A company that manufactures tissue and paper towels has been fined after an employee suffered serious injuries in unguarded machinery.
Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard how, on 22 September 2018, an employee of Northwood Tissue (Disley) Ltd had entered a running unguarded wet-lap machine at their factory in Stockport to move fabric that was tracking off course. He was pulled into the machine by his arm resulting in a broken wrist, broken and dislocated elbow and snapped forearm.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found a fixed guard was not in place and there was no safe system of work in place to ensure the task could be carried out in a safe way.
Northwood Tissue (Disley) Ltd of Waterside, Disley, Stockport, pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £120,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,023.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Martin Heywood said: “If the appropriate guards and a suitable safe system of work had been in place, the injuries sustained by the employee could easily have been prevented.”
Notes to Editors:
1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We prevent work-related death, injury and ill health through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors through to targeted interventions on individual businesses. These activities are supported by globally recognised scientific expertise. www.hse.gov.uk
2. More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: www.legislation.gov.uk/
3. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk
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