Is the grass greener…
“The Jury” Did you watch the TV programme “The Jury”? Did you find yourself shouting at the TV? How did it make you feel? Were you dismayed? Did it leave you with a sense of foreboding; thinking there must a better option? Well it got me thinking about what perceptions may be in light of…
Covid-19: The way forward…
Covid-19 has caused many things a deluge of concerns, rules, guidance, information, action plans. All this has raised some recurring questions: What are our health and safety criminal law obligations in dealing with the coronavirus? What do we have to do? How can we protect ourselves from blame if we get it wrong? As we…
Covid-19 & Prosecution of employers
Coronavirus has dominated the headlines and amongst all this some commentators have speculated that employers may be about to face prosecution if they don’t take all Covid-19 precautions possible to protect staff and third parties from infection. Now it is correct to say that employers in the UK owe duties under the Health and Safety at Work…
Corona: An enjoyable beer or new legislation…
Coronavirus came upon the world as an unknown and everyone is now trying to ‘fight’ their way through what is COVID-19 and a severe pandemic. Unlike Corona beer which is rather enjoyable especially on a warm sunny day, the coronavirus is anything but a chilled afternoon sitting in the sun supping on your favourite beverage. It could…
Tragic and wholly avoidable – worker crushed on site
This tragic story really horrified us – our hearts immediately went out to the man’s family. Our second reaction was frustration. This should never have happened. Not only was it entirely avoidable – clearly a proper risk assessment wasn’t in place – but it had happened before. Someone, somewhere, knew the risk and did nothing about…
Someone got injured – who’s to blame?
Where there’s blame there’s a claim, right? Sigh. In my day, if you fell down you got back up – you didn’t try to sue the tree whose stick you just tripped over. Times change – and there’s also this thing called common sense. If you have a company that uses dangerous machines, you have…
HGV death leads to almost half million pound fine
A truck company that buys, refurbishes and sells Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) and trailers has been sentenced after the death of 63-year-old self-employed worker William Price. On 21 February 2013 Mr Price suffered fatal head injuries when the half-ton frame of a lorry trailer, he was dismantling, fell on his head at the Marston Industrial…
IT security is a health & safety issue
After Deloitte was hit by a cyber security attack earlier this week, we have to ask, how safe are we? We at Ferguson Legal care more about health and safety than your average UK citizen. So we need to suggest that IT security be considered under the health and safety banner. If one of the…
Property developer and foreman jailed for manslaughter
A property developer and a foreman have been jailed for manslaughter following the death of a carpenter on a site in Brighton. Michael Holland, 69 and foreman Grant Oakes, 46, had each denied charges of gross negligence manslaughter in connection with the death. 55-year-old carpenter David Clark died on October 28, 2014, following an accident.…
The Fee for Intervention Scheme
If you have been subject to a Fee For Intervention bill and wished you had challenged it, read on! We recently explored the Judicial Review case of HSE’s Fee For Intervention dispute process. A consequence was the HSE agreed to look at changing the process for challenging such fees. (It entered into a legal agreement with OCS…
Risk Assessment – what is required?
A risk assessment must be carried out by “competent persons” in ALL companies, no matter how big or small. This is a legal requirement under the European health and safety legislation (commonly known as the “six pack”). In the UK it is the Management, Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 which requires all work…
Great British Bake Off – DANGER, DANGER!
If, like us, you’re delighted Great British Bake Off is back on TV, you may have noticed that Kate Lyon, one of the contestants, is a health and safety inspector… We love a bit of health and safety chat at Ferguson Legal so here’s a little blog we prepared earlier. Dig in! Beware the kitchen…
The Corporate Manslaughter/ Homicide Act part 3
In part 1 and in part 2 we looked at The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act and how applies to organisations which cause a person’s death or exhibit a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed to the deceased. Here we will explore the penalties and sentencing . As always, this is…
The Corporate Manslaughter/ Homicide Act part 2
In part 1 we looked at The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act and how applies to organisations which cause a person’s death or exhibit a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed to the deceased. Here we will explore the role of senior management and individual liability. As always, this is for…
Worker crushed and two firms fined
A worker suffered multiple serious injuries when a trolley carrying hydraulic rams toppled on its side and trapped him between it and a stillage. DHL and JCB have both been fined in relation to the incident, which happened on 16 October 2013. Stafford Crown Court was told how the DHL employee was auditing in-coming deliveries…
Breaking down the law: Corporate Manslaughter/ Homicide Part 1
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act applies to organisations which cause a person’s death or exhibit a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed to the deceased. In this three part series, we will break down the law and how it applies to you, highlighting key issues and explaining the consequences. As…
Protect your lone workers
Working alone is a known health and safety red flag area, as one company found to its cost recently. An Exeter-based water treatment firm was fined £1.8 million after a lone worker drowned at one of its plants just after Christmas. The tragedy could have been prevented and it’s likely the sizeable fine reflected the…
The Brexit impact Part 3: Health and Safety
On 23 June 2016, the British people voted to leave the European Union, signalling a momentous change to Britain’s political and economic landscape. No European Union Member State has ever left the EU so the process of withdrawal is untested. A successful Brexit will involve disentangling the UK from complex politico-legal, financial and other relationships…
Dropped: Judicial Review of HSE’s FFI dispute process
A judicial review challenge over the disputes process of the Health and Safety Executive’s cost recovery has been dropped. The HSE has settled the matter out of court. The case was due to be heard on 8 March 2017 after OCS Group, an international facilities management and maintenance company, was granted permission for the judicial review…
Buchanan House fatality results in maximum jail term
The 57-year-old manager of an access plant hire firm has been sentenced to a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment for his neglect of health and safety obligations that led to the death of one man and caused serious injury to another. After a 16 day trial at Airdrie Sheriff Court, Donald Craig was found…
The Brexit impact part 1: Construction
Ferguson Legal has examined the impact Brexit is likely to have on various industry sectors such as construction; health and safety; procurement; sustainability and environment; employment and bribery and corruption. In part 1, we will look at the likely consequences for the Construction sector and what you can do to protect your company. No European…
Health & Safety, English influence on Scottish courts?
First test case applied English guidelines to Scottish case Case was an appeal against a fine for health and safety breach The fine was reduced from £1.5m to £1.2m The case concerned a scalding at a work premises Implications remain to be seen The High Court has concluded that, for health and safety cases,…
The Future of H&S sentencing in Scotland?
It will be interesting to see whether the recent fine of £5 million on the operator of Alton Towers has any influence on the future approach to be taken by Scottish courts in health and safety sentencing. Following an accident that took place at a power station in Fife where their employee suffered scalding after…
H&S Awards – Shortlisted
That moment when we find out we’ve been shortlisted for Health & Safety Law Firm of the Year UK – Law Awards 2017 #goteam Absolutely delighted. Good luck to all the firms who have been nominated. #TeamGoals #Health&Safety #GetProactive #GetLawSavvy
Road Safety, operators licences and duties checklist
“Dear Carole I’ve heard the focus of the DVSA’s enforcement activities are changing. Our MD, who usually handles everything, has been off work unwell and is unlikely to return any time soon, so most of his duties have fallen to me. Can you give me a kind of legal checklist to keep me right?! Andrew…
Farewell to the Jungle
As harrowing as the images on the news may be, I suspect many haulage and delivery companies have welcomed the news of the dismantling of “The Jungle”. The French authorities have been clearing the refugee camp in Calais and busing thousands of migrants to centres across France. It had been a major problem for lorry and…
Festive Season… drinking… driving…
We’ve all been there. It’s the festive season, everyone’s celebrating and you have a few too many drinks. You wake up the next morning and think: “Well that was a bit heavier than I expected, I hope I’m OK to drive…” But imagine you wake up thinking that and then climb into a lorry full…
Worker Crushed between two vehicles
Leedale Limited, a waste management and plant hire company in Derbyshire, was fined £300,000 after a worker was fatally crushed between two vehicles. Derby Crown Court heard how 39-year-old Matthew Lambert was refuelling his road sweeper at the Company’s yard. The refuelling point on the vehicle was at the rear; whilst he was refuelling a tipper…
Employee killed in trench collapse
A company has been fined £2.6 million after an employee was killed when the trench he was working in collapsed in on him. On the 14 April 2010, Mr Sim, a sub-contractor working on behalf of Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions Limited, was laying ducting for new cable for an offshore windfarm that was being built off…
Toxic gas release… not a case of who ate all the sprouts…
A food waste disposal and recycling firm has been fined £250,000 following three employees becoming overcome by toxic gases (including hydrogen sulphide) and a reduced oxygen atmosphere whilst working in an animal waste facility. This prosecution comes 12 months after the firm was fined £660,000 following the death of an employee. The previous conviction resulted after a fatality…
Food giant fined for safety failings.
Frozen Food giant McCain Foods (GB) Limited has been fined £800,000 for safety failings after an employee nearly lost his arm. Peterborough Crown Court heard how 34-year-old employee, Adam Regan, was checking the condition of a conveyor belt when his arm became entangled and was almost severed. Although his arm was saved, he now has limited movement…
Dear Carole… Worried about overloaded vehicles…
Dear Carole One of our suppliers has changed the way they package their goods and I’m concerned there’s going to be a knock-on effect for the weight our lorries are carrying. I’ve got a lot on my plate at the moment – how serious is this? Michael Anderson, Leeds Short answer? Pretty serious! I understand…
Bonfire & Fireworks – Not child’s play
Bonfire night has been and gone; with the news of several firework events being cancelled due to bad weather it got us thinking – doesn’t happen often we agree but it did – about fireworks, health & safety and children. Anyway, fireworks and bonfires are inherently dangerous and quite often people, mainly kids, forget this. For…
Offshore, Health, Safety and what’s going on…
Offshore oil and gas is often thought of as being one of the most dangerous and high risk areas to work in. Well, is this true? Let’s have a look at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) annual Offshore Statistics & Regulatory Activity Report 2015 (“Report”). This Report tells us how the industry has performed in…
Alton Towers bosses fined £5m – approximately 1% of firms turnover
Between the Alton Towers Smiler Roller coaster incident, the injury to Harrison Ford on the Star Wars set, and the former actress Brenda McFarland who was killed on a Network Rail crossing, one thing is for sure, the reality of health & safety breaches within the workplace was firmly placed in the media limelight. It…
Three years to reach minimum standards + gambling with peoples’ lives = £1.8 million
This is a mathematical equation that adds up to one serious fine, but is believed is the only way to make companies sit up and pay attention that you cannot gamble with peoples’ health and wellbeing. The latest in the firing line is G4S receiving one extremely hefty fine after failing to reduce the risk…
A Stark Warning
I know we constantly bang on about health & safety at work but it is so essential for Company Directors to take personal responsibility to train and protect the safety of their workers…..as the consequences are devastating. Company Director Kenneth Thelwall, from Enfield, has been jailed for 12 months following the death of one of…
Gold, silver, bronze and green?
Get ready, set, hold on a minute the water is green? What really did happen the pools in Rio? After offering little clarity about why the water in two Olympic competition pools mysteriously turned green, Rio 2016 officials have said it was because a a contractor poured hydrogen peroxide into the diving well and the large pool in the centre. The…
Such a boring subject…
Let’s be honest, most people do not take health & safety serious until something happens, correct? We are not accusing you of this, but like most fast paced lifestyles nobody stops to take heed until the pleeeeep hits the fan. This was one of the thoughts behind the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007…
No ‘happily ever after’ for Disney owned firm over Harrison Ford injuries
Here at Ferguson Legal, we often report on #besafe and the importance of complying with health and safety, but the latest high profile case to bring this theory into reality is that of Harrison Ford on the set on Star Wars – The Force Awakens. The unfortunate title of the film allows for many unforgiving…
Something’s Gotta Give
Since the announcement in April of funding from Central Government to the Health & Safety Executive being cut we were left wondering how can the same organisation run effectively with such a huge financial blow? This is going to be one uphill struggle, I mean we are not talking a few pounds here it will have…
UK Offshore Safety Directive Regulator.
The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Department for the Environment and Climate Change (DECC), working in partnership, now form the Offshore Safety Directive Regulator (OSDR). OSDR will act as the competent authority responsible for overseeing industry compliance with the EU Offshore Directive on the safety of offshore oil and gas operations. The…
Barrier collapses on baby’s pram leads to fine.
On 23 September 2014 Construction firm Kier Construction Ltd was fined £4,000 for safety failings after a barrier was blown on top of a pram injuring an 18-week-old baby. The Company plead guilty to breaching Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Stirling Sheriff Court heard that on 24 October…
Corporate manslaughter conviction.
Waste management company, Sterecycle (Rotherham) Limited, was found guilty of corporate manslaughter and fined £500,000 following the death of an employee. This incident occurred at the company’s plant in South Yorkshire in January 2011. In October 2012, Sterecycle ceased operations after having been placed into administration. It is uncertain how much of the £500,000 fine will be…
Pharmaceutical company fined £100,000 after man sprayed by toxic chemical.
A North East pharmaceutical company were fined on 20 September 2014 for a serious safety breach which left a worker fighting for his life in hospital. The employee, from Tyne and Wear, was sprayed with seven litres of bromine as he removed cables from a valve connected to pipework at Aesica Pharmaceuticals on the Windmill Industrial Estate,…
Spectator Safety at Motor Sporting Events.
As a self confessed petrol head, I follow the motorbike racing circuit, but find myself constantly faced with the devastating reality of the danger. This month, Malachi Mitchell-Thomas, 20 from Chorley in Lancashire, was killed at the North West 200 race in Northern Ireland when he crashed his Burrows Engineering Kawasaki on the approach to…
Work equipment: where to draw the line?
The case of Coia v Portvadie Estates Ltd [2015] CSIH 3 raised questions of what is and what is not: (i) “work equipment” in terms of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998; and (ii) “a workplace” in terms of the Workplace (Health, Safety & Welfare) Regulations 1992. C was employed as a chef by…
£200,000 fine for corporate manslaughter.
The building and joining firm, Peter Mawson Ltd, and its owner were sentenced on 3 February 2015 at Preston Crown Court, following an incident in 2011 where a man died after falling through a fragile roof. The emergency services attended West Cumberland Farmers LTD, Lindal, Ulverston, following a report that a man had fallen through…
Health Board fined after pensioner struck by van.
Lothian Health Board was fined £40,000 following a guilty plea to section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, when a pensioner was struck dead by one of its vans. The woman crossed a clearly marked pedestrian route into Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital when she was struck by the reversing van…
Chessington fined £150k after child suffers fractured skull.
Chessington World of Adventures Operations Ltd was fined £150,000 and ordered to pay £21,614 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The charges were brought after a girl suffered a fractured skull, bleeding to the brain and broken ribs when she fell from the raised walkway…
Safety failings led to death of employee.
The sawmill company, A. Diamond and Son, has been fined a total of £75,000 and ordered to pay £15,832 in costs for safety failings that led to the death of employee, Peter Lennon in September 2012. The sentence followed a guilty plea to the charge of corporate manslaughter in December 2014. A joint investigation by…
CDM 2015 simplified.
With just under 50 days until the CDM Regulations 2015 potentially come into force and the CDM Regulations 2007 revoked, do you know what needs to happen between then and now? If a project is underway and will still be ongoing on 6 April 2015 it can carry on as is IF it will be…
Offshore services co fined following death.
Offshore services company, Bilfinger Salamis UK Limited, has been fined £100,000 for serious safety failings following an incident in which a worker died after plunging 23 metres from a North Sea platform into the sea. Mr Lee Bertram on 16 June 2011 was using ropes to: access below the deck; and carry out a sweep…
Care home managers charged with manslaughter
In England, 3 care home managers have been charged with manslaughter following the death of an 86-year-old woman who died two weeks after the property was shut down by inspectors. Ivy Atkin died in November 2012, a fortnight after she was moved from Autumn Grange Care Home in Sherwood Rise, Nottingham, into another care home. Inspectors from…
Lack of guarding leads to serious consequences.
An Ayrshire waste recycling firm has been fined £118,000 on 6 October 2014 for serious safety failings after an agency worker severed his left arm at the shoulder while clearing a conveyor belt blockage. Steven Dawson, then aged 28, was working as a line supervisor for Lowmac Alloys Ltd at its premises on the Oldhall…
Your mission should you choose to accept it…
Having attempted my first blog with the rather apt name of ‘Blog Off’… the time has now come for me to follow through with my blogging promises. This means actually trying to put together an informative piece which someone might actually find interesting (it can happen) and useful. I will therefore attempt a very death…
Risky Business… or just Risk Assessments…
Here we go again… for some reason I keep thinking of Tom Cruise films and this time the topic of risk assessments made me think of Risky Business – some might say the film that launched his career. Not least for the scene of him sliding into shot from the side in his pants and…
Mile high club? No, the mile high blogging club & a little H&S.
This blog is currently coming to you from 22,000 feet (and climbing). Sorry to do this to you but I am jetting off on holiday and, yes I love my work so much I thought I would work on the plane! Although don’t worry I don’t have a glass of fizz in my hand… yet!…
Substance Abuse, Good Hands & Weights aka COSHH, Manual Handling & Equipment.
I have been sitting staring at my computer screen for about 30 minutes trying to consider how to write about the next H&S topics and even I am struggling with how to put this down in a #Fun way…. Not least because my mind keeps drifting off to when is it okay to order a…
Accidents, Prosecutions & the Law.
ER, The Good Wife and reality… So I love, and I do mean love, the above TV shows. In fact I could sit up all night and overdose (forgive the pun) on them both. But what do they have to do with Health & Safety I hear you ask… Well, probably not a lot but…
Champagne, Clothing, Teenagers and OO7 – relevant to H&S?
So you will probably be wondering why on the earth we have used such a random title? Let’s face it H&S welfare, working environment and provision of clothing, equipment and assistance doesn’t really cut it as one of the top headline grabbing titles. Certainly doesn’t jump out and make you think I must read that……
Alton Towers owner guilty over roller coaster crash.
When you hear the words health and safety what do you think? Yawn? Boring? Will look at it later? Well this story is sure to make you sit up and listen. The owner of Alton Towers Merlin Attractions Operations Ltd (“Merlin”) is facing a multimillion-pound fine after admitting breaking health and safety laws over the…
Time for an Inspection?
Knowing that you have a health and safety inspection of any kind is enough to work most people into a bit of a panic! There’s just something about the thought of a perceptive man or woman wondering around your workplace, armed with a clipboard and a sharp eye… But if you’re about to get hit…
Aberdeen offshore H&S update.
The summary report on the outcome of the joint DECC / HSE consultation on the implementation of the Offshore Safety Directive (2013 / 30 / EU), and the government response to the issues raised is now published. The consultation (CD272) which closed on 24 September 2014, also gathered views on the review of two offshore…
The Importance of Traffic Management.
On average, 7 workers are killed every year as a result of collisions with vehicles or mobile plant on construction sites. Approximately a further 90-100 are seriously injured. Workplace transport incidents are the second most common cause of serious and fatal incidents in the construction industry, yet they could easily be avoided by having proper plans…