride as it was operating and became trapped between the ride and the wall. The child was drawn under train, suffering bruising, although there was the potential for fatality. The defendants each had a previous conviction for a breach of s. 3.
Each defendant was fined £4500 + £6000 costs.
HSE v Thor Group Limited
Margate MC – 25th July 2008
Thor Group pleaded guilty to 1 x s. 2(1), HSWA relating to the failure to manage and maintain a tower scaffold which fell over injuring a worker on the top of it. They also admitted failing to proving adequate instruction, training and supervision. Fined £20,000 plus £10,954.51 prosecution costs
HSE v Welwood Roofing Services Limited (in liquidation) and Building Research Establishment Limited
Luton Crown Court – 22nd-24th September 2008.
Welwood were in liquidation and took no part in the proceedings. They faced a two count indictment, both alleging offences under s. 3(1) HSWA, and were convicted by the jury of court 2 relating to a failure to induct contractors in a risk assessment and method statement. A fork lift truck provided by BRE and used by Welwood’s contractors at BRE’s premises rolled over and killed the driver, who had received no fork lift truck training and was unsupervised. Welwood’s own documentation was not followed. They were fined £50,000 and ordered to pay £25,000 prosecution costs.
Building Research Establishment had pleaded guilty to one charge under reg 9(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations relating to a failure to ensure that persons using a fork lift truck had been trained. Causation of the death of the contractor was found to be a factor. They were fined £17,500 and ordered to pay £12,000 prosecution costs.
