A prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive saw Bill Briggs-Price fined 40,000 for failing to ensure the safety of employees and 10,000 for not completing a suitable risk assessment. Mr Briggs-Price was also ordered to pay 6,749 costs.
” Employees were exposed to high and entirely preventable risks and this horrific incident could have been easily avoided.“
– Giles Hyder, HSE
The case followed the death of Simon Teece, 45, at Briggs Metal on Old Great North Road, Newark, on 10 January 2004. Mr Teece died after a metal shearing machine sliced through him while he was attempting to change one of the blades, the court heard.
An emergency stop device on a remote unit Mr Teece was holding at the time of the incident was broken, the HSE said.
Preventable
After the sentencing hearing on Friday, HSE inspector Giles Hyder said: “Employees were exposed to high and entirely preventable risks and this horrific incident could have been easily avoided if a few very simple precautions had been taken.
“Properly isolating the machine while the work was being carried out and keeping the machine in general good repair could have prevented this incident,” Mr Hyder added.
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Mr Briggs-Price originally pleaded guilty to the offences at a hearing before Newark Magistrates Court on 28 February 2005. The charges were brought under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, which states that
“It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.”
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