Within the framework of its competence, the Labour Inspection Department of the Ministry of Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance promoted the criminal prosecution of employers and company directors who violated the provisions of the legislation, which related to occupational safety and health issues. As a result of these prosecutions, the Nicosia District Court convicted in 2021 the following persons. SONS LTD"[/b], active in the field of pig farm management, to a total fine of €2.250, for the following infringements of the Management of Safety and Health at Work Regulations, the Minimum Safety and Health Standards (Use of Work Equipment at Work) Regulations, and the Safety and Health at Work Laws, which endangered its employees and other persons:
(a) Failing to provide a written assessment of the occupational safety and health risks to its employees and other persons not employed by it but affected by its activities and, based on that assessment, failing to determine the preventive and protective measures to address the risks.
(b) Failure to fit the moving parts of the transmission systems e.g. collars/pulleys of electric motors with guards or systems to prevent access to the danger zones or to stop the movements of the dangerous parts before access to the danger zones.
(c) Failure to install in the electrical distribution panels located in the feed mill room and warehouse an automatic residual current device (RCD) of high sensitivity of at least 30mA or less on electrical circuits supplying power supplies, portable or mobile appliances or work equipment. Failure to identify the electrical circuits with appropriate signs or other means and failure to cover the empty spaces in the above-mentioned electrical distribution boards with electrical insulators.
2. The company "TSIELEPIS CONSTRUCTIONS LTD", operating in the construction sector, to a total fine of €3.000, for the following infringements of the Occupational Safety and Health (Minimum Requirements for Temporary or Mobile Construction Sites) Regulations, the Management of Occupational Safety and Health Issues Regulations and the Occupational Safety and Health Laws that endangered persons at work:
(a) Failure to ensure that work is carried out at height by means of appropriate equipment or collective protection mechanisms such as the use of appropriate scaffolding, handrails, work platforms or safety nets, or by providing adequate means of access and using fittings or other safety devices with anchorage to prevent persons from falling.
(b) Failure to (a) install suitable working platforms on scaffolds that are of the dimensions prescribed; (b) fail to install suitable handrails and screens of sufficient height and strength on scaffold working platforms throughout the length of the scaffolds; and (c) fail to ensure the stability of the scaffolds.
[c](c) Failure to make available a written assessment of the risks arising from the performance of its activities, based on which preventive and protective measures to address the risks were determined.
[d] Failure to comply with a Prohibition Notice issued to it by the appropriate Labor Inspector. The Inspector found that the work for which the Prohibition Notice was issued was continued by the employer in disregard of the issued Prohibition Notice.
3. The company "XANTHOSCOACHESLTD", operating in the field of urban and suburban land passenger transport, was fined a total of €2.000, for the following infringements of the Occupational Safety and Health Acts, the Management of Safety and Health at Work Regulations and the Occupational Safety and Health (Notification of Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences) Regulations which caused injury to one of its employees and endangered its employees and other persons:
(a) Failure to apply a safe work method to the transport and repair of her passenger bus, which resulted in her employee being dragged by it during the repair and being seriously injured in the abdomen.
Failure to provide a written assessment of the hazards present at work in order to identify hazards and take preventive measures in a timely manner.
[c] Failure to implement an appropriate safety system or risk management system which describes, inter alia, the arrangements for the effective planning, organisation, control and monitoring and review of the preventive and protective measures to be taken for activities in the workplace involving risks
(d) Failure to immediately inform the Nicosia District Labour Inspectorate Office regarding an accident that occurred to an employee during the course of his/her work and which rendered him/her unable to perform his/her work for more than three calendar days.
4. The company "D.K. DIMITRIADIS LTD", operating in the field of wholesale trade of timber, building materials and sanitary ware, to a total fine of €3.200, for the following infringements of the Minimum Safety and Health Standards (Use of Work Equipment at Work) Regulations, the Management of Safety and Health at Work Regulations and the Occupational Safety and Health at Work Laws, which caused injury to one of its employees and endangered its employees, as well as other persons:
[a](a) Failure, during crane maintenance work, to provide a safe method of work, namely, disabling the crane by cutting off the electricity, causing it to move while its employees were in a forklift basket. As a result, the gantry crane pushed the mast of the forklift which overturned causing injury to one of its employees, who fell from a height of approximately 6.30m
(b) Failure to provide its employees with suitable means of lifting persons.
(c) Failure to provide a written assessment of the risks arising from all its activities, in particular during temporary work at height using lifting equipment, and to identify and assess the risks and take the necessary preventive measures in a timely manner.
[d] Failure to implement an appropriate safety system or risk management system which describes, inter alia, the arrangements for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of the preventive and protective measures to be taken for activities in the workplace involving risks.
[e] Failure to supervise its employees, with the result that the forklift truck operator was not at his post at all times.
SWITCHBOARDSLTD", which operates in the electrical panel assembly sector, to a total fine of €5.000, for the following infringements of the Occupational Safety and Health Management Regulations and the Occupational Safety and Health Acts, which caused fatal injury to one of its employees and endangered its employees and other persons:
(a) Failure to provide its employee with instructions and supervision regarding hazards and preventive measures to ensure safety and the absence of health risks in connection with the maintenance of used metal detectors, which contained residues of lamp oil, resulting in an explosion and fire when the employee attempted to service the metal tank using a sander and welding torch, causing an explosion and fire and fatally injuring himself.
Failure to implement and maintain an appropriate safety system or risk management system, making such arrangements appropriate to the nature of the activities for the effective planning, organization and control of risks, and monitoring and reviewing the preventive and protective measures to be taken for workplace activities involving hazards.
6. &? G. CONSTRUCTIONSLTD", active in the construction sector, to a total fine of €1.000, for the following breach of the Minimum Safety and Health Standards (Use of Work Equipment at Work) Regulations, which endangered its employees and other persons:
(a) Failure to mark with hazard warning signs the parts of scaffolding that were not ready for use and were not properly delimited by material elements that prevented access to the danger zone.
7. The company "EM. WOOD-WORKINGLIMITED", active in the carpentry sector, to a total fine of €1.500, for the following infringements of the Occupational Safety and Health Management Regulations and the Occupational Safety and Health Acts, which put its employees and other persons at risk:
(a) Failure to provide a written assessment of the risks to the safety and health of its employees and other persons based on which preventive and protective measures to address the risks were determined.
(b) Failure to implement an appropriate safety system or risk management system describing, inter alia, the arrangements for the effective planning, organisation, control, and monitoring and review of the preventive and protective measures to be taken for activities in the workplace involving risks.
[c] [c] Failure to comply with an Improvement Notice issued to it and served on it by the competent labour inspector in relation to the infringements MINTIKKIS FARM LTD",
engaged in the manufacture and packaging of burgers, to a total fine of €3.000, for the following infringements of the Management of Safety and Health at Work Regulations, the Minimum Safety and Health Standards (Use of Work Equipment at Work) Regulations and the Occupational Safety and Health Laws, which caused injury to its employee and endangered its employees:
(a) Failing to include in the written risk assessment available to it, the risks of disassembling, assembling, adjusting, using and maintaining a burger making machine, and determining on the basis of that assessment the preventive and protective measures for the safety and health of its employees.
(b) Failure to apply a safe work method during the process of checking the operation of a burger making machine, which resulted in an employee of the company, who was involved in checking the operation of the machine, suffering amputation of two fingers on his right hand.
(c) Failure to equip a burger making machine with a suitable guard to prevent access to the danger zone of the machine's components, and with an interlock on that guard to stop the movements of the dangerous components before accessing the danger zone.
9. The company "CONSTRUCTION COMPANY ANDREAS CHRISTODOULOU ABRAAM LTD", operating in the construction sector, to a total fine of €1.750, for the following infringements of the Occupational Safety and Health (Notification of Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences) Regulations and the Mandatory Employers' Liability Insurance Laws, in relation to the injury of one of its employees:
(a) Failure to send to the appropriate Provincial Labour Inspectorate Office a written notification of an accident by submitting a properly and fully completed approved notification form regarding an accident that occurred to its employee in the course of his/her employment and which rendered him/her unable to perform his/her work for more than three calendar days excluding the day of the accident.
(b) Failure to promptly inform, in the most expeditious and practical manner possible, the appropriate Provincial Labor Inspection Office of an accident occurring to its employee which rendered him/her incapable of performing his/her usual work in which he/she was employed for more than three calendar days, exclusive of the day of the accident, from performing his/her usual work during the time immediately preceding such accident.
(c) Failure to insure with any insurer against its liability for accident or occupational disease to any of its employees.
10. The company "MURADALOKLATCONSTRUCTIONLTD, operating in the construction sector, to a total fine of €2.000, for the following infringements of the Occupational Safety and Health (Minimum Standards for Temporary or Mobile Construction Sites) Regulations, which caused injury to one of its employees:
(a) Failure to carry out the work of removing boards from the columns under construction on the second floor of a building under construction, under the supervision of a competent person, with the result that during the execution of this work, its employee fell from the second floor to the floor of the first floor, from a height of more than 3m, and was injured in various parts of his body.
(b) Failure to ensure that work was carried out at height to remove boards from the columns under construction on the second floor of the building under construction, using appropriate equipment or collective protection mechanisms such as scaffolding, railings, or by providing appropriate means of access to prevent persons from falling from a height, with the result that an employee of the company fell from the second floor onto the floor of the first floor, from a height of more than 3 m, and was injured in various parts of his body.
11. The company "ROTOSDEVELOPERSLTD", which operates in the construction sector, to a total fine of €4.000, for the following infringements of the Occupational Safety and Health (Minimum Standards for Temporary or Mobile Construction Sites) Regulations, which caused injury to an employee of its subcontractor and endangered persons at work:
(a) Failure to ensure that work at height was carried out to remove boards from columns under construction on the second floor of a building under construction, using appropriate equipment or collective protection mechanisms such as scaffolding, railings, or by providing appropriate means of access to prevent persons from falling from a height, with the result that an employee of one of its subcontractors fell from the second floor to the floor of the first floor, from a height of more than 3 m, and was injured in various parts of his body.
(b) Failure to install scaffolding or suitable handrails of sufficient height at floor ends of the floor slab on the second floor of the building under construction, and at the floor end of the slab, joining two buildings under construction, at the floor level of the first floor, resulting in persons at work being exposed to a risk of falling and injury from a height of approximately 6.70m and approximately 3.50m respectively. Also, failure to take appropriate measures, such as installing handrails and screens along the entire length of the scaffolding located on the side of the building under construction, taking appropriate measures to ensure that at certain points in that scaffolding the working floors were no more than 0.30m from the face of the building or preventing access to that scaffolding.
(c) Failure to install and maintain handrails and solid handrails of sufficient height on the open sides of a staircase leading from the ground floor to the floor of the second floor in a building under construction.
[d] Failure to effectively enclose or cover openings measuring 33cm x 88cm located on a service floor in a building under construction to prevent persons from falling.
12. The company "SYRIAKOS SYLLOGUE - SYRIANCLUB", which operates in the catering sector, to a total fine of €7.250, for the following infringements of the Minimum Safety and Health Standards (Use of Work Equipment at Work) Regulations, the Management of Safety and Health Issues Regulations and the Occupational Safety and Health Laws, which caused serious injury to one of its employees and endangered its employees and other persons:
(a) Failure to equip a meat grinder with suitable guards or with suitable systems that prevent access to the hazardous area where the moving parts of the machine rotate, or with suitable systems which stop the movement of the dangerous elements before access to the dangerous point where the moving parts of the machine rotate, resulting in an employee, while cleaning the machine, coming into contact with those moving parts of the machine and suffering amputation of part of the forearm and the palm of his right hand.
Failure to take the necessary steps to ensure that a meat grinding machine, which was made available to its employees, was suitable for the work to be performed.
[c]
[c] Failure to provide and maintain a system and method of operation for cleaning a meat grinding machine which was safe and free from safety and health hazards.
(d) Failure to provide adequate information and instructions for meat grinder cleaning and to provide the operator's manual in language understandable to employees so that employees are adequately familiar with both how to clean the machine and the hazards involved in its use.
[e] Failure to provide employees with adequate supervision during cleaning of the meat grinder.
[f] Failure to establish appropriate preventive and protective measures to be taken based on a written assessment of the occupational hazards to the safety and health of employees and other persons not employed by but affected by its activities.
(h) Failure to implement an appropriate safety system or risk management system which describes, inter alia, the arrangements for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of the preventive and protective measures to be taken for activities at the workplace involving risks. METTAPHORES LTD",
operating in the land transport sector, to a total fine of €7.500, for the following infringements of the Safety and Health Management Regulations, the Minimum Safety and Health Standards (Use of Personal Protective Equipment at Work) Regulations, and the Minimum Safety and Health Standards (Use of Work Equipment at Work) Regulations, which caused the fatal injury of its employee and endangered its employees and other persons:
(a) Failure to implement an appropriate safety system or risk management system that describes, among other things, the arrangements for the effective planning, organization, control and monitoring and review of preventive and protective measures to be taken for workplace activities involving hazards.
Failure to provide a written assessment of the risks to the safety and health of its employees and other persons on the basis of which the preventive and protective measures to address the risks are determined in order to identify and assess the risks in a timely manner and to take the necessary preventive measures.
(c) Failure to ensure the provision of appropriate personal protective equipment, such as gloves, face and respiratory protection equipment, safety footwear, clothing, etc. to its employees.
[d] Failure to provide appropriate information and instructions to its employees on the use of work equipment, namely concrete trucks used at work.
(e) Failure to adequately maintain the concrete truck, specifically the system that prevented the vehicle from moving backwards when a person was standing on the skateboard at the rear of the vehicle, causing her employee to fall off the skateboard while the vehicle was moving backwards and fatally injuring her employee.
14. A developer (owner) to a total fine of €2,250, for breaches of the provisions of the legislation on safety and health at work.
15. An employer operating in the field of protection and prevention services to a total fine of €2,000, for breaches of the provisions of the legislation on safety and health at work.
16. A company director to a total fine of €7,500, for breaches of the provisions of the legislation on safety and health at work, based on his decision-making power on behalf of the company he directed by virtue of the position he held.
17. A company secretary to a total fine of €7,500, for breaches of the provisions of the legislation on safety and health at work, based on his decision-making power as company secretary.
A company secretary to a total fine of €7,500, for breaches of the provisions of the legislation on safety and health at work, based on his decision-making power as company secretary.
EX/EXP
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