A plastics manufacturer, who specialises in the manufacturing of traffic barriers and cones, has been fined after an employee’s finger was severed due to inadequately guarded machinery.

Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard how, on 5 November 2018, the 36-year-old employee of Melba Products Limited had been refilling the hopper of a blow moulding machine with plastic granules from bags at their site on Manchester Road, Bury. Work gloves that had been inside one of the bags fell into the hopper and through the guard. Whilst reaching through a large gap in the top of the hopper guard to retrieve the gloves, his middle finger contacted dangerous parts of the blender resulting in it being severed down to the knuckle of his second finger.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the blender had not been sufficiently guarded to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery. There was a large gap of approximately 4 x 5 inches towards the top of the hopper guard. The injured employee had only been operating the machine for one week prior to the incident.

Melba Products Limited failed to carry out a risk assessment of the blender, to put in place appropriate control measures to prevent access to dangerous parts and to implement a suitable system of training and supervising of new starters.

Melba Products Limited of Bury, pleaded guilty of breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £125,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,387.

HSE inspector Alex McFarland said after the hearing: “This injury was entirely preventable and could have been avoided by ensuring the machine was being operated safely, with a suitable guard in place. Adequate supervision should also have been in place to ensure the machine was being used safely by newer operatives.

“Employers should make sure they properly assess and apply effective control measures to minimise the risk from dangerous parts of machinery.”

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. More information about safe use of machinery can be found at https://www.hse.gov.uk/toolbox/machinery/safety.htm
4. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk

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A construction company was fined after a driver was trapped when a dumper truck overturned at a site in Liskeard, Cornwall.

Plymouth Magistrates’ Court heard how on the 12 April 2019 an employee became trapped when the truck overturned on the construction site. The employee was not wearing a lap belt and was operating the dumper truck without deploying the roll-over protective structure. He suffered multiple crush injuries to his body, when the dumper overturned.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the company, Jim Elliot & Son, had failed to assess the competence and the skills of the operator ahead of work on the refurbishment project. The company also failed to induct the employee on starting work at the site thus failing to identify that the employee had the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to operate the dumper.

It was also identified that the company had failed to undertake a risk assessment or prepare a construction phase plan. These measures, along with a suitable site induction would have identified that the employee did not have the required competence, training, skills and knowledge to ensure that the work was carried out safely and the dumper operated in accordance with its operator’s manual.

Jim Elliott of The Grove, Crow’s Nest, Liskeard, Cornwall was found guilty of breaching Section 13(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. The company was fined £850 and ordered to pay £2,000 in costs.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Georgina Symons said: “This incident could have easily been prevented if the company had assessed the risk related to operating site dumpers and ensured that its workers had the skills and competence necessary to do so safely.”

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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A company director and project manager were sentenced after an untrained and unsupervised worker was killed when the forward tipping dumper truck he was operating overturned.

Swansea Crown Court heard how on 1 October 2016 the employee was working alone at a construction site in West Aberthaw, Vale of Glamorgan. He was operating a dumper truck around a construction site, which had no designated traffic routes.

The worker was operating the vehicle when it overturned causing him to either be thrown or jump from the vehicle. The worker was not wearing a seatbelt.

The 38-year-old man was found two days later with fatal crush injuries at the bottom of a ramp, which formed part of a spoil heap. His injuries were consistent with being struck by the rollover protection structure (ROPS) bar of the overturning dumper truck.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the access ramp was uneven, made up of loose ground; and the slope and cross slope of the ramp exceeded the dumper truck’s machine maximum operating capacity. Untrained operators regularly used construction vehicles on routes that were not suitable for the vehicles and there was no effective management of health and safety on the construction site.

Project Manager at TSD group Graham Kuhlmann of Parcau Road, Bridgend pled guilty to breaching section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, he received a 21-week custodial sentence suspended for 12 months and was ordered to pay £5,000 in costs.

Sole director of Pro’conn Limited, the principal contractor at the site, Kevin March of Fields Park Road, Pontcanna, Cardiff pled guilty to breaching Section 37(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, he received a 32-week custodial sentence suspended for 12 months and was ordered to pay £20,000 in costs.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Paul Newton said: “The risks associated with untrained operators using construction vehicles on uneven ground with excessive slopes are foreseeable. This was a tragic and wholly avoidable incident.

“Those responsible for managing health and safety on construction sites should ensure that traffic routes are safe, designed and managed, for the vehicles using them; and only those with the necessary skills, training and knowledge should be asked to operate construction vehicles.”

Notes to Editors:
1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We seek to 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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A manufacturer of industrial insulation has been fined after an employee suffered serious injuries to his hand while trying to clear a blockage from a machine.

Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard that the employee was working at Kingspan Industrial Insulation Limited’s factory in Derbyshire when a cutting machine became blocked. Kingspan
produce a variety of pipe insulation for industrial use, resins and other substances are blended then poured into a foil outer layer before being baked to become rigid foam insulation. The outer foil ‘skin’ then needs trimming to get rid of the excess. The excess foil is extracted away from the process and cut into smaller pieces by a cutter.

On the night of the 18 August 2018, the cutter became blocked, the worker had seen others unblock the cutter so isolated the cutter and started to unblock it himself. However, he had only isolated the fan and as he was looking down the pipe to identify the location of the blockage, his left hand came into contact with the rotating blade causing the loss of a finger and other serious injuries.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the company failed to provide sufficient information, instructions and supervision for the clearing of blockages. Operators were undertaking the task with inadequate awareness of the risks, resulting in an injury to an employee.

Kingspan Industrial Insulation Limited of Glossop Brook Road, Glossop, Derbyshire pleaded guilty of a breach of section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at work etc. Act 1974. The company were fined £80,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,988.45.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Lindsay Bentley said: “Those in control of work have a responsibility to provide the necessary information, instructions and supervision to their workers about the safe system of working. If adequate information, instructions and supervision had been provided prior to the incident, the injuries sustained by the employee could 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. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk
3. For HSE’s working safely guidance see https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/working-safely/index.htm

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Enva Scotland Limited has been fined following an incident where a 28-year-old employee, Martin Kane, was fatally injured whilst cleaning a mobile shredder.

Paisley Sheriff Court heard that on, 28 March 2018, at their Burnbrae Road, Paisley site, two employees were trying to remove waste that was trapped between a heavy magnet and a hopper on the shredder machine. Mr Kane was struck by the magnet, which fell after he manually removed the locking pins that were keeping the magnet in place. He sustained extensive head injuries and died as a result.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Enva Scotland Limited failed to provide employees engaged in cleaning and using the shredder with adequate training, information and instruction on the deployment of the magnet fitted to the shredder.

Enva Scotland Limited, Unit 49, Burnbrae Road, Linwood Industrial Estate, Linwood, Paisley, Renfrewshire pled guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £264,000.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Russell Berry said: “Employers have a duty to provide safe systems of work for their employees and to provide adequate information, instruction and training on those systems of working. It should have been a relatively simple task to clean the shredding machine using the controls on the machine, as it was designed to be self-cleaning.

“On this occasion, the employer failed to ensure Mr Kane had received adequate information, instruction and training regarding the safe operation and methods of cleaning the machine. It led to Mr Kane adopting an unsafe method for moving the magnet whilst trying to clean the machine manually, resulting in this tragic but entirely preventable incident.”

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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