Dailycsr.com – 25 September 2015 – Widnes’ polythene manufacturer was fined over “£50,000” due to a failure in complying with safety measurements which led to “‘life-changing’ injuries” for its employee had got “trapped in a machine”. The incident has been regarded as a serious breach.
The Health and Safety Executive were given the charge to carry out the said prosecution of “British Polythene Ltd” on Wednesday, the 9th of September 2015, while the mishap took place on the 21st of January 2014 at the “BPI Widnes Films” situated on the Warrington Road.
London based firm, London Wall pleaded guilty for breaching the “Regulation 11 of the Provision” along with the “Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and Regulation 3 (1) of the Management Of Health And Safety At Work Regulations 1999”. Consequently, the two breaches were recorded against the firm and a fine of “£40,000” was ordered for the same. Moreover, another “£10,033” is also due to the firm as the payment of “prosecution costs”.
A representative of the Health and Safety Executive recounted that as per the information of the “Chester Crown Court”, the upper body of the worker who met with the life-changing accident was “trapped for over a minute” in a machine before he was rescued by his colleagues. However, by that time, the worker had injured his “kidney, spleen and lungs”.
Immediately, the victim was rushed to the hospital and spent the following three days in the intensive care unit. The doctors informed that the casualty’s one kidney function had failed permanently. The unfortunate employee was on his night shift wherein he operated a “multi-winders” which converts “logs of stretch film polythene into smaller hand sized reels”. As per the information of HSE, the reels are held in position by “two pneumatic arms”.
Before the arms get activated, there is a small window of opportunity wherein, the worker “walked down the machine” to check whether the film was damaged or not. In the process, he spotted “debris” that could potentially damage the polythene film roll. Therefore, he “attempted to remove it” and at the same time the pivot arms entrapped him inside the machine itself, reported HSE.
Furthermore, HSE’s report also stated that prior to the accident, the polythene company had “identified a risk relating to pivot arms on similar winding machinery and had implemented the correct control measures”. However, the prosecutors hold the company guilty as it failed to implement the corrective “control measure” in the machine that caused the mishap. The application of preventive steps were not taken in this case, whereby there was a breach in the “precautions and measures to ensure safety when using the equipment” leading to “‘life-changing’ injuries” to a worker which otherwise “could have been prevented”.
After the hearing session was over, the inspector of HSE, Adam McMahon informed:
“If a suitable and sufficient risk assessment had been completed the necessary control measures could have been implemented to prevent the accident from occurring.”
References:
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk
The Health and Safety Executive were given the charge to carry out the said prosecution of “British Polythene Ltd” on Wednesday, the 9th of September 2015, while the mishap took place on the 21st of January 2014 at the “BPI Widnes Films” situated on the Warrington Road.
London based firm, London Wall pleaded guilty for breaching the “Regulation 11 of the Provision” along with the “Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and Regulation 3 (1) of the Management Of Health And Safety At Work Regulations 1999”. Consequently, the two breaches were recorded against the firm and a fine of “£40,000” was ordered for the same. Moreover, another “£10,033” is also due to the firm as the payment of “prosecution costs”.
A representative of the Health and Safety Executive recounted that as per the information of the “Chester Crown Court”, the upper body of the worker who met with the life-changing accident was “trapped for over a minute” in a machine before he was rescued by his colleagues. However, by that time, the worker had injured his “kidney, spleen and lungs”.
Immediately, the victim was rushed to the hospital and spent the following three days in the intensive care unit. The doctors informed that the casualty’s one kidney function had failed permanently. The unfortunate employee was on his night shift wherein he operated a “multi-winders” which converts “logs of stretch film polythene into smaller hand sized reels”. As per the information of HSE, the reels are held in position by “two pneumatic arms”.
Before the arms get activated, there is a small window of opportunity wherein, the worker “walked down the machine” to check whether the film was damaged or not. In the process, he spotted “debris” that could potentially damage the polythene film roll. Therefore, he “attempted to remove it” and at the same time the pivot arms entrapped him inside the machine itself, reported HSE.
Furthermore, HSE’s report also stated that prior to the accident, the polythene company had “identified a risk relating to pivot arms on similar winding machinery and had implemented the correct control measures”. However, the prosecutors hold the company guilty as it failed to implement the corrective “control measure” in the machine that caused the mishap. The application of preventive steps were not taken in this case, whereby there was a breach in the “precautions and measures to ensure safety when using the equipment” leading to “‘life-changing’ injuries” to a worker which otherwise “could have been prevented”.
After the hearing session was over, the inspector of HSE, Adam McMahon informed:
“If a suitable and sufficient risk assessment had been completed the necessary control measures could have been implemented to prevent the accident from occurring.”
References:
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk