A transport and haulage company was sentenced after a worker died after falling from the rear of a transport shipping container.  Newcastle Magistrates’ Court heard that on 27 June 2018, J R Adams (Newcastle) Limited employee Keith Robson was involved in the task of unloading goods from the transport shipping container, which was on the back of a large goods road vehicle trailer at the company premises in Gateshead. The employee was inside the open topped container with the rear doors open preparing access for the overhead crane, and then the removal of the shipment of steel girders. While undertaking this work the employee fell approximately 1.5 metres from the rear of the container.

Scrap metal recycling firm Alutrade Ltd has been fined £2 million after admitting the corporate manslaughter of an employee 'in an incident waiting to happen'.   Three company directors have also been fined after pleading guilty to breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act. 

***MD Safety Note:  This article contains a very useful video***  A company and three of its bosses have been fined more than £2m over the death of a worker who suffered catastrophic head injuries at a scrap metal recycling plant in Oldbury.  Father-of-one Stuart Towns, aged 34, had been working for Alutrade Ltd just three months when the tragedy happened at the Tat Bank Road site on 24 July, 2017.

IFSEC Global has released its Annual Fire Safety Report 2021, keeping you up to date with the biggest stories of the year, including new legislation, improving building safety culture post-Grenfell and the importance of third-party certification in fire door safety.   In a year filled with arguably just as much uncertainty as the last, in 2021 the fire industry remained dedicated to meeting challenges head on. The COVID-19 pandemic may have continued to dominate working practices, but industry professionals have persisted in their dedication to fulfilling vital life safety work.

A principal contractor has been sentenced after he was found to have supervised unsafe excavation work at a site in Denton, which put workers in danger and rendered the neighbouring property unstable.  Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard how between 2019 and 2020 Mustapha Matib had employed several groundworkers to excavate land at Gibraltar Lane, Denton in preparation for the construction of a family home. An inspection was carried out at the site in August 2020 after neighbours raised significant concerns, work was stopped when serious fall risks and potential collapse were identified.

It’s illegal to hold and use a phone, sat nav, tablet, or any device that can send or receive data, while driving or riding a motorcycle.  This means you must not use a device in your hand for any reason, whether online or offline.  For example, you must not text, make calls, take photos or videos, or browse the web.

The tragic death of four-year-old Harry Lee on his family farm in Newchurch-in-Pendle in Lancashire has led IOSH, the Health and Safety Executive, and Harry’s own family to call for a renewed focus on children’s safety in agricultural settings.  On 8 July 2019, Harry had been riding on the cab footplate of a JCB Loadall driven by his uncle, Brian Nutter, when he fell and was fatally crushed beneath the vehicle’s wheels. Earlier this month, Nutter was given a suspended prison sentence for his role in Harry’s death. 

A construction company has been sentenced following an incident where two bricklayers fell from height during the construction of a parapet wall. Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard that on 31 October 2019, two employees suffered serious injuries at a property in Over Alderley, Cheshire when the makeshift platform they were working on collapsed. The two men, along with plywood boards and bricks, fell approximately eight feet to the concrete floor below.

Infiniti Roofing and Construction Ltd has been sentenced for breaches of safety regulations after an employee fell through a gap in scaffolding and sustained multiple injuries whilst working on a building at Havers Hill, Eastfield, Scarborough.  York Magistrates’ Court heard that, on 15 November 2017, a 20-year-old labourer who was working on the roof, fell three metres through a gap in the scaffolding onto an office roof below causing injuries to his left wrist and hand.

J Murphy Aggregates Ltd, Shaun Murphy and James Duggan have been sentenced at Leeds Crown Court for safety breaches after a worker was struck by a falling excavator. In addition, J Murphy Aggregates Ltd was sentenced for safety breaches in a separate incident after a wagon driver sustained severe crush injuries to his right leg when he was dragged under a 360 excavator.