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40 Issue 3 2020 HEALTH & SAFETY SAFETY BREACH SENTENCING AFTER EXCAVATOR SMASHES HIGH-PRESSURE PIPE J ohn Murphy & Sons Ltd has been fined £150,000 after an excavator smashed a high- pressure gas pipe while working on the widening of the M8 motorway. Murphy was sentenced for safety breaches after damaging the 10-inch pipe during advance utility works for the motorway widening project. Hamilton Sheriff Court heard that the incident happened on 16th January 2014, during excavation works for the pipeline diversion. The break in the pipe, which was operating at 39 bar(g), resulted in 271 tonnes of gas being released into the atmosphere in the vicinity of employees near the M73 junction. An investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) found that the high-pressure pipeline had been hit by an excavator. Hywel Williams, a HSE inspector specialising in pipelines, said: “This incident was totally avoidable and put workers at risk. The contractor failed to follow procedures and chose to conduct excavations in the vicinity of a high-pressure pipeline by mechanical excavator instead of excavating by hand.” J Murphy and Sons Ltd, of Highgate Road, London, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 15 of The Pipelines Safety Regulations 1996 and Section 33(1) (c) of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £150,000. INADEQUATE RISK ASSESSMENT CAUSED EMPLOYEE TO DEVELOP HAVS M otor sales company, Perrys Motor Sales Ltd (PMS) and Occupational Health & Safety Consultants, S & Ash Ltd (previously known as Sound Advice Safety and Health Ltd), were both sentenced for safety breaches after a worker developed Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS). Sheffield Crown Court heard that in 2013 an employee working as a small to medium area repair technology (SMART) repairer at the PMS site in Doncaster, who regularly used handheld power tools to undertake small scale vehicle body work repairs, was diagnosed with HAVS. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that PMS had failed to adequately assess and control the foreseeable risk to SMART repairers. Following the diagnosis, PMS took no action to protect the employee from further damage to his health and his condition was not reported to the authorities in line with legal requirements. S & Ash Ltd (previously known as Sound Advice Safety and Health Ltd.) was engaged by PMS to provide HAVS health surveillance for employees. The investigation also found that following the health surveillance, S & Ash Ltd failed to provide suitable and accurate advice to the employer (PMS) or to inform the employee of the results of his health surveillance, even when specifically requested to do so by him. Perrys Motor Sales Ltd of Pavilion Drive, Northampton Business Park, Brackmills Northampton pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and Regulation 8 of The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 2013. The company has been fined £14,000 and ordered to pay £7,658.67 in costs. S & Ash Ltd of Charles House, Albert Street, Eccles, Manchester pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company has been fined £4,000 and was ordered to pay £8,716.17 in costs. “This incident was totally avoidable and put workers at risk.”