Brothers prosecuted over Tameside workers' health risk

Date:

11 November 2010

Release No:

HSE/NW/17Asbestos

Two brothers have been prosecuted for putting workers at a Tameside fencing manufacturer in danger of developing asthma.

Brian and Jack Hulme were prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after they failed to ensure a regular service was carried out on a dust extraction system. The unit was installed to remove dust created from cutting wooden fencing at the factory.

The brothers should have ensured the unit at the factory, on Crescent Road in Dukinfield, was examined by a specialist at least every 14 months. However, when an HSE inspector visited the site on 22 September 2009, he found the system had not been checked for more than two years.

Trafford Magistrates' Court heard the brothers, who trade as B&J Hulme Fencing, had also received a formal warning about the issue on 27 February 2007. Although they arranged for the system to be tested as a result of the Improvement Notice, they failed to make sure a regular service continued to be carried out.

HSE issued another two Improvement Notices following its visit to the factory in September 2009 in relation to the extraction system before deciding to prosecute.

Brian and Jack Hulme were fined a total of £800 after admitting breaching Regulation 9(2)(a) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002.

HSE Inspector Gary Hearn said:

"Brian and Jack Hulme put the health of their staff at risk by failing to make sure the extraction unit was checked and working properly.

"The brothers should have had the system examined by a specialist at least every 14 months. But it was only checked once following our previous visit more than two and a half years earlier.

"It's well known in the industry that workers can develop breathing difficulties, including asthma, if they regularly breathe in fine dust particles. But the brothers ignored the deadline for testing the extraction unit and put the long-term health of their employees at risk as a result."

Brian Hulme, 66 of Furnace Street in Dukinfield, was fined £400 and ordered to pay £1,707 towards the cost of the prosecution on 19 November. Jack Hulme, 68 of Platting Grove in Ashton-under-Lyne, was also fined £400 with costs of £1,707.

Every year, thousands of workers in Britain develop diseases from breathing in certain dusts, fumes or other airborne substances while at work. More information on dust extraction is available at www.hse.gov.uk/lev.

Notes to editors

1. Regulation 9(2)(a) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 states: "Where engineering controls are provided...the employer shall ensure that thorough examination and testing of those controls is carried out in the case of local exhaust ventilation plant, at least once every 14 months."
2. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk

Press enquiries

Regional reporters should call the appropriate Regional News Network press office.

Issued on behalf of HSE by COI News and PR North West