Accidents at Work Blog | Lesley Layton

Wednesday, 23 May 2012

Health and safety should not jeopardise jubilee celebrations

The government and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have both come forward to say that health and safety restrictions should not stop jubilee celebrations from taking place.

They are urging any event planners to challenge those who wrongly cite health and safety as a reason to cancel activities.

Further to this the HSE has published tips online in order to provide advice on staging events and dispel common misconceptions.

Unnecessary and irrelevant health and safety regulations should not be used as an excuse to prevent people to celebrate; the only red tape in sight should be the jubilee bunting hanging in the streets.

There is a move within the government at the moment to make sure that health and safety deals with real risks and is not used as an excuse to prevent other activities.

A review of much health and safety regulation is currently being undertaken in order to cut out any which are deemed unnecessary.

This has faced some criticism, but the government maintains that it will not compromise the UK's health and safety record.

The regulation which remains in place must still be adhered to in order to protect employees and prevent companies from facing prosecution and costly fines. ADNFCR-2134-ID-801368715-ADNFCR

If it you or a member of your family has been injured in an accident in the past three years call our specialist personal injury solicitors on 0800 0384 384 or click here to book a free no obligation meeting.

Tuesday, 22 May 2012

Case Study Shows Importance of Health and Safety Training

An accident case study carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), in which two employees were seriously burnt when working alongside flammable solvent fumes, is being used to promote the necessary confined space training which may have prevented the accident. The solvent fumes were ignited by an electric sander whilst the two workers removed paint from a small yacht which was under repair.

There is a very high risk of serious injury when working in such confined spaces and using such hazardous substances, and the correct health and safety training for both supervisor and workers would have assisted the employees in making the decisions that may have averted the accident.

The investigation showed that the employer failed to carry out the adequate risk assessment for entry into the yacht, which is considered to be a confined space.

There was no safe system of work in place for cleaning the paint from the surfaces, and the employees within the confined space did not have suitable work equipment for the task they were carrying out.

The overall safety of the employees when working within the confined space was severely compromised, and the case study helps to illustrate the very real dangers which come as a result of working in such conditions without the correct training.

If it you or a member of your family has been injured in an accident at work in the past three years call our specialist personal injury solicitors on 0800 0384 384 or click here to book a free no obligation meeting.

Monday, 21 May 2012

Man's arm torn off at work in horror accident in Kent

A waste management and recycling company has been fined after a worker lost most of his arm on an unguarded conveyor system at a Kent quarry.

An agency employee was attempting to clear a blockage at Pinden Quarry, in Longfield, near Dartford, when the incident occurred on December 20, 2010.

Dartford Magistrates heard on the 17^th May 2012 that a conveyor belt used to transfer waste into a sorting shed was juddering and virbrating, making sorting difficult, after a driving roller was blocked by stones.

The Latvian national, contracted to work the company, which owns the quarry, should have stopped the machine before removing the debris. Instead he removed the stones with the power still running and his left arm became trapped and was torn with extreme force.

It was ripped from his body from between his shoulder and elbow – leaving just a quarter of the limb intact. The injured person was airlifted to hospital for an emergency operation, but surgeons were unable to reattach his arm. He has been unable to return to work since.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the incident and found there was no guarding in place to prevent access to dangerous moving parts on the conveyor. The employee had also received no training on how to safely clear blockages.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Andrew McGill said:

"This was a horrific accident that was entirely preventable had appropriate guarding been fitted, and had the employee been properly trained in how to clear a blockage.

"He knows to his cost that dangerous moving parts should be properly restricted when in operation, and isolated if access is required. However, it was the responsibility of the employer to ensure that happened – which it clearly didn't on this occasion. Safe systems of work must be of paramount importance at all times."

Wednesday, 16 May 2012

Health and Safety Expert Warns Hoteliers: “Compromise your guests’ safety at peak times and pay the price”

Anyone in the hospitality business will put the safety and welfare of their guests at the top of their priorities.

When the hotel is packed, and all staff are run off their feet and everyone wants some of their time, do normal standards go out of the window?

Health and safety should be paramount, however busy the hotel is – the worst time for anything to go wrong is when it is already at capacity!

So, hotelier’s should ensure that simple, sensible and pragmatic are done to make sure guests have a great time and don’t end up in a hospital bed instead of one of hotels.

In summary, sensible and simple precautions will help to keep guests safe and happy – and because they’ve had a great time, they’ll want to be guests again.

Good health and safety is always good for business.

Tuesday, 15 May 2012

Anna Ryder Richardson in Court to deny Wildlife Park health and safety breaches

A TV presenter turned wildlife park owner who denies breaching health and safety at the animal attraction is back before a court on Monday.

Celebrity interior designer Anna Ryder Richardson, 48, is accused of serious breaches which sent a mother and son to hospital.

She appeared with husband Colin MacDougall, 46, at Haverfordwest Magistrates' Court last month where each denied two separate alleged breaches

The couple own and jointly run the Manor House Wildlife Park, in St Florence, near Tenby, west Wales. Their jointly owned company, Manor House Wildlife Park Ltd, also denies two breaches to health and safety legislation.

Ryder Richardson sobbed silently to herself as details of the case against her were set out during her last court appearance.

The decision was made after hearing how a heavy branch fell on Gruff Davies-Hughes during strong winds while visiting the park.

The three-year-old spent three days fighting for his life in intensive care after being urgently airlifted to hospital.

PE teacher mother Emma Davies-Hughes, 28, suffered a head injury and fractures to her leg, pelvis, and arm.

The prosecution is being brought by the public protection division of Pembrokeshire County Council.

The couple are expected to stand trial at Swansea Crown Court last this year.

Monday, 14 May 2012

Man jailed for illegal inspections of play equipment

Whilst this blog does not arise from an accident at work, I was shocked to read about a Chester man, who has been jailed for more than 14 months after repeatedly ignoring a legal order preventing him from inspecting inflatable play equipment.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Peter McCormack (previously known as Peter Coltilda and Peter John Morrell), of Garden Lane, Chester, for carrying out inspections of inflatables and issuing test certificates for them in contravention of a Prohibition Notice from HSE, and for carrying out unsafe seam repairs to one.

Caernarfon Crown Court heard that examples of wrongdoing by Mr McCormack, aged 77, included:

An inspection of a pool inflatable at Poynton Leisure Centre, Cheshire, on 15 July 2010 and the issuing of the certificate two days later
An inspection of a bouncy castle in Carterton, Oxfordshire, on 23 August 2010 and the issuing of the certificate a day later
Another bouncy castle inspection at Abbey Leisure Centre in Selby, Yorkshire, on 19 August 2010
One at Tadcaster, Yorkshire, on 3 August 2011
One at Selby Park, Yorkshire, on 3 August 2011
He repaired one of the bouncy castles at Selby Park poorly on 3 August 2011, so there was a risk of children's fingers and toes being trapped in the open seams.

The court also heard today that in these illegal inspections, Mr McCormack failed to spot defects, which could have caused injuries to children.

He pleaded guilty to seven breaches of Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and one of Section 3(2) of the Act and was sentenced to 62 weeks in prison. He has already served 78 days imposed at an earlier hearing for breaching bail conditions.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE principal inspector Steve Flanagan said:

"Inflatable play equipment must be properly maintained and inspected to make sure it is safe for children to use. HSE served the initial Prohibition Notice in 2008 because Peter McCormack's work was substandard and unsafe.

"By breaching that Prohibition Notice repeatedly - and even ignoring a direct order from a judge at Shrewsbury Crown Court in 2010 - Mr McCormack has shown that he never had any intention to stop illegally inspecting inflatables.

"He has shown utter disregard for the safety of children and for the law and has cheated the companies he issued the certificates for, by taking their money when he shouldn't have done the work.

"If people who carry out illicit or poor inspections of inflatables are not stopped, it's only a matter of time before a child suffers a serious injury."

Tuesday, 8 May 2012

Accident at Work: Teen blinded at work offers his boss forgiveness

I have just read the inspiring story of Aaron Wilton-Jones, who has shown remarkable resilience since gaining a prosthetic eye after a workplace accident.

The accident happened in

New Zealand

but, I think the story will inspire others who have been involved in accidents at work.

Aaron Wilton-Jones was blinded in his left eye by a chisel on his second day of work but is willing to forgive his former employer who pleaded guilty over the incident.

Aaron hasn't heard from Kerry Bruce Duggan, trading as Mr Alifix, since before the operation where his damaged eye was removed. He has said that

"It'd be nice if he gave me a call or something and wanted to meet up for coffee,'' the 18-year-old said.

Aaron is prepared to forgive Mr Duggan, following in a family tradition of forgiveness.

Aaron said the incident in which he lost his eye was also an accident.

The Department of Labour said Mr Duggan taught Aaron to remove rubber seals using a screwdriver but gave him a chisel for the task when they were working at the gym. The court heard that as Aaron tried to remove the seals, he slipped and the chisel hit his eye. Aaron said Mr Duggan hadn't mentioned anything about wearing safety glasses.

Aaron had surgery and was told it was unlikely he'd keep his eye. Aaron had a second operation to remove his left eye in November and a prosthetic one was put in its place in December.

An investigation found a few simple measures could have significantly reduced the potential for harm and that Mr Duggan failed to adequately prepare his employee to carry out this work.

Aaron said that

"It took me a few months to get used to it all and get my judgment back. In the dark, walking upstairs, that's hard,'' he said.

"But I'm young and have picked up using one eye ... We only live once. You can't let anything hold you back, there's so much more out there.''