The owner of a car body repair company has been fined for failing to comply with two improvement notices. The first required health surveillance of those exposed to isocyanates (which can cause respiratory sensitisation) and the second related to employee exposure to hazardous substances in the spray booth.
Christopher Hutton, trading as Auto Bodyworks and Wheel Clinic of Storforth Lane Trading Estate, Hasland, Chesterfield, was prosecuted by HSE.
Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court heard an inspection was carried out by HSE on 30 April 2014, and following that information was requested by HSE to determine that legal duties had been complied with.
When this information was not provided, Christopher Hutton was served with Improvement Notices including:
The court was told that Christopher Hutton had been given a number of opportunities to comply with the Improvement Notices but had failed to do so.
Christopher Hutton of Gloucester Road, Newbold was fined a total of £4,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,600 after pleading guilty of breaching section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Edward Walker commented: “Exposure to isocyanate containing paints is the main cause of occupational asthma in the UK. There are well established standards to protect the health of employees which Christopher Hutton had failed to achieve.”
In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, ‘Burnout, stress and being human’, Heather Beach is joined by Stacy Thomson to discuss burnout, perfectionism and how to deal with burnout as an individual, as management and as an organisation.
We provide an insight on how to tackle burnout and why mental health is such a taboo subject, particularly in the workplace.
