Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has been fined £480,000 and ordered to pay £4,286 in costs after an employee suffered a brain injury having been found unconscious in a manhole.
The man had been unblocking a drain at the hospital on February 1, 2022 when he was discovered by other members of staff. He was rescued by Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service and treated at hospital for acute sulphate intoxication. This resulted in a traumatic brain injury, and ongoing issues with memory loss and nerve damage.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found a number of key failings by the Trust:
• Failure to identify the manhole as a confined space, and thereafter, failure to properly risk assess the activity
• Failure to prevent entry of employees into confined spaces at the site – which was custom and practice for a number of years
• Failure to identify a safe system of work or method statement for clearing blocked drains and no precautions were identified to reduce the risk of injury.
HSE’s investigation also highlighted that no confined space training was given to members of the estates team, and insufficient information and instruction was provided to those involved as to the methods to be adopted, the risks involved and the precautions to be taken when clearing drains and entering deep drains or manholes.
HSE inspector Heather Campbell says: “This case highlights the dangers of working in confined spaces. The manhole should have been identified as a confined space, and risk assessed accordingly. Safe systems of work for entry into confined spaces should have been in place, such as those outlined in the HSE’s Approved Code of Practice.”
Featured image is not the actual manhole.
