An Essex scrap metal recycling company has been fined £200,000 after an employee’s arm was severed when it became entangled in a catalytic converter sampling machine. She passed her hand through an unguarded rotary valve to remove a blockage.  HSE guidance states that employers must take effective measures to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery. This will normally be by fixed guarding but where routine access is needed interlocked guards may be installed to stop the movement of dangerous parts before a person can reach the danger zone.

A Scottish chemical company has been fined £400,000 after an employee was seriously injured while carrying out a routine task at one of its sites.  Whilst attempting to clear a blockage in a sump, which contained a solution of caustic, the injured person fell and sustained severe burn injuries, after the covering grating collapsed. An investigation by the HSE found that the company had failed to undertake a risk assessment of the work involved. There was also no safe system of work in place, the grating was not secured and there were no barriers in place to prevent a fall into the sump.

A Bolton Pizza manufacturer has been fined £800,000 after two workers had their hands trapped in rotating machinery. The events happened in January and October 2020.  An investigation by HSE found the company did not adequately guard their machinery, did not provide suitable and sufficient checks to ensure that their protective measures were working effectively, and allowed the disabling of guarding systems and access to dangerous parts of machinery.

A Manchester company was fined over £870,000 for illegal waste exports to Poland.  The Environment Agency found that ten shipping containers, total contents 247 tonnes, of supposedly clean plastics sorted from household waste, instead contained a majority of plastics heavily contaminated with other household items including electrical items, nappies and oil cannisters which were unsuitable for recycling.