Fine for manufacturing company after man left as ‘a shadow of his former self’
A Staffordshire-based manufacturing company has been fined £300,000 after a family man was left with injuries so serious he became ‘a shadow of his former self’.
Gary Taylor, who was 63 at the time, spent three weeks in hospital and needed seven months off work, following the incident on 24 March 2025.
The grandfather had been working for E H Hassell & Sons Limited at its site on Newstead Ind Estate in Trentham. He was one of several workers involved in the unloading of a lorry trailer containing various steel components for a large filtration system.
The workers had improvised a system to unload the metal hopper with a forklift truck, placing the forks underneath the unsecured load to lift it from the trailer bed. However, as it slid from the forks, it struck Mr Taylor in the head as he was stood alongside it. His injuries included fractures to his skull, neck and spine, two broken ribs and a severe laceration to his forehead which required 17 staples and 14 stitches.
Read more on the HSE website.
Director sentenced after filming accident
A media company has been fined and its director given a suspended custodial sentence after an employee suffered life-changing head and brain injuries when he fell from the back of a moving vehicle during filming in Devon.
The employee was working for Superhub Ltd on 14 May 2021 and was filming a video review of a new electric motorbike at Broadsands car park in Paignton.
After completing the planned filming using a drone, the decision was made to capture additional footage from a moving vehicle, with the motorbike following behind.
The employee climbed into the boot of a car driven by Superhub Ltd director James Foster, and they completed several laps of the car park. As the car began to move the boot liner slipped, causing the employee to fall onto the tarmac.
He sustained serious head and brain injuries requiring long-term care and has been unable to return to work since.
Learn more on the HSM website.
Young workers need new skills, says IOSH
A new generation of UK workers needs to learn new skills for the world of work today and in the future if they, their employers and the economy are to thrive.
That’s the call made by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), the global body for health and safety professionals based in the UK. It comes in the weeks before Alan Milburn is expected to announce his recommendations as part of a review into why so many young people in this country are economically inactive.
Through investment and effort focused on the skills agenda, IOSH believes employers and wider education systems can support young workers. For example, if young workers were helped and encouraged to improve attention skills, this would improve their ability to manage their workload, protect their wellbeing and help their employers deliver greater productivity.
Visit the HSM website to read more.
Attenborough-backed appeal secures £30m estate
Conservationists have completed the purchase of a huge upland estate following a two-year £30m public appeal backed by the likes of Sir David Attenborough.
The Wildlife Trusts – a federation of 47 conservation charities – and Northumberland Wildlife Trust (NWT) plan to “enhance the rich natural heritage” of the Rothbury Estate, a 9,500-acre stretch of former grouse moor, woodland and farmland – having headed off fears it could be split among multiple owners.
Broadcaster Sir David described it as an opportunity “to create something very special for generations to come”.
Not everyone supported the campaign, though, with some local farmers having warned the purchase would be “a folly”.
Owned by Lord Max Percy, the Duke of Northumberland’s youngest son, the estate had been in the family for about 700 years and was understood to be the largest area of land put up for sale in England in decades.
Learn more on the BBC website.
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