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Cristal Pigment UK Limited (formerly known as Millennium Inorganic Chemicals) in Stallingborough, North East of Lincolnshire, was found guilty for breaching their legal duties when one of their workers died after being exposed to a toxic chemical cloud. Another worker suffered permanent lung damage from the exposure as well.

Cristal Pigment is part of a global company that makes titanium dioxide as an inexpensive white pigment. However, the European Chemicals Agency has recently hinted that it will be classing the chemical as a respiratory carcinogen as it is suspected to cause cancer. This was just a small clue as to how dangerous the chemical can be.
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Amtek Aluminium Castings (Whitham) Limited was given a fine for health and safety failings after an employee injured his hand using a rotary drilling machine at work. Mr Andrew Gibson was drilling a hole in a cast when his glove got caught in the spinning motor and his hand was pulled into the drill, according to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reports.

The drill had ripped apart the glove and injured Mr Gibson’s hand before he managed to hit the emergency stop button. An ambulance crew attended to his injury before he was taken to hospital for further treatment, where he required skin grafts for his hand.
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Site manager and worker ordered to pay seven thousand pounds in fines and costs

This story serves as an important reminder that employers have a duty of care to their employees for their health and safety.

Reports from the HSE confirmed that 27-year-old Ryan Musgrave suffered serious injuries when he was struck by a concrete skip on the construction site he worked on in South London. As a result of the incident, the HSE investigated accordingly.
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According to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) statistics, slips, trips and falls are the most common injuries at work, accounting for over a third of all major work injuries.

Slip incidents are also one of the most common types of accidents giving rise to a claim for personal injury. The question of compensation depends on whether the third party was negligent in preventing the slip.
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Your employer has a legal duty to provide you with a safe workplace where all dangers are removed where possible. Where the hazards pose a risk to employees and cannot be removed (perhaps because it’s a part of the nature of the work), employers must do all they can to provide protection for the employee, and this is where Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) comes in.
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The Care Quality Commission published a report this year on a care home in Derbyshire where it was found that the care home residents had suffered neglect in the form of not being fed properly; being locked in the home; and not receiving medication.

Gresley House Residential care home in Derbyshire was deemed inadequate and required improvements based on the report findings of the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The report found that resident’s health and wellbeing were at risk, with one person sustaining an injury from a fall that happened sometime during the night.

Appallingly, the resident was not found till 7am the next morning.
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A 32-year-old man sustained severe injuries after falling five metres through a roof he was working on.

His employers, the Richardson Roofing Company Limited (RRCL), were found to be liable for his injuries and losses, and were fined £200,000 for not providing adequate safety measures for their employee.

This was a serious incident indeed, and it was entirely preventable.
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Depending on a patient’s age, or any medical condition they may have, hospitals have a duty to ensure that risk assessments are carried out to properly care for the vulnerable, and those who are at risk of falling over.

A fall for a vulnerable patient can have serious consequences depending on their age and medical condition. In fact, they can ultimately lead to deaths…

Hospitals should have steps in place to ensure that the risk of a fall is minimal, and that they have done everything they can to ensure this. If they fail to do this, they can be rightly liable for a personal injury claim.
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In November 2015, at Quantum Exhibitions and Displays Ltd in Hipperholme, a 26 year old worker broke his right leg tibia and fibula bones, suffered burns on his right hand, and sustained an open fracture of the index finger on the same hand.

All very nasty injuries.

This was due to a three tonne vibrating road roller that the worker was using sliding down a steep incline and trapping him underneath.
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Tata Steel has been fined as two workers suffered hand injuries on two separate incidents involving machinery.

A 52-year-old employee lost part of his little finger when his left hand was caught in an inadequately guarded machine while undergoing refresher training. A 25 year old employee also lost two thirds of his left hand and his middle and ring fingers while trying to unblock a steel tube manufacturing line that also did not have suitable guarding. These were two separate incidents.

Such incidents should not be occurring in a well established firm like Tata Steel, and the result is significant fines for clear health and safety failings.
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