Slips, trips and falls in the workplace left 10,000 people injured last year. There were even 21 construction workers killed in such incidents. Now the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has launched a new phase of their hard-hitting Shattered Lives campaign to encourage companies to eliminate the risk.
Slips, trips and falls are the most common cause of major workplace injury in Britain and have been estimated to cost £800million a year.
Construction and building is a high risk sector responsible for a disproportionately large number of the incidents. It is one of the areas being targeted in the latest HSE campaign.
The new phase of the Shattered Lives campaign involves raising awareness and directs people to the new Shattered Lives website (www.hse.gov.uk/shatteredlives) where there is an online tool called the Slips & Trips eLearning Package (or STEP) that looks at how slips and trips are caused, why preventing them is important and what you should do to prevent them.
Macob Administration Ltd of Bridgend, Wales, have been fined £80,000 with nearly £30,000 costs for offences resulting from one of their employees having his head crushed by a mini digger he was operating, even though he was not qualified to drive it, at a construction site in Gloucestershire.
Gloucester Crown Court heard that 23-year-old Lance Taylor from Bristol unintentionally hit a lever as he leaned out of the cab window. The digging arm of the vehicle was raised, crushing his head between the cab and the arm. He suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced dead on site.
A Bolton house-building company has been fined £7,500 with £7,500 costs after one of its workers, Ian Smith, fell off a ladder and died. The ladder had not been secured and was missing its rubber feet. DC Kennedy Homes Ltd were prosecuted by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE). Manchester Crown Court heard that Mr Smith was working on a project to build six new semi-detached houses when he fell five metres to the ground.
HSE’s investigation found that DC Kennedy Homes had allowed work to be carried out on the first and second floors of the house before the stairs had been fitted. The ladder from which Mr Smith fell was being used to reach the second floor.
A Sheffield company has been fined £2,000 with £1,000 costs after a worker suffered life-changing injuries as a result of falling 7m through a roof light. Charles Painting (UK) Ltd of Thorpe Hesley, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, pleaded guilty at Sheffield Magistrates Court of breaching 9 (2) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
The court heard that employee John Henderson suffered multiple fractures to his legs and arm when he fell through a fragile roof surface. The fall happened while Mr Henderson was preparing to clean roof lights. He was pulling water pipes across the roof when he fell through.
A York-based construction company has been fined £20,000 with £6,900 costs by Nottingham Magistrates after one of its mobile elevating work platforms overturned, seriously injuring a worker and putting the public at risk.
Shepherd Construction Ltd, of Huntington, York, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for its role in the incident at the Trinity Square construction site in central Nottingham.
The court heard how on 30 August 2007 a contractor on the site drove a cherry picker over a concealed man hole cover that gave way under the weight of the machine. The cherry picker toppled over, leaving its driver with serious injuries to his skull, back and legs.
The long reaching arm of the machine crashed to the ground, landing in a busy area that had been occupied by pedestrians and vehicles only seconds before. Following the incident, Milton Street in central Nottingham was blocked off for almost six hours.
The company was prosecuted because it had failed to put in place adequate measures to find and record the position of manhole and service covers and to take action to prevent vehicles from driving over them.
HSE Construction Division has been made aware of a bogus letter claiming to be from HSE which has been sent to several construction companies in East Anglia and the Home Counties. The letter concerns director's duties under the Corporate Manslaughter & Corporate Homicide Act 2007. The letter is headed with an old HSE Logo, is unsigned, and contains no HSE address details. The correct HSE Logo can be seen at the top of the HSE website homepage (www.hse.gov.uk).
While HSE does make contact by letter, they say they would not send out information in this manner. Organisational procedures require HSE staff to remain professional at all times and require them to be able to provide clear contact details, including contact numbers and line manager details on request.
If you receive a similar letter and have concerns, contact HSE to check its validity and report it if it is not genuine.