A Nottinghamshire foundry has been sentenced after two employees suffered serious burns from an electrical flashover.

Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court heard how, on 2 September 2016, at BAS Castings Ltd two employees were working to reinstate the power supply to one of the furnaces after repair work had been completed by contractors. After replacing the fuses, they shut the door to the fuse panel which engaged the interlock and tried to close the main switch. As this would not operate they opened the panel door and decided to bypass the interlock using a screwdriver in order to try the main switch again. At this point an electrical flashover occurred. Both employees suffered serious skin burns requiring surgery followed by a two week stay in hospital to recover.

An investigation carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that at the time of the incident, BAS Castings Ltd did not have any electrical safety rules, safe systems of work or a permit system in place, and there were no recorded systems or rules for working with electricity. There was no assessment of risk and the injured employees were not provided with any specific instructions on how to undertake the work safely. The company also allowed employees to work on live conductors without consideration of the conditions which are stipulated in law.

BAS Castings Limited of Wharf Road Industrial Estate, Pinxton, Nottinghamshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4 (3) and Regulation 14 of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989. It was fined a total of £60,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1353.90

HSE inspector Leigh Stanley speaking after the case said: “Those in control of work have a responsibility to devise safe methods of working and to provide the necessary information, instruction and training to their workers in the safe system of working. If a suitable safe system of work had been in place prior to the incident, the injuries sustained by the employees could have been prevented.”

Notes to Editors:

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We prevent work-related death, injury and ill health through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors through to targeted interventions on individual businesses. These activities are supported by globally recognised scientific expertise. hse.gov.uk
2. More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: legislation.gov.uk/
3. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk

5 April 2018

* Green Party launches strongest ever local election campaign standing candidates in 2200 seats

* Party stands record number of candidates since these seats were last contested

* Jonathan Bartley: “One more Labour or Tory councillor won’t make a difference. But one Green could change everything.”

The Green Party will launch [1] its strongest ever local election campaign today (Thursday 5 April), with hopes of electing Greens on more local authorities than ever before as the party works towards having a Green on every council.

Greens are contesting 2200 seats on May 3, more than half seats up for election. The party is standing a record number of candidates since these seats were last contested, and the most candidates ever in London.

Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green Party, will appeal to voters to choose a Green to stand up for their community instead of adding “one more Labour or Tory to already complacent councils.”

Bartley will also highlight the impact Green councillors across Britain have when they are elected, like in Sheffield where Alison Teal has stood with residents against the felling of healthy street trees after the council gave a £2 billion highway maintenance contract to a private company [2].

The launch will take place in Central Hill estate in London which is facing demolition by Lambeth Council. Green Councillor Scott Ainslie has stood with residents opposing the demolition [3], and the Green Party is hopeful to make gains in Central Hill in May.

Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green Party, is expected to say:

“The Green Party wants to see a Green on every council to build a better Britain from the bottom up.

“Across the country councils have forgotten the people they are meant to serve. From Lambeth council planning to demolish residents homes to Sheffield sacrificing the natural environment to private contracts, one party state councils are riding roughshod over the wishes of their communities.

“In these local elections people have the choice to add one more Labour or Tory councillor to already complacent councils – or choose a Green who can change everything.

“Greens will always be a bold, brave voice standing up for local communities and challenging the status quo. One Green has the power to transform a community.”

Notes:

Green Party local election campaign launch

Thursday 5 April 2018

Speech from Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green Party, in Central Hill housing estate in London, which is facing demolition.

In Sheffield Green councillor Alison Teal has stood with residents protecting the city’s trees – 5,500 of which have already been felled after the Labour led council gave a highway maintenance contract to a private company. Alison and other residents have been arrested for their efforts, with charges later dropped. The Green Party believes our environment is more important than profit and Green councillors will always stand up against the destruction of the local environment.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/27/sheffield-councillor-cleared-of-breaching-tree-felling-order

In Lambeth Green councillor Scott Ainslie has stood with residents on six estates facing demolition by the Labour led council. The planned regeneration of Central Hill housing estate will destroy a community and leave the borough with fewer social homes as a result. The Green Party believes residents should always get a say over what happens to their homes and will never stand by while social homes are destroyed.

https://lambeth.greenparty.org.uk/news/2018/03/06/green-party-councillor-denied-call-in-of-central-hill-decision-by-lambeth-council/

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Nissan, Toyota and Vauxhall have all now announced important investments in the UK post the referendum. We were told the opposite would happen by Remain. During our tine in the EU Ford pulled out of making vehicles here and BL collapsed completely.

In the year to March 2018 UK shop prices fell by 1% according to the British Retail Consortium. They tell us that “shop prices have been deflationary for 59 months now, and this is the deepest deflation since February 2017”. I haven’t heard the usual voices scrambling to tell us this is all because of Brexit. There has been far less comment on this than the rush to get it wrong when general prices were briefly going up a bit faster last year, when many came forward to tell us it was the result of sterling which in turn they thought was related to Brexit. I explained then that their forecasts of much higher inflation to come were likely to prove wrong, and explained how they had misunderstood the movements of sterling and their likely impact on prices.

Sterling has been rising gently for some time as we move closer to Brexit, and shop prices have fallen again. Sterling fell a lot in the year and a half before the vote for unrelated reasons. It had fallen from $1.71 to $1.42 before the referendum. This did not stop shop prices falling. It is around $1.40 today. The Euro was strong last year against all comers. Shop prices have always had more to do with world output, internet competition to retailers and the hugely competitive market for things like clothing and electrical appliances that the world market has provided. The Retail Price Index has been more volatile thanks to rising international energy prices and domestic price pressures like Council Tax and the EU/UK move to dearer electricity for policy reasons.