An indoor skiing company in Tamworth has been fined £100,000 following the death of 12-year-old Louis Watkiss on 24 September 2021. Louis was struck by a staff member on a tobogganing slope.

The HSE found no suitable risk assessment, system of work, or supervision for tobogganing activities. Snowdome Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £100,000 with £14,534 costs.

“Louis’s death could have been prevented if the company had adequately assessed and controlled the risks associated with tobogganing activities… Our thoughts remain with Louis’ family.”

— Nathan Cook, HSE

A County Durham man has been jailed for operating an illegal waste site. Christopher Williams pleaded guilty to two counts of operating without a permit and was sentenced to 44 weeks in prison (26+18). He runs an unregistered charity at Whinfield Industrial Estate, storing mixed household and hazardous waste over nine feet high, posing a fire risk. Despite warnings and a January 2023 removal deadline, waste remained throughout 2023–2024.

Martin Hindmarsh (38) appeared for contempt of court and operating two illegal waste sites in Middlesbrough. For Owens Road, he received an 18-week suspended sentence, 15 days rehabilitation, 250 hours unpaid work, and £7,506.60 costs. For contempt of court at Tame Road, he was fined £5,000 and ordered to clear the site.

Ilchester Estate (Dorset) paid a Variable Monetary Penalty of £19,777.69 plus £8,298.60 costs for over-abstracting 7,500 m³ of water from the Dorset Frome between December 2022 and July 2023, exceeding its 66.6 m³/day licence and ignoring EA warnings and an application process.

Liquipak Ltd (Huddersfield) was fined £2,666.67 (total £8,973.67) after an accidental bleach discharge in September 2021 killed over 800 fish and aquatic invertebrates in the River Colne. A collapsed wooden pallet caused sodium hypochlorite to enter a surface drain. The company has since improved handling and drainage procedures.

Pemberton Timber Frame Ltd | A company has been fined after an employee had three fingers severed by a panel saw at work.

On 4 January 2023, David Broadway (36) suffered amputation of three fingers when a rip cut he was performing contacted the saw blade. The saw lacked a riving knife, guard, and push stick, and he was not trained in its safe use.

Pemberton Timber Frame Ltd of Ramsgate pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £4,034 costs.

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

Brooke Additives Ltd discharged clear liquid high in ammonia into a rhyne feeding the River Banwell between April and June 2023. Tests and CCTV showed a pipe from its AdBlue plant caused fish kills over a 2 km stretch. The company was fined £3,600 and ordered to pay £5,119.18 in costs and surcharge.

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

Warmsworth Stone Limited received seven Improvement Notices for failings including dust control, legionella management, and welfare facilities. Five notices remained unaddressed by September 2023. The company pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 7(1) and 9(2)(a) of the COSHH Regulations 2002 and section 21 of the HSWA. It was fined £18,000 plus £4,064 costs.

Director Simon Frith pleaded guilty to the same COSHH breaches and was fined £1,062 plus £3,782 costs.

“Over time, the basic measures to secure the health of all on site had not been taken… 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 enforcement notices.”

— HSE inspector Charlotte Bligh

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

Nicolas Vilela suffered multiple injuries at Graystone Action Sports Centre in Salford on 23 November 2022. He had been fixing a solar panel when he stepped back and fell through a skylight to the skate park below, narrowly missing bystanders. Injuries included a partial lung collapse, broken ribs, pelvis, femur, left wrist, and vertebrae fractures; he spent a month in hospital.

H2O Renewables Limited, principal contractor, and Green Projects Ltd, sub-contractor, failed to implement suitable precautions or a safe system of work around known fragile rooflights. H2O’s risk assessment had only used cones and warning tape; scaffolding was only partially erected.

H2O Renewables Ltd pleaded guilty to Regulation 13(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, fined £106,720 with £40,995 costs. Green Projects Ltd pleaded guilty to Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, fined £13,340 with £1,600 costs.

Mr Vilela said the incident has left him with lasting physical and emotional trauma. Inspector Phil Redman reminded employers that all work-at-height must be planned, managed, and monitored with a safe system of work.

A Wallington-based company has been fined £30,000 for failing to clear illegal waste from a site they owned in Croydon.

Spark Properties Ltd was convicted of breaching the Environmental Protection Act 1990 by ignoring an enforcement order to clear waste at 33 Imperial Way. After correspondence and a Section 59ZC notice gave two months to comply, no progress had been made, leading to prosecution.

The company was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £18,840.28 in costs plus a £2,000 victim surcharge.

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