A self-employed builder has been fined after a contractor working for him suffered serious injuries when a single-story roof he was demolishing by hand, collapsed at a construction site in Cobham, Surrey.

Brighton Magistrates’ Court heard that, on the 15 April 2019, the contractor was standing on the roof of a partially demolished single-story extension of a domestic building undergoing refurbishment. Whilst he was on the roof, it collapsed and the worker suffered significant injuries to his right leg including a fractured tibia and fibular. Due to the damage sustained, his leg was later amputated above the knee.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found there was no safe system of work in place, as the demolition work had not been adequately planned. The stability of the structure during the demolition work had not been assessed, and there were no measures in place to prevent falls from the roof.

Patrick Sheehan of Walton Street, Walton-on-the-hill, Surrey, trading as Mastercraft Building Services, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (2) of the Health and Safety at Work Etc Act 1974. He was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,383.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Leah Sullivan said: “The contractor’s injuries were life-changing and he could have easily been killed. This serious incident and the devastating effects on his life, could have been avoided if basic safe systems of work been put in place.

“Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”

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. www.hse.gov.uk
2. More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: www.legislation.gov.uk/
3. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk

A hazardous waste treatment company has been fined after an employee died when a forklift truck he was driving overturned and crushed him.

Manchester Magistrates Court heard how, on the 3 April 2017, a worker employed by Lanstar Ltd at Cadishead, Manchester, died because the company had failed to ensure its forklift trucks were being operated safely.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the company had not adequately considered the risks of forklift trucks overturning at its Cadishead site and had not ensured seatbelts were being worn by drivers as necessary – despite it being company policy to do so. The potential for forklift trucks to overturn is well known within industry, as is the use of seatbelts to reduce the chance of injury in the event of an overturn.

Lanstar Limited of Liverpool Road, Cadishead, Manchester, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. They were fined £126,000 and ordered to pay costs of £17,664.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Principal inspector Ian Copland said: “This incident could so easily have been avoided if the driver had been wearing a seat belt as per company policy. However, because the company did not fully appreciate the risk of an overturn, management failed to instruct and supervise their drivers properly. This resulted in seatbelts not routinely being worn by forklift truck drivers on site.

“HSE hope that this case helps to communicate important messages for employers to properly assess risks and put in place appropriate controls.”

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. www.hse.gov.uk
2. More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/l117.htm
3. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk

A commercial printing company has been  sentenced for safety breaches after two employees were injured in separate incidents involving a printing press and a palletising machine.

Telford Magistrates’ Court heard how, on 17 October 2018, an employee of Precision Colour Printing in Telford sustained a de-gloving injury when his hand was dragged into the rollers of a printing press, as he cleared a blockage. In a second incident, on 18 January 2019, another employee sustained a broken wrist whilst dealing with a misaligned paper log on a palletiser machine. The clamping arm descended and crushed his hand.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that, in both cases, the risk assessments in place were not suitable and sufficient as they did not consider the risks of clearing blockages or dealing with misaligned paper logs. As a consequence, the employees involved in the incidents had not been provided with safe systems of work, sufficient information, instruction or training for such tasks.

Precision Colour Printing Limited of 1 Halesfield, Telford, pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. They were fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £8,547.60

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Keeley Eves said: “These incidents could so easily have been avoided by simply identifying and implementing appropriate control measures and safe working practices.

“Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”

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/

And information about machinery guarding and inspection can be found at Inspection of work equipment – Work equipment and machinery (hse.gov.uk)

3. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk

A livestock market partnership has been prosecuted after an employee was attacked by a horned bull prior to auction.

Telford Magistrates’ Court heard how, on 16 September 2019, a drover employed by McCartneys LLP was moving livestock at the auction site when he was attacked by the bull while trying to secure the animal in a pen. He suffered a serious laceration to his leg.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that cattle handling activities had not been adequately risk assessed and the system of work for moving cattle was unsafe. The bull, who had been identified as fractious and potentially aggressive, was being moved a distance of approximately 40 metres to get to designated isolation pens for difficult cattle. The risk of a drover being injured by a bull, potentially agitated by travel and unfamiliar surroundings, should have been eliminated by segregating staff from the livestock. Reasonably practicable steps taken following the incident allowed fractious bulls to be penned immediately after they were booked in at the cattle crush, avoiding any possible contact with droving staff.

McCartneys LLP of The Ox Pasture, Overton Road, Ludlow pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. They were fined £16,000 and order to pay costs of £5,685.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Wendy Campbell said: “Livestock handling can be dangerous due to the unpredictability of animals. However, injury or death can be avoided if risks are adequately assessed and safe systems of work using appropriate equipment are introduced to ensure that people are segregated from livestock wherever reasonably practicable.”

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. www.hse.gov.uk
2. More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: www.legislation.gov.uk/
3. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk
4. Further information about gas safety can be found at http://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/

Today, Thursday 16 December 2021, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published statistics that cover work-related ill health, non-fatal workplace injuries and enforcement action taken by HSE, in the 2020/21 period.

• 1.7 million workers suffering from a work-related illness, around half of which were stress, depression or anxiety

Two new estimates have been developed to measure the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic;

• 93,000 workers self-reported catching COVID-19 at work; 52,000 of these worked in the human health and social work sector
• 645,000 workers reported that their work-related illness was caused or made worse by the coronavirus pandemic; 70 per cent of these were cases of stress, depression or anxiety.

The pandemic has affected certain data collection and impacted on assessment of trends, therefore there is no new data on working days lost and the associated economic cost for 2021.

It is not known whether some of the people reporting a coronavirus-related ill health condition would have developed and reported an ill health condition if pre-pandemic working practices had continued. It is therefore not possible to assess the scale of work-related ill health independent of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

HSE’s Chief Executive, Sarah Albon, commented:

“These annual statistics are important to give us a clear picture of the health and safety risks faced by workers in the Great Britain and help to inform the measures HSE, employers, policy-makers and workers themselves need to take to ensure everyone can go home from work safe and well.

“The 12-month period in question coincides with the first national lockdown and the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic. There have been significant impacts on the labour market, which is reflected in our reporting.

“We worked differently too in responding to the challenges posed by the pandemic, advising across Government, helping to shape guidance for businesses and implementing our Covid Spot Check programme to ensure workplaces were kept as safe as possible.”

Of the 1.7 million workers who suffered from a work-related illness (new or long standing) in 2020/21, 800,000 were stress, depression or anxiety, and 28% were musculoskeletal disorders (500,000 workers).

Sarah Albon continued:

“The latest figures on work-related stress reinforce our previous concerns around the scale of this issue in workplaces. Just last month we announced our new Working Minds campaign, in partnership with a number of key organisations, to help employers make recognising the signs of work-related stress routine.

“HSE continues to act as a proportionate and enabling regulator taking the most appropriate actions to achieve the best and quickest result. However, where employers fall short of expected standards, HSE will not hesitate to hold those responsible to account.”

-ENDS –

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. http://www.hse.gov.uk.
2. HSE’s statistics on work-related ill health, non-fatal injuries and enforcement are available here Health and safety statistics (hse.gov.uk).
3. Because of the discontinuity presented by furlough and other impacts on data collection, no statistics on working days lost and the associated economic costs are included in this year’s statistics. HSE is publishing a technical note which explains this impact and why it is felt better to omit these statistics rather than present an inaccurate picture https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/coronavirus/covid-19.pdf.
4. HSE is adopting two new measures to understand the contribution of the coronavirus pandemic to work-related ill health. These will estimate:
5. COVID-19 due to exposure to coronavirus at work as reported by workers
6. Other work-related illness caused or made worse by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, as reported by workers, for example, changes in working conditions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

This data is gathered from self-reporting by workers. Reports of fatalities from COVID-19 under RIDDOR are not covered in these statistics but are published monthly https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/coronavirus/management-information.htm. To note, any disparity between self-reports and formal reports is broadly consistent with historic patterns of reporting.

5. A total of 185 cases were prosecuted in 2020/21 by HSE or, in Scotland, referred to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service for prosecution, and resulted in a conviction, down from 325 the previous year. This could be attributed to disruption in the court system during this period. The amount taken in fines fell to £26.9 million in 2020/21, although the average fine per case issued was higher compared to 2019/20. Due to COVID-19 the number of enforcement notices issued by Local Authorities is not available for 2020/21. However, HSE issued 2,929 enforcement notices in 2020/21, a decrease of 58% from the previous year.
6. Further information on annual fatal injury statistics released in July can be found at Statistics – Work-related fatal injuries in Great Britain (hse.gov.uk).