What happened
A Cornwall-based timber company and its managing director have been fined after failing to comply with a series of enforcement notices, according to the HSE Media Centre. You can read the full HSE press release here.
Truro Sawmills Limited, which supplies timber and manufactures gates, fencing panels and garden furniture at its sawmill in Penhallow, Truro, was served with Improvement Notices after HSE inspectors found employees weren't being protected from the health risks of wood dust or the safety risks of rider-operated lift trucks.
The HSE investigation found that employees had not been appropriately trained to use rider-operated lift trucks. Staff had also not been face fit tested for respiratory protective equipment (RPE) to guard against wood dust, and were not under suitable health surveillance. Despite several notices, the company failed to act — so the HSE brought a prosecution.
The company pleaded guilty to four counts, including breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and contravening three Improvement Notices. Managing Director Alistair Wright pleaded guilty to one count of contravening a requirement imposed by an Improvement Notice.
At Truro Crown Court on 20 August 2026, the company was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £5,000 in costs. Mr Wright was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £2,500 in costs, and the court granted the HSE's application to disqualify him from acting as a company director for five years.
HSE principal inspector Melissa Lai-Hung said: "Exposure to wood dust can cause asthma, respiratory conditions and cancer – yet this firm failed to act on legally-binding notices served by health and safety inspectors to protect their workforce."
Why it matters to contractors
The headline here isn't just the £25,000 the company faces in fines and costs — it's the director disqualification. An Improvement Notice is not a suggestion. It's a legally binding instruction with a deadline, and ignoring it moves you from "we'll help you fix it" to "we'll prosecute you" very quickly. This case shows the HSE will pursue individuals personally, not just the limited company.
The three failings called out — lift truck training, RPE fit testing, and health surveillance — are common weak spots across construction and trades, not just sawmills. If you cut timber, run FLTs, or generate dust of any kind, the same principles apply to your site.
What to check on your site
- Lift truck operators are trained and authorised. Keep certificates on file. Untrained operation is a live danger and an easy inspection failure.
- RPE is face fit tested. Tight-fitting masks only protect the person they were fitted to. No fit test record means the mask can't be relied on.
- Health surveillance is in place where workers are exposed to wood dust, silica, noise or vibration. Screening catches ill health early — and it's a legal expectation, not a nicety.
- Dust is controlled at source with LEV, on-tool extraction and good housekeeping, before you rely on PPE.
- Any enforcement notice has an owner and a deadline. If you've been served a notice, act on it and record what you did. Don't let it slide.
- Your COSHH assessments actually name the substances you use and the controls in place.
SafetyPod documents that help
Good paperwork won't operate a lift truck for you, but it forces the right questions and gives you a record. A few starting points:
- COSHH assessment templates to document wood dust exposure and the controls you rely on.
- The Site Monitoring Bundle includes checklists for dust, HAVS, noise and plant so nothing gets missed on inspection.
- Registers for plant, statutory inspections and training so you can prove operators are authorised and equipment is checked.
- Risk assessments covering the day-to-day tasks that generate dust and involve mobile plant.
These templates are drafted to current UK legislation and are fully editable — but they support your safety management, they don't replace training, fit testing or health surveillance.
The bottom line
Notices are a warning shot. Acting on them is cheaper than a court appearance — and far cheaper than a disqualification. Get your dust controls, fit testing and lift truck training documented and current.
Not sure what you're missing? Try the free H&S Document Checker to see which documents your site actually needs.