Businessman jailed after Lithuanian worker dies in fall

A father and son have been sentenced following an incident in which a Lithuanian worker died in an eight metre fall while undertaking refurbishment works to a roof. Following their guilty pleas to safety breaches the men received a prison sentence and a suspended prison sentence. A third family member was sentenced to 120 hours of unpaid work. HSE found that the defendants had failed to plan the work at height, employ competent contractors, that they had deliberately chosen to save money and were well aware that work was being carried out in an unsafe manner using unskilled workers. The fatally injured worker, Ivars Bahmanis, a 55 year old Lithuanian national living and working in Blackburn, was involved in building work at the former canal works building at Manner Sutton Street when he fell nearly eight metres and died as a result. During the investigation HSE discovered that another employee, Juris Lesinkis, a Latvian national living and working in Blackburn, had fallen from a height and broken his leg at the same site, an accident which was not reported to HSE. At the sentencing hearing on the 19 May, Preston Crown Court heard that Mr Bahmanis was carrying out refurbishment work involving installing metal brackets for new roof joists when the incident happened on the 29th January 2012. While he was working alone he fell from the wall, due to a complete lack of safety measures being in place. Three members of the same family who had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to the charges received the following sentences: Tameem Shafi, 31, of Clarence Street, Blackburn, who was in charge of the project, was sent to prison for 45 weeks for two breaches of regulation 6 (3) of the Work at Height regulations 2005. Mohammed Shafi Karbhari, 59, of Clarence Street, Blackburn, the owner of the mill, was sentenced to 24 weeks imprisonment suspended for 2 years and ordered to pay £20,000 towards prosecution costs for breach of regulation 9 of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 Umar Shafi, 20, of Clarence Street, Blackburn, who was in charge of the work on the day, was sentenced to 120 hours unpaid work and ordered to pay £3,900 towards prosecution costs for two breaches of regulation 6 (3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. Following the case, HSE Inspector Allen Shute said: “The dangers of working at height are well known – and can be easily and safely managed. It needs to be properly planned and carried out by competent contractors. “The defendants tried to save money by asking unskilled workers to carry out hazardous work activities around the building. As a result Mr Bahmanis died needlessly in a horrifying incident which could and should have been prevented. There had also been a previous incident on site where another worker fell from height and broke his leg, which was never reported to HSE and only came out during the investigation. This should have served as a warning to them.” Animal feed company sentenced after fatality An animal feed company has been fined £80,000 after one of its employees died when he was buried under tonnes of wheat being unloaded from a lorry. HSE discovered the use of elasticated cords on the lorry’s tipping control, which allowed the worker to stand behind it as it was tipping upwards. Andrew Scott Harrold, 33, was working at Transpan (Scotland) Limited’s Tore Mill site, off Harbour Road, Inverness, when the incident happened in February 2011. Emergency services used a digger, while a colleague assisted with a shovel, to scoop out eight to 10 tonnes of wheat before finding Mr Harrold. He was unconscious and attempts were made to resuscitate him, but he died at the scene. Investigations by HSE inspectors discovered a bungee-style cord was positioned over the controls that were meant to be operated only by hand – a system which ensured the operator was away from the tail section as the hydraulics lifted it up. Inverness Sheriff Court heard that the tipper was already in the process of rising before Mr Harrold had finished opening the catches on the back door, which then burst open. Transpan (Scotland) Limited pleaded guilty to a charge brought under section 2 and 33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. HSE principal inspector Niall Miller said: “This risk here was entirely foreseeable. The bungees or elasticated cords on this tipping control had been on there for some time and there were other devices – such as pieces of wood and plastic pipe – that were used to defeat the safety function on other lorries. Transpan could easily have supervised drivers on site. If Mr Harrold had been prevented from using the elasticated cord on the tipping control, he could not have gone behind his lorry when it was tipping upwards.” £185,000 fine after worker hurt driving faulty picker truck A Milton Keynes-based company has been fined £185,000 after a worker was injured driving a faulty picker truck. Aylesbury Crown Court heard on 15 May how Mr Hayes was thrown from the low level order picker when its steering malfunctioned, resulting in his right foot becoming trapped underneath it, fracturing three of his bones. An investigation by Milton Keynes Council’s environmental health team found that the vehicle Mr Hayes had driven had been reported as defective but had not been repaired. Logistics company Kuehne + Nagel were found to not have an adequate system in place to ensure that defective vehicles were taken out of use and repaired prior to being reused. It was discovered that management had been advised of failings by staff but the company failed to heed these warnings. The company based in Snelshall West, Milton Keynes pleaded guilty and was fined £185,000, for one breach under Sections 2 and 33 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The firm was also ordered to pay Milton Keynes Council’s costs of £25,500. In his sentencing summary of the case, Judge Sheridan stated that he “found serious failures of senior managers who ought to have recognised ongoing problems.” He concluded that the company ‘fell well below the reasonably practicable test’ and it was ‘not just reasonably foreseeable but a nightmare waiting to happen.’ Failings included breaches of general and mandatory health and safety provisions and a systematic failure to provide a safe system of work. Following the hearing, health and safety inspector for Milton Keynes Council, Martin Brown said: “We are very pleased with the result and fine imposed as it reiterates the importance of treating health & safety seriously. “This accident was not just reasonably foreseeable it was, as a result of the company’s failings, virtually inevitable.”

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