The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), has successfully prosecuted a Leicestershire based manufacturing company, following an accident at work which resulted in a man losing his left arm.
The incident took place at London Concrete Ltd’s Wapseys Wood site in Buckinghamshire, where the injured party and his supervisor were working to fix a ground boring machine, known as an auger.
As repair work continued, the machine’s starting mechanism was accidentally triggered by the supervisor, which wrenched off the fifty year old fitter’s arm at the elbow.
Though both men were experienced, the HSE investigation found that the auger’s power unit had wrongly been left connected to the power supply and that the company had failed to provide adequate information to the employees about the auger and its precise method of operation.
Further than this, the investigation also highlighted there had been a breakdown in the company’s safety procedures, that it had itself put in place.
The case, at Aylesbury Crown Court, awarded costs of £9,397 to HSE, and fined London Concrete £16,000, after it admitted they had breached the Health and Safety at Work Act
The case highlights the fact that many UK companies likely need to invest far greater efforts and resources into their approach to health and safety in the workplace.
Whilst it is one thing to have proven practices in place, the process for putting them into action when called for can often be left floundering, leaving employees at risk and employers exposed to litigation, costly damages and a tarnished reputation.
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