Specialist Calls For Lessons To Be Learned

Tamar View Nurseries in Saltash has been fined £21,000 and ordered to pay costs after an investigation by experts from Cornwall Council revealed a number of health and safety offences on-site.

The council’s Public Health and Protection officers raised eight issues during routine inspections, including problems related to LPG gas storage, working at height and food safety management and hygiene.

In a hearing at Bodmin Magistrates at the end of last month, it was claimed the company had put both the public and its own staff at risk by failing to meet the necessary safety standards. The firm has since taken steps to ensure the appropriate standards are met.

Louise Scott, an expert in workplace safety at Irwin Mitchell, said it was welcome news that the company is looking to learn from its past mistakes.

She outlined: “Employers have a duty to both their workers and the public to ensure that all necessary health and safety standards are met and all potential risks considered.

“Through our work we’ve seen the awful consequences that failing to meet guidelines on issues such as working at height and hygiene can have, often leaving people with serious injury and illness from which they never fully recover.

“It is positive to see that steps are being taken in this case to improve standards and ensure that lessons are learned from the problems which emerged through the inspections. We hope that other organisations can also follow this example and ensure the same mistakes do not happen again.”