HSE | A rogue gas fitter from Norfolk has been jailed after carrying out unsafe gas work at a residential property while suspended from the Gas Safe Register.

Antony Clifton, from Wymondham, was sentenced to 46 weeks in custody after he carried out unsafe gas work while falsely claiming to be a member of the Gas Safe Register. He worked at a home in Drayon, Norwich in January 2022, but there was a gas escape on the inlet to a cooker that had been fitted the day before by the 52-year-old.

The HSE’s investigation found that Clifton had left the appliance in a condition where gas was leaking, and emergency repair work was required. Clifton had previously been served with a prohibition notice by the HSE following unsafe gas work.

Further information and guidance on domestic gas health and safety is available.

Antony Clifton, a director of CS Appliance Repairs Limited, of Exige Way, Wymondham pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 3(7) and 5(3) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) 1998 Regulations. He was sentenced to a total of 46 weeks in custody and was ordered to pay £1,000 costs.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Martyn Webb said: “Antony Clifton knew that he was not registered and should not carry out any gas work.

“However, he showed a blatant disregard to this fact and his illegal actions meant the people living in that house could have been killed.

“Homeowners and tenants should check for Gas Safe registration before allowing work to commence on their appliances and refuse entry to individuals who cannot prove they are registered.

“All gas work must be done by a registered Gas Safe engineer to ensure the highest standards are met to prevent injury and loss of life.”

Environment Agency | The Environment Agency has prosecuted Welsh Water for breaking conditions of an environmental permit at a Herefordshire sewage treatment works seven times in a five-month period, in breach of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.

At Kidderminster Magistrates Court, Welsh Water was fined £24,000 for exceeding permitted levels of sewage effluent from the Clehonger Sewage Treatment Works near Hereford. The company was also ordered to pay costs of £11,835.86 and a surcharge of £181.

Sewage treatment works treat raw sewage to produce an effluent which is discharged without damaging the local watercourse. At Clehonger, the water is discharged into the Cage Brook which is a tributary of the River Wye.

The court was told that officers from the Environment Agency were alerted to an issue following routine sampling results in November 2020.

The environmental permit states that Welsh Water must not discharge effluent containing more than 18 milligrams/litre of ammonia on more than two occasions in a 12-month period.

Results showed that in a five-month period from 23 November 2020 to 17 April 2021 the limit had been exceeded seven times ranging from 18.2 mg/l to 26.2 mg/l.

Officials from Welsh Water told the Environment Agency that the company was aware of additional loading coming into the site from a new development.

In mitigation, Welsh Water said that it had spent a significant amount of money to improve the infrastructure at the site, adding that since this incident there had been no further issues or breaches of permit condition.

HSE | A company in the West Midlands that reclaims and processes textiles has been fined £300,000 after one of its workers was hit by a telehandler.

The man, now 42, suffered serious injuries to his legs in the incident that happened on 23 March 2023 at a factory belonging to JMP Wilcox and Company Limited at Beldtray Works in Bilston.

Stills from CCTV footage captured the scene moments before the 39-year-old man was struck. He had been using a ride-on electric pallet truck inside the factory building. The pallet trucks are used for transporting goods of clothing to sorting lines and other areas around the factory.

The man and his supervisor had been finding stock in the ‘goods-in’ area. He was using his pallet truck to return an empty cage when he was hit by a telescopic handler that was being driven by another employee.

The HSE’s investigation found that the company failed to properly manage vehicle movements on site. This included organising the workplace in such a way as to ensure the safety of its employees, both pedestrians and those using vehicles.

JMP Wilcox and Co Limited of Beldray Road, Bilston pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and were fined £300,000 with costs of £7,732.

HSE inspector Gail Bell said: “This incident highlights the dangers to safety from inadequate management of workplace transport. A man suffered very serious injuries due to the failure to put suitable control measures in place.

“These measures ensure people are kept safe at work and specifically prevent them being struck by a moving vehicle.”

This HSE prosecution was brought by enforcement lawyer Andy Siddall and paralegal officer Melissa Wardle.

HSE | A Norfolk-based food wholesaler has been fined £66,000 after an employee’s leg had to be amputated after he was injured while loading a lorry.

The worker was loading an HGV using a pallet truck at Osprey Foods Limited, in Holt, Norfolk on 5 July 2023.

The HGV pulled away while the man was still inside the trailer, causing both him and the pallet truck to fall between the loading dock and the rear of the vehicle. The injuries he sustained were so severe his leg had to be amputated.

An investigation by the HSE found that Osprey Foods had not taken appropriate measures to control vehicle movements on their site. The traffic light system used to tell the HGV drivers when it was safe to move their vehicles had broken several weeks prior to the incident and had not been repaired. The traffic light remained green during the loading process, meaning that the driver pulled away thinking it was safe to do so and unaware that the man was still in the back of the vehicle.

Osprey Foods Limited, of Holt, Norfolk, pleaded guilty to breaching sections 2 (1) and 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

The company was fined £66,000 and ordered to pay £5,850 in costs at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court.

Environment Agency | A Birmingham skip hire company must pay financial penalties of more than £48,000 after the Environment Agency brought a prosecution for operating illegally.

At Birmingham magistrates’ court, Action Skip Hire Limited of Trent Street, Digbeth, were found guilty of two offences and admitted another. The offences fell under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011, and the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.

The court imposed a fine of £12,000 for operating a regulated facility in Oxford Street, Birmingham, without the necessary environmental permit. They were also ordered to pay a surcharge of £190 and costs of £26,376.58.

The company was fined a further £6,000 for failing to comply with a Notice to provide waste transfer notes. They were ordered to pay a £2,000 surcharge and costs of £1,522.38.

The court was told that the company held an environmental permit for a waste site at Trent Street, Digbeth. However, not for land off Oxford Street where the company illegally stored and processed wastes.

Officers from the Environment Agency visited the Oxford Street site on 10 August 2023 following reports of waste activity taking place.

Investigations found the site was storing mixed general and construction and demolition wastes including trommel fines, tyres, mattresses, and wood.

Further investigations revealed that the land was leased to Action Skip Hire Limited. Inspections by Environment Agency Officers during September and October of 2023 showed that the Oxford Street site was still being used for waste activities.

This resulted in the Environment Agency serving a Section 59 (1) (a) Enforcement Notice on 20 November 2023 requiring the company to remove waste from the land. The notice was not complied with.

Further visits were carried out throughout 2024 which found wastes remaining on the site.

BBC News | The organiser of a motorsport event has been fined more than £60,000 after attendees fell ill and had to be evacuated due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Seventeen people were taken to hospital following the Motorsport with Attitude Limited event at Staffordshire County Showground, near Stafford, in February 2024.

Judge Kevin Grego said the company had been either “cavalier” in its approach to safety or “naive in the extreme”, according to a statement issued by Staffordshire County Council.

The firm pleaded guilty to five health and safety offences.

The number of patients requiring treatment almost led to hospital bosses declaring a major incident, the council said.

The court was told that the fire and rescue service received complaints about spectators feeling unwell and recorded high levels of carbon monoxide inside the main arena.

Lucy Taylor-Grime, prosecuting, said the firm had ignored advice in an email marked “urgent information” prior to the event which warned arrangements for extracting fumes were not adequate.

“This could have been much worse – although if the council had been informed prior to the event this situation could have been avoided,” she said.

The authority said the company’s director, David Rennie, told officers investigating the incident that an event marshall who had fallen ill looked as if he was “putting it on” and described the man’s appearance as like “an eight-year-old who doesn’t want to go to school”.

Mr Rennie pleaded guilty to five charges on behalf of Motorsport with Attitude Ltd relating to the incident. These included failing to have a valid risk assessment and not having adequate systems to deal with carbon monoxide build-up.

The company was fined and ordered to pay costs of £62,645.78 in total.

The council said a representative for the company expressed remorse for what had happened and added they had been “woefully unprepared”.

“People going to this type of motorsport event must be confident that the organisers have all the checks and balances in place for it to run safely,” said Gill McMullin, a senior environmental health officer at Staffordshire County Council.

“We want organisers to run fantastic events in our borough that bring people to the area and provide a boost to the local economy.”

Fleet News | A record-breaking fine has been imposed on a fleet for repeated overloading offences, following a hearing at Bristol Magistrates’ Court.

Starling Distribution Services was ordered to pay £759,000, the biggest fine being issued ever for a Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) prosecution, after being convicted of overloading and defective vehicle offences for its milk delivery service.

Despite the company’s vehicles previously being found overloaded or with dangerous defects on multiple occasions, the court heard it continued to operate in a dangerous manner.

Starling Distribution Services was first prosecuted as part of DVSA’s Operation Milkman back in August 2023, where they were fined £204,660.

Despite this significant fine, the company continued to re-offend, leading to further convictions in November 2023 and August 2024, before this latest court appearance.

The court heard that the DVSA stopped three vehicles being operated by Starling Distribution Services during three routine inspections in August 2024 and in February, this year.

The vehicle with the biggest overload weighed 5,040kg when it should have weighed no more than 3,500kg, meaning it was 44% over the maximum permitted limit.

Another of the vehicles was overloaded by 1,080kg, meaning it was 30.86% over the maximum permitted limit. It also had significant roadworthiness issues including braking defects and inoperative direction indicators.

The vehicle’s condition was deemed to pose a danger to road users, and an immediate prohibition was issued.

Starling Distribution Services was ordered to pay a total of £759,000 by the court. This was made up of a total fine of £750,000, victim surcharge of £6,000, and costs of £3,000.

Two drivers were also prosecuted and issued smaller fines and costs.

Harborough District Council | A pub company has been fined £240,000 following the death of a woman who visited one of its pubs on 14th May 2023.

Julie Hyatt, 57, died from her injuries in hospital on 26 May 2023, after falling down some stairs at The Langton Arms in Church Langton.

Mrs Hyatt fell into a basement cellar through a door which should have been locked.

Harborough District Council has successfully prosecuted Redcat Retail Pubs Ltd, the pub company which owns The Langton Arms, for failing to comply with health and safety legislation.

After an extensive investigation the council concluded that the business had not assessed the risk to the health and safety of its employees or members of the public. There was no risk assessment in place to cover the access into the basement cellar.

Redcat Retail Pubs Ltd pleaded guilty to one count of breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and were ordered to pay £240,000, with a victim surcharge of £2,000 and £43,633.06 in legal costs.

The council has a duty to ensure that licensed premises comply with statutory requirements and can take appropriate enforcement action if required.

Cat Hartley, Director of Communities and Wellbeing at Harborough District Council, said: “Firstly, we offer our sincere condolences to Mr Hyatt and all of Mrs Hyatt’s family and friends.

“This was a serious breach of health and safety, which regrettably resulted in Mrs Hyatt losing her life. We have worked tirelessly on this investigation to ensure justice for the family.

“All businesses have a legal duty to their customers to ensure the conditions in their premises meet rigorous safety standards. We hope this prosecution sends out a strong message that businesses which fall significantly short of this standard will be brought before the courts.

“Residents and visitors to Harborough district should expect to be safe when they are enjoying any of our licensed hospitality premises.”

HSE | A London construction company has been fined £50,000 after four men were injured — two seriously — when the first floor of a house collapsed during building works.

Aryn Stones Ltd had been contracted to build a new domestic property in Hampstead. On 31 May 2022, remedial works were being carried out on a partially built beam-and-block floor, when it collapsed, taking two of the workers down with it.

The two men include a welder, who is now 62, and a 31-year-old bricklayer. They both sustained life-changing injuries, while two other men who were standing at ground level were injured by falling concrete.

Work on the build began in March 2021 but by February the following year, engineers who inspected the property identified errors with the connections of the structural steel beams. This prompted the remedial works that led the structure to collapse. That came about when the welder was using an oxyacetylene torch to cut a steel beam supporting the first floor. However, at the same time, another worker had been removing some Acrow props that were supporting the beam.

Investigating, the HSE found that Aryn Stones Ltd had failed to ensure the structure did not collapse while it was in a state of temporary weakness. The company also failed to put any measures in place to manage the temporary remedial work being carried out on the steel connections. They also failed to take all practicable steps to prevent danger to any person while the building was in a temporary state of weakness.

Aryn Stones Ltd, of Percy Road, London were found guilty of breaching Regulation 19(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. The company was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay £39,000 costs.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Lucy Ellison-Dunn said: “Although two men were seriously injured, it was lucky nobody was killed.

“This was a completely avoidable incident had a system for the management of temporary works been in place. The company should have taken precautions to protect people from the risk of collapse.

“Everyone working in construction has a responsibility to ensure that everyone on a building site is safe.”

The investigation was also carried out by HSE inspector Alexander McIlwraith.

This prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Samantha Crockett and supported by HSE Paralegal Officer Sarah Thomas.

HSE | A construction site supervisor has been fined after he exposed primary school pupils and staff to asbestos during renovation work.

Adrian Barraclough was working as a site supervisor during the refurbishment of kitchen facilities at Holy Family Catholic Primary School in Bristol.

During the works on 13 May 2023, the 54-year-old cut through asbestos insulating board using a circular saw. His actions resulted in asbestos fibres spreading throughout the school hall, which was subsequently used for two days by pupils and staff.

An investigation by the HSE found that Barraclough failed to follow his asbestos awareness training, including clear instructions not to disturb the wall. Following an asbestos survey, the wall was due to be checked by a licensed asbestos contractor prior to removal to clarify if asbestos was present.

Adrian Barraclough, of Green Lane, Frome, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 7(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. He was fined £1,800 and ordered to pay a £720 victim surcharge and £4,000 in costs at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on 12 June 2025 – a total financial penalty of £6,520.

HSE inspector Ian Whittles said: “Every year around 5,000 people die from asbestos-related diseases, often taking decades to develop symptoms. In this case, wholly unacceptable exposure to asbestos fibres occurred as a result of an individual employee not following instructions and procedures designed to prevent such occurrences.”

This HSE prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Karen Park and paralegal Imogen Issac.

Consolidated Login

Comprehensive Login