HSE | An Oldham-based construction company has been fined after a bricklayer was hospitalised for a month when the floor he was working on collapsed.

On 4 June 2024 at a house under construction on Lynn Street, Oldham, the 25-year-old was bricklaying on the upper level of a house when the floor he was working on collapsed. The worker fell along with multiple concrete blocks that had been stored on the upper floor. He sustained fractures to his right leg, hip and left hand, requiring surgery and a month-long stay in hospital.

The HSE’s investigation found that Oldham Business and Construction Management Limited, as the principal contractor, had failed to properly plan, manage and monitor the construction work on site.

The floor that collapsed had been overloaded with concrete blocks and had not been constructed in accordance with the manufacturer’s design.

The investigation also identified a number of other health and safety failings at the site, including unsafe scaffolding, inadequate arrangements for work at height, a lack of fire alarms and inadequate competent site management.

As a result of these failings, HSE inspectors issued multiple enforcement notices.

Oldham Business and Construction Management Limited, of Bath Street, Oldham, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 13(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. The company was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £4,883 in costs, to be paid within three years.

HSE Inspector Karen Farley said: “The injuries suffered by this worker were the consequence of fundamental failures to manage health and safety.

“Our investigation revealed that this was not an isolated failing but part of a broader pattern of poor health and safety standards across the site.

“The construction industry remains one of the highest-risk sectors and employers must ensure that work is properly planned, supervised and carried out safely.

“This incident was entirely foreseeable and could have been prevented had the floor been constructed in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions and safe systems of work been in place to ensure it was not overloaded with construction materials.”

The HSE prosecution was brought by HSE Enforcement Lawyer Arfaq Nabi and Paralegal Officer Hannah Snelling.

HSE | A local authority has been fined £6,000 after an employee suffered serious injuries when a stepladder collapsed beneath him.

The employee of Wirral Council was attempting to access a loft space at the Council-operated Dale Farm site in Heswall, Wirral, when the incident occurred. As he neared the top of the stepladder, it gave way causing him to fall to the ground. He suffered a fractured collarbone and broken ribs.

The HSE’s investigation found that Wirral Council had failed to ensure, so far as was reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of its employees by not adequately controlling the risks associated with working at height and the use of ladders.

The investigation identified failures in the Council’s management of work at height activities. Ladder use was not effectively controlled and despite identifying ladders that were not in a good state of repair and unsafe to use, they remained in place, accessible to any employee who wanted to use them.

Furthermore, employees had not received training in in relation to how to assess a ladder as being safe to use.

Wirral MBC pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £6,000 with £4,000 in costs.

After the hearing HSE Inspector Mike Lisle said: “This worker suffered painful and life-changing injuries in a fall that could have been prevented.

“The council failed to put in place basic measures to manage the risks associated with working at height. Employees had not received suitable training and ladders were not being systematically inspected to ensure they were safe.

“Employers should ensure suitable equipment is properly maintained, workers are trained and robust arrangements are in place for all work at height activities.”

This HSE prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement Lawyer Matthew Reynolds and paralegal officer Lynne Thomas.

HSE | A plastic packaging manufacturer has been fined for the second time in less than a year after a worker suffered a severe crush injury when their hand was drawn into the rollers of a laminating machine at its site in Telford.

Reflex Flexible Packaging Limited was sentenced in November 2025 after an employee died when he became trapped in an unguarded machine at the company’s site in Langley Mill, Derbyshire. This latest case relates to a separate incident on 17 January 2025, at the company’s Telford premises, when a worker suffered serious injuries while cleaning a machine.

The worker, a laminator operative and shift supervisor employed by the company, was injured while cleaning a laminator machine at the company’s premises on Halesfield, Telford.

The worker was cleaning the machine’s rollers using rags after a production run had finished. As they cleaned the machine, a rag became caught between two in-running rollers and pulled their left hand into the nip point between them. Their hand was drawn into the machine up to the wrist.

A colleague immediately activated the emergency stop, allowing the worker to free their hand from the machine. They were taken to hospital with a severe crush injury. The worker underwent two operations on their left hand, spent four nights in hospital and later required physiotherapy to rebuild strength in the injured hand.

Investigating, the HSE found that Reflex Flexible Packaging Limited had failed to ensure effective measures were in place to prevent access to the dangerous moving parts of the laminating machine.

The company had failed to provide a fixed guard to prevent access to the in-running nip point between the rollers during cleaning operations. The HSE investigation also revealed that the company’s risk assessment and safe system of work were not suitable and sufficient. The cleaning operation had not been properly assessed and the risk of a worker being drawn into the machine during cleaning had not been identified. The safe system of work also failed to provide clear instructions regarding the use of the foot pedal to rotate the rollers during the cleaning process.

Reflex Flexible Packaging Limited, of Vision House, Hamilton Way, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, NG18 5BU, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

The company was fined £60,000 and ordered to pay £4,464 in costs at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on 10 August 2026.

HSE Inspector Zach Morris said: “This incident was entirely preventable. Reflex Flexible Packaging Limited failed to ensure that effective measures were in place to prevent access to dangerous parts of the laminating machine during cleaning operations.

“This is the second time in less than a year that this company has been sentenced for health and safety offences, following a fatal incident at another of its sites. Dangerous moving parts of machinery continue to cause serious injuries in workplaces across Great Britain. Dutyholders should not focus solely on normal machine operation when considering access to dangerous parts. They must also consider activities such as cleaning, maintenance, and repair where workers may be exposed to dangerous parts of machinery that are inaccessible during normal operations.

“HSE will not hesitate to take enforcement action against dutyholders who fail to protect workers from these well-known and foreseeable risks.”

This HSE prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Neenu Bains and paralegal officer Benjamin Stobbart.

HSE | An event structure company and its director have been fined after an employee suffered severe, life-changing injuries while dismantling an internal steel frame.

iSkate Limited employee, Natalie McCreith, 38, a former outdoor sports instructor, had worked for the company for 14 years when she was seriously injured while working at Beaverbrook Hotel and Golf Course Leatherhead, Surrey, on 26 June 2024.

Ms McCreith underwent an 11-hour operation, spent three months in hospital and is still recovering following the incident.

During the dismantling of a steel beam temporary structure, a ratchet strap was being used to lower a steel beam weighing over 100kg. The ratchet strap was not designed for lifting or lowering loads and failed, causing the beam to fall onto Ms McCreith. She sustained multiple fractures to her back, a punctured lung and a broken leg.

Neil Munn, director of iSkate Limited, was on site at the time and made the decision to use the ratchet strap, instructing workers where to stand. He continued with the method even after Ms McCreith raised concerns about whether it was safe.

The HSE’s investigation found that iSkate Limited had failed to ensure that the dismantling of the internal steel frame was properly planned and carried out safely.

iSkate Limited, of Norfolk House, Station Road, St Ives, Cambridgeshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 16(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, by virtue of Regulation 20(1). The company was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £6,949 in costs.

Neil Munn, director of iSkate Limited, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, by virtue of Regulation 16(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 and Regulation 20(1). He received a community order with 75 hours of unpaid work to be completed.

In a victim personal statement, Ms McCreith said: “Since the accident, my life has been completely turned upside down it’s now the polar opposite of what it once was.

“I will never live the life I once had or be in a body that isn’t screaming at me all day, I wish I could turn back time. My family spent the journey from Liverpool to London thinking I was dead, they have had to watch someone they love go through agonising pain and continue to do so.

“I am not the person I once was, I can’t be everything I once was and for them this journey also continues.”

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Russell Beckett said: “Demolition and dismantling is a high-hazard work activity, but if the work is properly planned it can be carried out safely. This accident has had a devastating effect on Ms McCreith and could easily have been prevented had the right work equipment been used.”

This prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Will Bodiam and paralegal officer Hannah Snelling.

HSENI | A waste company has been fined £120,000 and a former employee sentenced to three years and four months for manslaughter, after a worker was struck and killed by a telehandler.

Ian McCollum, aged 52, was first hit when the vehicle drove forward with its view blocked, then struck a second time as it reversed.

McKinstry Biomass Ltd and 53-year-old Walter Manley of Loanda Crescent, Newry, were sentenced following the death at the company’s Derryboy Road site in Newry on 24 January 2022. The sentencing comes after a joint investigation by the HSENI and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

McKinstry Biomass Ltd was fined a total of £120,000 for three separate health and safety offences. Walter Manley, who was employed by the company at the time, was given an immediate custodial sentence of three years and four months after pleading guilty to manslaughter and a further 12-month sentence for a separate health and safety offence. These sentences are to run concurrently with half on licence.

The tragedy happened when Mr McCollum, an employee of McKinstry Skip Hire Ltd, had driven a Volvo tractor unit with a 40ft ejector trailer of wood waste to the Newry site for disposal.

While he stood in the yard watching the waste being ejected from his trailer, a JCB Wastemaster telehandler driven by Manley moved towards the same waste bay and struck him. The telehandler then tipped its load and reversed, striking Mr McCollum a second time. He was fatally injured.

The joint investigation found significant failings in the management of workplace transport risks by McKinstry Biomass Ltd and that their risk assessment failed to adequately segregate vehicles from pedestrians. They also failed to manage the site in such a way that both pedestrians and vehicles could circulate in a safe manner, placing both Mr McCollum and others at risk.

This extended to a lack of suitable information, instruction and training in relation to working within operational areas of the site where vehicles and pedestrians would interact. There was inadequate supervision, a lack of communication, and a system of unwritten rules rather than formal protocols in relation to control measures.

A reconstruction of the incident found that the telehandler’s raised, waste-filled bucket left Manley with little to no forward visibility as he approached Mr McCollum. The cab’s rear window was dirty obstructing its visibility, and the offside rear mirror was significantly misadjusted, leaving Manley unable to see behind the vehicle.

Manley failed to identify Mr McCollum in the machine’s rear camera before reversing.

Prosecutors in the Public Prosecution Service’s Fraud & Departmental Section worked with HSENI and the PSNI to build the case.

HSENI Major Investigation Team Inspector Kiara Blackburn said: “No job should cost a person their life. Mr McCollum’s death was wholly preventable and highlights the high cost of health and safety standards falling short.

“It also serves as a stark reminder that vehicles at work continue to be a significant cause of fatal and major injuries in Northern Ireland. Health and safety measures cannot be treated as optional. Simple, effective control measures must be put in place and maintained. Detailed advice on managing workplace transport risks is readily available to all employers.

“Employees also have a responsibility to take reasonable care for the safety of others and to operate vehicles properly in line with their training and instruction. This tragedy has had devastating consequences for his family, friends and colleagues.

“We hope this prosecution sends a clear message that failures of this nature can have irreversible consequences and that HSENI will not hesitate to take enforcement action to ensure workplace transport risks are appropriately managed.”

Enforcement action was taken by Health and Safety Inspectors following the incident to ensure pedestrians and vehicles could circulate safely around the site.

HSENI | A County Tyrone company has been fined for failing to ensure the safety of its employees.

On 23 October 2023, an employee of Sean Kelly Commercials Ltd sustained serious injuries after becoming trapped between the trailer bed of a four-axle beavertail lorry and its rear wheel, whilst investigating the source of an air leak.

The HSENI investigation identified that during the work activity, an airbag on the vehicle’s suspension system deployed, causing the trailer to drop. The trailer had not been adequately supported whilst the investigations were taking place beneath it.

Following the incident, an HSENI Inspector served a prohibition notice on the company. This notice prevented any further work from being undertaken underneath vehicles where there was a risk of entrapment without means of supporting the vehicle’s body.

Sean Kelly Commercials Limited were found guilty of breaching Article 4 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 and fined £14,000.

Prosecutors in the PPS’s Fraud and Departmental Section worked closely with HSENI to build a robust prosecution case.

Speaking after the hearing, HSENI Principal Inspector Justine McIntyre said: “This incident could have been avoided. The employee suffered serious injuries, but the outcome really could have been much worse.

“When working with vehicles fitted with air suspension, vehicle ground clearance can suddenly and unexpectedly change with a drop in air pressure. This creates trapping and crushing risks, especially for those working beneath them. It is essential that these tasks are adequately risk assessed, a safe system of work is in place and suitable control measures are used.

“Such controls range from carrying out the work from a vehicle inspection pit to the use of suitable props including axle stands. Guidance is readily available to employers.”

DAERA | Harry Brown (62), Lurganeden Road, Pomeroy, Co Tyrone has been convicted for an offence under Article 7(1)(a) of the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 as amended. He pleaded guilty and was fined £1,500 plus £15 Offenders Levy.

The Court heard that NIEA Water Quality Inspectors responded to a water pollution incident that had occurred between 12 and 13 June 2024. They discovered that dark grey agricultural effluent was flowing along a ditch beside the Pomeroy Road before discharging to the Claggan River (a tributary of the Ballinderry River into Lough Neagh).

Inspectors traced the effluent to farm premises on Lurganeden Road. Mr Brown said he had been cleaning out a poultry house when effluent ran through a nearby wooded area into land-drainage pipes and thence the waterway.

A statutory sample of the discharge showed poisonous, noxious or polluting matter likely harmful to aquatic life in the receiving waterway.

It is an offence under the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 (as amended) for contravening Articles 7(1)(a), 7(2) or 7(6) regarding polluting discharges to waterways. This list is not exhaustive.

HSA | Kalmar Solutions AB and Scruttons (NI) Limited were fined €150,000 and €300,000 respectively after a terminal worker’s death.

On 14 August 2019 at Dublin Ferryport, a haulier was fatally struck by an empty container handler with restricted visibility. Kalmar failed to design safe machinery and Scruttons failed to assess visibility risks or have written assessments. Both pleaded guilty under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005.

HSA Assistant Chief Executive Mark Cullen emphasised the necessity of risk assessments for plant and machinery operations.

Following an HSENI investigation into a July 2021 incident at ‘Planet Fun’ in Carrickfergus, Global Events and Attractions Ltd (Scotland) was fined £15,000 for breaching Articles 4(1) and 5(1) of the Health and Safety at Work (NI) Order 1978. Inspector Jeff Johnson received a suspended sentence for issuing a safety certificate without proper inspection.

On 24 July 2021, a 53 m Starflyer ride malfunctioned, injuring multiple patrons when chairs collided with fences.

A Co. Antrim company has been fined a total of £2,000 at Ballymena Magistrates’ Court for breaches of packaging waste legislation.

Galgorm Group pleaded guilty to two charges under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007: failing to purchase the required number of Packaging Recovery Notes by 31 January 2023 and failing to submit a Certificate of Compliance for the 2022 compliance year.

The company was fined £1,000 for each charge plus an offenders levy after repeated reminders from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.

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