City firms pay more than £1 million in just two months for serious safety breaches
A butcher losing part of his finger, mice in a restaurant and a tragic death at a cinema have led to several Birmingham companies being forced to pay out more than £1 million in just two months.
The safety failures that have led to court action being taken and also included a tyre firm with an unsafe lift and 25 cases of littering.
The biggest fine was issued to Vue Entertainment Ltd when 24-year-old cinema-goer Ateeq Rafiq died when a seat crushed him in a freak accident.
A report to the city council’s Licensing and Public Protection Committee detailed enforcement action taken against businesses in July and August this year.
Figures showed 29 environmental health cases resulted in a total of £865,459 in fines and a suspended prison sentence. Prosecution costs of £149,664 were also awarded.
On March 9, 2018, father-of-one Mr Rafiq went to the Vue cinema with his wife when he went to retrieve his keys and phones from under his seat where he believed they had fallen.
But the footrest on the seat came down and trapped him and despite efforts from his wife and cinema staff, they could not get the buttons to work and took between 10 to 15 minutes to release him.
He was taken to Heartlands Hospital where he died on March 16 after suffering a hypoxic brain injury.
A week-long inquest was told the seat was missing a bar that would have allowed him to be released by hand.
The company pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that persons were not exposed to risk to their health and safety and failing to make a suitable and safe risk assessment between January 1, 2007 and March 9, 2018 in relation to the use of powered cinema seating.
At a sentencing hearing on July 20 this year, it was fined £750,000 and ordered to pay £130,000 costs.
An employee working at Younis & Sons was left with a partially amputated middle finger as a result of a gruesome accident in August 2019 at the Bull Ring indoor market while using a band saw with a defective adjustable guard.
The company and director Nadeem Hussain each pleaded guilty to one offence of failing to ensure the health, safety and welfare of all employees by failing to maintain a Medoc BG220 band saw in efficient working order and in good repair.
The offence also pointed to ensuring that an (un-named and unmarked) band saw was provided with a suitable adjustable guard.
Mr Hussain was handed a suspended 12 week prison sentence and ordered to pay £3,775 costs at a hearing on August 2 this year. Younis & Sons were fined £46,800 and ordered to pay £3,776 costs.
Zurbyan Restaurant, on Coventry Road, was fined £20,000 for four breaches under the Food Safety and Hygiene Regulations 2013.
Inspectors found evidence of mice droppings throughout the premises, grease and dirt all over pipes and plug sockets, raw meat splattered on floors, food debris and hand wash basins not adequately provided during a visit in September last year.
The company was also ordered to pay costs of £1,707 at a hearing on August 19.
Blue Tyres Birmingham Limited admitted breaches of the health and safety at work act due to having a large platform lift with a safety gate missing and a safety interlock and mains control panel bypassed.
At a hearing on August 6, the company, based on Coventry Road, was fined £26,677 and ordered to pay £3,751 costs
The firm’s landlord365 Services Limited, based at Stoney Lane, Yardley, was also fined £16,666 and ordered to pay £4,000 costs.
The report also said 25 littering cases brought by Birmingham City Council saw a total of £5,326 in fines being dished out and an award of £2,655 costs.
And four waste enforcement cases resulted in £2,917 in fines and the award of £1,660 costs.
