HSE | A road haulage company in Nuneaton has been fined £90,000 after a metal heat exchanger fell from its lorry killing a cyclist.

A Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV), operated by JW Morley Transport Ltd, was driving down College Street, Nuneaton on 18 June 2021 carrying four heat exchangers weighing over 10,000kg, when as it went round a bend, the load shifted in the vehicle causing one of the straps securing the load to snap.

This resulted in one of the heat exchangers falling from the lorry, killing 70-year-old Christopher Baker, who was cycling alongside the vehicle.

— Accurate at time of publication | April 2025

Fire Industry Authority | A hospitality business owner has been fined over £12,000 after serious fire safety breaches were discovered during inspections in 2023.

Simon Floyd, the owner of The Tree Inn located in Stratton, Bude, has been fined a total of £12,775 after being found guilty of multiple fire safety breaches. The Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service discovered these breaches during inspections of the guest accommodations at his establishment in May and September of 2023.

During their inspections, officials noted several serious violations, including inadequate fire detectors and smoke alarms, and a blocked escape route impeded by an air conditioning unit. Additionally, the premises lacked properly installed fire doors where they were crucially needed.

— Accurate at time of publication | April 2025

HSE | Cambridgeshire County Council has been fined £6 million after pleading guilty to serious safety failings on its Guided Busway that led to three deaths and multiple injuries over a ten-year period.

The prosecution follows a long and complex HSE investigation, where incidents continued to happen despite regular enforcement action from the regulator.

A guided busway is purpose-built track exclusively for buses to bypass traffic congestion. Three people died after being hit by buses on the network. Jennifer Taylor, 81, died in darkness at an unlit crossing in November 2015. Three years later Steve Moir, 50, was killed after his bike struck a kerb, causing him to fall into the path of an oncoming bus. Kathleen Pitts, 52, lost her life in October 2021. Two young people also suffered serious injuries in separate incidents.

Despite the first fatality in 2015, the council didn’t conduct its first risk assessment until August 2016 – five years after the Guided Busway first opened.

The HSE investigation also found that basic safety measures were missing across the busway including lighting of some crossing points, appropriate speed limits for buses, sufficient measures to separate pedestrians and other users including cyclists from passing buses, and adequate signage warning of dangers.

In a statement, Mrs Taylor’s family: “Jenny was deeply loved by all of us, and we dearly miss her. As a family we would like to thank the HSE for their tireless efforts in bringing this case to court. We hope that the lessons learned will lead to sustained safety improvements and help avoid tragedy, injury and suffering in the future.”

Mr Moir, an active cyclist who coached local youth football and served as a school governor, was thrown into the path of a bus travelling at 56mph after losing control on the narrow maintenance path running alongside the busway.

Mr Moir’s family said: “The loss of Steve has left us devastated and there is now a big hole in our lives that cannot be filled. Steve was a loving, caring family man with a great sense of humour and a zest for life who brought laughter and joy to our lives every day and his presence is deeply missed by us all.”

Following his death, the council reduced the speed limit to 30mph in the area in question, but this failed to prevent the subsequent fatal incident involving Kathleen Pitts in October 2021. Just three weeks after Ms Pitts’ death, a 16-year-old cyclist suffered life-changing injuries at a designated crossing point.

After the hearing, HSE principal inspector Graham Tompkins said: “This is a truly tragic case where three people lost their lives and others suffered serious injuries in incidents that were completely preventable.

“Had Cambridgeshire County Council properly assessed and managed the risks on the Guided Busway from the outset, these deaths simply would not have happened. Even after the first fatality in 2015, the council failed to take adequate action to protect the public. They chose to appeal our enforcement action instead of acting on our concerns and incidents continued to happen.

“Simple measures could have saved lives and life changing injuries. Instead, the council operated this major transport system for almost a decade without many of the basic safety measures we see in every village, town and city being in place.

“The families of those who died have shown remarkable courage throughout this process, and I hope this prosecution brings some measure of closure for them, though nothing can make up for the loss of their loved ones.

“Our risk assessment guidance may be more commonly used for workplaces such as factories and construction sites, but the same principles apply for busy spaces such as major transport infrastructure. The possible risks to people and the movement of passengers, pedestrians and others needs to be thought through.”

Cambridgeshire County Council of New Shire Hall, Emery Crescent, Enterprise Campus, Alconbury Weald, Huntingdon pleaded guilty to two offences under section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The charges related to failing to protect the public both at crossing points and while travelling alongside the busway. The council was ordered to pay a fine of £6 million plus costs.

Investigation findings

The HSE investigation identified safety management failings within Cambridgeshire County Council for the operation of the Busway for a period of just over 10 years.

These failures related to two distinct risks; members of the public seeking to cross the Busway at designated crossing points and risks to members of the public when they were merely in its vicinity, or seeking to travel alongside it. Despite interventions by the HSE which included two Improvement Notices, Cambridgeshire County Council failed to adequately manage safety on the Busway until late 2021.

The Busway opened in 2011, but it was not until August 2016 after one death and several serious injuries on the Busway, that the first risk assessment was undertaken.

This risk assessment did not adequately assess the risk to members of the public crossing, or being alongside, the Busway. For example, in locations where the Busway was more crowded and where the adjacent access pathway was narrow, congestion was more likely. This would lead to people being jostled or unknowingly deliberately moving into the path of a bus, as in some sections there were no separators such as grass verges, physical barriers or fences to keep them to the access pathway.

Furthermore, Cambridgeshire County Council did not consider other measures to reduce the risk to members of the public, such as speed limits and the provision of lighting and suitable signage.

— Accurate at time of publication | April 2025

Construction Enquirer | UK Power Networks has been fined £40,000 for carrying out unguarded work on excavations in west London.

The prosecution was bought by Kensington and Chelsea Council after officials visited sites in the area.

Council officers visited Adam and Eve Mews and Queen’s Gate Mews in May 2024 to inspect works being carried out by UK Power Networks.

On both occasions UK Power Networks Operatives had failed to fully enclose the works area with a continuous barrier system to keep members of the public safe from harm.

The company pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to charges under the New Roads and Street Works Act and was subsequently sentenced at Westminster Magistrates Court.

— Accurate at time of publication | April 2025

Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development | Following a guilty plea in the Provincial Offences Court in Sarnia, John Harris Concrete Ltd. has been fined $85,000 over an October 2022 incident which resulted in a worker being fatally injured while cutting down a tree at a construction project.

The Court heard how one of the company’s five workers was clearing brush and felling trees from the area around a drainage ditch when they were fatally injured by a tree.

An investigation by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development found that while the worker had been trained to operate a chainsaw safely, they were not trained on tree felling.

— Accurate at time of publication | April 2025

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