Health and Safety Executive regional press releases 2014 - South East

December

• 18/12/14: Hospital trust fined £180,000 after patient suffers debilitating burns from super-heated mattress
  A sedated patient suffered debilitating injury when a saline bag caused a warming mattress to reach temperatures high enough to cause full thickness burns, a court has heard.
• 17/12/14: Kent company in court after repeating safety offence
  A Kent firm that makes safety surfaces for playgrounds has been fined after it failed to heed warnings from safety experts to properly guard dangerous machinery.
• 12/12/14: Firms fined for lead exposure during Nab Tower works
  A Surrey-based civil engineering firm and a Hampshire fabrication company have been fined for exposing workers to lead during refurbishment work on the iconic Nab Tower in the Solent.
• 10/12/14: Kent firm and director in court over ‘appalling’ site safety
  A Kent construction company and its managing director have been prosecuted after both displayed a ‘shocking disregard’ for workers’ safety at a demolition site in Surrey.
• 08/12/14: Utility company sentenced for worker death
  Thames Water has been ordered to pay more than £361,000 in fines and costs after a worker was killed by a reversing excavator at a treatment works in Walthamstow.
• 02/12/14: Surrey laundry firm fined after woman loses fingers
  A Woking laundry company has appeared in court after an employee lost four fingers when her hand was drawn into a poorly-guarded ironing machine.
• 02/12/14: High dangers caught on camera
  A Berkshire construction firm has been fined after three workers were photographed on a roof and ladder platform in Windsor without any safety measures in place.

November

• 27/11/14: Furniture manufacturer sentenced over worker’s hand injury
  Furniture manufacturer Ercol has been fined for safety failings after an employee suffered severe injuries when his hand was caught in poorly-guarded machinery.
• 05/11/14: Scaffold firm owner ‘put lives at risk’
  The owner of a Surrey-based scaffolding firm has been prosecuted after he and an employee were captured on camera balancing on a single rail some nine metres above ground.
• 04/11/14: Vector Aerospace fined after workers’ health suffers
  An international aerospace company based in Hampshire has been prosecuted after 13 employees were found to be suffering varying degrees of a debilitating nerve condition.

October

• 23/10/14: Paper firm fined for pallet fall failings
  The UK division of a pan-European paper company has been fined for safety failings after a worker broke her leg in three places when poorly stacked pallets of paper collapsed.

September

• 09/09/14: Young family left at risk after faulty gas work
  The owner of a building company has been prosecuted for breaching gas safety law after instructing an employee to reposition a gas flue, exposing a young family to serious health risks.

August

• 29/08/14: Disqualified director jailed over worker death and company deception
  A Hampshire businessman, who was disqualified from being a company director, was today jailed for serious fraud and safety offences. A second businessman was given a suspended prison sentence for similar offences.
• 29/08/14: Hove firm prosecuted after flouting asbestos laws
  A Hove-based firm has been fined after it flouted asbestos regulations and removed some of the dangerous material just three weeks after being refused a licence to carry out such work.
• 29/08/14: Workers’ health put at risk by Hampshire firm
  A Hampshire manufacturer has appeared in court after allowing the health of employees to be put at risk.
• 27/08/14: Safety failures land two Kent companies in court
  Two construction companies have been sentenced for safety failings after a worker was injured in a fall at a site near Canterbury in Kent.
• 22/08/14: Slough tenants left in gas danger for four years
  A Slough landlord has been fined for serious safety breaches after he left a young family in potential danger for nearly four years by repeatedly failing to check the gas appliances in a property he rented to them.

July

• 25/07/14: Worker’s jaw shattered after Kent firm neglects safety
  A Kent recycling firm has been prosecuted after an employee had his jaw shattered into ‘pieces like cornflakes’ when he was hit by a piece of plastic pipe ejected from a bandsaw.
• 23/07/14: Costain sentenced for Parkway telehandler death
  Global engineering specialist Costain Limited has been ordered to pay more than £615,000 in fines and costs after a worker was killed when a telehandler overturned during the construction of the Parkway development in Newbury.
• 23/07/14: Crawley builder prosecuted for gas safety breaches
  The senior partner of a building firm in Crawley has been sentenced after carrying out illegal and incompetent work on gas fittings and exposing a local family to the dangers of fire or explosion.