Companies fined after worker falls through skate park roof
Two companies have been fined more than £100k after a man fell 30 feet through a fragile skylight as he was working on a roof.
Nicolas Vilela suffered multiple injuries in the incident at Graystone Action Sports Centre, on Brunel Avenue in Salford on 23 November 2022.
Now 43, Mr Vilela had been fixing a solar panel into position on the roof when he took a step back and fell through one of the skylights to the skate park below, narrowly missing several people. His horrific injuries included a partial lung collapse, broken ribs, pelvis, femur and left wrist as well as fractures to lower vertebrae. He spent a month in hospital.
Falls from height remain a leading cause of workplace death and HSE has published guidance about how these incidents can be avoided.
Read more on the HSM website.
Councils’ asbestos management to be assessed during inspection campaign
Hundreds of inspections at council buildings will be carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to check councils are managing the risk of asbestos properly.
HSE inspectors will visit the head offices of dozens of councils across the country to ensure asbestos risks are being managed effectively to keep people safe. Each council visit will see inspections take place at several different sites within each local authority’s property portfolio. This work continues previous inspection campaigns that targeted hospitals and schools.
The inspections will assess how local authorities are managing the risks from asbestos within their buildings and meeting the ‘duty to manage’ (DTM) requirements under Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (CAR).
For more on the campaign, visit the HSE website.
Fire safety trumps consent in care home smoking scenario
Fire is such a potent hazard that the rights of a care home resident to smoke are surpassed by the fire safety obligations of the care home, said a barrister who was involved in the prosecution of a BUPA care home after the death of a resident in a fire caused by smoking.
Saba Naqshbandi KC told an audience at the Anticipate London event that the case involved the death in 2016 of a wheelchair-bound care home resident at a Bupa care home. The resident died after a cigarette he was smoking in an exterior smoking shelter ignited his clothing, which was likely to have been permeated with the residue of dried-in emollient creams. The evidence suggested that cream had not been applied on the day of his death or even in the days before, but the court could not rule out that the cream did not play a role in the fire.
Learn more on the SHP website.
Company failed to manage legionella risk as prisoner dies
A company has been fined after it failed to manage the risk of legionella bacteria in the hot and cold water systems at HMP Lincoln.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation followed the death of an inmate.
Amey Community Limited has now been fined £600,000 after pleading guilty to a health and safety offence.
Graham Butterworth died on 5 December 2017 after contracting Legionnaires’ disease while serving a prison sentence at HMP Lincoln.
Water samples from Mr Butterworth’s cell and nearby shower blocks tested positive for legionella days after the 71-year-old died.
Learn more about the incident on the HSE website.
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