WOBO is pleased to provide updates from the HSE UK and HSM

Director sentenced after worker loses leg

THE DIRECTOR of a Halifax-based recycling company has been given a community order after a worker lost part of his left leg when it was crushed by machinery.

Daisy Ning Bai, 43, the director of BW Recycling Limited, was told she must complete 160 hours of unpaid work after pleading guilty to health and safety breaches. They related to an incident on 26 November 2019 at the company’s Cinderhall Works site on Sidall Top Lane.

The incident saw Nathan Bland, who was just 20 years of age at the time, have the lower part of his left leg instantly amputated. He also lost several toes from his right foot after his legs were crushed inside a waste baler – a piece of equipment used to compress waste products into a form that’s easy to manage for recycling or disposal.

In a victim personal statement, Mr Bland, who is now 25, said ‘every day was a struggle’ and that returning to work had proved to be very difficult due to the prosthetic leg he now has to wear.

“I can still have flashbacks,” he said. “I also struggle as my stump has issues fitting on my prosthetic leg.

“The incident has also affected my social life as it has given me PTSD and depression. I have had to get a support worker to help with my daily activities to help me with daily activities such as shopping and going to appointments.”

Calling time on human trafficking

IOSH RENEWS calls for action to improve and enforce laws around human trafficking and other forms of modern slavery.

Coinciding with World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on 30 July, IOSH urges businesses to ensure they are doing all they can to prevent human rights violations both within their organisations and in their supply chains.

The latest global estimates suggest nearly 50 million people were living in modern slavery in 2022. This includes those impacted by human trafficking, forced labour and forced marriage.

Improving and enforcing laws

With around a quarter of modern slavery victims being children, tackling this is the theme for World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.

IOSH believes there is a need global, national and sectorial strategies and action to tackle and eradicate forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and child labour while also ensuring the provision of a safe and healthy working environment.

It requires global efforts for implementing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, improvements in laws, enforcing laws and having more robust due diligence processes with transparency, and awareness raising in place to combat modern slavery and other human rights violations in business and supply chains.

Hidden cost of employee sickness revealed

RISING WORKPLACE sickness is costing UK businesses billions every year, according to a new report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).

Work at height sector responds to increase in workplace fatalities

MORE PEOPLE are being killed at work now after suffering a fall from height than in the last 17 years, according to the latest figures released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The Access Industry Forum (AIF), who represent the principal work at height trade associations and federations, reports that just-released HSE statistics on work-related fatal injuries show that shockingly, 50 workers died due to a fall from height in 2023/24 in Great Britain – an increase of 22% from 2022/23 which saw 41 deaths.

The last time the number of fatal falls from height was greater, was back in 2007/08 when the figure was 58. Since then, the number of fall from height fatalities has shown no improvement, seemingly reducing for a year or two, only for the number to sadly rise again. The 2023/24 figure for fatal falls from height now sits at an unacceptable 35% above the 5-year average of 37.

Despite advances in height safety, ongoing campaigning and increasing awareness of the risks of working at height, falls from height remain the leading cause of workplace fatalities in Great Britain, accounting for 36% of the 138 fatalities last year. Even more concerning is that the proportion of falls from height has continued to increase over recent years (25% in 2021/22, rising to 30% in 2022/23).

Logistics firm fined £1million following fall

A LOGISTICS company has been fined £1 million after an employee fell over 10 metres and sustained serious injuries.

Christopher Hooper suffered fractures to his skull, back, pelvis, arm, wrist and ankle after falling 11 metres at DP World Southampton’s terminal on 20 September 2022.

The 31-year-old, from Winchester, had fallen through an open hole in the driver’s cab of a straddle carrier, landing on the concrete floor below. The hole had been created by contractors that were replacing a glass floor, exposing Mr Hooper and other workers to the risk of falling from height.

Inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Mr Hooper’s employer, Southampton Container Terminals Limited, trading as DP World Southampton, failed to ensure there was a safe system of work at its site on Western Avenue.

Mr Hooper, who had worked for Southampton Container Terminals Limited since he was 17, had been undertaking routine maintenance work and was unaware of the open hole before falling onto the floor.

The HSE investigation found Southampton Container Terminals Limited had failed to ensure there was a system of work that ensured the replacement of the glass floor and routine maintenance work could be carried out safely at the same time. The company also failed to ensure there was a risk assessment in place and failed to implement its own policy for the use of permits to work whilst working at height.

Builder avoids immediate prison sentence

A BUILDER has been given a suspended prison sentence after he put the lives of workers at risk on a construction site in London.

David Beadle, trading as Beadle the Builders, failed to comply with a prohibition notice issued by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in relation to unsafe working at height at the site on Woodyates Road in South East London.

A proactive investigation by HSE found Beadle allowed workers under his control on at least three occasions to continue using a scaffold which was not properly constructed. It was a potentially dangerous structure at risk of collapse and in breach of the prohibition notice.

Sixty-three-year-old Beadle also failed to ensure that suitable and sufficient measures were in place to prevent workers falling a distance that would have caused personal injury. No edge protection had been installed to the side of the roof, the flat dormer roof, the front elevation of the roof, and safe access was not provided.

He was given a 26-week custodial sentence, suspended for 12 months and was told to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.

Spike in violence towards female commuters

BRITISH TRANSPORT Police Authoritys 2024 annual report shows the number of crimes against women and girls on their commute rose from 7,561 in 2021 to 11,357 in 2023

Violent attacks against women while they commute on British railways have more than doubled since 2021, according to shocking new data from the British Transport Police Authority’s 2024 Annual report. The data, first reported by The Times, also revealed that the number of sexual offences is up 10% over the same period, while sexual harassment reports doubled.

A separate British Transport Police (BTP) survey, released last year, reported more than a third of all women travelling by rail would be assaulted during their commute. BTP data also indicates that most assaults occur during the evening rush hour when trains are packed and busy.