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Only 19% of the organisations potentially exposing employees to asthmagens have health surveillance, according to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) research. RR1139: Uptake and quality of health surveillance for occupational asthma in the woodworking, baking and motor vehicle repair sectors presents research into the levels of uptake and quality of health surveillance for occupational asthma in…

Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd has been sentenced for safety breaches after a worker fell 4.8 metres through an unprotected opening. On 28 April 2016, Mark Smith, aged 36, was working at Stone Gappe Hall, Lothersdale, Keighley, owned by Richard McAlpine, a director of the McAlpine group of companies. Mr Smith was attaching straps to a…

A company and its director have been sentenced for failing to comply with an enforcement notice. Between May 2018 and February 2019, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) carried out a series of inspections at a construction site in South Woodford in London, after safety concerns were raised. During the inspections, the site manager and…

The director of a solar panel company in Worcestershire has been ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and to pay costs of £15,000 after his brother fell to his death while installing solar panels. Worcester Crown Court was told that, on 9 December 2015, Stephen Webb was installing solar panels on the roof of…

Water and wastewater company, Thames Water, has been fined following an incident in which three workers were carried along a sewer after a 150-year-old sewer gate collapsed. On 29 August 2017, three workers were carrying out preparatory work in a sewer for the Thames Tideway Tunnel at East Greenwich, which is controlled by Thames Water…

A Lincolnshire metal fabrication company has been fined for not complying with three HSE improvement notices. In December 2018, W S Barrett & Son Limited was issued with three improvement notices relating to testing wood dust and powder coating local exhaust ventilation (LEV), and providing LEV for welding fume extraction on its site in Boston,…

A manufacturer of engineering products and components has been fined after a profile shed supervisor was struck by a bucket and its contents. The incident happened on 4 May 2017, when a profile shed supervisor working for Nichol McKay Limited attended the automatic shot blaster to assist a colleague loading a number of components, weighing…

Hampshire County Council has been sentenced after a six-year-old girl was injured while playing on a street bollard that had been secured with cable ties. Bournemouth Crown Court was told that the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was attempting to leapfrog the 0.9 m bollard at the bottom of Quay Hill in Lymington,…

Unique Envelope Façade Solutions has been fined £20,160 after failing to protect its self-employed workers from the risk of a cable strike explosion or electrocution while carrying out repairs at a site in Coventry. On 28 November 2018, two self-employed workers were using a drill to attach a prefabricated cowling to a cable tray. One…