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March/April 2023 issue

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Safe systems of work
Manufacturing and engineering
News

Engineer's trapping costs National Grid Gas £1m

Open-access content Tuesday 26th January 2016
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

rsz_national_grid_day_12_highres

The gas distributor was overseeing work to fix a gas leak on Ashby Road, Scunthorpe when pressure build-up burst one of the pipelines. One worker from the team of subcontractors was trapped between two gas pipes and sustained a broken thighbone.

The fire and rescue service worked for an hour in zero visibility to free the engineer, who was wearing breathing apparatus to protect him from escaping gas and the cloud of dust and debris it created.

Humberside Fire and Rescue Service group manager Steve Fraser recalled: "Visibility was virtually zero due to air being dense with gas and dust, and the man had been working 10 feet below ground-¦They [the crews] were dealing with gas of an unknown quantity with potential for another explosion. They used pneumatic bags to prise the pipes apart and release his legs, all done in demanding circumstances."

National Grid Gas was sentenced on 25 January 2016 at Sheffield Crown Court, where it was revealed the company failed to comply with its own gas escape procedures and had not carried out sufficient risk assessments. The company admitted to failings under Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. It was ordered to pay prosecution costs of £26,296.

Ian Redshaw, a Health and Safety Executive inspector, said: "This incident could easily have become a fatality. National Grid Gas failed to follow its own processes and carry out sufficient risk assessments to protect workers and the sub-contractors fixing the leak."

The penalty comes just one month after National Grid Gas was fined £2m after an 11-year-old boy fell from one of its pipelines and drowned.

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 National Grid Gas pays £1m for main rupture

Monday 22nd February 2016
As we reported last month, three National Grid Gas workers and two employees from RS Services were deployed to Ashby Road, Scunthorpe to stop a gas leak. The fault was in the location of a previous repair on the pipe that first needed to be removed.
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 Wilko receives £400,000 penalty for death of forklift driver

Monday 25th January 2016
George Hancock was working at Wilko’s Worksop distribution centre when the incident happened in December 2011.  After an inquest at Nottingham Coroner’s Court in December 2013, when the jury recorded a verdict of accidental death, Bassetlaw District Council prosecuted Wilko following an investigation into what happened.
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 Kitchen co had no proper guarding on tenoning machine

Thursday 14th January 2016
The worker had two fingers on his right hand amputated following the incident on 31 October 2014. Bespoke in Oak was sentenced at Northampton Magistrates’ Court, when it was revealed there was no functioning limited cutter projection tooling on the cutting block and dangerous moving parts were exposed.
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 In short: Exploding gas cylinder hit worker in the head

Monday 8th February 2016
A pressurised gas cylinder was put through a shearing machine for processing on 16 June 2009 when it exploded. Tony Johnson, 55, was hit in the head by a large section of the cylinder and died from his injuries. The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) investigation found Walter Heselwood had not adequately assessed the risks from handling different types of scrap metal and failed to implement appropriate measures to minimise these risks, such as installing a blast wall.
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 ConocoPhillips fined £3m for offshore platform gas releases

Tuesday 9th February 2016
The LOGGS complex comprises five interlinked platforms. It has its own wells and also feeds natural gas from other platforms to the Theddlethorpe gas terminal on the Lincolnshire coast.  On 30 November 2012, two gas releases took place during maintenance work to refit a Hale Hamilton fuel pressure control valve on one of three gas turbine electricity generators that provide LOGGS’ electrical supply.
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 Press interlock was intentionally defeated

Monday 15th February 2016
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched an investigation into the 12 March 2015 incident and found it was common practice for workers to defeat the machine’s safety interlock while it was being set up.The employee who was preparing the press inadvertently activated the press and it crushed the tips of his index finger and thumb.The HSE also found Walraven’s risk assessment for the work to be inadequate and irregularly reviewed.
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  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.
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 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.
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 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.
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Latest from Manufacturing and engineering

EcoOnline webinar

 Expert analysis of HSE stats in manufacturing

In this webinar, we will take a closer look at what the new stats mean compared to previous years with a focus on the topics of chemical management, permit to work and EHS in the manufacturing industry. Book your free place now and earn CPD points, too.
Open-access content
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 Exclusive interview: why Nestlé was fined £800,000 for repeat incidents

Wednesday 23rd November 2022
IOSH magazine spoke to HSE inspector Bill Gilroy about a serious accident at a Nestlé factory in Newcastle – an almost carbon copy of a previous incident at another of the confectionary firm’s factories.
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 G4S: Vehicle for change

Friday 27th May 2022
The switch to electric vehicles is changing the risk landscape for car manufacturers. We found out how G4S is protecting assembly line workers and its first responders
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 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
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 Dyson lands £1.2m fine after worker escapes more serious injuries

Friday 5th August 2022
Dyson Technologies has been handed a £1.2 million fine after a worker at its Wiltshire site narrowly escaped being crushed by a 1.5 tonne milling machine.
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 Talking shop: hand dominance

Friday 1st July 2022
How should organisations consider left-handedness in their safety management systems? Four industry leaders offer their thoughts.
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Latest from Confined spaces

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 HSE report highlights risks posed by hazardous atmospheres in freight containers at ports and distribution centres

Friday 4th November 2022
Research published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has identified some weaknesses in the control measures at a number of ports and distribution centres in relation to workers coming into contact with hazardous substances when examining or unloading freight containers.
Open-access content
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 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
Image courtesy of the HSE

 Senior managers at food waste plant jailed and family business fined £2m over two fatalities

Friday 1st July 2022
Three senior managers at a food waste recycling plant in Leicestershire have been handed prison sentences for gross negligence that resulted in two workers being overcome by toxic fumes and drowning in a road haulage tanker containing pig feed. The Newark-based family-owned and run business, which is being liquidated, has been fined £2m. We spoke to the HSE’s Principal Inspector to get the full story.
Open-access content
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