WorkSafe Victoria | A stonemasonry company which was the first to be convicted under Victoria’s workplace manslaughter laws has been fined $3 million over the death of a worker fatally crushed at a Somerton warehouse.

In February 2024, LH Holding Management Pty Ltd, trading as Universal Stone and Marble, was fined $1.3 million with conviction in the Victorian Supreme Court after pleading guilty to a single charge of engaging in negligent conduct that constituted a breach of a duty owed to another person and caused their death.

The company’s sole director Laith Hanna, 48, was also convicted and placed on a two-year Community Corrections Order after pleading guilty to a single charge of being an officer of a company that committed workplace manslaughter, a contravention solely attributable to his failure to take reasonable care.

Following an appeal, the Victorian Supreme Court has set aside the company’s original fine and ordered it to pay a fine of $3 million. An appeal against Hanna’s sentence was dismissed.

In October 2021, 25-year-old subcontractor Michael Tsahrelias died after a forklift being operated by Hanna with a raised load on a sloping driveway tipped over and landed on top of him.

— Accurate at time of publication | April 2025

Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development | Following a trial in the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto, Siltech Corporation has been fined $90,000 over a September 2021 incident.

It was found that the company failed, as an employer, to ensure containers were bonded and grounded as required by section 22(4)(b) of Ontario regulation 851, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

The Court heard how, on 8 September 2021, two workers were transferring flammable liquid from a large container into two smaller metal pails. While they were filling the second pail, an explosion occurred, injuring one of the workers and fatally injuring the other.

Section 22(4)(b) of Ontario regulation 851 requires containers and dispensing equipment to be bonded and grounded when flammable liquid is dispensed. This prevents static electricity that could ignite the vapours and cause an explosion.

— Accurate at time of publication | April 2025

HSE | A waste and recycling company in Oldham has been fined £250,000 after a man was run over on his first day on the job.

The then 40-year-old was hand picking waste when he was hit from behind by a moving shovel loader. The digger drove over the man and had to reverse when the alarm was raised by nearby colleagues.

The man, now 44, suffered a bone fracture, as well as muscle and nerve damage to his leg after being struck by the vehicle in the yard on 28 July 2021. The incident happened on his first day in employment as a waste picker.

An investigation by the HSE found that he had been hand picking waste after the conveyor belt they used had been removed from use after it was significantly damaged in a fire a few months earlier.

Employees were therefore required to work directly on the ground, near moving vehicles with no separation between them, putting the workers in considerable danger. There was no risk assessment and a lack of supervision for picking and sorting waste on the ground.

After the incident the man spent one week in hospital because of his injuries. He has now returned to work with a different company.

— Accurate at time of publication | April 2025

West Midlands Police | A national plant hire operator has been ordered to pay more than £800,000 after being found guilty of moving an abnormal load without proper notification.

In March 2024 during a Multi Agency Road Safety Operation (MARSO) at the NEC near the M42, officers stopped a heavy goods vehicle transporting a large excavator and associated plant equipment.

A movement notification had been submitted by the plant hire operator, but the vehicle was travelling on a different axle than we had been told about.

This affected the vehicle’s weight distribution, and gross weight, which meant the notification was invalid.

The lorry was examined and found to be significantly overweight, as well as longer and wider than allowed.

Due to the change from the notification, no additional safeguarding measures could be put in place to protect road users from the risks of such an oversized and heavy load.

— Accurate at time of publication | April 2025

HSE | A defence technology company has been fined £800,000 after an employee was shot during testing of ammunition at a Ministry of Defence (MoD) range in South Wales.

The father-of-two was left paralysed below the shoulders after being shot by a 5.56mm bullet fired from a gun, 570 metres away. The incident happened on 25 March 2021 during a NATO ammunition quality assurance trial at the MoD Ranges in Pendine.

The now 42-year-old’s role had been to check the impact of bullets on a metal target and was in front of the target when the bullet was fired.

Employers are required by law to protect both their employees and others from harm and assessing the risk is just one part of the overall process. HSE guidance is available to explain what steps should be taken.

QinetiQ Limited of, Cody Technology Park, Ively Road, Farnborough, Hampshire pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

The company was fined £800,000 and ordered to pay £8,365 in costs.

— Accurate at time of publication | April 2025

U.S. Department of Labor | The U.S. Department of Labor has reached an agreement with Jamesport roofing contractor John Troyer after a federal investigation determined he violated federal laws, resulting in a teen worker’s fatal fall in March 2023.

The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found that Troyer, owner of Troyer Construction LLP which operates as Troyer Roofing and Coatings, failed to provide workers with required fall protection.

A separate investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found he violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by employing minors illegally in roofing work from May 2022 to June 2023.

— Accurate at time of publication | April 2025

BBC News | A company has been fined £16,000 for importing and selling thousands of heated plates that failed UK safety rules.

The sale of the electrical devices was investigated after a shopper in Colchester raised the alarm. Essex Trading Standards later found the hotplates posed a “serious risk of burning and electrical shock”.

Safa Food 1 Ltd, of Hayes, Middlesex, admitted 10 offences under the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016 and was ordered to pay a further £11,853 in costs at Southend Magistrates’ Court.

The business sold 2,994 hotplates to more than 200 retailers across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, having imported them from China.

Trading Standards said an officer visited the Colchester shop in May 2023 and noticed several devices had no UK plugs. They seized one of the hotplates and found it was of “poor construction” upon testing. It was later discovered that Safa Food 1 was relying on a Chinese test report that did not cover British electrical safety standards.

Officers also found the company did not react to a complaint from a shop in Rotherham in 2022, which reported a hotplate tripping its electrical system.

— Accurate at time of publication | March 2025

Government of Western Australia | A freight haulage company and its sole director have been fined a total of $400,000 (and ordered to pay $6,500 in costs) over an incident in which a worker suffered serious injuries.

RGR Road Haulage Pty Ltd and director Richard Garrick Rowland pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace and, by that failure, causing serious harm to a worker, and were fined in the Northam Magistrates Court.

RGR was fined $355,000 while Mr. Rowland was fined $45,000.

In April 2021, an employee of RGR was attempting to load a sea container onto a tilt truck tray by using a winch to drag the container onto the tray. He attached the container to the winch’s wire using chains and connection pieces.

When he attempted to drag the container onto the tilt tray, the chain was overloaded and failed when the sea container jammed against the end of the tilt tray. Part of the chain slung back and struck the worker, resulting in serious injuries.

At the time the worker was assigned to drive tilt tray trucks to cover for another worker, he had not received any formal training or assessment of competency from RGR.

— Accurate at time of publication | March 2025

HSE | A self-employed roofing contractor has been ordered to undertake unpaid work after the uncontrolled spread of asbestos in a back garden, putting two young workers and local residents at risk.

Doorbell-cam footage shows parts of an old garage roof being disposed of with a lack of control measures.

The footage was been released by the HSE last week at the start of Global Asbestos Awareness Week (1 April) to highlight the dangers.

Stephen Wilks, trading as S Wilks Roofing, pleaded guilty to breaching asbestos safety regulations after work carried out under his control led to the contamination of a residential area with asbestos-containing materials.

The court heard how Mr Wilks had been commissioned by a property management company to replace asbestos cement roof sheets on three garages off Green Walk in Bowden, Altrincham in February 2022.

The HSE began an investigation after a local resident raised concerns about debris that had fallen into their garden during the work. Analysis confirmed the debris contained chrysotile asbestos.

HSE inspectors discovered ripped bags of asbestos waste stored in a publicly accessible area in front of the garages, with asbestos-containing materials spilling onto the ground and contaminating nearby undergrowth. Further investigation revealed that residents’ personal belongings stored in the garages had also been contaminated.

The property management company subsequently arranged for a licensed asbestos removal contractor to safely collect the waste and thoroughly clean the affected areas.

Mr Wilks pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) and Regulation 16 of The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, which require proper planning and precautions to prevent exposure to and spread of asbestos during non-licensed work. He was sentenced to a 12-month Community Order with 200 hours of unpaid work and was ordered to pay £3,582.13 costs.

— Accurate at time of publication | March 2025

WorkSafe Victoria | A recycling company has been convicted and fined $35,000 after six workers were injured in an aerosol gas explosion at its Shepparton plant.

Rose and Co Services Pty Ltd was sentenced in the Shepparton Magistrates’ Court after earlier pleading guilty to one charge under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and one charge under the Dangerous Goods Act.

The company was fined $30,000 for failing to provide a safe system of work and $5,000 for breaching Dangerous Goods Regulations by failing to instruct workers on the nature of hazards and properties of dangerous goods at the workplace. It was also ordered to pay $5,292 in costs.

Rose and Co Services recycled items such as aerosol cans, the contents of which are classified as Class 2.1 Dangerous Goods, using an item of plant known as a “shredder” to cut them into smaller pieces.

The court heard that in May 2023, the machine was being used to shred aerosol cans when an explosion injured six workers, including two who were airlifted to the Alfred Hospital’s Burns Unit.

Prosecutors told the court that flames from the explosion spread up to 18 metres from the shredder before workers used fire extinguishers to stop the blaze.

A worker who was clearing scrap metal from beneath the shredder at the time suffered severe burns to his back and arms, while a second worker, who was on a forklift next to the shredder, sustained severe burns to his face and upper body.

Four other workers required hospital treatment for superficial burns.

It was reasonably practicable for Rose and Co Services to reduce the risk of an explosion by providing a system of work that included emptying or puncturing aerosols before shredding, using ventilation such as fans while the shredder was operating, and not storing bulk containers in a way that reduced ventilation around the machine.

The court also heard the company failed to provide the worker operating the shredder with instructions about the hazards and properties of dangerous goods, including aerosols.

— Accurate at time of publication | March 2025

HSE | A chemical manufacturing company has been fined £2.5m following two incidents of uncontrolled releases of highly corrosive acids at its site in West Thurrock, Essex.

Industrial Chemicals Ltd pleaded guilty following the incidents in 2020, one of which caused the release of a hydrogen chloride gas cloud that resulted in schools in the area to close.

Investigation 

A joint investigation by the HSE and Environment Agency (EA) into the release of the hydrochloric acid in January 2020 found that pipework had not been installed, maintained and inspected sufficiently which led to several smaller pipe failures before the more serious loss of containment. The investigation found that pipework had not been properly maintained, and a protective chemical-resistant coating had not been applied to the full height of containment walls.

An investigation by HSE into the release of sulphuric acid in August 2020 identified a lack of inspection and maintenance of the pipework and valves. The leak continued for a further two days due to the inability to operate a manual valve to stop the process. The loss of containment was eventually stopped on 31 August 2020. Fortunately, no one was harmed.

The company has been fined £2.4 million in relation to charges under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and a further £100,000 in relation to charges under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.

HSE principal inspector Maria Strangward said: “The uncontrolled release of significant quantities of hazardous substances in these cases was entirely avoidable.

“An appropriate planned maintenance programme should have been in place to ensure that pipes do not fail, and valves operate. The proactive maintenance of pipework and safety critical valves is extremely important at sites such as these.

“Industrial Chemicals Limited’s West Thurrock site is classified as an upper tier site under the Control of Major Accident Regulations 2015, so that businesses and communities are protected, and potential major accidents avoided.”

Adrian Sherman, Environment Agency regulatory officer, said: “The Environment Agency takes its regulatory responsibilities seriously to protect communities and the environment.

“We expect businesses to comply with their environmental permits and will take appropriate enforcement action when they fail to do so. In this case, an appropriate inspection and maintenance programme could have prevented an environmental and public health risk.”

The HSE prosecution was brought by enforcement lawyer Samantha Wells, who said: “At the sentencing hearing the judge noted the previous history of poor health and safety standards by this defendant, which included previous incidents relating to poor maintenance of pipework at this site showing a careless attitude to health and safety which was treated as an aggravating factor which uplifted the sentence imposed.”

The EA prosecution was brought by EA lawyer Laura King.

— Accurate at time of publication | April 2025

HSA | Kalmar Solutions AB (previously known as Cargotec Sweden AB), a Swedish based company, has been fined €150,000 and Scruttons (NI) Limited, a Northern Ireland based company, has been fined €300,000 following a Health and Safety Authority (HSA) investigation into an incident on 14 August 2019 where a haulier at Dublin Ferryport Terminal was struck and killed by a vehicle. The vehicle was manufactured by Kalmar Solutions AB and operated by Scruttons (NI) Limited.

Kalmar Solutions AB had previously pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that the vehicle, an empty container handler, was designed and constructed so as to be safe and without risk to health when properly used by a person at a place of work in that it failed to provide appropriate devices to remedy hazards due to restricted visibility from the driving position of the container handler, being a breach of section 16(1)(a) of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005.

Scruttons (NI) Limited had also pleaded guilty to failing to identify the hazard of restricted visibility from the driving position whilst operating the empty container handler, assess the risks presented by the hazard, and be in possession of a written assessment at the place of work while work was in the course of being carried on, being a breach of Section 19(5) of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005.

— Accurate at time of publication | March 2025