Health and Safety

An employment tribunal has ordered a crane supplier to pay a former employee almost £30,000 for unfair dismissal after the crane he was operating collapsed. The crane operator, named as G Shields in a tribunal judgment released this week, was dismissed by Falcon Tower Crane Services after the jib collapsed…

A cladding company has been fined £225,000 following the death of a worker who fell through a fragile roof while replacing cladding panels. Leslie Bennion, 61, died after falling from a height of 6 metres while working on a roof at Gaerwen Industrial Estate in Anglesey on 24 January 2018.…

A window manufacturing firm in Sheffield has been fined after a 19-year-old worker lost parts of two fingers in a cross-cut saw incident. Ford Windows Ltd was ordered to pay a £100,000 fine plus costs following a hearing at Sheffield Magistrates Court on 28 April, according to the Health and…

A family whose relative died when a crane crashed through the roof of their home have agreed an out of court financial settlement with a housing association and contractor. Former Squibb Group subsidiary PGCS Partnership and Swan Housing Association and its subsidiary Swan Commercial Services were taken to the High…

A construction company has been fined after a kitchen fitter was crushed to death by concrete blocks at a site in Gloucestershire. Martin Dunford, 33, was killed on 23 January 2020 while working on a Piper Homes Construction Ltd housing development at Ebrington Rise, near Chipping Campden. An investigation by…

The opening of a diagnostic centre that is being built by Kier in Nottinghamshire has been pushed back by four months, after the discovery of higher-than-expected levels of asbestos. The Mansfield Community Diagnostic Centre, which was due to open at the end of the year, is now expected to be…

An infrastructure firm has been told to review how it plans operations near rail lines after a worker was nearly hit by a train travelling at 104mph. A report released last Thursday (17 April) by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) detailed the incident, which took place at Chiltern Green,…

Penalties for health and safety breaches by large contractors could become more consistent under a proposed shake-up of sentencing guidelines. Reformed health and safety fines introduced in 2016 saw recommendations given to judges for how to sentence companies ranked as being either micro, small, medium, large or very large based on…

The construction industry experienced one of its safest years on record in 2024/25, provisional data suggests. Quarterly figures published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show that 19 construction workers died as a result of workplace injuries suffered between April and December 2024. In the same period in 2023…

A builder has been sentenced to perform community service after pleading guilty to carrying out unlicensed asbestos removal work during a house renovation. Despite being warned by the customer that asbestos was potentially present in the fascia boards, builder Gavin Mutch proceeded to remove the asbestos-containing materials, the Health and…