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Conviction
of Directors: 1 April 2003 - 31 March 2004
In 2002/3, 14 directors were convicted for health
and safety offences. Five are known to have involved
deaths. No-one faced imprisonment. The average fine
was £6460
| Conviction
1 (not in database) |
| |
|
Fine |
Costs |
| Name
of Director |
Bipin
Bhagani |
£7,500
|
£15,000 |
| Name
of Company |
Whitefields
Care Homes Ltd |
£10,000 |
£5,569 |
| Location
of offence |
Middlesex,
London |
| Date
of Offence |
7
Feb 2001 |
| Date
of Hearing |
29
April 2003 |
| Summary |
The
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution
followed an incident on 7 February 2001 in which
an 85 year old resident, Mrs Violet Frith, sustained
serious burns to her legs whilst she was sleeping
in her bed at Beaconsfield House Nursing Home.
The burns arose from contact with the hot surface
of a radiator, which was located next to the bed.
Mrs Frith contracted a wound infection and died
on 04 March 2001. After the hearing, HSE investigating
inspector Stephen Hartley said :"This sad
incident could have been easily prevented. Care
homes and hospitals should be well aware of the
risk that hot radiators and pipework present to
vulnerable, elderly people."This case serves
to remind Directors of the need to ensure that
their organisations manage risks to health and
safety effectively." |
| Conviction
2 |
| |
|
Fine |
Costs |
| Name
of Director |
Mark
Edward Foley |
£10,000 |
£5000
|
| Name
of Company |
Wessex
Stone Limited
(now in liquidation) |
£15,000 |
£5,000 |
| Location
of offence |
Bristol,
SW |
| Date
of Offence |
12
Nov 2001 |
| Date
of Hearing |
02 May 2003 |
| Summary |
Unguarded machinery. Employee had arm amputated
in unguarded conveyor. Complete failure to ensure
safety of employees. |
| Conviction
3 |
| |
|
Fine |
Costs |
| Name
of Director |
Daniel
Christopher O'Brien |
£10,000 |
£5000 |
| Name
of Company |
Wessex
Stone Limited
(Now in Liquidation) |
£15,000 |
£5,000 |
| Location
of offence |
Uxbridge,
London |
| Date
of Offence |
12
Nov 2001 |
| Date
of Hearing |
02 May 2003 |
| Summary |
Unguarded
machinery. Employee had arm amputated in unguarded
conveyor. Complete failure to ensure safety of
employees.” |
| Conviction
4 |
| |
|
Fine |
Costs |
| Name
of Director |
Mr
Abdulwaheed Abidoye |
£3,750 |
£2000 |
| Name
of Company |
Beckon
Contancting Ltd |
£2,500 |
|
| Location
of offence |
London |
| Date
of Offence |
05
May 2002 |
| Date
of Hearing |
28 May 2003 |
| Summary |
”Mr
Abidoye, director of Beckon Contancting Ltd had
his track certificate withdrawn by London Underground
in April after breaching LUL rules. Despite this
on 5 May 2002 he acted as protection master for
Thales Telecommunications Ltd and took a contractor
on to the track without informing the Track Access
Controller . There was a risk of them being hit
by a train or being electrocuted.” |
| Conviction
5 - Not in HSE database |
| |
|
Fine |
Costs |
| Name
of Director |
Paul
MacKenzie |
£5000 |
|
| Name
of Company |
Philip
Services (Europe) Ltd |
No
record |
|
| Location
of offence |
Southampton
- South East |
| Date
of Offence |
17
Aug 2000 |
| Date
of Hearing |
16 Jun 2003 |
| Summary |
Christopher
Shute died at the Ford factory in Wide Lane, Swathling
on 17th August 2000. Mr Shute was killed when
he fell into an emulsion paint overspray capture
tank (EPOC) used to collect excess paint from
spray booths on the transit van production line. |
| Conviction
6 |
| |
|
Fine |
Costs |
| Name
of Director |
Lance
Fawcett |
£2,500 |
|
| Name
of Company |
G
F Bisset (Inverbervie) Ltd (company in Liquidation) |
No
record |
|
| Location
of offence |
Huddersfield,
York and Jumberside |
| Date
of Offence |
25
Feb 2003 |
| Date
of Hearing |
01 Jul 2003 |
| Summary |
”Director
of Electrical Company, who directed that work
should be done to repair gutter of industrial
unit from roof, without addressing necessary safety
precautions. Unsafe ladder access; no protection
against falls from edge and no protection against
falls through fragile roof lights in vicinity
of work area. Work carried out by two employees
of electrical company not trained or experienced
in roof work. Younger one was eighteen years of
age. The roofing project was carried out on an
industrial unit privately owned by the Director,
and was not part of usual company business.” |
| Conviction
7 |
| |
|
Fine |
Costs |
| Name
of Director |
James
William Alston |
£2700
|
£801 |
| Name
of Company |
W
L Duffield and Sons Limited |
£0 |
£551 |
| Location
of offence |
Norwich,
Norfolk - Eastern |
| Date
of Offence |
02
Dec 2002 |
| Date
of Hearing |
18 Jul 2003 |
| Summary |
Knocked
down delivery driver on farm when driving JCB
526 with bucket raised obscuring view ahead |
| Conviction
8 |
| |
|
Fine |
Costs |
| Name
of Director |
Mr
Jonathan Eugene Bygate |
£6,500 |
|
| Name
of Company |
Markyate
Precision Engineering Co Ltd
(Liquiidation |
Not
convicted. |
|
| Location
of offence |
St
Albans, Herts - Eastern |
| Date
of Offence |
01
Jan 2001 |
| Date
of Hearing |
25 Jul 2003 |
| Summary |
”He
was the director of Markyate Precision Engineering
Co Ltd which went into voluntary liquidation in
April 2002. He was the workshop manager and had
his office in the premises where the death occurred.
The fatal accident involved one jaw from a 3-jaw
chuck striking the head of the operator during
a maintenance activity”. |
| Conviction
9 |
| |
|
Fine |
Costs |
| Name
of Director |
Carlton
James Edwards-Leary |
£8,000 |
£200 |
| Name
of Company |
CEL
Leadwork Contracts Ltd |
£4,000 |
£10,000 |
| Location
of offence |
Peterborough,
Cambridgeshire - Eastern |
| Date
of Offence |
29
Sept 1998 |
| Date
of Hearing |
04 Aug 2003 |
| Summary |
”Failure
to comply with Improvement Notice and Control
of Lead at Work regulation - failure to prevent
eat/drink/smoke in lead contaminated area; and
Control of Lead at Work r 10(1) failure to ensure
employee exposed to lead is under health surveillance.” |
| Conviction
10 |
| |
|
Fine |
Costs |
| Name
of Director |
Timothy
Smalley |
£1,000 |
|
| Name
of Company |
Bedmax
Ltd |
£1,000 |
£600 |
| Location
of offence |
Belford,
Northumberland - NE |
| Date
of Offence |
22
Sept 2002 |
| Date
of Hearing |
02 Feb 2004 |
| Summary |
”Director
of a Ltd Co. neglected to take the reasonably
practicable measures he could have taken to ensure
safety during work by a contractor he engaged
to do plant work needing access across the fibre
cement roof of the factory. One person fell through
a plastic roof light approx. 5m to the floor below.” |
| Conviction
11 |
| |
|
Fine |
Costs |
| Name
of Director |
Lewis
Andrew Courtney |
£6000 |
|
| Name
of Company |
Clearserve
Ltd |
No
record |
|
| Location
of offence |
Essex
- Eastern |
| Date
of Offence |
05
Dec 2001 |
| Date
of Hearing |
01 Sept 2003 |
| Summary |
Case
arising from fatality to Dean Butler. Manslaughter
prosecution not successful |
| Conviction
12 |
| |
|
Fine |
Costs |
| Name
of Director |
James
Quinn Holland |
£1500 |
|
| Name
of Company |
Clearserve
Ltd |
No
record |
|
| Location
of offence |
Essex
- Eastern |
| Date
of Offence |
05
Dec 2001 |
| Date
of Hearing |
01 Sept 2003 |
| Summary |
Case
arising from fatality to Dean Butler. Manslaughter
prosecution not successful |
| Conviction
13 |
| |
|
Fine |
Costs |
| Name
of Director |
Ian
Terry Thorne |
£6000 |
|
| Name
of Company |
JPD
Ltd |
£12000 |
|
| Location
of offence |
Stevenage,
Herts - Eastern |
| Date
of Offence |
15
Jan 2003 |
| Date
of Hearing |
24 Feb 2004 |
| Summary |
”Injured
person was cutting plastic on an unguarded circular
saw. He caught his hand in the running blade whilst
trying to adjust it and suffered the loss of the
top of his index finger with injuries to the other
three fingers. Injured person had used the saw
before but had no formal training. He had used
the saw before with Mr Thorne, director of the
company, without the guard in place. No risk assessments
were in place, and the accident was not reported
until HSE visited the company in April 2003. It
was reasonably practicable for the guard to be
in place..” |
| Conviction
14 |
| |
|
Fine |
Costs |
| Name
of Director |
Timothy
Gareth Elsome |
£10,000 |
|
| Name
of Company |
Elsome
Engineering Ltd |
£100,000 |
£12,981 |
| Location
of offence |
Leicestershire
– East Midlands |
| Date
of Offence |
13
Feb 2003 |
| Date
of Hearing |
19 March 2004 |
| Summary |
”Ken
Chalk died when the FLT he was driving overturned.
Elsome Engineering Ltd failed to ensure the safety
of their employees using FLTs to move lengths
of steel stock in the yard, in which 18"
deep excavations had been made. There was no fence/barrier
around the excavations, no information or instructions
were given to the enployees about the excavations
and the use of seat belts was not enforced and
no assessment of the risk was made.” |
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