20th November 2020

Waste firm fined £264,000

A Clydeside waste management company has been fined £264,000 following an incident where a twenty-eight-year employee was fatally injured whilst cleaning a mobile shredder.  Paisley Sheriff Court heard that on, 28 March 2018, two employees were trying to remove waste that was trapped between a heavy magnet and a hopper on the shredder machine. The deceased 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 the company had 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.

9th December 2020

Lincolnshire chemical company fined £200,000

A Lincolnshire chemical company was fined £200,000 after a worker had his left arm crushed in a bottle filling machine.  The HSE Inspector said: “The company should have developed a standard operating procedure for the adjustment process, which if implemented correctly along with their lock off procedure, could have prevented the incident. Non-routine maintenance tasks must be carried out by trained personnel working to standard safe operating procedures”.

29th December 2020

Scottish tool maker fined £100,000

A Scottish Borders precision tool manufacturer was fined £100,000 after an employee’s index finger was severed and his thumb deeply lacerated when his glove, which he should not have been wearing, became entangled in a drilling machine.  The HSE Inspector commented: “This incident could so easily have been avoided by simply carrying out the correct control measures and safe working practices”.

18th January 2021

Food manufacturer fined £k660.

A West Yorkshire food manufacturer was fined £640,000 for a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations and ordered to pay £26,234 costs. The injured party, who suffered a double compound fracture to his arm, placed his right hand close to a gap in the machine housing. An emery cloth held in his right hand was dragged into the machine taking his arm with it.  The employee was unable to reach any of the emergency stop buttons located around the machine from the position in which he was trapped and had to be released from the machine by paramedics.