The incident involved an employee – who has not been named – falling almost three metres while cleaning a crushing machine after a guardrail gave way. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) added that the individual narrowly missed a crushing machine in the fall.
The employee was left with his spine broken in two places and several deep cuts to the head that required skin grafts. The HSE said that, although discharged, the individual now has to return to hospital for regular check-ups.
The company pleaded guilty of breaching Regulation 5 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, which states: “Every employer shall ensure that work equipment is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair… [and that]… every employer shall ensure that where any machinery has a maintenance log, the log is kept up to date.”
In addition to the £12,000 fine, AB Waste Management was also ordered to pay £1,836 in costs.
The company was unavailable today for comment.
HSE
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which brought the case, claimed that the employee was “seriously let down by his employers” and that doctor's had said he was “lucky to be alive”.
Following the case HSE inspector Gardabil Singh Tiwana said: “The worker was seriously let down by his employers who failed to maintain the safety measures that were supposed to protect him. The employee could easily have been killed if he'd fallen into the crushing machine when it was in operation.”
Mr Tiwana added that firms needed to ensure that guards supplied for work are “fit-for-purpose” and that, if a machine has a maintenance log, then it needs to be kept up-to-date.
He said: “It's all very well installing a guard-rail and other precautions, but if they're not maintained and repaired properly then they are useless.”
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