7 November 2007
Bedford magistrates have fined a company £20,000 for exposing workers to asbestos. Galamast Ltd, based in Bromley, Kent, was convicted last Thursday of two breaches under the Health and Safety at Work Act. The company was carrying out a 'strip-out' of the old Littlewood's store in Bedford's Harpur Centre in March 2006 when verbal instructions were misunderstood, leading to its employees, sub contractors and health and safety inspectors being exposed to the dangerous substance. Galamast Ltd...
[Read on about Company fined £20,000 for asbestos breach]
6 November 2007
The November 2007 edition of the Ai Solutions Newsletter is now available: November Newsletter.
[Read on about Newsletter - November 2007]
2 November 2007
RTAL Ltd of Purley, Surrey - which manufactures items such as handrails and security fencing - has been fined £25,000 and ordered to pay £5,000 costs after a man fell to his death because a protective guard rail had been removed. Andrew Taylor, aged 29, died on 24 January 2003 when he fell eight metres from a platform whilst installing a kiln. Managing director of the firm Terry Green was also handed a £2,500 fine and ordered to pay costs of £500, after charges were brought...
[Read on about Firm fined £25,000 after worker fell to death]
2 November 2007
East Riding Council is facing a bill of more than £10,000 after pleading guilty to failing to ensure the safety of an employee at work. A cherry picker fell on a council worker, 51 year old Elena Tradewell, with the force of a 28-stone hammer because of serious errors in the council's health and safety procedure. The machine was being used by two untrained workers in Princess Mary Promenade on the South Foreshore on September 19, 2005. The foreshore workers, who were not employed for maintenance...
[Read on about Council fined over cherry picker accident]
1 November 2007
The HSE advises against using the HACA fixed rail vertical fall arrest system type 0529.7102 which has recently failed the BS test that represents the appropriate standard for this type of equipment. The device is typically used when climbing ladders or rungs attached to fixed structures. Further information is in the HSE website, http://www.hse.gov.uk/falls/fixedrail011007.htm
[Read on about Safety warning - fixed rail vertical fall arrest system]
1 November 2007
A supervisor has been told that prison is inevitable when he appears for sentencing for manslaughter on 29 November. Paul Alker, 34, died in June, after falling through a skylight at a Wrexham store. Steven Smith, 36, from Rhostyllen, near Wrexham, admitted manslaughter, intending to pervert the course of justice and health and safety breaches. The charge stated that Smith failed to ensure Mr Alker had sufficient training, knowledge or experience to carry out work at dangerous heights, or to carry...
[Read on about Prison sentence expected for skylight manslaughter]