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May/June 2023 issue

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Work at height
Construction
News

Inspectors falsely certified scaffold

Open-access content Tuesday 26th September 2017
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

Greater Manchester Magistrates' Court was told that the 49-year-old victim was working on a reroofing project on 26 March 2014.

As he stepped down from the roof onto the scaffolding, he fell through a space between the building and the working platform.

He sustained fractures to his spine and had to wear a back brace for eight weeks.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Stephen Harper and Gary Arnold had approved the scaffold as safe without inspecting the structure and had falsified the safety certificates.

Harper, from Rochdale, and Arnold, from Sheffield, pleaded guilty to breaching s 7(a) of the Health and Safety at Work Act, which requires employees to take reasonable care for themselves and others who may be affected by their actions. They were each sentenced to 170 hours' community service and ordered to pay £1,500 costs.

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Matt Greenly said: "Scaffold inspectors are relied upon by workers and must be trusted. Falsely completing reports without carrying out a thorough inspection can lead to serious risks being missed and life changing accidents occurring."

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 Deaths at work rise in Northern Ireland

Thursday 28th September 2017
The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) has published its 2016-17 annual report that shows 18 people were killed in accidents at work in the 12 months to the end of March 2017, up more than a third on the previous 12 months.
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 HSE’s construction blitz targets dust exposure

Tuesday 3rd October 2017
Over the next two weeks HSE inspectors will visit building projects across Britain and focus on respirable silica dust, wood dust and asbestos. Other issues they will target include work at height, structural safety, materials handling and welfare provision. This is the second phase of the inspection programme. During phase one earlier this year the regulator carried out more than 2,000 inspections and took enforcement action on almost half the visits.
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 Overhead line strike led to multiple amputations

Friday 6th October 2017
Swindon Magistrates’ Court was told that the structure touched 33 kV overhead power lines on 19 December 2016. The shock he received led to the amputation of his left arm above the elbow, right arm below the elbow and both of his feet. The 32-year-old also suffered severe burns to his legs and back, damage to his vocal chords and was in an induced coma for six weeks.
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 Irish work deaths fall but farming still ‘area of concern’

Friday 15th September 2017
The Health and Safety Authority’s (HSA) 2016 annual report shows that the three-year rolling fatality rate has remained relatively stable since 2009, following a downward trend between 1999 and 2009. The HSA said that last year it received reports of 45 workplace deaths, 43 of which involved workers while members of the public accounted for the rest.
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 *UPDATE* Developer lands £200k fine for CDM breaches

Tuesday 12th September 2017
In October 2016, a member of the public raised concerns about conditions at the building site in Mitcham, south London and alerted the HSE. HSE inspector Andrew Verrall-Withers visited Pitcairn Road and found workers demolishing a two-storey block of flats in preparation for the construction of six flats.
Open-access content

 Construction firm lands £95k fine for worker’s fall from height injuries

Thursday 12th October 2017
Hammersmith Magistrates’ Court was told this week that an employee at West Hill Projects was carrying out work next to the opening on Wandle Road in London on 5 December 2016 when the incident happened. The worker fell and sustained four fractured vertebrae, a fractured rib and a scalp wound. He was unable to work for several months.
Open-access content
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