Lawford Kidd's Blog

A waste management and recycling company has been fined for safety failings after a worker lost most of his arm on an unguarded conveyor system at a Kent quarry.

Dartford Magistrates heard that a conveyor belt used to transfer waste into a sorting shed was juddering and virbrating, making sorting difficult, after a driving roller was blocked by stones.

Agency employee Vladislavs Golovacs should have stopped the machine before removing the debris. Instead he removed the stones with the power still running and his left arm became trapped and was torn with extreme force.

A builder has pleaded guilty to a contravention of Sections 3 and 33 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 at Haddington Sheriff Court, and was fined £15,000.

The builder had been contracted to rebuild the chimney on a property in Gifford but failed to ensure that it was fully cleared of any debris and masonry materials that had fallen in. The chimney was therefore still blocked when the family who lived there used the fire in the living room.

The blockage impeded the combustion process of the solid fuel fireplace, and caused the fumes from the fireplace to build up, causing an accumulation of carbon monoxide to which the three occupants of the house were exposed. A 60-year-old woman died as a result of the exposure.

A private healthcare provider managing a hospital in Ipswich has been fined for safety failings after an employee suffered a fractured kneecap.

Mrs Shelagh Allen was working in the clinic room of a ward, which was being wet-mopped by a housekeeper during the ward's busiest period. Mrs Allen went into the room after completing a patient drugs round and fell badly on her right knee causing a multiple fracture of her kneecap. Her knee was operated on at the hospital that same day and she was discharged two days later. She was fitted with a leg brace and was able to walk only with the aid of crutches for around four months.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that the company had failed to ensure the safety of Mrs Allen and others whilst working in their hospital.

On Saturday 28th April, unions and safety campaigners around the world will be marking Workers' Memorial Day and remembering the two million men and women who die every year as a result of work-related accidents and diseases.

In the UK over 20,000 people die prematurely every year as a result of injuries or accidents caused by their work. As well as remembering the dead, the day also serves as a reminder that workplace-related deaths are not inevitable and can be prevented.

This year the TUC is calling on unions and safety campaigners to make 28th April a day of action to defend health and safety from attacks by the press, politicians and employers.

An Edmonton-based recycling company has been fined for failing to protect employees working with lead.

The company had bought and was stripping some lead-sheathed copper cabling from British Telecom after the network began to be changed from copper to fibre optic cable.

An investigation carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that more than 90 workers - most of whom were Romanian - were significantly exposed to lead as a result of this process.