Individuals with health and safety jobs serve a vital role in workplaces and can help to keep individuals safe. Recently, a number of experts with health & safety jobs were involved in the prosecution of a firm over failings that led to two men suffering severe burns.
RVB Investments UK and its manager Clifford Leigh pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety laws and were issued fines, as well as being ordered to pay costs.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which exists to protect people from risks that arise as a result of workplace activities, took legal action following an incident in which a 1,000 volt electrical cable was cut through at an industrial unit in Telford.
In August 2010, Eamonn Osborne and colleague David Rawlins were told to find an underground water leak at an empty industrial unit owned by the firm. Mr Leigh instructed them to dig at a spot outside the unit. The employees did so using an electrical drill and eventually they hit the live cable.
They were both engulfed in a fireball and sustained burns to their hands, arms and faces.
According to an investigation conducted by experts with health and safety jobs, RVB Investments had not assessed the risks involved and nor had it devised a safe system of work. Meanwhile, the two men had received no training concerning the dangers arising from underground services.
Commenting on the incident, HSE principal inspector Nic Rigby said: “As this case demonstrates, hitting a live electrical cable is a very real danger and can easily result in deaths or serious injuries. Companies must take measures to protect workers who are digging into the ground, where gas and electricity services may be found.”
By taking legal action in cases like this, those with health & safety jobs can help to minimise the risk of similar accidents occurring in the future.