Stonemasons fined for health and safety breaches
Doncaster-based Warmsworth Stone has been fined thousands of pounds
- Published
A stonemasonry firm and its director have been ordered to pay fines of almost £20,000 over their "reckless disregard" for health and safety.
Doncaster-based Warmsworth Stone repeatedly failed to protect its workers from fine stone dust at the site, which can can cause "irreversible, life-changing and often fatal respiratory conditions", according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
The firm and its director Simon Frith pleaded guilty to health and safety breaches at Barnsley Magistrates' Court on Monday.
HSE inspector Charlotte Bligh said: "The company management responsible for health and safety were neither informed nor competent enough to carry out their role under the law."
Workers were exposed to a potentially fatal fine stone dust, the HSE said
Ms Bligh added: "The provision of suitable protection for worker's health is a basic requirement that this company has failed to meet."
The HSE said it had served the company with seven improvement notices after a series of inspections at its site at Knabs Hill Farm in Thurnscoe, starting in May 2023.
The notices covered several areas, including exposure to stone dust - known as respirable crystalline silica (RCS) - control of legionella bacteria and inadequate welfare facilities.
When HSE inspectors returned in September 2023, five of the improvement notices had still not been complied with despite the company being given an extension after a visit one month earlier.
A HSE spokesperson said the company's standard of health and safety management "was far below what is required by health and safety law".
Warmsworth Stone was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,064 after pleading guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations.
Director Simon Jonathan Frith was fined £1,062, and ordered to pay costs of £3,782 after pleading guilty to two breaches of Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations.
They included failing to adequately control employee exposure to a substance hazardous to health.
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