Northallerton Magistrates, 4 August, heard how the explosion at
Mason Engineering on 18 November 2013 happened as they were transferring
oxygen between pressurised cylinders. The partners had rigged up a
make-shift hose fitting that was not designed for the high risk
procedure.
Debris built up in the end of the hose, causing it to overheat and ignite in the oxygen.
One
of their workers, aged 48 at time of incident, was caught in the blast
and suffered life changing injuries when he was blinded in his left eye
and lost his left thumb and forefinger.
Samuel Trevor Mason and
Shaun Christopher Mason, both of Blackhorse Lane Swainby, Northallerton
both pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 of the Health and Safety at
Work etc Act 1974 and were fined £4000 each and ordered to pay costs of
£1171/15 each.
HSE Inspector Geoff Fletcher said:
“This was
an accident that should never have happened. Trevor and Shaun Mason
admitted to developing their own practice rather than following the
manufacturer’s guidelines. Unfortunately their employee has to live with
the permanent consequences of their failure to consider the risks of
transferring oxygen with in house manufactured components”
IOSH Managing Safely
Tuesday, 11 August 2015
Thursday, 6 August 2015
World leaders finalise new sustainable development goals
The UN’s 193 member states have reached agreement on a new set of
sustainable development goals that aim to protect the environment,
achieve gender equality, end poverty and promote prosperity by 2030.
The agreement includes 17 new sustainable development goals (SDGs) and 169 targets, and builds on the success of the millennium development goals, which were adopted in 2000 and have helped more than 700 million people out of poverty.
Announcing the agreement, UN general secretary Ban Ki-moon said: “This is the people’s agenda, a plan of action for ending poverty in all its dimensions, irreversibly, everywhere, and leaving no one behind. It seeks to ensure peace and prosperity, and forge partnerships with people and planet at the core.”
The UN says the goals and targets aim to tackle key “systemic barriers to sustainable development such as inequality, unsustainable consumption and production patterns, inadequate infrastructure and lack of decent jobs.” The environment dimension is covered in the goals on oceans and marine resources and on ecosystems and biodiversity. These include ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns (goal 12); urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts (13); and sustainably managing forests, combatting desertification, halting and reversing land degradation, and halting biodiversity loss (15).
CRS’S Head of Environment highlighted ‘the new ISO 14001: 2015 requires organisations to consider the wider business context, and announcements such as these give organisation a direction as to the key political elements to consider over the longer term’
Environmental NGOs and civil society groups have been actively involved in the development of the new SDGs over the past two years.
Groups, including Christian Aid, Practical Action, Greenpeace, CAFOD, WWF, CARE and Oxfam cited the need for the new SDGs to focus on climate change. The new agenda acknowledges the UN’s framework convention on climate change as the primary international forum for negotiations and includes a commitment to “address decisively the threat posed by climate change and environmental degradation.”
UN chef de cabinet, Susana Malcorra, described the agreement as "historic" but warned that the work ahead is immense. "The sheer size, the depth and the complexity of this agenda challenges all of us, challenges the UN," she said.
The agreement will be officially declared at the UN’s 70th anniversary in New York in September
The agreement includes 17 new sustainable development goals (SDGs) and 169 targets, and builds on the success of the millennium development goals, which were adopted in 2000 and have helped more than 700 million people out of poverty.
Announcing the agreement, UN general secretary Ban Ki-moon said: “This is the people’s agenda, a plan of action for ending poverty in all its dimensions, irreversibly, everywhere, and leaving no one behind. It seeks to ensure peace and prosperity, and forge partnerships with people and planet at the core.”
The UN says the goals and targets aim to tackle key “systemic barriers to sustainable development such as inequality, unsustainable consumption and production patterns, inadequate infrastructure and lack of decent jobs.” The environment dimension is covered in the goals on oceans and marine resources and on ecosystems and biodiversity. These include ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns (goal 12); urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts (13); and sustainably managing forests, combatting desertification, halting and reversing land degradation, and halting biodiversity loss (15).
CRS’S Head of Environment highlighted ‘the new ISO 14001: 2015 requires organisations to consider the wider business context, and announcements such as these give organisation a direction as to the key political elements to consider over the longer term’
Environmental NGOs and civil society groups have been actively involved in the development of the new SDGs over the past two years.
Groups, including Christian Aid, Practical Action, Greenpeace, CAFOD, WWF, CARE and Oxfam cited the need for the new SDGs to focus on climate change. The new agenda acknowledges the UN’s framework convention on climate change as the primary international forum for negotiations and includes a commitment to “address decisively the threat posed by climate change and environmental degradation.”
UN chef de cabinet, Susana Malcorra, described the agreement as "historic" but warned that the work ahead is immense. "The sheer size, the depth and the complexity of this agenda challenges all of us, challenges the UN," she said.
The agreement will be officially declared at the UN’s 70th anniversary in New York in September
Illegal waste site gets £18k penalty
Recycling
and skip-hire business Eastside 2000 (E2L) has been fined £18,000 for illegally
storing waste at site in Hereford. E2L was also ordered to pay costs of £7,732.
The firm pleaded guilty at Hereford magistrates’ court to storing demolition
waste at the site, which has no environmental permit.
The court
was told that, in June 2012, the Environment Agency ordered the waste to be
removed. At the time, the agency agreed to halt legal action until the outcome
of the planning application by E2L to build a waste washing facility at the
site. Permission was refused in March 2013 and the agency reinstated its
enforcement action. By the end of January 2014, the date for final compliance
with the notice, agency officers found the site still contained around 12,000
tonnes of waste. By August 2014, half the waste remained. Magistrates ordered
the site to be cleared within three months.
New higher environmental fines appeal ruling
The Court of Appeal has ruled that the sentence imposed on Thames
Water Utilities for allowing untreated sewage to enter a brook running
through a nature reserve was proportionate.
Reading crown court fined the company £250,000 in September 2014 in one of the first cases to reflect the sentencing guidelines for environmental offences that came into force on 1 July last year.
The guidelines introduced four categories of offence that relate to the level of harm caused. Also considered is the offender’s culpability – was it deliberate, reckless or negligent, or whether it committed with little or no fault on the part of the organisation.
Thames Water pleaded guilty to allowing sewage to enter The Chases, a nature reserve near Newbury, from an emergency overflow pipe at its Broad Layings sewage pumping station on 2 September 2012. The Environment Agency said the discharge had been caused by a blockage in the pumps at the station on 29 August 2012 and that Thames Water had failed to act on the alarms system to attend and unblock them.
At the earlier hearing, the judge, recorder Arbuthnot, said: “The parties agree that the level of culpability is negligence and with which I agree. With regards to harm I find that this is a category 3 offence but at the severe end.” The starting point for fines for negligent, category 3 offences committed by firms with a turnover of at least £50 million is £60,000, rising to £150,000. The courts, however, can impose financial penalties outside this range for large companies by considering whether the fine is proportionate to the means of the offender.
The court of appeal agreed the fine was proportionate. The judges also referred to Thames Water’s record as a repeat offender, warning: “To bring the message home to the directors and shareholders of organisations which have offended negligently more than once before, a substantial increase in the level of fines, sufficient to have a material impact on the finances of the company as a whole, will ordinarily be appropriate. This may therefore result in fines measured in millions of pounds.”
Anne Brosnan, deputy director of legal services at the Environment Agency, said: “This sentence should act as a deterrent. In fact, the court said that it would have upheld a very substantially higher fine in this case.”
Reading crown court fined the company £250,000 in September 2014 in one of the first cases to reflect the sentencing guidelines for environmental offences that came into force on 1 July last year.
The guidelines introduced four categories of offence that relate to the level of harm caused. Also considered is the offender’s culpability – was it deliberate, reckless or negligent, or whether it committed with little or no fault on the part of the organisation.
Thames Water pleaded guilty to allowing sewage to enter The Chases, a nature reserve near Newbury, from an emergency overflow pipe at its Broad Layings sewage pumping station on 2 September 2012. The Environment Agency said the discharge had been caused by a blockage in the pumps at the station on 29 August 2012 and that Thames Water had failed to act on the alarms system to attend and unblock them.
At the earlier hearing, the judge, recorder Arbuthnot, said: “The parties agree that the level of culpability is negligence and with which I agree. With regards to harm I find that this is a category 3 offence but at the severe end.” The starting point for fines for negligent, category 3 offences committed by firms with a turnover of at least £50 million is £60,000, rising to £150,000. The courts, however, can impose financial penalties outside this range for large companies by considering whether the fine is proportionate to the means of the offender.
The court of appeal agreed the fine was proportionate. The judges also referred to Thames Water’s record as a repeat offender, warning: “To bring the message home to the directors and shareholders of organisations which have offended negligently more than once before, a substantial increase in the level of fines, sufficient to have a material impact on the finances of the company as a whole, will ordinarily be appropriate. This may therefore result in fines measured in millions of pounds.”
Anne Brosnan, deputy director of legal services at the Environment Agency, said: “This sentence should act as a deterrent. In fact, the court said that it would have upheld a very substantially higher fine in this case.”
Tuesday, 4 August 2015
Global Energy Firm fined £1.4m after worker killed in refinery fire
Total UK
Limited have been fined £1.4 million after a major fire led to the death
of a worker at an oil refinery in North Lincolnshire.
Twenty-four
year old Robert Greenacre from Grimsby was working near a crude oil
distillation unit just before the fire broke out at the Lindsey Oil Refinery
(TLOR) in Immingham on 29th June 2010.
The Health and
Safety Executive prosecuted the oil giant after an investigation found a fire
was caused by an uncontrolled release of crude oil.
Hull Crown
Court heard on 29th July 2015 that Mr Greenacre who was a contracted
fitter was working with a colleague beneath a distillation column containing
hot crude oil. The job required them to open equipment beneath the column. When
an item of equipment was opened, the crude oil was released. A short time later
it ignited. Mr Greenacre’s colleague was able to escape the scene suffering
minor burns, Robert did not escape and died beneath the column.
The court
also heard operators of major accident hazard establishments must have in place
a functioning system of risk assessment for all tasks where hazardous
substances could be released.
Operators
should always try to eliminate risk through hazard avoidance. In many
circumstances this could be achieved by carrying out the task during shut-down
conditions. Where this is not practicable, the highest achievable levels of
isolation to industry standards are required.
NEBOSH
Fire Safety & Risk Management
Tuesday, 28 July 2015
Businessman in court after worker loses forearm
A Kent businessman has been sentenced after a worker lost his right
forearm when it got caught and mangled in an unguarded tyre-shredding
machine.
Mark Anton Arabaje, sole director of now-dissolved company Cartwright Projects Ltd, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after it found he had removed a protective guard from the dangerous machine only a couple of weeks earlier.
[1]
Canterbury Crown Court heard that father-of-four Nathan Johnson, 25, of Folkestone, was working at the firm’s premises at Unit 1 Shottenden Manor, Westwell, Ashford, Kent, on 27 November 2013 when the incident happened.
He had been putting tyres by hand into the shredder when the machine failed to grip one properly on its metal teeth. Mr Johnson grabbed the remaining half and fed it in. At that point, his right jacket sleeve got entangled on the metal teeth and his fingers and then forearm were dragged into the running shredder.
As Mr Johnson screamed for help, Mark Arabaje came and managed to switch the machine off and freed him from the machine.
He lost the forearm up to his elbow and needed extensive hospital treatment, including skin grafts from his left leg to replace the remains of his arm and a bolt in his elbow to ensure it remained intact.
The court was told Mr Johnson’s injuries could have been even worse if he had been working on his own that day, which regularly happened in the company, as there were no emergency stop switches within his reach at the time.
HSE’s investigation identified that Mark Arabaje had removed the metal bucket guard of the shredding machine earlier the same month, thus allowing easy access to the metal teeth.
HSE told the court it would have also prosecuted the company had it still existed.
Mark Arabaje, of Gatefield Cottages, Rolvenden, Cranbrook, Kent, pleaded guilty at earlier hearing to an offence under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. On 17 July, he was sentenced to a four-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months. He must observe a home curfew between the hours of 8pm and 6am and wear an electronic tag. The judge imposed a £5,000 compensation order that Arabaje must pay Mr Johnson
NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health & Safety
Mark Anton Arabaje, sole director of now-dissolved company Cartwright Projects Ltd, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after it found he had removed a protective guard from the dangerous machine only a couple of weeks earlier.
[1]
Canterbury Crown Court heard that father-of-four Nathan Johnson, 25, of Folkestone, was working at the firm’s premises at Unit 1 Shottenden Manor, Westwell, Ashford, Kent, on 27 November 2013 when the incident happened.
He had been putting tyres by hand into the shredder when the machine failed to grip one properly on its metal teeth. Mr Johnson grabbed the remaining half and fed it in. At that point, his right jacket sleeve got entangled on the metal teeth and his fingers and then forearm were dragged into the running shredder.
As Mr Johnson screamed for help, Mark Arabaje came and managed to switch the machine off and freed him from the machine.
He lost the forearm up to his elbow and needed extensive hospital treatment, including skin grafts from his left leg to replace the remains of his arm and a bolt in his elbow to ensure it remained intact.
The court was told Mr Johnson’s injuries could have been even worse if he had been working on his own that day, which regularly happened in the company, as there were no emergency stop switches within his reach at the time.
HSE’s investigation identified that Mark Arabaje had removed the metal bucket guard of the shredding machine earlier the same month, thus allowing easy access to the metal teeth.
HSE told the court it would have also prosecuted the company had it still existed.
Mark Arabaje, of Gatefield Cottages, Rolvenden, Cranbrook, Kent, pleaded guilty at earlier hearing to an offence under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. On 17 July, he was sentenced to a four-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months. He must observe a home curfew between the hours of 8pm and 6am and wear an electronic tag. The judge imposed a £5,000 compensation order that Arabaje must pay Mr Johnson
NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health & Safety
Monday, 27 July 2015
Halfway through the season and TEAM CRS Mighty Mini are sitting 4th in the championship
Rounds 7 & 8 of the Mighty Mini Championship took place on a busy
Sunday at Castle Combe, Wiltshire. Mighty were first out to qualify
Caroline managed a respectable 7th place on the grid, the times were very tight and Maria Brown who she’d been running with in qualifying was in 3rd there was just a third of a second between them in the times.
There was a long wait before the first race which was good as the back box fell off Caroline mini as the chequered flag came out for the end of qualifying, a helpful marshal returned it and with a few modifications it was back on the car in time for the race! Caroline made a good start in the race, at Castle Combe it is a very long run up to the first corner so the 20 cars swarmed into Quarry for the first time together. Penny Jones half span the car as she braked for the corner causing Caroline and a few others to take a wide line to avoid her as she re-joined the track, making a small gap to the cars in front. Over the next few laps Caroline concentrated on putting in clean fast laps and was soon onto the back of the front pack. She spent most of the race happily sitting in 5th place letting the cars in front fight it out, this played into her hands as Maria received time penalties for running off the track on multiple occasions. She did overtake to sit a 3rd but a small error in breaking at Quarry saw her drop back to 4th at the end of the race.
There was only a short gap before the Mighty’s went out to race again so it was a quick refuel and check over. The top 6 were reversed for the second race so Caroline started from the second row in 3rd place. This time there was absolute chaos as the cars went in Quarry for the first time, Maria made contact with Peter Bonas which left him with broken suspension, unfortunately Caroline was the car directly behind him and ran into him quite hard. She jinked around him and carried on with the race albeit a few places down the order. The safety car came out so that Bonas’ car could be safely removed from the track. Whilst the safety cars was out one of the team members was on the pit wall and gave Caroline the thumbs up as she drove past to let her know the car was ok.
Caroline got a good restart when the safety car went in and started overtaking the cars she dropped behind in the first corner incident and was soon back with the front pack. She was unlucky again when Maria tagged the back of Penny at the Esses causing Penny to spin. Caroline was left with nowhere to go and caught the front of Penny car, it slowed her down but despite the contact she was able to continue after dropping down the order again. A few more overtakes saw Caroline finish in 5th place with a battered and bruised Mini.
Just over halfway through the season and Caroline is sitting 4th in the championship and leading lady.
Next rounds 15/16 August at Silverstone
There was a long wait before the first race which was good as the back box fell off Caroline mini as the chequered flag came out for the end of qualifying, a helpful marshal returned it and with a few modifications it was back on the car in time for the race! Caroline made a good start in the race, at Castle Combe it is a very long run up to the first corner so the 20 cars swarmed into Quarry for the first time together. Penny Jones half span the car as she braked for the corner causing Caroline and a few others to take a wide line to avoid her as she re-joined the track, making a small gap to the cars in front. Over the next few laps Caroline concentrated on putting in clean fast laps and was soon onto the back of the front pack. She spent most of the race happily sitting in 5th place letting the cars in front fight it out, this played into her hands as Maria received time penalties for running off the track on multiple occasions. She did overtake to sit a 3rd but a small error in breaking at Quarry saw her drop back to 4th at the end of the race.
There was only a short gap before the Mighty’s went out to race again so it was a quick refuel and check over. The top 6 were reversed for the second race so Caroline started from the second row in 3rd place. This time there was absolute chaos as the cars went in Quarry for the first time, Maria made contact with Peter Bonas which left him with broken suspension, unfortunately Caroline was the car directly behind him and ran into him quite hard. She jinked around him and carried on with the race albeit a few places down the order. The safety car came out so that Bonas’ car could be safely removed from the track. Whilst the safety cars was out one of the team members was on the pit wall and gave Caroline the thumbs up as she drove past to let her know the car was ok.
Caroline got a good restart when the safety car went in and started overtaking the cars she dropped behind in the first corner incident and was soon back with the front pack. She was unlucky again when Maria tagged the back of Penny at the Esses causing Penny to spin. Caroline was left with nowhere to go and caught the front of Penny car, it slowed her down but despite the contact she was able to continue after dropping down the order again. A few more overtakes saw Caroline finish in 5th place with a battered and bruised Mini.
Just over halfway through the season and Caroline is sitting 4th in the championship and leading lady.
Next rounds 15/16 August at Silverstone
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