On the 21st of January this year the developer, Tyne Slipway and Engineering Co Ltd, relaunched with TSL Marine Services, Gosport, as UK Docks in 2010, was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court for safety failings after a teenage apprentice, Jason Burden, 19, from South Shields was crushed and killed at UK Docks’ South Dock site in Sunderland.
Tyne Slipway and Engineering Co Ltd was fined £75,000 and ordered to pay £47,936.57 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The court was told the company had no documented risk assessment and no documented safety management system for the work being carried out at the time, and that the incident
could have been prevented. (See HSE press release website: http://press.hse.gov.uk/2014/firm-sentenced-after-teenageapprentice-crushed-to-death/ )
In the context of cuts to the HSE’s budget of approximately £80m to 85m per year1 and drastic reductions in preventative inspections2, recent observations by local residents at the UK Docks construction site at River Drive, South Shields, have led to evidence being passed
to Health and Safety Executive officers who have taken appropriate action against the company involved for “unsafe working practice”.
1 http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/health-and-safety-executive/news/healthandsafetyhse.cfm
2 http://pacelegal.com.au/tag/low-life-how-the-government-has-put-a-low-price-on-your-life/
3 North East marine engineering firm sentenced for safety failings