Profile Patterns fined £24,000 after multiple injuries caused by unsafe forklift truck practice.

Profile Patterns Limited, a carpet sample book manufacturer, was fined £24,435 (inc. costs) after two workers were seriously injured in an incident where a forklift truck crashed into an onsite refuse skip.

The circumstances were:

• The accident occurred during the emptying of bins using a forklift truck.
• Profile Patterns Limited did not take effective measures to ensure the health and safety of employees in relation to the risks arising from the use and operation of forklift trucks. 
• They failed to implement a safe system of work
• They failed to provide adequate instruction and training to employees.
• The method used for tipping bins into the skip placed employees at significant risk
• The method was normal working practice that had taken place over a considerable length of time.
• On 29 July 2019, three workers were emptying waste from plastic bins.
• They were using a forklift truck to raise the bins to a height.
• Then a worker at either side of the truck manually tipped the bins into a skip.
• One of the bins became trapped between the side of the skip and the forks.
• The driver of the forklift truck climbed on top of the skip to free the bin whilst the other two employees remained standing at either side of the forklift truck.
• Another employee was asked to reverse the forklift truck to aid the release of the bin.
• After reversing, the forklift truck then moved forward.
• It crashed into the skip causing the employee on top of the skip to fall.
• One of the workers standing at the side of the truck became impaled by her right arm by the fork. 
• The two workers sustained serious fractures that required hospital treatment.

The HSE inspector said:
“The risk of injury from this unsafe working practice was foreseeable and the incident could so easily have been avoided. Profile Patterns Limited should have put in place a number of safety measures including appropriate segregation of vehicles and pedestrians and a safe system of work for emptying the bins. Those in control of work also have a responsibility to provide the necessary information, instruction and training to their workers in order to carry out work safely.”

CNC Speedwell Limited fined £140,909 after employee was caught in a machine whilst wearing gloves.

CNC Speedwell Limited, a supplier of machined components was fined £140,909 (inc.costs) after an employee sustained a severed finger, lacerations and tendon damage whilst operating a stud assembly machine at a factory in Brownhills, West Midlands.

The circumstances were:

• The accident occurred on 28 February 2018 on a stud assembly machine.
• No risk assessment had been carried out.
• There were no guards or two-handed controls.
• There was no safe system of work 
• The operators had not received suitable training.
• The operator was wearing gloves close to a rotating machine.
• Her gloved hand became entangled in the exposed rotating parts the machine. 
• Her index finger and the tendon along her arm were severely damaged.

The HSE inspector  said:
“Horrific, life changing injuries sustained in entanglement incidents can be avoided by simply carrying out correct control measures and safe working practices. Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”

PCR Steel Ltd fined £59,900 after a driver was killed by a load being lifted onto his flatbed trailer

PCR Steel Ltd  was fined £59,900 (inc.costs) after a driver was crushed and killed by a metal balcony being loaded onto his truck.

The circumstances were:

• On 4 April 2019, an employee of South East Galvanizers Limited visited PCR Steel Ltd at their premises to collect a load which included a metal balcony base frame.
• PCR Steel failed to ensure that the lifting operation was properly planned by a competent person, 
• They failed to ensure that it was appropriately supervised, and carried out in a safe manner. 
• There was no lift plan for the manoeuvring of balcony frames that could have considered the load’s security, size and weight. 
• There was no plan for how the load would be set down, nor for how to exclude people from the danger zone.
• The driver was standing on the back of the trailer bed whilst the  balcony base frame was being loaded.
• The load was not secured and the balcony frame weighing approximately 400kg fell and crushed him.

Ken Mills Engineering Ltd., fined £68,494 after worker lost an arm whilst repairing a haylage baler.

Littleborough-based Ken Mills Engineering Ltd., was fined £68,494 (inc. costs) after one of their employees lost an arm whilst repairing a haylage baler on site.

The circumstances were:

• On 9 February 9 2017, the baler was being repaired at a farm near Wakefield.
• Several engineers had been involved over a number of days to repair the baler. 
• This work had not been subject to a risk assessment. 
• Engineers were not provided with effective information, instruction and training for this activity. 
• They were left to devise their own system of work, which consequently was not safe.
• They relied on techniques they were familiar with from the factory.
• These techniques which were not suitable for the site circumstances. 
• As a result, the vertical compaction ram was inadvertently initiated trapping and crushing the worker’s arm.
• The arm was partially severed at the scene; required several operations and following medical complications was amputated from above the elbow.

The HSE inspector  commented:
“It was reasonably practicable for Ken Mills Engineering Ltd to have done more to ensure engineers were working safely. This incident could have easily been prevented if the company had assessed the repair activity; identified site specific hazards and typical custom and practice, provided a safe working procedure and then effective information, instruction and training for that procedure and the repair work that day”.

Melba Products fined £130,000 after employee's finger was severed in unguarded blender

Plastics manufacturer, Melba Products Limited, was fined £130,387 (inc. costs) after an employee’s finger was severed due to inadequately guarded machinery.

The circumstances were:

• The accident occurred on the hopper/blender of a blow moulding machine.
• Melba Products Limited failed to carry out a risk assessment of the blender. 
• They had failed to put in place appropriate control measures to prevent access to dangerous parts 
• They had also failed to implement a suitable system of training and supervising of new starters.
• The injured employee had only been operating the machine for one week prior to the incident.
• The blender had not been sufficiently guarded to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery. There was a large gap of approximately 4 x 5 inches towards the top of the hopper guard.
• On 5 November 2018, the 36-year-old employee of Melba Products Limited had been refilling the hopper of a blow moulding machine with plastic granules from bags.
• Work gloves that had been inside one of the bags fell into the hopper and through the guard. 
• Whilst reaching through a large gap in the top of the hopper guard to retrieve the gloves, his middle finger contacted dangerous parts of the blender.
• This resulted in it being severed down to the knuckle of his second finger.

The HSE inspector said:
“This injury was entirely preventable and could have been avoided by ensuring the machine was being operated safely, with a suitable guard in place. Adequate supervision should also have been in place to ensure the machine was being used safely by newer operatives. Employers should make sure they properly assess and apply effective control measures to minimise the risk from dangerous parts of machinery.”

VSMPO Tirus fined £200,000 for failure to provide support for material being cut which allowed 1.5 tonnes of material to fall onto an employee's leg.

Titanium supplier VSMPO Tirus Limited was fined £207,293 (inc.costs) after an employee sustained multiple fractures to his leg because of a failure to support material being cut.

The circumstances were:

• On 20 September 2017, an employee was cutting titanium on a metal cutting band saw.
• The sheets being cut were significantly larger than the machine bed.
• VSMPO Tirus had failed to suitably and sufficiently assess the risk of material falling from the machine bed.
• They had failed to put in measures to control the risk.  An extension to the machine bed or stanchions with back stops would have prevented the material from falling from the machine bed.
• Almost 1.5 tonnes of titanium plate fell from the bed the band saw trapping the employee's leg underneath.

The HSE inspector added:
“A simple, cost-effective solution could have prevented this horrendous injury.”

Failure to isolate machines caused arm injury and £200,000 fine

Chemical company, Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare (UK) Ltd (Reckitt Benckiser Ltd), was fined £208,261 (inc.costs) after a worker had his left arm crushed in a bottle filling machine.

The circumstances were:

• On 9 September 2017, the worker was carrying out a recalibration task.
• The machine had not been isolated.
• The machine caused a crush injury to his left forearm.
• He also sustained tendon damage to the forearm, wrist and hand.

The HSE Inspector said: 
“Non-routine maintenance tasks must be carried out by trained personnel working to standard safe operating procedures."