Health and Safety Consultants

Mitchells and Butler Retail, a major retail management group which manages chains such as All Bar One and O’Neills has been prosecuted by Newham Council and ordered to pay over £50,000 after a worker was crushed to death in a bowling machine.

Ferdinand de la Cruz, was cleaning a pinsetter machine that had not been fitted with protective guarding at a Hollywood Bowl outlet. A further investigation found that the machinery did not comply with safety standards in the UK or in Europe. The HSE has issued new guidance on pinsetters to the local authority enforcement teams since the accident and Mitchells and Butlers now use bowling machines that have guarding systems,  which prevent assess to dangerous parts of the bowling machinery.

Chromalloy UK Ltd, a technology company in Nottingham, was fined £50,000 after a worker suffered from serious burns.

Paul Gothard, 54, was hit by a fireball after the aluminium powder he was loading into an electric power blender exploded.  The fireball set fire to his overalls and he suffered serious burns to his hands, arms and face.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) concluded that the explosion was likely to be caused by a discharge of static electricity, which led to the ignition of the aluminium powder.

Noelle Walker, an Inspector at HSE said: “Mr Gothard suffered serious burns in this incident and he’s been left with some permanent lack of function in his hand. Chromalloy failed to carry out assessments and control risks as required in relation to powdered aluminium, which is an explosive dust.”

Analysis on the British Crime Survey by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), has found that hundreds of thousands of violent acts were committed against workers in England and Wales during 2008/09. An estimated 327,000 workers experienced at least one incident of violence at work, 168,000 of these workers had been assaulted and 176,000 had been threatened.

 Workers in ‘protective service’ occupations, such as police officers, fire service officers and prison service officers, were most at risk of violence at work. Figures showed that 9.0 per cent of people in the ‘protective services’ experienced one or more incidents on violence. Other high risk groups included health professionals and social care professionals.

 Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 employers are required to assess the risks to their employees and must implement measures to eliminate and/or reduce the risks. Personal safety training is one of the most effective ways of reducing the risk of violent and aggressive incidents occurring in the workplace and is something you may wish to consider if you are at risk of violence.