Engineering and facilities firm sentenced
Two companies have been sentenced for safety failings after a worker was electrocuted during work on a data centre in Middlesex.
Balfour Beatty Engineering Services Ltd (BBES) was contracted to carry out multi-million pound infrastructure upgrade works at the data centre in Hounslow, while Norland Managed Services Ltd (NMS) were already contracted to provide mechanical and electrical maintenance and had effective control of the site.
Ipswich Crown Court heard Martin Walton, 27, from Blackhall Colliery, Cleveland was killed on 16 October 2010 at Morgan Stanley’s Heathrow Data Centre.
The court heard the function of some new power distribution units being installed was to provide two potential power supply sources to the centre’s data storage equipment. One source was an existing substation on the site and the other was a new substation installed as part of the works.
The existing power supply was under the control of Norland Managed Services Ltd while the new supply was under the control of Balfour Beatty Engineering Services Ltd.
Connection of the first three of these units to the existing data centre infrastructure was scheduled to take place over the weekend of 16th to 18th October 2010. Last minute modifications to the units required them to be tested with two live supplies to ensure they functioned correctly before being connected to the data centre’s existing infrastructure. The first unit was successfully modified, tested and connected to the existing infrastructure. However, Martin Walton, a cable jointer employed by subcontracted company, Integrated Cable Services Ltd, was electrocuted when his forehead made contact with the 415V live terminals of the second unit.
During the sentencing hearing and the earlier trial, HSE told the court the underlying cause of the incident was a succession of failures indicative of the complete breakdown of BBES’s management of health and safety in relation to this project, particularly the breakdown of communication.
While NMS had no role in the construction project, the relevant aspect of their undertaking was the management of the impact of the construction project on the existing operational infrastructure under their control.
NMS issued a permit-to-work to Martin Walton allowing him to reroute the existing site power supply through the new distribution unit, in the knowledge it had the potential to receive a supply from a source not under their control and without confirming that the other supply was isolated.
Mechanical and electrical installation contractor, Balfour Beatty Engineering Services Ltd of Lumina Building, Ainslie Road, Hillington Park, Glasgow, admitted breaches of ss2(1) HSWA 1974 and was fined £280,000 in total (£140,000 for each breach) with £42,240 costs.
Facilities management company, Norland Managed Services Ltd, of City Bridge House, Southwark Street, London was found guilty after an earlier trial of breaching 3(1) of the Health and Safety Work etc. Act 1974 andwas fined £100,000 with £106,670 costs.
Speaking after the sentencing, HSE inspector Loraine Charles said:
“Martin Walton’s death, which had a truly devastating effect on his family and friends, was entirely preventable. Although BBES claimed to have been under pressure from a difficult and demanding client, they cannot be excused for having lost sight of the need for the effective control of risks arising from the work being carried out under their control at this data centre. Permit to work systems were operated poorly or not at all. Not one person involved in the work at the time of the accident had an accurate overall understanding of the work being carried out and, as a consequence, Martin Walton and others were unknowingly working in the vicinity of exposed live electrical terminals. NMS, who were operating an effective permit to work system in relation to the equipment under their own control, made no effort to ensure that the work they permitted did not create risk at the point at which it interacted with equipment under BBES control.”
£200,000 fine after worker fatally injured
A company which manufactures and supplies high-strength bar and cable systems has been fined £200,000 after a worker was pulled into a machine and killed.
Alan Gerrard, 47, from Rotherham, suffered fatal crush injuries when his clothing got caught in a machine which was used to apply adhesive tape to bars to stop corrosion.
Sheffield Crown Court heard that the father-of-two was an agency worker who had been working for the McCalls Special Products Limited, in Sheffield, for only three weeks when the incident occurred in January 2013.
McCalls Special Products Limited (trading as Macalloys), of Caxton Way, Dinnington, Sheffield, pleaded guilty to breaches of ss2 and 3 HSWA and was fined a total of £200,000. It must also pay £16,804 in costs.
Alan Gerrard’s wife, Debra, said:
“I am completely devastated at losing Alan. He was my soul mate and we had been together for 25 years. We shared everything and had a very happy life. I miss him in all kinds of ways. He was my world.”
Health and Safety Executive inspector Denise Fotheringham, who investigated and prosecuted this case for HSE, said:
“The law requires that employers take all reasonable steps to guard against access to such dangerous parts of machinery. This risk associated with this machine should have been assessed by the company – and it was not. It should have been adequately guarded – and it was not. Simple safety precautions would have prevented this awful incident happening.”
Family, including three year old girl, exposed to asbestos
Tenants of a house in Lincolnshire, including a three year old girl, were exposed to dangerous levels of deadly asbestos dust, a court was told.
A judge at Lincoln Crown Court fined Blankney Estates Ltd, the company which rented the property in Scopwick, after it pleaded guilty to health and safety offences. The court heard it did not manage adequately what were clearly deteriorating asbestos materials, and did not ensure that work within the property to remove an asbestos-lagged tank was properly planned and carried out safely by competent contractors.
The same court also fined plumbing company Michael Grace Ltd and Adam and John Thurlby, who were directors of a family-owned demolition company ART Dismantling Co Ltd. These defendants were prosecuted by HSE for breaching the Control of Asbestos Regulations (CAR) 2006 when they worked on removing the tank from the house.
Farming company Blankney Estates Ltd, registered address of Pannell House, Charles Street, Leicester, but with its main operations in Lincolnshire, pleaded guilty to breaching s3(1) HSWA. It was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay £20,000 in costs. HSE said it failed in its Section 3 duty to take reasonable steps to ensure the premises were safe and to ensure that the work to remove the tank was done safely.
Adam Robert Thurlby, of Sandhill Road, Farndon, Newark, Nottinghamshire, and John Thurlby, of Malt Kiln Lane, Eagle Moor, Lincoln, also pleaded guilty. They were each fined £12,500 and were each ordered to pay £7,500 costs for contravening five CAR Regulations while acting as directors of ART Dismantling.
Michael Grace Ltd, registered address of St John Street, London, but trading locally in Lincolnshire, pleaded guilty to three CAR offences and was fined £10,000 plus £5,000 in costs.
Builder fined after worker fell through roof
A builder has been fined for safety failings after an employee suffered life changing injuries when he fell through a fragile roof light.
Bristol Crown Court heard how in August 2014 the 25-year-old employee of N C Tucker Limited of Wedmore, fell five metres through a fragile roof light at a farm during roofing work. This was his first roofing job, having only worked for the company for four weeks prior to the incident.
He suffered brain injury, a fractured spine and broken ribs.
N C Tucker Limited, of The Cottage, Guildhall Lane, Wedmore, was fined a total of £26,000, and ordered to pay £3,738 in costs after pleading guilty to an offence under s2(1) HSWA 1974.
Speaking after the hearing HSE Inspector Sue Adsett said:
“The young man who fell has had life changing injuries which have severely affected him and his family. The use of nets to protect against falls through fragile roof lights is well- established in the industry, if nets had been in place this accident would have been prevented”
Construction company sentenced over multiple safety failings
A Hertfordshire based care provider engaged in construction works, has been fined after it admitted unsafe working practices, including failure to remove asbestos materials from the old buildings before demolition work.
The HSE received a complaint in March 2014 from a member of the public living close to the former hospital site on Hospital Hill, Chesham, Buckinghamshire concerning activities going on at the premises.
Upon attending, HSE inspectors noted the former Chesham Community Hospital buildings had been partially demolished by a contractor. However, on enquiring with the client, Chesham Care Ltd, it was discovered that removal of asbestos containing materials (ACM’s) had not taken place prior to demolition.
High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court, heard Chesham Care Ltd, a provider of nursing and rehabilitation services, was acting as the ‘client’ for the project, but as it had failed to appoint a principal contractor/construction design and management (CDM) co-ordinator in writing, by law it had assumed the associated legal duties and roles.
When HSE inspectors arrived, among the catalogue of failings, they found the works had been going on for around 2-3 months and observed asbestos containing materials among demolished building debris, demolition arrangements not recorded in writing, the site not securely locked or with relevant warning signs and no welfare facilities present on site.
In HSE’s opinion there was also a serious risk of injury from collapse of partially demolished buildings.
Chesham Care Limited’s registered business address is St Catherine’s Road, Broxbourne, Hertfordshire. The firm admitted multiple failures of the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2007 and was fined a total of £35,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1321.60.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Rauf Ahmed said:
“Clients have a key role in safely directing construction project. Effective arrangements at the start can have an amplified positive impact down the various stages to completion. These include making informed appointments, such as designers, principal contractors/contractors using competent sources of health and safety assistance.“
Glass manufacturer in court after employees injured in explosion
A Chester glass container manufacturer has been fined for serious safety breaches after two employees were injured in a flash fire.
Encirc Ltd was prosecuted on 22 October 2015 by the HSE following an incident at Ash Road, Elton, Chester on the 14 May 2014.
Liverpool Magistrates’ Court heard two employees fitters working in the mould shop suffered burns to their face and heads when a gas canister exploded.
While the employees were welding pieces on work benches, with flammable aerosols stored around them, a gas canister exploded causing a flash fire and injuring the men. Oxyacetylene welding was also taking place in the area giving rise to a further risk of fire and explosion and putting other employees at risk.
The HSE investigation found no risk assessment had been carried out and no instruction was given to operatives in relation to the storage and use of flammable aerosols on work benches in the mould shop.
HSE found the company had failed in its duties towards its employees and in the failure to assess the risks and to implement control measures.
Encirc Ltd of Gortahurk Road, Enniskillen, Northern Ireland pleaded guilty to breaches of s2(1) HSWA and was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £4,840.90.
Speaking after the hearing HSE Inspector Jane Carroll said:
“This case highlights the fact that a failure to properly assess the risks within a workplace and take effective remedial action can lead to poor practices developing and employees being injured.”
Care home provider and support worker fined after resident severely burned in bath
A national care home provider and one of its employees have been prosecuted after a young woman suffered full thickness burns to more than 40 percent of her body from a scalding bath.
Thirty two year old Nicola Jones required major surgery including amputation of all her toes following the incident on 13 August 2013 at 8-10 Gideon Street in Bathgate. She was also left without any flesh on her ankles.
Nicola who had been a resident at the Real Life Options registered care home for 14 years, now has to use a wheelchair and faces more corrective surgery.
Livingston Sheriff Court heard on 22 October 2015 that Sharon Dunlop, a care support worker with 11 years experience, failed to check the temperature of the water before Nicola got in the bath.
Although the immersion heater’s thermostat failed causing the scalding water in the taps, it was the failure by Sharon Dunlop to check the temperature of the water that was the direct cause of Nicola’s injuries. Colleagues who immediately came to Dunlop’s assistance claimed they ‘could feel the heat coming from the bathroom’ and suggested it must have been obvious to Sharon Dunlop that the water was scalding.
The court also heard staff members were supposed to check the water temperature before the service user bathed and fill out a record of this check. However written instructions confirming this were not provided by Real Life Options.
The HSE investigation found no risk assessment was in place for the risk of exposure to scalding water and the thermometers provided in the home were inadequate.
Sharon Dunlop of Drummond Place, Blackridge, West Lothian pleaded guilty to breaching s7 HSWA 1974 and was served with a community payback order to carry out 160 hours of unpaid work over the next 10 months.
Real Life Options of David Wandless House, Knottingley Road, West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to breaching s3(1) HSWA 1974 and was fined £20,000.
Speaking after the hearing HSE Inspector Hazel Dobb said:
“The injuries sustained by Nicola Jones were easily preventable by the simple act of checking the water temperature before she entered. Employers should ensure that their staff are provided with a thermometer and training in the safety aspects of bathing or showering people for whom they provide personal care. Thermostatic mixing valves that reduce the maximum temperature of the water at the tap, have reduced the number of accidents such as this and are a requirement in registered care homes. However, they are no replacement for a physical check of the water temperature. I would also urge anyone with an immersion heater to check that it has a secondary thermostatic cut-out to prevent the hot tank boiling if it fails”.
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