William Fry Fabrications fined £15,860 for failure to have cranes examined

William Fry Fabrications Limited, who fabricate structural steel products was fined £15,860 (inc.costs) for failure to comply with improvement and prohibition notices.

The circumstances were:

• William Fry Fabrications had two cranes.
• There is a legal obligation to have these examined by a competent person every 12 months.
• Following failure to do this, the HSE issued improvement and prohibition notices in 2011.
• An investigation by the HSE found that between 2012 and 2015 the cranes had not been thoroughly examined.

Hampshire boat company was fined £16,119 after hatch closes on contractor

R F Composites Limited, a Hampshire based boat company was fined £16,119 (inc.costs) after one of their contracted boat builders was left unconscious for 10 minutes when a hydraulic engine hatch closed on him.

The circumstances were:

• On 10 December 2014, a self-employed boat builder, contracted to work at the company, was looking inside an engine hatch on a boat. 
• There was no prop fitted to the engine hatch to prevent it from inadvertently closing. 
• The company also failed to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment.
• The engine hatch closed on him, trapping him in the chest. 
• He sustained trauma to his heart and lungs from the impact and was taken to hospital.

The HSE inspector said:
“The incident was wholly avoidable had RF Composites had in place a safe system of work to ensure the hydraulic engine hatch on a boat was suitably propped, eliminating any possibility of the hatch inadvertently closing on someone. I hope this incident will raise awareness in the boat building industry to ensure that when working with powered engine hatches, they should always be suitably propped to prevent them from inadvertently closing.”

Solvay Solutions was fined £444,000 for hazardous gas leak

Chemical producer, Solvay Solutions UK Limited, was fined £444,000 (inc.costs) after a dangerous gas was released into the atmosphere causing disruption to the M5 and thousands of homes nearby.

The circumstances were:

• The chemical processing plant in Oldbury included a welded steel bar, called a "rodder".
• Solvay had failed to properly assess and act upon the risk of the rodder failing.
• On 2 January 2009, the rodder failed at the weld and broke in two. 
• One piece fell back and the other piece pulled clear, leaving an opening through which phosphorus and phosphine gas escaped.
• Upon contact with air, these spontaneously ignited to produce phosphorous pentoxide. 
• This reacted with the moisture in the air to produce a mist of phosphoric acid which drifted to a densely populated area.
• During the incident the police set up road closures in the vicinity of the site; local sections of the M5 were closed by the Highways Agency,  and an estimated 4,500 people were asked to stay indoors for 2-3 hours.
• The incident was reported to the European Commission.

The HSE inspector said:
“This was a long and complex case, but at the heart of it lay the fact that this company’s actions caused an incident that affected the public and workers. The loss of containment and failure in Solvay’s systems caused huge disruption and the outcomes could have been far worse. This case should serve as a warning to other companies dealing with harmful substances that they need to get their processes absolutely right, in order to ensure the safety of the public, if they don’t they will face the consequences.”

Vitacress fined £61,000 for accident allowed by modified guards

Vitacress Salads Limited, who grow and package salads were fined £61,088 (inc.costs) after an employee lost the tips of two fingers in a bagging machine.

The circumstances were:

• The bagging machine had a hole cut in the guards to allow larger bags of salad out of the machine on a conveyor. 
• This also meant that access to the heat sealing and cutting jaws was possible.
• On 21 April 2015 the operator of the bagging machine had reached under the guard to pull film through the machine. 
• The heat sealing and cutting jaws of the machine closed on his fingers. 
• His left middle and ring fingers had the tips amputated.

The HSE inspector said:
“Cutting a hole in the guards led to access to dangerous parts being possible. The company had not properly considered the risks from making this alteration.”

SSS comment:
If you need a larger hole in a guard for larger product, then you need a "tunnel" on the guard so it is still not possible to reach the danger zone.

Updates to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001

As most people will know, both of these standards were changed last September and now become ISO 9001:2105 and ISO 14001:2105.

However, many people are unaware of the timescale of the changes that need to be made to company quality and/or environmental management systems.  There is a 3-year window during which you need to make the appropriate upgrades.  So therefore you have until September 2018 to upgrade your systems.

I would strongly advise against leaving it too late and Strategic Safety Systems have a target date of the end of 2016 to make changes for those clients for whom we have provided such systems and with whom we have an on-going relationship.

Those clients who use the INTACT integrated action management system will have an upgrade which covers the risk aspects of ISO 9001:2015 and the SWOT aspects of ISO 14001:2015. 

See white paper on what's changed in ISO 9001:2005 and ISO 14001:2015.

Hanson Packed Products fined £780,000 after fatality due to inadequate guarding

Manufacturing company Hanson Packed Products Ltd was fined £779,511 (inc.costs) after a 26 year old worker was fatally crushed when his arm was caught in a powered roller.

The circumstances were:

• On 25 September 2013 William Ridge was clearing sand around the base of an in-feed conveyor.
• There should have been fixed guards surrounding the powered roller to prevent access to the dangerous moving parts. 
• However, a critical guard was not in place and had not been for several days.
• There had been issues with the machinery on the previous day which Mr Ridge was trying to rectify at the time of the incident.
• His right arm was drawn into the roller and he suffered fatal injuries.

The HSE Principal Inspector said:
“This death of a young worker could and should have been prevented. Where safety depends on guards, employers need to regularly inspect them and be confident they are properly in place and that they are effective. Our thoughts are with the Ridge family as they prepare for another Christmas without William.”

Linde fined £64,000 after 21 employees were diagnosed with hand-arm vibration syndrome

Merthyr Tydfil based Linde Heavy Truck Division Ltd manufacturer was fined £64,793.60 (inc.costs) after 21 employees were left permanently injured after being diagnosed with hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS).

The circumstances were:

• There had been no recognition of the risks from hand-arm vibration and no effective management of these risks over many years.
• The duties of employers regarding hand-arm vibration have been very clearly set out for many years, yet the company failed to implement the necessary measures.
• In 2011 Linde appointed a new health and safety manager who recognised the need to put measures in place to manage HAVS, including health surveillance. These measures had not been in place before.
• A total of 21 employees were diagnosed with HAVS and this was reported to HSE under RIDDOR.
• The employees that are affected by HAVS suffer symptoms such as tingling, pins and needles, numbness and pain in their hands. This affects sleep when it occurs at night and they have difficulties in gripping and holding things, particularly small items such as screws, doing up buttons, writing and driving.
• The biggest impact on the employees’ lives was that the factory closed down at the end of 2013 and they were made redundant.

The HSE Inspector said:
“The employees were exposed to the risk of hand arm vibration on a daily basis yet Linde Heavy Truck Division failed to recognise this. There was no health surveillance to identify employees who might already have some vibration damage even though they employed ex-miners and experienced fitters, or to pick up whether someone was suffering symptoms before they became serious. From 2000, when the factory opened, until its closure in 2013 there was never a fully compliant management system for hand arm vibration and 21 employees have suffered life changing injuries as a result.”