High profile HSE prosecution following a horrific accident at work.
Despite significant improvements in health and safety, there are still numerous accidents in the workplace every year. Occasionally these can result in life threatening and life changing injuries; sometimes even fatalities.
All employers (whether they are an individual, a partnership or a company) have a duty to ensure that items of work equipment provided for their employees, and any self-employed individuals working for them, comply with the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER).
Employer are required to carry out risk assessments on all aspects of safety in the workplace and the tasks they ask their employees to undertake. When it comes to work equipment and machinery however, the burden on employers is especially high.
Effective safety guards should be fitted to protect machine operators from injury caused by dangerous moving parts. Machines must be designed so that the movement of any dangerous parts stop before any part of the operator enters a danger zone. It is accepted that this is not always possible but employers are nevertheless required to take every step necessary to ensure the safety of the employee.
All work equipment should be inspected regularly to ensure it is fit for purpose.
The stop and start mechanisms on machinery should only be controlled by the person operating the machinery only. It should not be possible for machinery to stop and re-start without warning to the operator. Where appropriate, every employer shall ensure that work equipment is provided with one or more readily accessible emergency stop controls.
Employers must also provide adequate training to employees who use work equipment for the purposes of health and safety and provide employees with information about the risk of injury in the workplace and how they are protected.
Most employers work hard to ensure their employees can work in a safe environment and benefit from a safe system of work. However, many employers do not fully discharge their responsibility and this can lead to accidents in the workplace and, ultimately, personal injury claims being made against the employer where they are found to be legally at fault.
In the recent case referred to above, the employers’ breach of the regulations resulted in a young man being seriously injured when he was dragged through a narrow gap in a large processing machine. The gap was no wider than a CD case and the very severe injuries he sustained included a ruptured stomach and bowel, broken back in two places, shattered pelvis and fractured both hips, fractured right arm and several ribs.
His whole body except for his head were pulled through the machine when it re-started automatically and without warning. Understandably the incident has had a huge impact on his life, both physically and psychologically and he is very lucky to have survived.
The machine did not have appropriate guarding in place and it was able to stop and start without warning to the operator.
Where there has been a very serious and clear breach, companies can find themselves open to criminal prosecution as well as personal injury claims in the civil Courts for substantial compensation.
In this case, both the employer and the company who had commissioned and installed the machine were prosecuted and appeared in Barnsley Magistrates’ Court. They both pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations and the Court made the decision to send the case to Sheffield Crown Court for sentencing due to their own restricted powers.
Commenting on the case, the Health and Safety Executive Inspector said he heard the prosecution would be a timely reminder to everyone in manufacturing of the need to adequately restrict exposure and access to the dangerous moving parts of machinery.
