An engineering firm based in the Midlands has been fined £133,000 after its emergency plans failed to prevent contaminated fire-fighting water and chemicals from polluting the River Anker.

In April 2010, a large fire broke out at Abbey Metal's Nuneaton metal finishing works. Tackling the blaze resulted in a “cocktail of hazardous substances” being washed into the river, killing some 27,000 fish. Birmingham Crown Court heard that the company's emergency measures were inadequate and that no plan had been made to access the sewerage system for the emergency storage of contaminated water.

Despite the fire service using pollution prevention equipment, water from the site containing cyanides, copper and cadmium from metal treatment processes reached the river running along the back of the site.

The fire qualified as a major incident under the Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations SI 1999/743, which the firm pleaded guilty to breaching, along with three offences under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations SI 2010/675.

An Environment Agency officer commented, “The Agency expects high standards from COMAH establishments. Where accidents are foreseeable, the operator must plan to prevent or mitigate them. This is what Abbey Metal failed to do.”

An employee who had only been working at a solar panel installation firm for two weeks had a lucky escape when he fell through the roof of a pig shed onto a soft layer of animal waste, avoiding severe injury.

The employee was working for Solar Fit PV Ltd by installing solar panels on the roof of a pig shed at an East Yorkshire farm when he suddenly heard a crack and the roof gave way. A soft layer of animal waste softened the four metre fall, but the man suffered a radial fracture to his left elbow and bruising to his legs. He has since recovered and found work elsewhere.

York Magistrates’ Court was told that the farm owner spoke to the firm’s director on-site because he was unhappy with the way they had been working on the shed roof. He warned that the two roofs were fragile and no work should take place without using crawl boards, which he made available.

A chemical firm has been fined £120,000 after an employee sustained severe burns when he was engulfed by a fireball at a factory in Wirral.

The 45 year old from Kirby was kept in an induced coma for seven weeks following the explosion at SAFC Hitech Ltd's plant in Bromborough, on 28 February last year. The company was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following an investigation into the incident, which left the employee with burns to his face, right arm and upper body.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that the company had been manufacturing a chemical called trimethylindium (TMI), which is used during the production of LEDs and in the semi-conductor industry. Waste from the purification process had been left on a bench to deactivate in an unsealed glass bottle, despite being explosive if it is exposed to air or water.

Shortly after starting his shift, the worker entered the waste deactivation area and the waste in the glass bottle exploded, sending shards of glass across the yard. He does not remember the incident, but colleagues reported seeing him running around in a ball of flames. He was taken to a specialist burns unit and induced into a coma. He was kept in hospital for almost three months, and still has extensive scars and difficulty moving.

SAFC Hitech Ltd pleaded guilty to single breaches of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations SI 2002/2776 and the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, with regard to failing to:

• carry out a suitable risk assessment for dealing with waste from the TMI purification process;
• supervise and monitor; and
• ensure the safety of employees.

The Department for Work and Pensions has announced a Triennial Review of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). This is part of the Government's commitment to reform the public sector, meaning all public bodies are now subject to regular reviews.

Reviews began in 2010, which led to 500 public bodies being reformed. Following this, the Government committed to reviewing all remaining bodies at least every three years to make sure that they are still fit for purpose.

Mark Hoban, Minister for employment, said, “In 2010 we acted to close down unnecessary public bodies and ensure that those that remained were fit to deliver public services efficiently and effectively. Routine reviews, such as the one I am launching today, ensure that bodies such as the HSE continue to be fit for purpose, and that they are providing the value for money that the taxpayer expects.”

Responding to the review, HSE Chair Judith Hackitt said, “It is approaching 40 years since the HSE was created and in that time the organisation has continually adapted to keep pace with changes in industry and to ensure the HSE continues to make a positive contribution to reducing death, injury and illness in the workplace. We welcome the opportunity to work with Martin Temple and to contribute to the review, which we expect to provide robust and helpful scrutiny of the HSE and its responsibilities.”

Are you interested in debating how to create a sustainable future in your organisation or community and the economic implications?

If you are then you need to get yourself along to the Green-Thinkers Bookclub, a new event in Newcastle which is hosted by colleague and good friend of Cedrec, Marek Bidwell. On the agenda this spring, is the bold and provocative “Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet ” by Tim Jackson, who is a top sustainability adviser to the UK Government.

The group will be meeting on 6 June 2013, at 6:30pm at the Bridge Hotel, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 1RQ.

Places are already going, so to book your seat email marek@green-thinkers.org. It will only cost you £5, and you get chips and a sandwich!

For more information, go to green-thinkers.org and you can follow Marek on Twitter @MarekBidwell.

Two companies have been fined a total of £794,658 after a driver was run over and killed by his own lorry.

Gary Walters was working for haulier Larkins Logistics Ltd when the incident occurred on 11 October 2010. He was collecting a trailer loaded with structural concrete products from Bison Manufacturing Ltd in Derbyshire and failed to apply the brake in his cab. However, because Bison's drivers had not applied the brake to the trailer, the vehicle moved off as he was coupling the two parts together. Mr Walters is thought to have gone round the front of the vehicle in an attempt to get into the cab and apply the brakes, but was run over.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that drivers working for Bison did not routinely apply the trailer brakes to make sure the units were safely parked. Police examined ten other trailers at the site, and found none had the brakes applied, and no other manual system of restraint (chocks or hooks) were in place.

Derby Crown Court heard there had been a number of other instances of lorries rolling away and Larkins' drivers had not been properly trained to assess the use of trailer brakes in the yard. Both companies had identified the risks to workers, but failed to implement appropriate control measures. Their method of working ignored published safety guidance, which meant that drivers and other employees were all at risk.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Judith McNulty-Green said, “This was not an isolated incident – sadly there are deaths and serious injuries to drivers every year in similar circumstances. It happened out of poor practice and was entirely preventable. Bison Manufacturing Ltd failed to implement a safe system of work for the storage of trailers with the brakes applied. They and Larkins Logistics Ltd also failed to implement and monitor working procedures for coupling and uncoupling trailers in the yard, and they failed to do it despite previous incidents.

“Had they done so they would have realised trailer brakes were routinely not being applied, taken appropriate action and a man would not have lost his life so needlessly.”

For more information, see:

• The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974;
• HSG136 – Workplace transport safety: An employers' guide.

As heartthrob Peter Andre was filming new scenes for his smash TV series “Peter Andre: My Life” near the Dungeness B power station in Kent, little did he know that the plant was spilling a radioactive material called tritium.

An international chemical firm, Tata Chemicals Europe Ltd, has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for multiple incidents which put them in breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations SI 1995/3163.

Chester Crown Court heard of three incidents involving safety at Tata Chemicals in 2010. The first incident involved an employee who suffered severe burns when their right foot fell through a missing part of metal grating which exposed them to a toxic liquid at temperatures of 95°C.

The second incident happened six months after, when a dangerous gas was released resulting in high levels of carbon monoxide in the area of the plant where employees were working. Investigations found that employees didn't have enough practical training for the activity which caused the gas leak and the emergency procedures were inadequate.

Then, in November 2010, a worker was injured when part of the gantry they were walking along gave way due to corrosion. When the HSE inspector visited the factory, they discovered the company had failed to report another part of the grating on the same walkway collapsing two days before the incident.

Tata Chemicals Europe Ltd was fined a total of £100,750 for six offences and was ordered to pay £71,082 in costs.

HSE inspector Gill Chambers said, “A company the size of Tata Chemicals should never have allowed these incidents to occur, and the lives of its workers were put at risk as a result. The general conditions we found at the plant were extremely poor. Some of the gantries were in desperate need of repair after becoming badly corroded and the practical training for staff was also inadequate, meaning they did not take appropriate measures in emergency situations.

“The chemical industry has the potential to be extremely dangerous so it’s vital that firms like Tata Chemicals make health and safety their top priority. Unfortunately, the company fell way below acceptable standards on multiple occasions.”

Lamps and Tubes Illuminations Ltd has been fined £5,950 and was ordered to pay £10,000 in costs after admitting to breaching the Work at Height Regulations SI 2005/735. The particular breach relates to an incident in 2011 when an employee broke his arm and lost several teeth following a fall from a ladder.

Ryszard Zolyniak was fixing bunting outside a supermarket as part of the celebrations for the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge when he slipped and fell from the ladder. Following the five metre fall, Mr Zolyniak suffered five broken bones in his wrist, lost teeth and trapped a nerve in his leg.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that a director from Lamps and Tubes Illuminations Ltd had attended the site and advised Mr. Zolyniak and a co-worker to use a ladder despite the fact that other employees nearby were using cherry pickers. The use of a ladder was unnecessary when a safer way of working was available – a point the company makes clear in its own written procedures.

Followng the hearing, HSE Inspector Stephen Faulkner said, “Falls from height pose a frequent risk for Lamps and Illuminations Ltd employees due to the nature of the company’s work. So the bunting project should have been better managed. The company had in place a written set of procedures, which included not using ladders if another more suitable method of working at height was available. However, these were seemingly overlooked on the day of the incident, resulting in painful injuries for Mr Zolyniak that could have been avoided.”

For more information, see:

• INDG401 – The Work at Height Regulations 2005 (as amended);
• INDG402 – Safe use of ladders and stepladders.

From 1 April 2013, employers in Northern Ireland will have the option to report ALL work related incidents to the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI), no matter who the relevant enforcing authority is for the business.

The HSENI, in agreement with district councils, are now offering this service in the hope that it will make it easier for employers to report incidents at work. This is especially relevant where it is difficult for an employer to determine who their relevant enforcing authority is. The HSENI will process all forms onto its RIDDOR database and, where necessary, forward on relevant forms to the appropriate district council to register and process in the normal way.

If you need any further information on this new service, you can contact the helpline on 0800 0320 121.

For more information, see the:

• Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (Northern Ireland) SR 1997/455;
• Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations (Northern Ireland) SR 1999/90.