California Department of Industrial Relations | The Labor Commissioner’s Office (LCO), which operates under the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), has taken enforcement action totaling more than $1.1 million against Buena Park restaurant Food Source LLC for wage theft violations and failure to comply with paid sick leave requirements.

The total includes $532,561 in citations, issued to compensate 73 affected workers for multiple wage theft violations. These violations include unpaid wages, failure to pay overtime, unpaid contract wages, liquidated damages, and incomplete wage statements.

Additionally, the LCO filed a lawsuit for $575,803, seeking unpaid wages, damages, and penalties for the employer’s failure to comply with paid sick leave laws.

The lawsuit also addresses violations such as denying workers access to paid sick leave, failing to document sick leave availability on pay stubs, leaving workers uninformed about their legal rights, and not providing supplemental paid sick leave during the COVID-19 pandemic.

— Accurate at time of publication | February 2025

HSE  | A farmer has been jailed after he failed to ensure the health and safety of his three-year-old son.

Albie Speakman lost his life on 16 July 2022 after he was run over by a telehandler that was being driven by his father Neil Speakman.

A joint investigation by the HSE and Greater Manchester Police found Mr Speakman failed to ensure Albie was kept safe from work activities on his family’s farm in Bury, Greater Manchester. The telehandler being driven by Mr Speakman was in poor condition.

Mr Speakman, 39, was using the telehandler to move woodchip into bags while Albie was left playing in a small unfenced garden at the front of the house on Bentley Hall Farm. The three-year-old wandered onto the farm yard and was fatally struck by the telehandler as it was being reversed.

The HSE and Greater Manchester Police investigation identified that Mr Speakman failed to ensure there was a safe segregated area for Albie to play in so that he was kept safe from farm workplace activity. Instead, Albie was allowed to move around the farm yard while vehicles were being driven.

The investigation also found Mr Speakman had borrowed the telehandler from a neighbour, and while he had previously used the vehicle, he was not appropriately trained and had not properly considered the risks involved with using it. The telehandler was missing a wing mirror on the passenger’s side, while the wing mirror on the driver’s side was dirty – reducing Mr Speakman’s visibility as he operated the vehicle.

Neil Speakman, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 after being charged by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

He was handed a 12-month prison sentence and ordered to pay £2,000 in costs at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on 28 February 2025. Mr Speakman must serve at least six months in prison.

Following a trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, Mr Speakman was found not guilty of gross negligence manslaughter in February 2025. This charge was brought by the CPS following a Greater Manchester Police investigation.

— Accurate at time of publication | March 2025

HSE  | A renovation company in South Wales has been sentenced after defying enforcement notices from HSE. 

Inspectors say Greenlife Property Developments Ltd failed to heed their warnings about the dangers posed to workers by a two-and-a-half metre deep excavation of the entire back garden of a house in Pit Place, Cwmbach, Aberdare.

The HSE inspection of the refurbishment works in September 2023 followed up on reports of unsafe construction work.

It found that:

• Employees were observed working within the excavation, which was approximately 2.5 metres deep.
• The sides of the excavation were vertical, leaving a risk of rubble subsiding or collapsing without warning.
• The site had not been secured to prevent unauthorised access.

There was no risk assessment for the refurbishment works and no safe system of work.

Craig Lewis, managing director at Greenlife Property Developments Ltd, was present on site at the time.

Following the inspection HSE served Greenlife Property Developments Ltd with a Prohibition Notice, requiring the firm to stop construction work within the excavation until it had corrected defects under a safe system of work. There was an immediate risk of serious injury to employees, working inside the excavation, including of burial from falling rubble.

Two Improvement Notices were also served, one requiring the company to secure the site, preventing unauthorised access, while the other ordered the firm to obtain advice on the risks to workers inside the excavation and implement a safe system of work.

A subsequent HSE investigation found Greenlife Property Developments Ltd breached the Prohibition Notice by continuing construction work inside the excavation. The company also failed to comply with one of the Improvement Notices as it did not obtain advice on the risks to workers inside the excavation and implement a safe system of work. Mr Lewis ignored repeated attempts by HSE to contact him in relation to the notices served and the conditions on site, and attempted to deceive HSE by providing false information in relation to the actions taking by the company to comply with the notices.

Greenlife Property Developments Ltd, of Gurnos Estate, Brynmawr, Ebbw Vale, Gwent, Wales, was found guilty of breaching Section 33(1)(c) and two breaches of Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £40,000 and ordered to pay £5,812.57 in costs at Merthyr Tydfil Magistrates’ Court on 20 January 2025.

— Accurate at time of publication | March 2025

Security Industry Authority | A security company has been fined £4,000 and must pay back more than £42,000 in proceeds of crime after it repeatedly deployed unlicensed security services to several high-profile sites across Scotland, contrary to the Fraud Act 2006.

Glasgow-based SPS Doorguard Ltd knowingly provided several clients with unlicensed security guards to protect properties, including one near the COP26 summit in Glasgow in 2021.

After an investigation by the Security Industry Authority (SIA), Glasgow Sheriff Court ruled that the company had received a criminal benefit of £42,039. This will now be seized using a court-issued confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Glasgow Sheriff Court fined the company £4,000 at the sentencing, which is in addition to the £42,039 to be seized. The company must also pay a £175 victim surcharge.

Nicola Bolton, Criminal Investigations Manager at the SIA, said: “An important part of keeping the public safe is ensuring that people working in the private security industry are properly licensed. By working illegally, SPS Doorguard Ltd profited significantly at the expense of those they were employed to protect. They are now facing the consequences.”

— Accurate at time of publication | January 2025

U.S. Department of Labor | A Chambersburg soap and detergent manufacturer faces $161,310 in federal penalties after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation of a chemical gas release that sent a dozen workers to the hospital in July 2024.

The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) initiated an inspection after being notified by the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and AFCO, the facility’s operator, about an incident involving a release of nitrogen dioxide gas. The release occurred when chemicals reacted during processing by AFCO employees.

A manufacturing subsidiary of Zep Inc., AFCO is based in Atlanta and specialises in producing and distributing maintenance, cleaning, and sanitation solutions.

OSHA inspectors determined the company had taken no action to assess the impact of the release immediately and did not swiftly evacuate workers from the building as a precaution. Inspectors discovered that workers were exposed to nitrogen dioxide gas levels exceeding the chemical’s ceiling limit, resulting in 12 employees being evaluated at a local hospital, with two of them requiring hospitalisation.

Additionally, inspectors determined that the company had no emergency response plan in place, and that its respiratory protection and hazard communication programmes failed to meet federal requirements. OSHA has cited AFCO for one repeat violation, and nine serious and two other-than-serious violations.

Since 2022, OSHA has cited Zep for four serious violations for its failures to protect employees at its Emerson, Georgia, facility from hazardous chemicals.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

— Accurate at time of publication | January 2025

Environment Agency | A Weston-super-Mare company boss blamed a sacked employee for pollution that killed more than 300 fish in the River Banwell.

However, the company, Brooke Additives Ltd of the Rolston Farm Business Park, Weston-super-Mare has now been fined £3,600 after admitting a charge relating to the pollution incident in April 2023. The company was also ordered to pay costs and a victim surcharge totalling £5,119.18 for its breach of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.

In a case brought by the Environment Agency, Exeter magistrates heard that officers went to Silver Moor Lane after a member of staff reported seeing dead fish on the River Banwell. Tests showed high levels of ammonia and the dark colour of water in a rhyne, entering the river and staining of riverbed vegetation, showed the pollution had been entering the water for some time.

More dead fish were seen downstream and, after following the rhyne, the officers found a pipe discharging a clear liquid directly into the watercourse. A test at this point showed very high levels of ammonia and calcification in the pipe, indicating the liquid had been discharging over a considerable period.

The pipe was traced to Brooke Additives Ltd, which produces AdBlue, a urea-based fuel additive. Agency officers spoke to company staff and to limit further pollution a soil bund was created. Brooke Additives director Glyn Brooke blamed a sacked former employee for the pollution.

The Environment Agency’s investigation found 345 dead fish with environmental damage stretching over a two-kilometre length of watercourse.

During a later interview, Mr. Brooke and fellow director Mark Heuff said the company accepted responsibility for the pollution but maintained it had been caused by a sacked former employee. They said staff had seen this person pouring liquid down a drain, which was not company procedure. However, the Environment Agency showed that the pollution continued for two months after the alleged sacking.

Following the incident the company also took further remedial action, including diverting site drains to a newly built sump, installing CCTV, and providing staff training.

— Accurate at time of publication | January 2025

HSE | A company that produces stone products and its director have been fined a total of just under £20,000 after repeatedly failing to protect workers from exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS).

The HSE carried out several inspections on Warmsworth Stone Limited, which produces carved stone masonry products using limestone, sandstone, granite and marble, at the company’s site at Knabs Hill Farm on Clayton lane in Thurnscoe, starting in May 2023.

Following these inspections, the company was served with seven improvement notices, which covered several failures including exposure to stone dust, control of legionella bacteria and inadequate welfare facilities.

When HSE inspectors returned in September 2023, five of the improvement notices had still not been complied with – despite the company being given an extension to do so following another visit in August.

According to the HSE, the company had shown reckless disregard of several health and safety issues including the assessment and control of respirable dust, and the company’s standard of health and safety management was far below what is required by health and safety law, leading to HSE’s proactive prosecution for failure to control the exposure of workers to RCS.

Stone workers are at risk of exposure to airborne particles of stone dust containing RCS when processing stone, by cutting, chiselling and polishing. Over time, breathing in these silica particles can cause irreversible, life-changing and often fatal respiratory conditions such as silicosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer.

Warmsworth Stone Limited of 1-3 Sheffield Road, Warmsworth, Doncaster, South Yorkshire pleaded guilty to breaching section 21 of Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 by failing to comply with an Improvement Notice, breaching Regulation 7(1) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 by failing to adequately control employee exposure to a substance hazardous to health namely RCS and breaching Regulation 9(2)(a) the same Regulations by failing to have local exhaust ventilation subject to a thorough examination and test at least every 14 months.

They were fined £18,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,064.

Director Simon Jonathan Frith pleaded guilty to being a director of a company that had breached Regulation 7(1) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 by failing to adequately control employee exposure to a substance hazardous to health namely RCS and breaching Regulation 9(2)(a) of the same Regulations by failing to have local exhaust ventilation subject to a thorough examination and test at least every 14 months, those offences being committed with his consent, connivance or neglect.

He was fined £1,062 and ordered to pay costs of £3,782.

After the hearing the HSE inspector Charlotte Bligh said: “The company management responsible for health and safety were neither informed nor competent enough to carry out their role under the law.

“Over time, the basic measures to secure the health of all on site had not been taken, there had been no attempt to assess health risks and existing control measures had not been properly maintained.

“The company failed to take the initiative in health and safety matters and seek guidance, instruction and competent advice on implementation and communication of those measures necessary to control the risks at the site.

“The provision of suitable protection for worker’s health is a basic requirement that this company has failed to meet. HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate action against those that fail to comply with the requirements of enforcement notices.”

— Accurate at time of publication | January 2025

Channel News Asia | Members of parliament have spoken in favour of a workplace anti-discrimination law, but called for groups such as platform workers and those with less visible disabilities to also be protected.

Manpower Minister Tan See Leng tabled the Workplace Fairness Bill in November 2024, and it has now been presented in parliament for a second reading.

He said that while Ministry of Manpower (MOM) surveys have shown declining workplace discrimination over the years, this should not be taken for granted.

This is the first of two Bills on workplace fairness. A second Bill on how private employment claims can be made for workplace discrimination will be tabled later.

If passed, the legislation will be implemented sometime in 2026 or 2027.

For now, the Bill covers five categories of protected characteristics where there is “broad societal consensus.” Together, they account for more than 95% of discrimination complaints received by the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) and MOM.

These include:

•  Age and nationality, the top two causes of discrimination reported

•  Sex, marital status, pregnancy and caregiving responsibilities

•  The characteristics of race, religion, and language ability

•  Disabilities and mental health conditions.

Some have called for the broadening of the definition of disability in the Bill, which now covers autism, intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities, and sensory disabilities. This excludes individuals with learning disabilities like dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, and conditions like cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis.

Meanwhile, others have said outsourced workers and freelancers, including platform workers, may be an underserved segment of workers.

Although sexual orientation and gender identity or expression are not explicitly covered, any employer who runs afoul of the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices (TGFEP) should be investigated and can have enforcement actions taken against them.

MPs on both sides of the House also highlighted that the Bill does not mandate reasonable accommodation for those with disabilities (PWDs).

Reasonable accommodation refers to necessary and appropriate modifications or adjustments provided to people with disabilities at all stages of employment. For example, an employer may provide ramps for wheelchair users or assistive technologies such as screen readers for the visually impaired.

Calls were made that, if immediate legislation for reasonable accommodation is not feasible, a clear road map aiming for full implementation by 2030 should be established.

— Accurate at time of publication | January 2025

A fire that left many South Koreans in a panic about the reliability of electric vehicles has prompted the country to take unprecedented measures to assuage public fears over battery safety. 

Earlier in 2024, an unplugged Mercedes-Benz electric sedan caught fire and exploded, destroying an underground car park in Incheon, west of Seoul. The blaze left more than 200 families homeless for weeks and took firefighters more than eight hours to extinguish.

The incident quickly soured public perception of battery-powered cars, with most of the news coverage and posts on social media focused around the risk of EV fires and South Korea’s lack of safety regulations. Discussions among car manufacturers and lawmakers followed, leading the government to announce an overhaul of EV policies in early September.

The new set of regulations included mandating carmakers disclose the brands of their batteries, expanding the scope of safety inspections for existing EVs and preventing vehicles from being fully charged.

The government has also directly stepped in to ensure the safety of batteries via a state-run certification system. The pilot project has been running since mid-October with five companies taking part.

The project is aimed at improving EV safety by having the government examine and certify the safety of EV batteries before installation. Before the initiative, EVs were sold in South Korea without any third-party safety tests. Under the new system, state-run agencies like the Korea Automobile Testing and Research Institute will put batteries through their paces before installation, ensuring they meet government-backed safety certification standards.

The government is also mandating carmakers and cell manufacturers disclose more details about their batteries. Previously, companies only shared the capacity and maximum output of a battery. Now, they’re required to specify the battery type (prismatic, pouch or cylindrical) and the raw materials used.

Officials say the pilot should provide consumers with significantly more information when purchasing an EV. Its full implementation is expected from February.

New buildings are also now required to feature enhanced fire monitoring systems and use more fire-resistant materials. Smaller fire trucks will be deployed nationwide, starting next year, so that they can enter underground lots. These measures are especially critical since most Koreans live in high-density flats, where a large number of charging stations are located in underground garages.

The government has pledged to work with its EV safety task force team through the end of the year to develop further measures to mitigate fire risks.

South Korea Morning Post
Accurate at time of publication | November 2024 

Spain’s government has approved a “paid climate leave” of up to four days for workers to avoid travelling during weather emergencies, a month after floods killed 230 people. 

Several companies came under fire after the October 2024 catastrophe for ordering employees to keep working despite a red alert issued by the national weather agency.

The firms said the authorities failed to inform them sufficiently and sent telephone alerts too late during the European country’s deadliest floods in decades.

The new measure aims to “regulate in accordance with the climate emergency” so that “no worker must run risks,” Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz told public broadcaster RTVE.

If emergency authorities raise the alarm about a risk, “the worker must refrain from going to work,” said Díaz.

Employees can resort to a reduced working day beyond the four-day period, a mechanism that already exists for emergencies, the government said.

Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo warned the cost of extreme weather events could double by 2050 as the government confirmed €2.3 billion of fresh aid for flood victims.

Scientists say climate change driven by human activity is fuelling the increased length, frequency, and ferocity of natural disasters.

Associated Foreign Press
Accurate at time of publication | November 2024 

Following a guilty plea in the Provincial Offences Court in Woodstock, Saputo Products Laitiers Canada S.E.N.C./Saputo Dairy Products Canada GP (Saputo) has been fined $79,500 and ordered to pay a 25% victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act due to a June 2023 incident which saw a worker being critically injured while attempting to clean waste cheese particles out of a groove in a conveyor drive roller. 

The court heard that, on 4 June 2023, a worker was cleaning and sanitizing the equipment used to process and package various cheese products.

The fixed-in-place guards, designed to prevent worker access to in-running nip hazards, were removed from a conveyor to allow the worker access to all parts of the machine for cleaning.

While attempting to clean waste cheese particles that were stuck in the groove of a conveyor drive roller, the worker was critically injured. The conveyor had been running while the worker was cleaning it.

A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation found that worker would not have been injured had the conveyor been equipped with a guard to protect the worker from accessing the in-running nip hazard.

Saputo failed, as an employer, to ensure the measures and procedures prescribed by section 25 of the Regulation for Industrial Establishments were carried out in the workplace, contrary to section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development
Accurate at time of publication | November 2024 

Two companies have been fined more than £100,000 after a man fell 30 feet through a fragile skylight as he was working on a roof.

Nicolas Vilela suffered multiple injuries in the incident at Graystone Action Sports Centre, on Brunel Avenue in Salford on 23 November 2022.

Now 43, Mr Vilela had been fixing a solar panel into position on the roof when he took a step back and fell through one of the skylights to the skate park below, narrowly missing several people. His horrific injuries included a partial lung collapse, broken ribs, pelvis, femur and left wrist as well as fractures to lower vertebrae. He spent a month in hospital.

The HSE’s investigation found that H2O Renewables Limited (H2O) were the principal contractor engaged for work to install solar panels to the roof of the indoor skate park and had engaged Green Projects Ltd (GPL) as sub-contractor to fit the roof mounted system. H2O planned the work during which time they were aware of multiple fragile rooflights in close proximity to where the solar panels would be fitted.

The risk assessment produced by H2O stated cones and warning tape would be used as a control measure to warn operatives of the risk of falling through the fragile roof lights, and fixed scaffolding would be used to prevent risk of falls from the perimeter of the roof. By the time the work started on 22 November 2022, the fixed scaffold had only partially been erected, and only the cones had been placed next to the skylights.

Despite the insufficient control measures being present to mitigate the risks from work at height, GPL’s operatives were allowed to start work to fit the solar panels.

The investigation also found that H2O Renewables Limited and Green Projects Ltd, had failed to take suitable and sufficient precautions to ensure the safety of workers on the roof. Both companies had also failed to put in place a safe system of work for the installation of solar panels that were to be fitted in close proximity to many of the fragile roof lights present.

H2O Renewables Limited of Hazel Grove, Stockport, pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 13(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. They were fined £106,720 and ordered to pay £40,995 costs.

At the same hearing, Green Projects Ltd of Albert Street, Oldham, pleaded guilty to breaching regulations 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. They were fined £13,340 and ordered to pay £1,600 costs.

Speaking as the companies were fined, Mr Vilela said the incident had affected him both physically and emotionally: “It has had an overwhelming and complicated impact on my life, having, until then, been a very active, dynamic person”

“A fall from a height of 10 metres is not something you survive. I broke my femur, pelvis, wrist, vertebrae and ribs. A lot worse could have happened but I am grateful for the fact that I am alive and can walk, but I will live with this trauma for the rest of my life.

“I have developed a fear of heights and a fear of any physical activity that could cause me harm. I am also really worried about how my body will respond in old age as a result of these injuries.

“I am unable to walk for more than a kilometre without feeling pain and getting very tired due to the loss of strength and mobility in my leg. My pelvic fracture impedes me from doing any heavy lifting and I live in fear of damaging it even more.”

After the hearing, HSE inspector Phil Redman said: “This was a very serious incident that Mr Vilela was extremely lucky to survive. A fall from this distance frequently results in life-changing injuries or death.

“It is a timely reminder that all work at height activities must be suitably planned, managed and monitored using a safe system of work.”

This prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Kate Harney and paralegal officer Rebecca Withell.

HSE
Accurate at time of publication | December 2024