According to a statement from the HSE, during a hearing on 26 October at Leeds Crown Court, it was heard that an employee of AWM was walking across a first-floor gantry at the company’s site in Morley when one of the metal mesh panels gave way beneath his feet.
The employee fell four metres into the bay below and sustained a double break to the left leg, a break to the right leg and a broken ankle, the HSE said.
An agency worker was also hurt when he came to assist the injured employee, however, he also fell through the missing floor panel and sustained a dislocated and fractured shoulder.
Dislodged
The HSE said its investigation found that the mesh panel gave way because the clips which held it in position had become “dislodged after a shovel loader, working in the bay beneath the gantry, stuck the frame of the gantry”.
The HSE added that due to the height of the gantry, when the shovel loader raised its bucket, it came into contact with the gantry.
“Repeated striking” of the gantry resulted in a number of clips, which held the gantry panels in place, becoming loose.
The company pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Darian Dundas said: “The company did not have a suitable inspection regime in place. This incident could so easily have been avoided by simply carrying out correct control measures and safe working practices.”
The incident took place prior to the company’s sale to the Beauparc Group in December 2018 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Prison sentence
The statement from the HSE comes after it reported last week that a supervisor working at AWM had been given a four month suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay costs of £1,000 after a 46-year-old worker became entangled in a conveyor belt at the company’s site old Bradford in 2016 (see letsrecycle.com story).
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