A vertical farming, glasshouses and energy company has been sentenced after a worker came into contact with an 11kV overhead power line.
On 3 December 2018, a subcontractor scaffolding worker was unloading some scaffolding poles near power cables in Willerby, Hull, when one of the poles caught the overhead line. He sustained burns to his leg and foot and was hospitalised.
The HSE’s investigation found that the site was very muddy, and operatives were unable to park their vehicles on site near the work area, meaning they had to move the materials onto the site by hand. There were also inadequate controls on site to warn of the overhead cables.
Cambridge Glasshouse Company Limited of Wallingfen Park, Main Road, Newport Brough, East Yorkshire pleaded guilty to breaching Section 14 of the Electricity at Work Act 1989. The company was fined £333,333 and ordered to pay costs of £1,235.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Sarah Robinson said: “The company should have planned the work to mitigate the risks and had better signage and controls around the site for overhead cables.
“This was a very serious incident and could have easily been fatal.”
This is valid as of 4th August 2021.
A director of a woodworking company has been fined for failing to comply with Enforcement Notices served to protect the health and safety of workers in his workplace.
In November 2016 and August 2018, Classical Joinery Group Limited in Neath (now dissolved) had not complied with four Enforcement Notices. The Notices had been served to ensure compliance with controlling health risks associated with the use of hazardous substances and controlling fire and explosion risks associated with the spraying of flammable substance.
An HSE investigation found that Peter John Gittins was the sole director of the company and, by his consent or connivance, Classical Joinery Group Limited had failed to comply with all of the Improvement Notices served.
Peter John Gittins of Abbey Road Industrial Estate, Neath, pleaded guilty to four offences that contravened Section 37(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. He was fined £2,000, given a 12-month community order and ordered to pay costs of £6,488.36.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Lee Jones said, “We do not tolerate disregard for health and safety and consider the non-compliance of HSE Enforcement Notices as a serious offence.
“In this case, Mr Gittins chose to flagrantly ignore the support, guidance and warnings from HSE to assist his compliance with the law; in doing so, he put people at risk.”
This is valid as of 2nd August 2021.
(Scotland)
Two companies and two men have indicated not guilty pleas to health and safety charges brought after five workers died when a wall collapsed at a metal recycling plant.
The HSE is prosecuting Birmingham-based firms Ensco 10101 Ltd and Hawkeswood Metal Recycling Ltd after a long-running inquiry into the fatalities in the Nechells area of the city on 7 July 2016.
Ensco 10101 is accused of failing to discharge a duty to a person other than an employee in July 2016, and failing “to ensure, so far as was reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare” of all its employees.
Hawkeswood Metal Recycling faces a charge alleging that it failed to conduct its undertaking in such a way to ensure that those not in its employment were not exposed to risks; and a second count relating to the safety of employees.
The companies, both of Riverside Works, Trevor Street, Nechells, indicated not guilty pleas through their lawyers at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court.
Wayne Anthony Hawkeswood, 50, faces four alleged breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Graham John Woodhouse, 54, also of Riverside Works, has been charged with four offences related to his duties as an employer on or about 7 July 2016.
Five workers, all originally from Senegal and the Gambia, died when a concrete partition wall gave way.
Labourers Almamo Jammeh, 45, Ousmane Diaby, 39, Bangally Dukuray, 55, Saibo Sillah, 42, and 49-year-old Mahamadou Jagana were all pronounced dead at the scene after the wall and part of a stored pile of 263 tons of metal ingots collapsed. A sixth man suffered serious injuries.
All four defendants have indicated not guilty pleas and the case was transferred to Birmingham Crown Court for a further hearing on 11 June.
This is valid as of 26th May 2021.
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