One employee was lucky not to be more seriously injured, while his employer will pay a stiff fine for the accident.
A British waste and recycling company has been fined for safety failings after a worker suffered crush injuries when his arm was caught in an unguarded moving conveyor belt at a site in Essex.
The 30 year-old employee of GBN Services Ltd, who did not wish to be named, was working at their Harlow premises at Maple River Industrial Estate when the incident happened in May of 2013.
Colchester Magistrates’ Court was informed in June of this year that the worker was attempting to realign the in-feed conveyor belt on a newly-installed waste separating machine. Power to the machine had been turned off and a protective guard removed to enable access to the belt.
However, after finishing the task, the worker reactivated the power to the machine and his left arm was drawn in between the two belts. He suffered crush injuries but has now returned to work part time on light duties.
Failure to Implement Proper Safety Procedures
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found GBN Services Ltd, which has five recycling sites in the South East, had failed to implement its own isolation and lock-off procedures at the Harlow site.
Following its investigation into the incident, HSE inspected the GBN site in Southend and had to issue three Prohibition Notices immediately halting dangerous activity, plus a notice requiring specified improvements. In addition, the court was told the company had previously been served with a number of enforcement notices, including one for a similar guarding failing at a London site.
GBN Services Ltd of Broomfield Road, Chelmsford, Essex was fined nearly $48,000 and ordered to pay costs of $4,725 after pleading guilty to breaches of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
Author Kori Shafer-Stack, Editor, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in post-injury response procedures and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: kstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.
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