In this post we’re going to take a look at Health and Safety Executive cases that made the news between 16 September 2013 and 22 September 2013. This includes a pharmaceutical company fined £100,000 after an employee was severely injured by being sprayed with bromide, a Runcorn boat manufacturer who has been heavily fined after an employee’s head was crushed at work and a Walsall firm fined after a worker fell over ten feet through a perspex roof

1. Pharmaceutical company fined £100,000 after man sprayed by toxic chemical – A North East pharmaceutical company has been fined for a serious safety breach which left a worker fighting for his life in hospital. The employee, from Tyne and Wear, was sprayed with seven litres of bromine as he removed cables from a valve connected to pipework at Aesica Pharmaceuticals on the Windmill Industrial Estate, Cramlington, Northumberland. He spent 48 hours in a life-threatening condition after inhaling the corrosive substance and also suffered severe skin burns and damage to one eye. His employer was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £7,803 costs.
2. Runcorn boat manufacturer in court after employee crushed – A Runcorn-based boat manufacturer has been fined after an employee’s head was crushed against the top of a lorry container. Pyranha Mouldings Ltd was today (20 September) prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident at its factory on the Whitehouse Industrial Estate, which left the worker with a torn ear, three chipped teeth, nerve pain and several stitches. The firm was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay £6,652 in costs.
3. South Devon property maintenance man forged gas records – A man who ran a property maintenance business has been given a suspended prison sentence and ordered to carry out community work for forging the details of a Gas Safe registered engineer and carrying out illegal gas safety checks. Adrian Hunt, 42, carried out the compulsory annual safety checks on rented domestic properties in Dawlish, where he lives, on behalf of landlords and managing agents despite not being on the Gas Safe Register. He was sentenced to 120 days in prison, suspended for 18 months and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid community work. He was also ordered to pay costs of £5,000.
4. Builder pays price for unsafe work – The owner of a Leeds building firm has appeared in court after two workers were injured, one seriously, when they fell from a mezzanine floor they were dismantling.
   One worker, then 61 and from Seacroft, broke two vertebrae and was in hospital for five days following the incident on 15 July 2012. He has been unable to continue working in the construction industry because of impaired lifting and carrying abilities. George Simms, of Ramshead Drive, Seacroft, Leeds, was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £3,210 in costs.
5. Firm fined after worker falls eleven feet through roof – A Walsall maintenance firm has been fined after an employee was seriously injured when he fell 11 feet through a fragile roof during poorly-managed roof work in Nottingham. Stephen Bassford, 58, from Nottingham, fractured his pelvis, wrenched his shoulder and sustained severe gashes to his face and left elbow in the incident on 4 July 2012. He required extensive physiotherapy and stitches and was unable to work for four months. Data Contracts Specialist Maintenance Ltd, of Green Lane, Walsall, was fined £11,000 and ordered to pay £9,732 in costs

Redmans Solicitors are employment solicitor in Richmond London and can help injured employees claim personal injury