With low temperatures and less daylight, surfaces in winter become hazardous and slips and trips increase. Slips and trips remain the most common accident to employees, making up 29% of incidents reported. Over 693,000 workers sustained a non fatal injury during 2019/20.

HSE have issued a guide to help avoid slips and trips in winter. Avoiding slips and trips 

Global Fleet Champions have produced guidance for fleet managers on ensuring safe journeys during adverse weather conditions. It covers the risks of driving in different weather conditions; how safe driving techniques and good vehicle maintenance can help minimise road danger during bad weather; and technologies to help fleet managers predict bad weather, and plan or re-route journeys to avoid it.

Driving in adverse weather full guidance

A and D Logistics Limited, a national logistics haulier, has been fined after a worker suffered flash burn injuries when there was an explosion as he opened the door of a container.

On 7 January 2019, a team leader was requested by a member of the management team to dry out condensation from the office accommodation container. The custom and practice within the yard was to use a propane fuelled open-flame gas torch attached to a 47Kg LPG cylinder which was left burning within the container.

The team leader did this work and returned four hours later to check on progress of the container. The door appeared closed further than when he had left it. He opened the door by putting his hand in the gap between the doors and pulling. There was an explosion and he was thrown by force against a steel workshop container. Whilst on the ground he saw his arms burning, saw they were on fire, and felt the same of his face and hair.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that:

1) The company allowed the gas torch and propane cylinder to be left unattended with the torch lit whilst the
team leader attended other work.
2) The container did not contain sufficient oxygen to support safe combustion because of inadequate
ventilation.
3) Yard personnel had no ‘hot work’ training.
4) The workwear worn by the team leader was not suitable for ‘hot work’ activities.
5) Formal training and instruction for drying out wet containers with a propane gas torch was absent.

A and D Logistics Limited, Pegausus Avenue, Linwood, Paisley pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 of the Health and Safety at work etc Act 1974 and was fined £48,000.

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Tom Allan said: “This incident could so easily have been avoided by simply carrying out control measures and safe working practices.”

HSE

A Glasgow based company has admitted a health and safety offence after an employee fell through a fragile plasterboard ceiling, sustaining life-changing injuries.

Alfa (Wholesale) Limited, a wholesale grocery, catering supply and household goods company, pled guilty to a contravention of Sections 2(1) and Section 33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 at Glasgow Sheriff Court on 20 November 2020. It was fined £120,000.
The court heard that on the 5 November 2017 a 24-year-old warehouseman was retrieving stock from a mezzanine in the company’s warehouse in the city’s Lancefield Street when he stepped on to an unguarded area of fragile plasterboard.

The employee fell through the plasterboard, landing on a concrete floor at the bottom of a stairwell. A drop of more than five metres. He was taken to hospital where he was initially unresponsive and diagnosed as having a skull fracture, bleeding on the brain and other significant injuries.
He has been left with cognitive difficulties, hearing loss, facial palsy and problems tasting food and the family has been significantly impacted.

The case was investigated by Glasgow City Council who found that the company had a generic risk assessment for a wide variety of activities within the premises. The risk assessment did not refer to or identify any risks associated with working on or accessing the mezzanine level. The company had not implemented any control measures for employees working near the plasterboard. Stock was being stored very close to the plasterboard and employees were regularly called upon to access this area to retrieve stock.
The investigation found that it was entirely foreseeable that an employee might step onto this unguarded plasterboard. The incident had happened as a result of the company’s failure to identify the risks of staff accessing the stock items stored near to the plasterboard ceiling on the mezzanine area.
Since the incident, the company has changed its working practices.

Alistair Duncan, Head of Health and Safety Division said: “This was a foreseeable and avoidable accident resulting in the severe injury and permanent impairment of a young man. It is easy to imagine this having been a fatality. “Alfa (Wholesale) Limited accepted liability and the Crown accepted their guilty plea to the contraventions of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

“This was an accident that resulted in life changing injuries that could have been avoided if the appropriate measures had been in place at the time.

“Hopefully this prosecution and the sentence will remind other employers that failure to fulfil their obligations can have serious consequences and that they will be held to account for their failings.”

COPFS
November 2020

Chemical company, Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare (UK) Ltd (Reckitt Benckiser Ltd), was fined for safety breaches after a worker had his left arm crushed in a bottle filling machine.

Grimsby Magistrates Court heard how on 9 September 2017, the 25-year-old worker suffered an open crush injury to his left forearm at the company’s site in Dansom Lane South, Kingston upon Hull. He also sustained tendon damage to the forearm, wrist and hand.

Investigating, the HSE found that the filling machine had not been electronically isolated and locked off by the injured person, or other persons, which would have ensured that the recalibration task could be carried out in a safe manner.

Reckitt Benckiser Ltd of Dansom Lane, Hull pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company has been fined £200,000 and ordered to pay £8,261.28 in costs.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector David Stewart said: “Non-routine maintenance tasks must be carried out by trained personnel working to standard safe operating procedures.

“Reckitt Benckiser should have developed a standard operating procedure for the adjustment process, which if implemented correctly along with their lock off procedure, could have prevented the incident.”

HSE
December 2020

The owners of Bradford’s iconic Midland Hotel have been fined £24,000 after admitting a number of health and safety charges, including that they failed to act fast enough to deal with asbestos in the building.
However, Peel Hotels was told that it would have been fined “a six figure sum” had the company, and the hospitality industry in general, not been left in such a perilous financial situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The national hotel chain appeared at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates Court charged with four offences relating to asbestos and health and safety failings. The issues had been reported to Bradford Council’s Environmental Health department by Gary Peacock, former manager of the hotel, shortly after he resigned from his role in 2018.
Along with the costs the company were ordered to pay to Bradford Council, Peel Hotels will have to pay a total of £30,000.

A representative from the company pleaded guilty to a charge of being an employer and failing to discharge general health, safety and welfare duty to employee, being aware of asbestos related material and failing to ensure the health and safety at work for the hotel’s employees. The second charge was similar but referred to the safety of people not in the employ of the hotel.

One charge related to a defect on a goods lift in the hotel, and another related to the hotel’s policy of working from height, and followed an accident that saw a worker fixing a light using a ladder falling and suffering an injury.

Giles Bridges, prosecuting on behalf of Bradford Council, told the court: “On May 16 2018 Environmental Health was contacted by Gary Peacock, the former manager of the Midland Hotel, who alleged there was an amount of Asbestos in various locations in the building and that the risk wasn’t being managed correctly.”
He said a lift engineer had pointed out the asbestos after doing some work in late 2017. Mr Peacock raised his concerns about the continued presence of asbestos in the hotel with the company, but felt the response was lacking.
Areas with asbestos included a basement corridor, a lift shaft and a former kitchen area in the basement – areas used by staff but not customers.

Mr Bridges said: “What was being done to deal with it was not being done as quickly as it should have been.”
A report detailing the presence of asbestos was produced in November 2017, but by Spring 2018 Mr Peacock was concerned there had been no action taken. The alleged lack of action was one reason Mr Peacock had given for resigning in May 2018 – the court was told.

He informed Environmental Health, and two officers visited the hotel on 22 May. They saw the areas of asbestos and when they asked to see certain paperwork, such as health and safety assessments, staff were unable to produce them.
The court heard that the officers were “concerned” that the asbestos risk hadn’t been taken more seriously.
Robert Peel, owner of Peel Hotels, was interviewed in March 2019, and acknowledged the company should have taken steps to deal with the situation earlier. The company submitted a purchase order for works to remove the asbestos in April 2018 – but Mr Bridges pointed out that this only happened four months after the November 2017 report.
Charles Row, representing Peel Hotels, apologised to the court on behalf of the company for the failures to resolve the situation in a timely manner. He said: “The company has never before been subject to enforcement action, and prides itself on having a good working relationship with the local authorities in the areas it operates. We are extremely disappointed the company finds itself in this position.”

He said the action has motivated the company to make improvements to avoid similar situations in the future and pointed out that all the required work has been completed. He added: “The Midland Hotel is a good employer in Bradford, it is important for the city centre. It is important it continues to exist and thrive. It is a significant draw to travellers to the area.”

He pointed out that in the past two years the company had spent over £100,000 on asbestos removal, adding: “This shows the company takes this seriously. Even in difficult times the priority is given to spend money where needed.”
He argued that the company had taken action to deal with the asbestos, but that it was delayed due to negotiations with contractors and rising cost estimates provided. But he said the company had admitted there were “unacceptable delays” adding “it took months, and it shouldn’t have done.” He pointed out that there was no risk to the public, and very low risk to staff.
Overall the company was fined £24,000, and will have to pay Bradford Council £6,000 costs – less than the £9,260 the Council says it spent on the investigation.

The Telegraph and Argus
December 2020

A food company specialising in dairy products has been prosecuted after an agency worker suffered severe injuries when their fingers were caught in machinery.

Walsall Magistrates’ Court heard that following the incident on 12 July 2016, an agency worker had to have their middle finger amputated below the second knuckle, lost half their index finger and had their third finger amputated to the first knuckle. The agency employee was working as a box maker on a machine known as a tray erector, at the company’s Minsterley site in Shropshire, when the incident occurred.

The HSE found that the in-running nip on the tray erector was not properly guarded. The company had failed to guard dangerous parts of the machine to prevent access for more than seven years.

Müller UK and Ireland Group of Minsterley, Shrewsbury pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision of Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was fined £66,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,024.20.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Andrew Johnson said: “This preventable incident could have easily been avoided had the company properly assessed and applied effective control measures to minimise the risks from dangerous parts of the machinery.

“The dangers associated with in-running nips are well known, and a wealth of advice and guidance is freely available from HSE and other organisations.”

HSE
December 2020