Lack of hygienic facilities leads to fine, prompting importance of health and safety courses

Category: IOSH Managing Safely
Friday 5th of March 2010

A construction firm has been issued with a fine after it neglected to provide its workers with proper toilet and washing facilities.

Health and safety courses will teach that theses basic amenities are just as important to staying healthy at work as wearing protective gear, a point which the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) was keen to reiterate.

Bryan Ellis Brown, a partner in the firm Bryan Ellis and Son, based in Flamborough, Bridlington, was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay costs after pleading guilty to two health and safety breaches.

An inspection by the HSE found that the on-site toilet was not plumbed in and that there was no water supply to the sinks in the cabin or toilet at a site at High Green, Bridlington.

The company was served with an improvement notice but a follow-up evaluation found that some changes had been made, but they were not up to the required hygiene standards.

In 2008-09, 524.9 people per 100,000 workers in the construction industry were off for three days or more due to ill health, according to RIDDOR statistics.

Posted by Sam Lowther

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