01/07/21
A plumbing supply company and its building contractor have been fined after unsafe construction work took place at the company premises in Burnley. Burnley Magistrates' Court heard that on 21 October 2018, Northwest Plumbing Supplier Limited and contractor Daniel Georghiou, carried out…
28/05/21
A pub landlord has been handed a nine-year prison sentence for gross negligence manslaughter after a child was electrocuted in a beer garden. Harvey Tyrell, 7, died from an electric shock after he touched a defective lighting fixture at the King Harold pub in Romford, Essex, on 11 September 2018…
28/05/21
A manufacturing company has been fined after an apprentice's hand was caught in machinery. A 17-year-old apprentice, who had been working at Amber Industries Limited in Oldham for 18 months, was reaming workpieces using an unguarded pillar drill whilst wearing gloves. The glove on his right…
28/05/21
Failing to adhere to health and safety standards can be a very costly mistake to make, as the owners of the Britannia Hotel in Southport recently found out. The hotel chain was fined £80,000 after a guest sustained life-changing injuries when she fell through rusty iron railings to a…
28/05/21
What is needed to enable a defendant to successfully say that they relied on a dynamic risk assessment rather than to have specifically risk assessed every task? This question arose in two cases over the last 6 months that help identify the issues that need to be considered. The first is the…
28/05/21
A Lancashire based manufacturer of plastic-coated fabrics has been fined after an employee's hand was drawn into an unguarded part of a machine, resulting in the surgical amputation of three fingers. Manchester Magistrates' Court heard that on 20 August 2019, a machine operator at the Earby…
26/04/21
Two recent decisions have highlighted the heavy levels of fines that the courts will impose for fatalities arising out of breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act. In one case Peter Coleman (54) died after becoming trapped underneath a refuse collection vehicle in 2014. The court heard…
26/04/21
A school has been fined after a member of public tripped over a retaining wall and sustained a fatal head injury. Peterborough Magistrates' Court heard how on 17 February 2017, a family member attended The Leys & St Faith's Foundation School in Cambridge (an independent school) to watch…
22/04/21
Notwithstanding that a principal contractor may not directly employ the injured employee, they can still be found to be in breach of their s2 and s3 duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 if they fail to review the sub contractor's risk assessments prior to the start of works or check…
25/03/21
Drayton Manor Park Ltd has been sentenced following the tragic death of a schoolgirl on its Splash Canyon water ride in 2017. This is another high profile prosecution of a theme park, following the Lightwater Valley one that we reported on in our January 2021 E News. ( Follow this link to read our…
23/03/21
A waste and recycling company has been fined after an employee sustained serious injuries to his arm when it became entangled in the automatic roof sheeting mechanism of a visiting articulated truck. In April 2019 a 22-year-old labourer had been working at Johnsons Scrap Metal Limited, assisting in…
23/03/21
Calachem Limited, a chemical manufacturing company, has been fined after an employee was scalded with boiling water during a cleaning operation. Falkirk Sheriff Court heard that on 4 March 2016, work was undertaken to clean down part of a production plant in Grangemouth, Scotland. The cleaning…
25/02/21
The Insurance department congratulates Ridwaan Omar on gaining his NEBOSH National General Certificate on Occupational Health & Safety. Ridwaan acts on behalf of numerous organisations in defending Employers' and Public Liability insurance claims. He also has considerable experience of…
10/02/21
National Apprenticeship Week began on 8 February. This year's theme is 'Build The Future.' With 20 years of experience in progressing employees through apprenticeships, Forbes Solicitors has helped build futures and this year has been no different and has been as successful, despite the…
21/01/21
Tesco Stores Limited has recently been fined £536,000 by magistrates after a 10-year-old child got an electric shock in its branch in Warfield, Bracknell. The supermarket giant was sentenced at Reading Magistrates Court on 15 December having pleaded guilty to two health and safety offences…
21/01/21
Lightwater Valley Attractions Ltd was fined following an incident where a child was thrown from its Twister ride. On 30 May 2019, a child was ejected from the Twister ride at Lightwater Valley Theme Park in Ripon, North Yorkshire resulting in serious head injuries. An investigation by the…
21/01/21
Craig MacKenzie has recently acted for an individual charged with breaches of data protection law brought before the Manchester Crown Court. The case has received a significant amount of media interest and highlights the significance of data protection law and the potential consequences of criminal…
18/01/21
On 4 January, the prime minister announced that the country would be going into the third national lockdown in less than a year and the advice reverted to stay at home except where absolutely necessary for limited legally permitted reasons. Many businesses are required to close again, and workers…
