HSE has taken its first enforcement action as part of its ongoing nationwide inspections to protect workers from respirable crystalline silica (RCS).

Several engineered stone fabricators have received prohibition notices requiring them to stop work immediately and take steps to improve.

Following HSE visits, failures identified included:

• dry cutting still taking place and lack of on-tool water suppression

• insufficient mist control

• inadequate or absent respiratory protective equipment (RPE)

• failures in health surveillance

Engineered stone is widely used for kitchen worktops and bathroom vanities and can contain as much as 90% RCS. If inhaled, the dust can cause devastating lung diseases including silicosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer. Although irreversible, these diseases are preventable with the right controls.

To find out more:

• read the COSHH guidance for working with engineered stone

• visit HSE’s engineered stone campaign website

• view HSE’s published prohibition notices

In the last year, 126 workers were killed in work-related incidents across all industries in Great Britain.

HSE’s annual data release covers the period from April 2025 to March 2026.

This year the regular annual update is complemented by new analysis, comparing the level and trend of fatal injuries to workers in Great Britain with a selection of 35 other countries.

Apart from the years affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the number of worker deaths in 2025 to 2026 is provisionally the lowest number recorded in a single year.

The industry-wide figure includes 25 fatal injuries to workers in the construction industry, a decrease of 10 from the previous year total (35). The 5-year average for worker fatal injuries in construction is 37.

The most common causes of fatal injuries across all industries are:

• falls from height (31)
• being struck by a moving vehicle (24)
• being struck by a moving object (21)

HSE has also published the annual figures for mesothelioma, a cancer caused by past exposure to asbestos.

2,146 people died from the disease in 2024, which is lower than the average of 2,508 deaths per year during the period 2011 to 2020.

Find out more in our press release: fatal injury statistics press release.

A property management company has been fined and its director handed a suspended sentence after an 18-year-old apprentice was killed whilst working at a property in Bangor, North Wales.

Chloe Bidwell was working for Varcity Living Limited as a joiner apprentice at a residential property on Deiniol Road, Bangor, on 20 December 2023. The property was undergoing a full renovation when a stack of wooden board material fell, fatally injuring Miss Bidwell.

Miss Bidwell had been working alone at the time of the incident and was found deceased at the property after she failed to respond to messages or return home. A mixture of board materials had been stacked vertically and unsecured against a wall. It is believed she may have been attempting to retrieve a plywood board from the stack when some of the boards fell on her, crushing her neck and causing fatal injuries. There were 28 boards in total, of large dimensions and potentially weighing up to 30kg each. No attempt had been made to secure the boards in their upright position, and the risk of them falling had not been identified.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Varcity Living Limited failed to provide safe systems of work and failed to provide adequate information, instruction, training and supervision, so far as was reasonably practicable. The investigation also found that these failures were attributable to the neglect of director David Horrocks.

Specifically, investigators found there was inadequate site supervision, no suitable lone working policy or procedure, no suitable policy or procedure for the storage of board materials, and inadequate risk assessment prior to the incident.

HSE guidance on stacking materials (PDF) states that building materials must be stored safely so they cannot topple or roll over. Boards should be stored horizontally on a level surface using suitable pallets or battens and must never be stacked on edge without adequate support. HSE guidance on lone working (PDF) also states that where lone working is undertaken, there should be increased training, supervision and monitoring, including procedures to confirm a lone worker has returned safely once their task is complete.

Varcity Living Limited, of High Street, Bangor, pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay £10,080 in costs at Llandudno Magistrates’ Court on 9 July 2026.

David Horrocks, of Felinheli, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. He was sentenced to 26 weeks imprisonment suspended for two years and ordered to pay £7,886 in costs.

Chloe’s mother, Clare Stephenson-Brown, speaking on behalf of the family, said:

“Chloe was only 18, full of life, energy, and determination. She had so many talents and dreams: a skilled joiner, a rugby player, a surfer, a skydiver, and a young woman who was about to travel the world and begin her journey towards becoming a firefighter. She was wise beyond her years, brave, and incredibly grounded.”

Mrs Stephenson-Brown described the devastating impact of losing Chloe in the way that she did:

“Chloe died instantly and alone. The fact that she was by herself in those final moments is something that causes us unbearable pain and something we will carry forever. Knowing how full of life she was and how much she had yet to experience makes her loss impossible to accept.”

She added:

“As a family we feel like Chloe was let down at work, and because of that, we have lost her forever. Our lives will never, ever be the same again. We just hope that those responsible truly understand the enormity of what has happened, not only the loss of Chloe’s life, but the devastation caused to her family, her friends, and her community.

As a family, we hope this case is not viewed simply in terms of the outcome in court, but as a stark reminder of the real human cost behind it. The impact of losing Chloe reaches far beyond any sentence and will stay with us forever. We urge employers to look beyond compliance and truly consider the responsibility they hold for the lives in their care. Safety must be meaningful in practice, ensuring risks are properly managed, lone working is safe, and that everyone who goes to work returns home.”

A Hamilton-based company has been fined after a worker died when a series of wall panels collapsed and ejected him from a scissor lift.

Steven Tervit had been carrying out a dismantling operation at a specialist technology centre in Renfrew on 9 November 2022 when the incident happened. The 32-year-old was employed as a labourer by Food Process Engineering Limited and had worked for the company for approximately 15 years.

Mr Tervit had been working at a height of around four metres on a scissor lift, removing wall panels from a cleanroom at the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) at Westway Business Park, Porterfield Road, when the remaining panels fell and struck the platform. Mr Tervit was thrown from the lift onto the concrete floor of the warehouse.

He was taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital where he was found to have suffered a traumatic brain injury, rib fractures, lung contusions and fractures to his right thigh bone and left shin bone. He died in hospital the following day.

The cleanroom, which had been used to house a welding robot, was a steel-framed structure with walls and roof constructed of polyurethane panels measuring 6.1 metres in height. Food Process Engineering Limited had been subcontracted to remove the panels as part of the wider dismantling operation.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the company had failed to adequately assess and manage the risks associated with dismantling a structure it had not originally installed.

The wall panels, once the roof had been removed, had insufficient lateral support to maintain their structural stability. HSE found that the company’s risk assessment and method statement did not adequately address the risk of unplanned collapse due to structural instability. Although the company’s own method statement specified that ‘A-frame’ props or supports should be installed where necessary, no such props were present or in use on site at the time of the accident.

The company had carried out visual inspections of the exterior of the cleanroom prior to commencing work and proceeded on the assumption that it had been constructed to industry standard. HSE established that this assumption was unsafe, as the disassembly of a structure built by a third party carried an inherent risk of latent defects that could elevate the risk of structural failure.

The company also failed to communicate its risk assessment and method statement to the employees carrying out the work, meaning workers on site were not adequately informed of the risks involved.

Falls while working at height remain the leading cause of workplace injury and death. New data published by HSE for 2025/26 revealed that 31 people died – representing around a quarter of all work-related deaths for the year.

Food Process Engineering Limited, of Unit 17, Whistleberry Industrial Estate, Hamilton, pleaded guilty to breaching sections 2(1), 2(a) and (c) and 33(1)(a) and (c) of the Health and Safety at Work Act etc 1974. The company was fined £50,000 with a victim surcharge of £3,750 at Paisley Sheriff Court on 6 July 2026.

HSE inspector Amna Doherty said:

“The failings of this company cost a much-loved husband, father and son his life.

“Falls from height remain the leading cause of workplace death and injury.

“There was a lack of planning in terms of the risk and those being tasked with the job were not aware of the dangers posed to them.

“We will not hesitate to take action against those who fail to protect their workers.”