This news item is over 3 months old and has been archived.
Council prosecutes Wolseley UK Ltd
24 April 2012
Scarborough Borough Council has prosecuted Wolseley UK Ltd under
health and safety legislation after a serious incident which
occurred at the Plumb Centre on Barry’s Lane in Scarborough last
year.
A court hearing held on Friday 20 April at Scarborough
Magistrates Court saw Wolseley UK Ltd fined a total of £30,000,
awarding £1,400 costs to Scarborough Borough Council for offences
under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 Workplace (Health,
Safety & Welfare) Regulations 1992.
In January 2011 the council’s Environmental Services were
notified of an incident at the Plumb Centre where an employee had
been seriously injured due to the failure of a roller shutter door
to the main warehouse of the premises. The victim suffered multiple
injuries including fractured ribs, a punctured lung, broken collar
bone and a broken shoulder and he continues to have health issues
as a result of this accident. The roller shutter door had not fully
fallen to the floor on one side but had been stopped by hitting
storage bins which probably prevented further injuries to the
employee.
Following the incident Scarborough Borough Council’s
Environmental Health officers initiated a full investigation into
the possible causes of the failure of the roller shutter door. The
door was found to have had failures in multiple parts as it had not
been properly maintained. Although the door had been subject to
repairs these repairs were only undertaken when a fault occurred
rather than part of a planned system of maintenance and
inspection.
Steve Pogson, Scarborough Borough Council’s Health and Community
Manager said:
“This was a very serious incident that could so easily have had
fatal consequences. The prosecution and heavy penalty should serve
as a warning to everyone with health and safety responsibilities
that they must ensure they maintain potentially dangerous equipment
in a safe manner.
“However our officers were kept informed by Wolesley UK and
their representatives as the company put in place procedures to
ensure that all roller shutter doors on their premises are now
maintained in an effective way.
“We are pleased at how the company has worked with specialist
door engineers to arrive at a comprehensive inspection regime to
ensure no future reoccurrences of this nature. It is understood
that this inspection and maintenance regime is now being adopted
nationally.”