Health and Safety Consultants

Pinguin Food Ltd, an international frozen vegetable supplier has been fined after a worker’s finger was amputated when his hand was crushed. The worker was straightening some boxes on an automatic palletising machine when the incident occurred. Even though the machine he was working on had an aperspex guard attached, the worker still entered the enclosure when the machine was running. His fingers got caught between the pallet and conveyor.

 The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) conducted an investigation and found that a number of employees had been given interlock parts which effectively overrode the safety systems in place and allowed access to the enclosure.

 The company was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £3,500 at Boston Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Scott Wynne, an HSE Inspector, said: “Pinguin is a large international company and it is often assumed companies of this size adhere to health and safety policies at all times. The employee regularly gained access to the machinery, defeating the safety device using an interlock mechanism given to him by another member of staff. The automatic palletising machine can carry up to a ton of boxes so the employee could easily have suffered more severe injuries. Pinguin should have had robust supervision and monitoring that should have identified staff were overriding interlocks and stopped it happening.”

The operator of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) has been fined £450,000 and ordered to pay £43,773 in costs after a member of public fell onto one of its tracks and was crushed to death by a train.

Robert Carter got into a heated argument with a friend in the All Saints DLR station in London. His friend pushed him in self-defence, which caused Carter to stumble and fall onto the tracks.

Staff in the DLR control room were advised by the police operator to check the CCTV to see if there was anyone on the track.  The control room staff did not see any obvious signs to suggest that someone was on the track and decided there was no need to stop the computer-driven train.

An investigation by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) found that the rail operator had an inadequate procedure in place for stopping trains in an emergency, as the CCTV did not give staff a view of the entire track. The operator pleaded guilty to breaching s3(1) of the HSWA 1974.

Corus, a multinational steelmaker, has been fined £240,000, after a lorry driver was crushed to death at its site in Staffordshire. Ross Beddow, 22, was helping to load three tonnes of steel plates onto a lorry when the load became uneven and fell on top of Mr Beddow, killing him.

The firm pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.  The HSE investigation found that the system of work for loading steel was unsafe.

Dr Wai-Kin Liu, an inspector at HSE, said:”This was a tragedy that could and should have been avoided. All the steps involved in an overall task should be analysed to create a safe system of work, and the consequences of something going wrong should always be taken into account.

“Anyone can make errors – no matter how well trained and motivated they are – but employers must develop a safe way of working that helps to prevent mistakes and reduces the severity of the consequences if they do occur. If Corus had a safe system of working then Mr Beddow would not have been killed simply doing his job.”

Centrewest London Buses Ltd was fined £400,000 after one of its drivers was crushed to death between two buses. The incident occurred in a garage that was housing almost twice as many vehicles that it was designed to hold.

The court heard that Robert Cherry, 59, had just finished making routine checks to his vehicle and was talking to colleagues. He stepped in between two parked buses and one of the buses suddenly lurched backwards, trapping Mr Cherry against the rear vehicle. He died at the scene.

The HSE investigation revealed that traffic management at the station was poor. The garage was designed to hold a maximum of 65 buses, but on the morning of the accident it was holding 119. Additionally, the bus that struck Mr Cherry had a defective gear selector, which might have caused the wrong gear to be indicated to the driver. The bus company was found guilty of breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

 Bill Hazleton, HSE Inspector, said: “Robert Cherry died because his employer did not do enough to ensure his safety or that of his colleagues. He was a much loved family member who was killed while going about his daily work. Like so many workplace accidents, this one was entirely preventable and should never have happened. The company’s traffic management system was poor and its processes for maintaining vehicles and for identifying and repairing defects were inadequate”.