Skip to main content
IOSH Magazine: Safety, Health and Wellbeing in the world of work - return to the homepage IOSH Magaazine logo
  • Visit IOSH Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit @ioshmagazine on Twitter
  • Visit IOSH Magazine on LinkedIn
Non-verbal communication
How to build trust
March/April 2023 issue

Main navigation

  • Home
    • Browse previous issues
    • Member accolades
    • Member tributes
  • Health
    • Mental health and wellbeing
      • Bullying
      • Drugs and alcohol
      • Mental health
      • Stress
      • Wellbeing
    • Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
      • Ergonomics
      • Manual handling
      • Vibration
    • Occupational cancer
      • Asbestos
      • Hazardous substances
      • Radiation
  • Safety
    • Incident management
      • Chemicals
      • Electricity
      • Fire
      • First aid
      • Slips and trips
    • Non-health related fatalities
      • Road safety
      • Work at height
    • Risk management
      • Confined spaces
      • Disability
      • Legionella
      • Lifting operations
      • Lone workers
      • Noise
      • Personal protective equipment
      • Violence at work
      • Work equipment
      • Workplace transport
  • Management
    • Human factors
      • Accident reduction
      • Behavioural safety
      • Control of contractors
      • Migrant workers
      • Older workers
      • Reporting
      • Safe systems of work
      • Sickness absence
      • Young workers
    • Leadership and management
      • Employee involvement
      • Management systems
    • Management standards
      • ISO 45001
      • ISO 45003
    • Planning
      • Assurance
      • Compliance
      • Emergency planning
      • Insurance
    • Rehabilitation
      • Personal injury
      • Return to work
    • Strategy
      • Corporate governance
      • Performance/results
      • Regulation/enforcement
      • Reputation
    • Sustainability
      • Human capital and Vision Zero
  • Skills
    • Communication
    • Personal performance
      • Achieving Fellowship
      • Career development
      • Competencies
      • Personal development
      • Professional skills
      • Qualifications
    • Stakeholder management
    • Working with others
      • Leadership
      • Future Leaders
  • Jobs
  • Covid-19
  • Knowledge Bank
    • Back to basics
    • Book club
    • Infographics
    • Podcast
    • Reports
    • Webinars
    • Videos
  • Products & Services
  • Management
    • Human factors
      • Sickness absence
      • Accident reduction
      • Behavioural safety
      • Control of contractors
      • Migrant workers
      • Older workers
      • Reporting
      • Safe systems of work
      • Young workers
    • Leadership and management
      • Employee involvement
      • Leadership
      • Management systems
    • Management standards
      • ISO 45001
      • ISO 45003
    • Planning
      • Assurance
      • Compliance
      • Emergency planning
      • Insurance
    • Strategy
      • Corporate governance
      • Performance/results
      • Regulation/enforcement
      • Reputation
    • Sustainability
      • Human capital and Vision Zero
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • Mental health and wellbeing
      • Bullying
      • Drugs and alcohol
      • Mental health
      • Stress
      • Wellbeing
    • Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
      • Ergonomics
      • Manual handling
      • Vibration
    • Occupational cancer
      • Asbestos
      • Hazardous substances
      • Radiation
  • Safety
    • Incident management
      • Chemicals
      • Electricity
      • Fire
      • First aid
      • Slips and trips
    • Non-health related fatalities
      • Road safety
      • Work at height
    • Risk management
      • Confined spaces
      • Disability
      • Legionella
      • Lifting operations
      • Lone workers
      • Noise
      • Personal protective equipment
      • Violence at work
      • Work equipment
      • Workplace transport
  • Skills
    • Communication
    • Personal performance
      • Career development
      • Competencies
      • Personal development
      • Qualifications
      • Professional skills
      • Achieving Fellowship
    • Stakeholder management
    • Working with others
      • Leadership
      • Future Leaders
  • Transport and logistics
  • Third sector
  • Retail
  • Mining and quarrying
  • Rail
  • Rehabilitation
    • Personal injury
    • Return to work
  • Utilities
  • Manufacturing and engineering
  • Construction
  • Sector: IOSH Branch
    • Sector: Northern Ireland
    • Sector: Midland
    • Sector: Merseyside
    • Sector: Manchester and North West Districts
    • Sector: Ireland East
    • Sector: Ireland
    • Sector: Edinburgh
    • Sector: Desmond-South Munster
    • Sector: Qatar
    • Sector: Oman
    • Singapore
    • Sector: South Coast
    • Sector: South Wales
    • Sector: Thames Valley
    • Sector: Tyne and Wear
    • Sector: UAE
    • Sector: West of Scotland
    • Sector: Yorkshire
  • Healthcare
  • Sector: Fire
  • Sector: Financial/general services
  • Sector: Energy
  • Education
  • Sector: Communications and media
  • Chemicals
  • Sector: Central government
  • Catering and leisure
  • Agriculture and forestry
  • Sector: Local government
  • Sector: IOSH Group
    • Sector: Financial Services
    • Sector: Sports Grounds and Events
    • Rural industries
    • Sector: railway
    • Public Services
    • Sector: Offshore
    • Sector: Hazardous Industries
    • Sector: Food and Drink
    • Sector: Fire Risk Management
    • Education
    • Construction
    • Sector: Aviation and Aerospace
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Categories
  • Topics
  • Safety
  • Incident management
  • Electricity
News

Electrician burned during 2012 Olympic Games prep

Open-access content Wednesday 27th January 2016
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

The incident happened at Earls Court Exhibition Centre ahead of the 2012 London Olympic Games

The London venue was due to host a volleyball tournament and Aggreko was appointed as the main contractor to provide a temporary electricity supply. Various contractors were hired for the task, including self-employed electricians.

The work required electrical cables to be routed throughout the venue. At times, to thread the wires through small gaps, cable heads were removed but not always replaced. This meant the wiring was live and unprotected when the power supply was switched on.

Ben Brown, a Custom Rigging Services employee, was installing a communications control centre in one of the conference rooms on 3 July 2012 when he was exposed to the live copper ends of an electrical cable. Westminster Magistrates' Court was told Brown's co-workers heard two loud bangs and saw a bright flash before he fell backward and collapsed. His left hand was burned and still cannot grip properly.

Aggreko pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Electricity at Work Regulations and was fined £36,000. It also agreed to pay the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's costs of £90,000.

The company is said to have acknowledged failings in its procedures and a lack of communication and supervision on site which, amongst other things, led to the injury. Aggreko has taken steps to prevent a similar occurrence.

You may also be interested in...

Image credit: ©iStock/Steven Foley

 Sagging 11kV line killed jogger

Thursday 28th January 2016
Dr James Kew was running on a popular footpath in a cornfield in Saffron Walden, Essex on 24 July 2012 when he came into contact with the high voltage power cable. Sections of a porcelain insulator had disintegrated on a wooden pole which supported the cable, causing it to droop. The 11kV line was as low as 1.5 m from the ground in places, though it should have been suspended at 5.5 m.
Open-access content
HSE

 Wrong equipment led to solar farm shock

Thursday 21st January 2016
Following the prosecution of British Solar Renewables (BSR) and Pascon earlier this month, IOSH Magazine has been told that Ashley Coe was working on the ground for much of the installation, helping to feed cables into trenches. He later swapped roles with a colleague and controlled the excavator for the first time since work started at the site. The arm of the excavator came into (close) contact with the overhead power line soon after, shocking Coe and two other workers.
Open-access content
Google Street View

 Brain injury sees solar farm contractor fined £250,000

Tuesday 12th January 2016
Ashley Coe, who was working onsite for subcontractor Pascon, was installing cables in a trench when an excavator tracked under a 33kV overhead power line and struck it. Coe was helping to control the cable drum suspended from the arm of the excavator when the incident happened on 13 March 2013.
Open-access content
©REX Shutterstock

 One dead and five injured in Didcot power station collapse

Wednesday 24th February 2016
Fire and rescue services are searching the site for three people who are still missing after part of the 10 storey former boiler house collapsed at about 4pm. Five people, believed to be demolition workers, were taken by ambulance to Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital; one is reported to have serious injuries but to be in a stable condition. The fire service is using sniffer dogs and unmanned aerial vehicles to search for the three people who are still missing.
Open-access content

 Fatal head injury leaves Balfour Beatty with £1m fine

Wednesday 27th January 2016
Larry Newman, 37, was part of a team sent out by subsidiary firm Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering to install temporary traffic management measures and repair a barrier that had been damaged in a collision on the A2 road.  The crew deployed a lorry-mounted crane to remove a post footing that had snapped. During the work, the crane became unstable and swung backwards, hitting Newman on the head and killing him. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Open-access content

 CITB invalidates 4,600 CSCS cards after fraud

Tuesday 26th January 2016
The fraud was revealed last October during an episode of Newsnight following investigations by the BBC and CITB. Thousands of applicants will have to retake their HS&E exam as the CITB announced it is recalling 6,000 tests, and more than 2,000 people are required to reapply for their Site Safety Plus certificate.
Open-access content

Latest from News

web-morrison-shutterstock_1205515750.png

  Morrisons’ £3.5m fine is ‘a warning to all employers’, says council

Friday 24th March 2023
Morrisons supermarket has been fined £3.5 million for failing to ensure the health and safety of an epileptic employee who died after falling from a shop stairway.
Open-access content
jfc

 IOSH launches new five-year strategy

Tuesday 21st March 2023
IOSH launches its new five-year strategy this spring. It will build and act on the reshaped purpose and ambition gained during WORK 2022, which ran from 2017 to 2022.
Open-access content
web_Cranes-on-construction-site_credit_iStock-1352083784.jpg

 Risk & Compliance software provider collaborates with HSE and Costain to improve risk management on worksites

Friday 17th March 2023
A Belfast-based Risk & Compliance software provider has been collaborating with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and construction giant Costain as part of an ongoing project to unlock artificial intelligence’s (AI) potential in improving the management of risks on worksites.
Open-access content

Latest from Electricity

web_Danger-overhead-power-lines_credit_iStock-870970886.jpg

 Farmyard electrocution led to three separate sentences

Wednesday 21st December 2022
On 30 September 2019, an employee of Connop and Son Ltd was pouring concrete at Worton Grounds Farm near Banbury when the arm of a mobile concrete pump he was using came into contact with an overhead powerline.
Open-access content
web_Boulby-Mine_credit_AlanMorris_shutterstock_1831949521.png

 Failures to apply learnings led to £3.6m fine

Wednesday 7th September 2022
A mining company has been fined £3.6 million after two electricians suffered severe burns in separate incidents.
Open-access content
web_United-States-flag_credit_iStock-487485528.png

 Penalties mount for vehicle parts maker on OSHA’s ‘severe violator enforcement programme’

Wednesday 10th August 2022
The US Department of Labor has presented an Ohio-based vehicle parts manufacturer on its ‘severe violator enforcement programme’ with a fine of $480,240 (approx. £373,000) after inspectors found it had continually exposed workers to multiple machine hazards
Open-access content
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Latest Jobs

Senior Health and Safety Manager

Reading
Up to £65000.00 per annum + Great Car Allowance & Benefits
Reference
5452983

Regional Health and Safety Advisor

Northampton
Up to £53000 per annum + Travel & Excellent Benefits
Reference
5452982

Global Health, Safety and Environment Director

Up to £150000 per annum + Excellent Benefits
Reference
5452980
See all jobs »

Sign up for regular e-alerts

Receive the latest news and features, free to your inbox

Sign up

Subscribe to IOSH magazine

Receive the print edition straight to your door

Subscribe
IOSH Covers
​
FOLLOW US
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel +44 (0)20 7880 6200
​

IOSH

About IOSH
Become a member
IOSH Events
MyIOSH

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to IOSH magazine
Write for IOSH magazine

IOSH Magazine

Health
Safety
Management
Skills
IOSH Jobs

© 2023 IOSH • IOSH is not responsible for the content of external sites

ioshmagazine.com and IOSH Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ