News

A Wearside man who killed his best friend by running over him with a 20-tonne dumper truck has been jailed. David Liddle died when he was struck by the vehicle, driven by James Johnston, at Sunderland waste firm Alex Smiles Ltd in December 2007. Johnston had earlier admitted manslaughter by gross negligence.

A Judge at Newcastle Crown Court jailed him for 18 months, and the company was fined £15,000. The Court heard Mr Liddle was hit by the overloaded vehicle as he walked across the works yard. Johnston's vision was obscured and he admitted he had been "driving by instinct" at the time. At an earlier hearing, where his employer pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety legislation, they were told that there had been a clear failure to manage site traffic safely.

Sentencing Johnston, Judge Esmond Faulks said both he and Mr Liddle had been let down by their employer. But he said the risk of danger was exacerbated by the driving of the overloaded truck. The Court also heard that Johnston is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. Northumbria Police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) carried out an extensive investigation into the cause of Mr Liddle's death, resulting in the case being passed to the Crown Prosecution Service.

For more information, see the:

• Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations SI 1992/3004.

One man has died and six others have been injured in an explosion at Andrew Jones Pies factory in Huddersfield this month. Police said a total of seven employees were working in the building at the time.

The fire service explained that the roof had collapsed and specialist teams with cutting gear were at the scene to make the factory safe. More than 40 firefighters from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Services were called out to deal with the explosion. However Keith Robinson, group manager for the fire service, said it was too early to say what had caused the blast but believed it was not suspicious.

A police spokesman said, "Due to structural damage at the bakery there have been difficulties in extracting the body of the deceased from the building. This will be done by specialist officers once the property is made safe. Inquiries into the cause of the explosion are ongoing and a joint investigation involving the police, fire service and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is currently underway."

The award winning pie makers have been established in the town for many years and supply a number of supermarkets. Graham Easby from the firm said it was a close knit workforce and everyone's thoughts were with the families of those involved. The factory and all their shops will remain closed until further notice.

Angry Falkirk residents are concerned as to how a major drinks company managed to "sneak" an extra 35,000 tonnes of whisky into its bond without permission. The Bonnybridge group is furious after a retrospective planning application from international alcohol firm Diageo to increase the amount of ethanol stored at its warehouse revealed the whisky was already on site.

The company has permission to store 90,000 tonnes of ethanol in the form of whisky at the Bonnybridge Bonds site and are looking to increase this to 180,000 tonnes. However, 35,000 tonnes of that permission is sought in retrospect, meaning the spirit is already there. The action group fear the 125,000 tonnes on site now, which equates to around 400,000 barrels of flammable alcohol, is being stored without hazardous consent and could pose a major fire risk.

Group member Adam Tarbert said, "We're not talking about Mickey Mouse stuff here. There is 35,000 tonnes of ethanol sitting there that not many people know about - how did they manage to put in this amount without consent? It's getting out of hand, now they want to increase the amount further. We're concerned by the extension of the place and wonder where they will stop. When Diageo built the original warehouse there was a blast zone for the 90,000 tonnes, but now they are increasing the alcohol but not the blast zone."

A Diageo spokesperson confirmed the company was applying for hazardous substance consent and commented, "The site is covered under the Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations SI 1999/743 and we have permission with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to store the alcohol. It recently came to light that, in addition to this, a hazardous substance consent was also required. We are liaising with Falkirk Council on this. We always recognise local residents concerns and anyone who has a particular problem they want to raise can contact us and we will address it."

An open farm which closed this month amid concerns over E.coli has now reopened. Five people who tested positive for the infection in recent weeks had visited, or had an association, with the Streamvale farm outside Belfast. It closed voluntarily as it emerged that 90 pupils and staff at three primary schools were to be tested for the bug.

Streamvale's owners said they carried out an extensive cleaning programme and the farm was then inspected by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSE NI). Judith Morrow, one of the owners said, "We are delighted to reopen this morning following the positive outcome of the inspection. It's business as usual again after this short voluntary closure and we look forward to welcoming visitors, old and new, through the doors to enjoy all our favourite attractions."

The farm was closed after a P1 pupil at Rosetta Primary School who visited it was found to be carrying the bug. Pupils there and at two other south Belfast schools recently took part in an excursion to the open farm. The other pupils are from Cregagh and Holy Rosary primaries. In recent weeks, 14 cases of the bug have been confirmed. While no source has been positively identified, five of the 14 cases either went to the farm or were associated with it shortly before being tested positive.

A £15m construction project to remake Banbridge Academy is being heralded as an example of best practice in health and safety in Northern Ireland.

John Graham (Dromore) Ltd is trialling a number of new health and safety measures in the Banbridge project, which was one of four demonstration projects launched by Constructing Excellence Northern Ireland at an exhibition in Belfast last month.

They aim to share best practice within the industry, encourage local firms to share knowledge and learn from each other in order to perform better.

A Constructing Excellence spokesperson said, "The Banbridge Academy new-build and refurbishment project is paving the way for innovations in health and safety excellence. The combination of management driven processes and behavioural based safety strategies is driving a cultural revolution in site based health and safety."

Keith Patrick of John Graham Ltd said that they established mobile-phone zones on site. He explained that, "In the same way that they are a distraction to drivers they can be a distraction on a construction site and while we have banned their use on other sites, here we are trialling a more flexible approach, while staying safe, and it is working very well. We have set up cordoned-off areas, which are well sign-posted, and everyone knows that's where to go to take or make calls."

Glove policy is another of the company's target areas, with site-workers being advised that they must wear gloves, unless they can clearly demonstrate that their work poses no risk of injury to their hands. The company is also trialling behavioural based safety in an attempt to instil a safety culture so that workers will observe safety measures, not because they fear being disciplined, but because they recognise and accept it as the right thing to do.

For more information, see:

• Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order SI 1978/1039;
• Construction (Head Protection) Regulations (Northern Ireland) SR 1990/424.
• Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (Northern Ireland) SR 2007/291.

New legislation has been published which describes how battery producers must aid the collection and recycling of waste batteries. The Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations SI 2009/890, require anyone placing batteries on the market to register as a producer and report on waste batteries collected and sent for recycling. It also lays out requirements for the treatment and recycling of batteries.

Ian Pearson, an economic and business minister from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) said, "These Regulations will help reduce the environmental impact of batteries and accumulators which contain potentially harmful material. We are committed to helping minimise the impact on the environment of this kind of waste and this is the latest measure to help us achieve a cleaner environment."

The Government has a target of collecting waste portable batteries equivalent to 25% of sales by 2012 and 45% by 2016. To meet these targets, battery producers must join a battery compliance scheme (BCS), which will inform consumers how to return batteries for recycling. From February 2010, some retailers of household batteries will have to accept waste batteries in-store. The new legislation comes into force on 5 May 2009, with the first compliance period beginning at the start of 2010. Throughout the rest of this year, BERR expects potential BCSs to sign up with the relevant environment agencies, recruit battery producers and work out how the collection and recycling of the batteries is to take place.

The legislation compliments the Batteries and Accumulators (Placing on the Market) Regulations SI 2008/2164, which came into force on 26 September 2008, and prohibits certain levels of heavy metals in new batteries and accumulators.