Pauls Malt fined over £100,000 for fall due to poor work at height method of work

Pauls Malt Limited was fined £102,257 (inc.costs) after an agency worker was injured when he fell from a ladder.

The circumstances were:

• The worker was in the process of checking the fill level of the malt in a container at the West Knapton malting factory, near Malton. 
• The container was fitted with a full-size fabric liner with a high level loading flap which would be zipped up once the container was full.
• The company had not carried out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment of the work at height involved in closing the zipped flaps on the fabric liners.
• A system of work had developed which involved propping a 4-metre long ladder against the rear of the container to gain access to the zip-up flap. The ladder was too long for this purpose and was propped at too shallow an angle.
• On 6 May 2015, the worker was checking the fill level when the foot of the ladder slipped outwards, causing the agency worker to fall 2m with the ladder.
• He sustained two fractures to his right foot and bruising to his chest and head injuries.

Lack of non-standard work system nearly causes death

Essential Supply Products Limited, a Worcestershire-based manufacturer was fined £22,714 (inc. costs) after a worker nearly lost his life when a door collapsed and pinned him to a baler.

The circumstances were:

• On 5 May 2015, two maintenance workers were replacing the bottom of a heavy sectional door at the factory.
• Managers had failed to recognise the risks involved in the maintenance work that was taking place. 
• There was no appropriate equipment, instruction or training provided to the workers to ensure the method of work was safe.
• While removing the hinges and brackets the door collapsed, pinning one of the workers between it and a baler that was next to the door.
• The worker suffered serious injuries including broken ribs and asphyxiation which led to a lost of consciousness for eight hours. He has since made a full recovery.

This is a classic example of non-standard work. Refer to SSS White Paper 23 for how to control non-standard operations.

Solution to HMRC's RTI program installation

For those, like me, that get an error message with HMRC's RTI program on a new computer (and get no help from HMRC) then this is the solution from Phil Shepton:

Solved this one on Win 10 64bit saying I haven't got permission. This was a new laptop.

You do not need to alter any permissions at all or mess with security in any way. This is a totally safe and simple process. It does not alter windows files or settings in any way.

Install the RTI as usual and run it, when it says you don't have permission to access database just close RTI.

Open windows explorer, at the top go to 'view' and tick 'hidden items' and 'file extensions'

1) Get a current backup which is in zip format and open it in windows explorer. You will see three files.

2) Highlight and Copy these three files. (no need to extract them first, just copy them)

3) Go to c:\users\**your username**\appdata\roaming\HMRC\payetools-rti folder

4) delete the files in here including the sqlite3.db file which is causing the problem

5) paste the files from your backup in this folder (includes a new sqlite3.db file)

RTI will now open

Open RTI Basic tools and your current data will load.

Hope it helps, it took an hour to figure this way of doing it, , but at least it works.

Solution to HMRC's RTI program installation

For those, like me, that get an error message with HMRC's RTI program on a new computer (and get no help from HMRC) then this is the solution from Phil Shepton:

Solved this one on Win 10 64bit saying I haven't got permission. This was a new laptop.

You do not need to alter any permissions at all or mess with security in any way. This is a totally safe and simple process. It does not alter windows files or settings in any way.

Install the RTI as usual and run it, when it says you don't have permission to access database just close RTI.

Open windows explorer, at the top go to 'view' and tick 'hidden items' and 'file extensions'

1) Get a current backup which is in zip format and open it in windows explorer. You will see three files.

2) Highlight and Copy these three files. (no need to extract them first, just copy them)

3) Go to c:\users\**your username**\appdata\roaming\HMRC\payetools-rti folder

4) delete the files in here including the sqlite3.db file which is causing the problem

5) paste the files from your backup in this folder (includes a new sqlite3.db file)

RTI will now open

Open RTI Basic tools and your current data will load.

Hope it helps, it took an hour to figure this way of doing it, , but at least it works.

Lack of guarding causes loss of 2 fingers in power press

Roberts Metal Packaging Limited, a London-based metal packaging company was fined £10,520 (inc.costs) after a worker trapped his hand in a power press and lost two fingers.

The circumstances were:

• The company had failed to prevent access to this dangerous part of the machinery.
• An employee got his left hand trapped underneath the punch on a mechanical power-press.
• He suffered severe damage to his hand including the loss of 2 fingers

Company fined £287,000 after confined space incident

John Pointon and Sons Limited, a food waste disposal and recycling firm, was fined £287,362 (inc.costs) after three employees were overcome by toxic gases, including hydrogen sulphide, and a reduced oxygen atmosphere in an animal waste facility.

The circumstances were:

• The company had been prosecuted twice before for two fatal incidents which involved confined space entry.
• The company still had no confined spaces procedure.
• On 23 April 2014, an employee accessed a compartment within an animal waste trailer to free animal waste and was overcome by the gases.
• Subsequently, two further employees entered the waste compartment and were also overcome by the gases.

Hereford company and their H&S advisor fined after person became skin sensitised to ingredients in rubber sealant

Hereford-based TRP Polymer Solutions Limited, which manufactures rubber sealants, was fined £46,529 (inc.costs) after a worker contracted allergic contact dermatitis.

The circumstances were:

• Employees were exposed to sensitising ingredients in rubber compounds.
• The company’s health and safety advisor failed to understand the underlying issues to the level required for the company to understand its responsibilities.
• The company failed to assess risks from products used or manage those risks.
• The employee contracted the skin disease

The company’s health and safety advisor was fined £1200 (inc.costs) for failing to carry out her duty under the act to a level of competence expected by someone carrying out her role.