Lincolnshire Crown Court heard on December 22 that the 49-year-old worker was carrying out maintenance on the firm’s sloping conveyor belt in Bourne on February 7 2013 when the incident occurred.
The man was leaning over the top end of the conveyor belt while working on the bearings when the main power was switched on again and the whole of the line reactivated.
This, the court heard, caused the man to fall from the belt onto a heap of scrap metal below, and then onto the concrete floor, breaking ribs on both sides of his body.
A subsequent investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found that the conveyor belt had not been isolated.
As a result, BW Riddle was prosecuted by HSE and pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
It is not the first time HSE has taken enforcement action against the company. In August 2010 it was found there were no formal procedures for isolating the conveyors during maintenance, after which an improvement notice was issued and complied with, HSE said.
Further enforcement action was then taken in 2010, and again in 2011 relating to failing to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery.
HSE inspector Neil Ward said: “The incident could easily have resulted in a death and only luck saved this worker from more serious injury. Had the company put in place the correct, formal procedures for locking off and isolating the conveyor belts, this incident could have been prevented entirely.
“However, it is clear that while BW Riddle had complied with previous enforcement action, the firm neglected safety again and again, and disregarded lessons that should have been learned from previous HSE interventions.”
BW Riddle could not be reached for comment by letsrecycle.com.
A member of the British Metal Recycling Association (BMRA), BW Riddle was established in 1956 and has sites in Boston, Corby and Peterborough
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