HSE | Cambridgeshire County Council has been fined £6 million after serious safety failings on its Guided Busway led to three deaths and multiple injuries over ten years.
From 2011, three pedestrians died after being struck by buses in unlit or inadequately separated areas of the busway: Jennifer Taylor (2015), Steve Moir (2018), and Kathleen Pitts (2021), plus serious injuries to cyclists. The council delayed its first risk assessment until August 2016 and failed to install basic safety measures such as lighting, speed limits, barriers or warning signs.
HSE principal inspector Graham Tompkins said proper risk management and simple safety measures would have prevented these tragedies. Cambridgeshire County Council pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £6 million plus costs.
Fire Industry Authority | A hospitality business owner has been fined over £12,000 after serious fire safety breaches at The Tree Inn in Stratton, Bude.
Simon Floyd faced inspections by Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service in May and September 2023, which found inadequate fire detectors, blocked escape routes and missing fire doors.
Floyd admitted four offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, receiving an £8,000 fine, £2,755 costs and a £2,000 victim surcharge. All issues have since been corrected.
Construction Enquirer | UK Power Networks was fined £40,000 for unguarded excavations in west London.
Kensington and Chelsea Council prosecutions followed May 2024 inspections at Adam and Eve Mews and Queen’s Gate Mews, where UK Power Networks operatives worked with open excavations and mini diggers without continuous barriers, risking public safety.
The company pleaded guilty under the New Roads and Street Works Act and was fined £40,000 plus costs.
West Midlands Police | A national plant hire operator was fined over £800,000 for moving an abnormal load without proper notification.
During a March 2024 Multi Agency Road Safety Operation at the NEC, officers found a heavy goods vehicle carrying an excavator on an unnotified axle configuration, overweight, and oversized without additional safeguards. L Lynch Plant Hire and Haulage Ltd pleaded guilty to three offences, fined £800,000 plus £2,000 surcharge and £130 costs.
HSE | A waste and recycling company in Oldham was fined £250,000 after a man was run over on his first day on the job.
On 28 July 2021, a new employee hand-picking waste was struck and run over by a shovel loader, suffering fractures and nerve damage. HSE found no risk assessment, supervision or segregation of vehicles and pedestrians after the conveyor removal.
Wheeldon Brothers Waste Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £250,000 plus £4,102.32 costs.
BBC News | A company was fined £16,000 for importing and selling thousands of unsafe heated plates.
Essex Trading Standards investigated after a shopper’s complaint in May 2023, finding hotplates with no UK plugs and “poor construction” that posed burn and shock risks. Safa Food 1 Ltd admitted 10 offences under the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016 and was fined £16,000 plus £11,853 costs. Magistrates ordered destruction of 69 remaining plates.
Mark Durham of Essex County Council thanked the “eagle-eyed” shopper, noting the hotplates presented serious safety risks.
HSE | A self-employed roofing contractor was ordered to undertake unpaid work after uncontrolled asbestos spread.
In February 2022, work by S Wilks Roofing on garage roofs in Altrincham led to asbestos debris contaminating garages, residents’ gardens and personal belongings due to lack of control measures and safe waste storage. Wilks pleaded guilty to breaching asbestos regulations requiring planning and precautions, receiving a 12-month community order with 200 hours unpaid work and £3,582.13 costs.
HSE inspectors reminded duty holders to control risks for non-licensed asbestos work.
HSE | A chemical manufacturing company was fined £2.5 million following uncontrolled releases of corrosive acids in Essex.
Industrial Chemicals Ltd pleaded guilty to incidents on 6 January and 29 August 2020 at its West Thurrock site, where poorly maintained pipework released 300,000 L of hydrochloric acid and 87 m³ of sulphuric acid, forming toxic vapour clouds. Schools closed and communities sheltered.
Joint HSE and Environment Agency investigations found failures in pipe maintenance, safety-critical valves and protective coatings, leading to £2.4 million fines under health and safety law and £100,000 under environmental permitting regulations.
FIA | A holiday letting agency in Cornwall pleaded guilty to serious fire safety breaches at a St Ives rental property.
Gill (St Ives) Holiday Enterprises admitted failures at Premier Apartments, Wharf Road, including inadequate fire doors, lighting, signage, and lack of fire risk assessment. The company pleaded guilty under the Fire Safety Order and Regulatory Reform Act, with sentencing due on 23 April 2025. The FIA warned all holiday let duty-holders to comply fully with fire safety laws.
HSE | A company and its operations manager have both been fined after a man fell to his death through a roof at its site in Dudley.
Maciej Rozanski, who was 42, had been working to remove a redundant steel cleaning machine from the company’s Sovereign Works site on Deepdale Lane, on 29 June 2018. However, during the work, Mr Rozanski stepped onto a fragile roof and fell more than 20 feet to the floor below. He suffered serious injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Surface Technik (Old Hill) Limited, which is now in liquidation, was found guilty following a trial, while Robert Hammond had already entered a guilty plea, but disputed he was responsible for health and safety at the site.
The prosecution was brought following an investigation by the HSE, which found that the company began the work to remove the machinery in December 2017 and that project was led by Robert Hammond. The steel cleaning machine was housed in a corrugated steel tower on the side of the main production building which required partial dismantling in order to remove the machine. On the day of the incident, Mr Rozanski and another employee were tasked with the dismantling works. Once at the top of the tower they used an angle grinder to remove bolts holding the corrugated steel plates in place. It was during this activity that Mr Rozanski fell to his death.
There was no suitable and sufficient risk assessment made for the work at height activities. The work to remove corrugated steel sheets from the disused tower was carried out at height, near to a fragile roof surface without suitable access equipment or safe working practices. The work was not properly organised, planned, appropriately supervised or carried out in a safe manner and the employees were not trained for working at height when the incident occurred.
Surface Technik (Old Hill) Limited formerly of Deepdale Lane, Dudley was found guilty by a jury of a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and fined £90,000 with costs £28,956.
Robert Hammond of Sutton Coldfield accepted that he did not take reasonable care for the health and safety of both employees when he pleaded guilty to breaching Section 7 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Mr Hammond was fined £8,500 and ordered to pay the same amount in costs.
“Working from height remains a leading cause of workplace death and injury. This case highlights the risks of working at height from or near to fragile roof surfaces and the importance of a risk assessment, proper planning, training and supervision of work at height and the use of suitable access equipment to ensure that the work can be carried out safely. It also demonstrates that placing a company into liquidation is no bar to prosecution.”