A Rochdale company has been fined after a 29-year-old worker was diagnosed with hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) – a condition causing tingling, pins and needles, numbness and pain in the affected person’s hands.

Greater Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard how the employee was exposed to vibration from tools used to sand components. Health surveillance implemented by the Company in 2014 showed that the employee had developed HAVS through exposure to vibration while working there.

An investigation by [...]

The increase follows a change in legislation made effective February 2016 by the Sentencing Council, under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.

The new guidelines were imposed for health and safety, food hygiene and corporate manslaughter offences. The court must now consider culpability, seriousness and likelihood of harm as well as the size of a business / its turnover when imposing fines. Health and Safety offences are concerned with failures to manage risks to health [...]

National bread maker Warburtons has been fined £2m after a worker was hospitalised following a fall.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard how on 11 November 2013 an employee was cleaning one of the mixing machines at their Wednesbury bakery, a routine job he carried out every few weeks, when he lost his footing and fell nearly two-metres.

The father-of-one, who had worked at the factory since 2007, was hospitalised with a compression fracture in his spine. He [...]